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MEMORIES OF AVIATION ELECTRONIC "A" SCHOOL, NATTC MEMPHIS, TN (AKA MILLINGTON, TN)

I attended "A" school for 26 weeks. It seemed like a long time then. It doesn't now. In retrospect, it was one of the most rewarding experiences I've had, and set the stage for my career in electronics and management in civilian life.

OGU (Outgoing Units)

Following graduation from ANP school at Norman, Oklahoma, I came by train directly to Memphis. Before I could be assigned a class, I had to spend a short time in OGU. OGU was made up of a wooden WWII barracks and "company" composed of transient sailors who might temporarily be tasked to any sort of bottom-feeder detail: cleaning, watchstanding, you name it. Typically a person spent at least a few days in OGU upon arrival before receiving assignment to an "A" school company, and he typically spent a few days after graduation in OGU before receiving travel orders to his next duty station. I don't know anyone who liked OGU.

During my stint in OGU, I was assigned to clean the locker room at the base gymnasium. Quite late at night, one of the petty officers in charge unexpectedly gave me a tuna sandwich from the galley. This was my first exposure to "mid-rats", food served to watchstanders in the middle of the night. Mid-rats were welcome then and were to be always welcome in the future.

ASSIGNMENT TO CLASS

After spending a few days in OGU, I was assigned to class 55-04 on January 24th, 1955.

BARRACKS

When we moved out of OGU and into school barracks, we found they were a vast improvement over the wooden WWII barracks we'd had in boot camp and at ANP school in Norman, Oklahoma. These two-level barracks were spacious, with huge windows and easily cleaned surfaces. There was even a recreation room with TV. And there was a large room on the first floor with sofas where one could doze while awaiting the order to fall in for class.

The school barracks at NATTC Memphis.

CHOW

Directly in the middle of about four barracks buildings was the chow hall. As is usual in the Navy, food was excellent. The chow hall was also used for fleetwide examinations for promotion. Based upon fleetwide examination, I was promoted from Airman Apprentice (AA) to Airman (AN) on May 16th, 1955.

MARCHING

We fell in outside the barracks and marched southward perhaps one-eighth to on-quarter mile to class. Marching was relaxed, compared to boot camp. One exception was when the Navy petty officer in charge of our class turned us over to a Marine non-com, who had higher standards. That was NOT fun!

CLASSMATES

Most of us were sailors. Included in our classes, however, was a sprinkling of Marine privates, a few Waves (as female sailors were called in those days), and a few female Marines (whom we called Bams, but not to their faces). I don't recall how the Marines, Waves, and Bams compared academically to the sailors, but I suspect they performed about equally. We got on well with all of them. I recall visiting the Marine barracks on one occasion (they were billeted separately) at which time I was invited to "put on your mattress cover and let's go on liberty", a humorous reference to our white Navy uniform.

LESSONS

We were first taught the basics of electronics: electron flow, the workings of resistors, capacitors, and inductors, how electron tubes worked, etc. Electronic components are marked with color bands to indicate their values in ohms, microfarads, and microhenries - so our Navy instructors taught us a memory aid I still remember: "Bad boys rape our young girls, but Violet gives willingly". This corresponds to black=0, brown=1, red=2, orange=3, yellow=4, green=5, blue=6, violet=7, gray=8, and white=9. Then there was "Eli, the ice man", a memory aid to remind us that voltage (E) leads current (I) across an inductor (L), and current (I) leads voltage (E) across a capacitor (C). Where would we be without memory aids?

When we'd reached a sufficient level of expertise, we were taught to tune and calibrate ART-13 transmitters installed in cutaway WWII aircraft hulks, like Hellcats and Avengers. This part of the curriculum seriously wanted updating.

The venerable ART-13 transmitter.

The Navy had built on a table a replica of the Mississippi River area surrounding Memphis, including islands, dams, and various cities. This was submerged under about 8 inches of water. An ultrasonic transmitter "flew" through the water over the replica, with an associated receiver sensing the reflections from the surfaces. The resulting images painted upon a radar scope duplicated closely what might be seen by an aircraft flying over the actual area. This clever simulation was to prepare us for the flight phase of our training, where we filed into Navy R4D aircraft, flew over the area, and took turns directing the pilots and the aircraft according to information on our radar scopes. Since there were no windows in the aircraft, and since there was little air movement, we became queasy when we encountered turbulence. We were also required to wear chest-pack parachutes, and the instructors warned us against deliberately or accidentally pulling the D-ring. Naturally, one of our class (not me) popped his chute inside the aircraft cabin, much to the disgust of instructors.

Toward the end of training, we were taught to troubleshoot APS-13 radars. The instructors would cut one of the pins from the base of a critical electronic tube, resulting in a malfunction of the system. We would have to diagnose the problem based upon symptoms observed and our knowledge of the signal flow.

LOCKER CLUB

Since it was required that students wear uniforms off-base, some enterprising soul had established a locker club in nearby Millington, Tennessee, where military persons could rent lockers and keep civilian clothes. I didn't participate, but many did.

NORTHSIDE

Across the highway from the Southside school base was the Northside air base. This included a movie theater, a barber shop, a Naval exchange store, and an airfield.

On one occasion I walked to the airfield terminal and bummed a ride on a training flight consisting of two Navy reserve officers flying an SNB twin engine Beechcraft. During the flight, the co-pilot moved aft to work on some night school homework, and invited me to fly the right hand seat. The pilot retained control of the aircraft, of course, but I got to bank the aircraft around big puffy cumulus clouds. It was great.

A Navy SNB twin Beechcraft.

WEATHER

Since we were still junior non-rated personnel, we stood quite a few watches. Many of them were outside in school areas. I can recall standing watch in a driving rain with ice-cold water trickling down my back, clothing completely soaked.

I can also recall standing watch outside in the winter when it was so cold the Navy "doubled the watch" and only permitted us one hour's exposure at a time, compared to the normal four hours. At that time I was wearing practically every item of clothing I'd been issued.

GRADUATION

On August 5th, 1955 at the end of 26 weeks of study we graduated. Graduation was anticlimactic. There were no Navy bands, no marching in review as in boot camp. The Navy allowed us to choose our next duty stations, based upon class standing. I wasn't bright enough to be class "honor man", but I placed sufficiently high that I was able to choose NAS, Cecil Field, Florida. After a stint of several days in OGU, I set out for there by train.

THEN AND NOW

Where once was a secure base, now the base is open - I have driven it's streets unhindered. It's still Navy, but the base has been taken over, for personnel purposes, I believe. The school barracks and chow hall are gone, as are many other buildings. New buildings have risen. The AT school has been relocated elsewhere, to Pensacola, Florida, I believe. The airfield is still there, but I believe it's no longer Navy. Don't bother to go back - it's not the same. In early May of 2010 the base was completely flooded by rising waters from the river, over 9 miles to the east. Since I've not been back in recent years I have no idea what condition the base is in now.

FROM WILLIAM CLEMENTS

Bill Clements attended AT B school at Memphis, following a posting to NAS Niagara Falls. Below is a photo of his graduating class. I'm going to take some liberties in interpreting what he sent me, since I know sailors frequently refer to buddies by their last names without ever knowing (or maybe forgetting) their first names, so I'm guessing the front row, left to right, is J.L. Pederson; Powell; Henson; R.E. Gordon, the ATC; G.F. Flores; L.M. Hollingsworth; and G. Agard. The second row, left to right, would be Cobel; F.D. Strout; Davey; R.E. Nida; W.J. Clements; Pettigrew; and Howell.