Wings Over Hanford (1950s?)

good evening this is Bill Boehner of employee and community relations operation of the General Electric Company at Hanford tonight we are inaugurating a new program series on Cascade television called inside Hanford on tonight's show and on programs to follow at regular intervals we hope to acquaint you with some of the work being performed behind the Hanford barricade I'm sure that most of you know that at Hanford we manufacture plutonium a vital ingredient of atomic bombs and I'm equally sure that most of you know this is a model of a Piper Cub airplane now it might seem out of place to speak in the same breath of plutonium and Piper Cubs but such is not the case men of the Air Patrol at Hanford flying Piper Cubs much like this one are an important part of the security system that guards our Atomic Secrets at Hanford and the men of the Air Patrol and the important work they do are the subjects of inside Hanford this evening we'll be showing some film clips of The Air Patrol in action and later on we'll be talking to several of the men who direct the activities of this important part of the Hanford security system now let's take a look at Wings Over Hanford Pilots of the Air Patrol are often called on to fly over the Yakama and Columbia rivers to search for the bodies of drowning victims this is not a pleasant task but this unpleasantness is more than made up when they share the rewarding experience of helping save a life such as in the case you've just seen later on in our program we'll have other film clips for you showing the work of the Air Patrol right now I'd like to introduce a man who directs the activities of this organization FJ mccale director of security division atomic energy commission the Hanford operations office Mr MCC are you often called upon to assist an emergency situations such as the one we've just seen the delivering of the serum well Bill such emergencies don't arise too often but when they do we are always willing to cooperate with any other agencies in whatever way possible I think you might be interested in the story behind the story on this black widow incident Margaret Harrison Chief pharmacist at Cadillac Methodist Hospital in Richland has that story and with a little persuasion I think that she might tell it to us Margaret will you consider yourself persuaded uh yes the uh pharmaceutical jobber the manufacturer the Black Widow anav Venom informed me that they were going to discontinue the manufacturer of this serum I explained to them our situation and how it was needed in the Arid areas where other aec installations were installed mhm they um told me that it would had been a losing proposition and that they couldn't possibly manufacture it I explained to them that their new therapy of calcium gluconate and morphine had been very unsuccessful and that we still needed it several weeks later I attended a pharmaceutical convention in Philadelphia and I talked to the director of the biological division of this pharmaceutical house and explained to them our situation and he said he would consider it and took it up with the president of the company about 2 weeks later the western division manager called me and asked if I could Supply 2,000 black widow spiders I told him I couldn't but I thought that he could get a supply at Grand cool Dam which he did they are now manufacturing it again from the horse serum of uh horses that have been immunized against the black widow spider serum Margaret that's an interesting story and I'm sure the parents of that youngster will be forever grateful for the part you played and seeing that that serum was available Mr male this might be a good time for you to tell us something about the history of the Air Patrol at Hanford well Bill the Air Patrol was established in the early days of the project out at Hanford by the Corp of Engineers Manhattan engineer District uh they found that this was a very good way to get uh security from a patrol standpoint we later developed this and mov the airport from uh Hanford to Richland and you now have a fully modern airport installation there we do have a fully modern installation let me ask you this is the air patrol unique to Hanford or is a similar organization and existence at other aec installations all this is unique to Hanford although we do have uh some Air Patrol at Oakbridge and Los Alamos that leads to my next question why do we have an air Patrol at Hanford well bill for a number of reasons this type of terrain lends itself very readily to uh this particular type of Patrol and from an economical standpoint it uh is much more feasible to have an air patrol rather than cover the ground on foot or on Horseback or by a motor vehicle also we have an airspace reservation covering uh near 12200 square miles and uh uh we must intercept any aircraft uh that violate uh the regulation covering this prohibited area now as I understand it in 1948 the airspace that lies behind the Hanford barricade was designated uh restricted airspace that is right Bill uh this was by executive order 9925 and uh it was later extended uh to cover much more territory by executive order 10127 now how does a Private Pilot know that the airspace behind the barricade is restricted to Flying bill this airspace reservation is indicated on all aeronautical charts and other navigational aids for instance we have an excerpt here of an aeronautical chart and this has been posted at all airports within a 500 squ M radius can you tell me how many men and planes are involved in the operation of the Air Patrol I think uh that Mr rust chief of the Air Patrol and radio Branch can answer this question for you Bill Henry yes Bill we operate for aircraft we have three Piper aircraft that we use for patrol activities and we have one twin engine Beach we have four Pilots four control tower operators and four men who perform the maintenance work necessary on our aircraft and on our radio equipment are your Patrol activities carried on around the clock on a 24-hour base of 7 days a week yes they are you must have compiled some impressive log books by now can you give us some idea of how many miles your planes have flown how many hours your Pilots have been in the air yes our pilots fly an average of 800 hours per year our Pilots have all flown approximately 10,000 hours a piece each each pilot has approximately 1 million miles of uh time behind him our annual mileage for the Air Patrol is equal to a round trip to the moon Well you certainly have compiled some impressive statistics one thing I think our viewers might be interested in Henry now this is a model of a piper cuup airplane similar to the ones your pilots fly and their patrol work it differs from most Piper Cubs that I've seen and that it has tandem Wheels can you explain why this is so yes uh bill this tandem gear is very effective in helping us land on rough terrain we can land in Sage Brush land in plowed fields and in any rough area without fear of nosing over or tipping over Henry what do you do when a violating aircraft is either too fast or flying too high for your planes to intercept we have worked out an agre with the Air Force and the latest operational jet aircraft are available upon instant call from the Larson Air Force Base in Moses Lake and those Jets from lson Air Force Base can be down here in a matter of minutes to intercept that plane for you tell me this Henry what qualities go to make up the good Air Patrol pilot our Pilots all have the military background in addition to that they all have acquired a considerable amount of Civilian experience uh we require a minimum of 3,000 hours in a pilot when we hire him as well as being qualified in both single and multi-engine aircraft certainly your requirements are quite strict and that is what ensures getting good Pilots for the Air Patrol now Mr M one final question for you I know that for the most part your work is of a serious nature but uh have there been any amusing incidents happened since the Air Patrol was formed at handford well Bill there have been a number of incidents uh one that comes to my mind right now concerns a old pt9 that landed at the airport uh 2 years ago in the Autumn and uh two gentleman stepped out of the aircraft bundled up like Eskimos and said fill it up and we said do you know where you are and they said yes Walla Walla and we said we're sorry you're at Richland this is a closed field and we have no gas for private aircraft and they said well if you don't like our business we'll take it elsewhere so we were kind enough to give them directions to Pasco and S them on their way well it's nice that your work does have its Lighter Side at times now let's take a look at some of the other day-to-day activities of the Air Patrol that in brief is the story of the Air Patrol we hope you have a better understanding of why we have an air patrol at Hanford and of the work performed by its personnel and like me I'm sure you'll rest easier as long as those wings are over handford guarding the Aton secret so vital to the defense of this nation I want to thank those who appeared on tonight's program FJ mcale director aec security division of the Hanford operations office and Henry rust chief of Air Patrol and shipment branch and Margaret Harrison Chief pharmacist at cadle Methodist Hospital we also want to thank the management and staff of cascade television for making time for this program available on a public service B basis this program was presented as an educational feature of the general electric company and the United States atomic energy commission we invite you to watch next week at this time for an interesting panel show Hanford science Forum with your host prank L we'll be back two weeks from tonight for another visit inside Hanford now this is Bill Boehner saying thank you for watching and good night [Music]