Early History of the Military Affiliate Radio System (and K8AIR) at
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Prologue: The author relates some
historical information concerning the Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS)
activities at Wright-Patterson AFB during the mid-1950's. He was assigned to
WPAFB as the Base MARS Director beginning in February 1956 in his initial entry
on active duty following an AFROTC commission from the University of Cincinnati
in June 1955. This initial tour of duty extended until June 1958 upon which he
was re-assigned to the research and development activities in Area B, Wright
Field. In August 1960 he resigned his regular AF commission and entered civilian
employment with the Air Force Avionics Laboratory. He retired in December 1986
after nearly thirty years of military and civilian employment.
The motivation for writing these recollections came from receipt of an e-mail
message from a former Strategic Air Command member, Paul Schleck in early 1998
inquiring about any historical background concerning the MARS station and its
K8AIR amateur radio military club station. Mr. Schleck's motive was to try and
establish a club at Wright-Patterson whereby the K8AIR callsign could be
assigned in memory of the former MARS activities. During this interval of
discussions, the K8AIR callsign was assigned to Roger Mundy, a former MARS chief
operator at Otis AFB. With encouragement from both, this short historical
article came into being.
The Beginning: During the Korean war years, the MARS organization was
established in the Army, Navy and Air Force to provide a quasi-official means of
allowing personal message traffic between Service members throughout the world
and their families in order to enhance the morale and welfare of the troops. In
the Air Force, the MARS organization consisted of a Director assigned to the
Headquarters in the Pentagon along with field Directors assigned to major Air
Force bases worldwide. Manpower positions were authorized at the major Commands
for staffing of the MARS facilities. Additionally, military amateur radio club
and recreation stations were establish in consonance with the MARS facilities to
allow military and civilian employees who possessed an amateur radio license
issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to use the amateur radio
bands for morale enhancement. At major Air Force Bases, the FCC assigned
callsign having the AIR suffix to these stations. At Wright-Patterson AFB, the
K8AIR callsign was issued to the MARS club station. Other bases such as Offutt
and Otis were assigned KØAIR and
K1AIR callsigns respectively. The military and civilian members of these club
stations provided assistance to the active duty MARS operators; especially at
Wright-Patterson. The Air Force MARS operation established both regional and
long-haul communication networks to handle the voice and message traffic. The
MARS station at WPAFB was alternate net control (NCS) for the eastern portion of
the US. The primary NCS for the continental US was the Offutt AFB station. This
operational set-up remained until early 1958 when the Air Force decided to
remove the manpower authorizations for the Command MARS organizations. At that
time, the MARS activities came under a different structure involving mostly
volunteer membership. Some variation of this set-up continues today as each
Service still has official MARS Directors located in the Pentagon.
MARS Activity at Wright-Patterson (1956 - 1958)
In the early 1950's the MARS station was located in separate receive/control
and transmit facilities. The receiving station and operating consoles were
located in a warehouse shared with the Air Police vehicular radio maintenance
shop in Area A. (Note: This building location is now part of the military golf
course.) There were 4 operating consoles located within the control station. One
console was used as the net control station for the eastern regional MARS
network employing conventional AM voice communications. A second console was
used for sending and receiving radio-teletype messages from MARS stations
worldwide. A third console was devoted to operation on the amateur radio HF
bands using a commercial transmitter and receiver. The fourth console was used
for general purpose reception. The receiving equipment used in the MARS station
was current vintage (then) Hammarlund radios. A radio repair facility was also
located at the control site. The transmitter site was at a remote location in
Building 199, which was in the "Wood City" area of the base. This area is now
near the commissary and base theater. The BC-610 AM transmitters along with the
antennas were located here also. Dedicated telephone lines to the
receiver/control site in Area A were used for remote operation. The BC-610
transmitters were very bulky and provided 400 watts of power to the antennas.
These transmitters were originally built for the US Army Signal Corps but were
requisitioned for the AF MARS program. The antenna system included a couple of
400 foot long rhombic antennas aimed toward Europe and the Far East. These
antennas were used for the long haul message traffic. This setup remained into
the 1960's until the a retrenchment was made to consolidate all operations at
the Building 199 site at what then was called Area D of the base.
