click pics to enlarge
Surprisingly cool in the desert heat as most solar radiation is reflected
neat trick on this pic; enlarge, then quickly scroll up and down
Decievingly larger space inside that anticipated
My Grandfather came out from Texas to build them during WWII at Luke Air Force Base
I miss my Grandpa, and Gomer
5 comments:
You're too new to Lex to have read (or maybe you have) my recounting of the fact that when I was stationed in England at RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk, East Anglia, our entire Squadron complex was nothing but several WWII Quonset huts cobbled together in a maze. Same for our Officers Club. Had some amazing parties there as we were a separate Sq. with our own runway apart from the other two Sqs and Wing HQ at the main base, RAF Bentwaters 20 min away. Was like a combo of the Hells Angels and the old Oakland Raiders. Our own pvt Air Force....away from the prying eyes of the "big kids." GREAT flying and one big party. Was assigned there straight from DaNang--another great tour (if you weren't kia) A tour of the Far East (mainly on R&R, Sydney, Bangkok, Taipei, Hanoi-but only from the air. :) ) and most of Europe and parts of the Mid East (Libya--prior to the revolution--and Turkey)
Typical British circa 1969: We had one entire attached Quonset hut as a sq. briefing room. The first winter I was there (68-69) we had a US type winter with sub zero wx and lots of snow. The heat was off for the entire winter--made for some pretty nippy 04:30 briefs for 0600 take-offs. The Brits didn't get around to fixing it until spring, then the heat got stuck full on for the entire summer! And we had a US style summer with heat in 80s-90s. It was like a blast furnace in there. LOL!
PS: I should add that I spent my 1st entire yr at Woodbridge living in a two hut combo (sort of L-shaped) for single officers. One pot belly drum-type fuel-oil stove in bed-room and one in living room. None in bathroom, and the john was a separate shed attached in rear off kitchen w.o heat also. Made things "interesting" at 3 am in the winter.LOL!!
PPS: All those WWII Quonset huts made me feel at times like I was living in a WWII movie! Especially as the runways also were WWII vintage RAF Bomber command ones. LOL!
I also remember the Gomer Pyle TV series and the long-suffering Gunny Sargent as well--used to crack me up--never missed an episode.
Virg, I could listen to war stories all night. I'm going to go fumble around on the world wide web and see what I can find about RAF Woodbridge. I have to admit though, that I cringed a little just reading the words, "East Anglia." :-)
P.s. GoooOOlleeeeeeee.
Post a Comment