There was another facet of the MARS program which proved to be very popular.
Both military and civilian members were eligible to receive surplus radio and
electronic equipment. The WP MARS organization had an extensive surplus
distribution system in operation. A warehouse in Area A provided over 5000
square feet of space for this equipment which was obtained from the Material
Redistribution office of both Wright-Patterson and the Gentile AF depot. The
only restriction placed on the MARS members receiving this surplus equipment was
that it must be for personal use. If the material was of no use to the member,
it had to be returned to the MARS warehouse but could not be given away or sold.
One interesting anecdote to the surplus material side of the MARS operation
comes to mind. A full Colonel member of the MARS club lived in a rather large
house on base and was a prolific user of the surplus material program. One day
the Base MARS Director was visited by the Colonel's wife who pleaded to have
their basement rid of all the material her husband had accumulated. So a crew of
airmen were sent to the home and removed 2 truck loads of radio equipment. As
they left the house, the Colonel was leaving the warehouse with yet another
batch of equipment. This shuffle continued for another 8 months before he was
transferred to another base. It was doubtful whether he ever knew what was
happening.
Memorable Moments: In the early 1950's the MARS activities were in
high gear. At Wright-Patterson the Air Material Command (AMC) had its
headquarters and the MARS organization was the lead station in establishing
quasi-official communications with the various AMC depots throughout the US.
This quasi-official message traffic served two purposes. First it permitted
timely message handling of low priority routine traffic which alleviated the
regular Air Force teletype system. Secondly, is provided needed training for the
enlisted personnel assigned as MARS operators. However, the most satisfying
aspect of the MARS operation was the countless messages and "phone patches" that
were handled by station personnel. A "phone patch" is a setup where a base
telephone is connected to the radio which then permits establishing a link
anywhere in the world where normal voice communications is effected. The radio
operator had to manually switch the radio from transmit to receive and vice
versa; however both parties were made aware that the operator would be listening
to the conversation. Countless service members were able to talk directly to the
wives and family members through this means. Many thank you letters were
received by the MARS Director from family members who were able to use this
service. Similar phone patch operation was used on the amateur radio bands under
the call sign K8AIR. This was certainly the more pleasing aspects of the MARS
operation. Another memorable moment occurred which greatly benefited the WPAFB
MARS station. In 1956 General Curtis LeMay, Strategic Air Commander in Chief,
hosted a conference at Offutt AFB for all the senior Commanders of the Air
Force. The AMC Commander, General Edwin Rawlings, attended. General LeMay
proceeded to demonstrate his ability to communicate with any SAC unit anywhere
in the world through the new SSB HF radio network. Needles to say, General
Rawlings was impressed and wanted the same capability for his Command. Shortly
after his return to WPAFB, a 2nd Lt. MARS Director along with a full
Colonel from the AMC staff traveled to OFFUTT AFB in a noisy and cramped B-26
aircraft. Well, it never came to pass owing to the tremendous cost involved.
However, the AMC MARS stations began to be up-graded with the new Collins SSB
radio systems.
Another memorable event occurred at the MARS station in 1957. Early one
Sunday morning the Base MARS Director received a telephone call to immediately
report to the station and listen for a special signal on the 20 meter amateur
radio band and report the observations to a phone number in Washington, DC. Well
as is well known now, this was the signal of the Russian satellite Sputnik. The
MARS station was one of the first to submit a report on the Sputnik
satellite.
The Big Change: In early 1958, Headquarters Air Force removed all
manpower authorizations for its Command MARS operations. Consequently, a
monumental change in the operation and organization occurred. The operation of
the MARS facilities fell to the volunteer military and civilian members. During
the ensuing years, the MARS facilities were consolidated into Building 199 in
Area D. The military club station disbanded and the K8AIR callsign reverted to
the FCC where it remained unassigned until in 1998 it was assigned to an
individual amateur operator under the vanity call sign program. The last vestige
of the MARS activity is the antenna system that is still in place in Area A near
the Twin Base golf course. The building housing the station is undergoing major
renovation and it is unknown at this time if a MARS station will
re-appear.
Charles C. Gauder, W8XG
cgauder@erinet.com
June 25, 1998
Beavercreak, OH USA
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