Still Waiting...?

[MIflyer]

After Dunkirk, the British were expecting a German invasion and looked for every resource they could find. Two British Army junior officers were told that there were two huge WWI vintage railway guns in storage that could be made operational. They were told to identify a suitable site where the guns could cover the most likely invasion beaches.

The officers consulted a map and concluded that a valley within range of the invasion beaches would be the best location, since it would offer some concealment from air attack. They noted that a railway line ran past the valley and thought it might be possible to install a rail spur to allow the guns to be sited. They drove down the nearest road to the rail line, got out and walked down the track. They were surprised to find a spur ran off into the valley; it was not on their map. They hiked down the rail spur and found it split and went into two large buildings. "What Luck!" they exclaimed. '"If we clear out these buildings they would be just perfect to house the guns!" They peered through the windows of the buildings and found....

In each building was a WWI rail gun.

A gentleman appeared and asked if he could be of service. It seemed that he had been retained back in 1918 to serve as caretaker for the buildings and each month got a check for providing that service. Clearly some other officers had performed the same analysis as they had back around 1919, had the railway spur installed and the buildings built - and then everyone had forgotten about it.

I wonder what they did with the other two railway guns they originally were looking to site? And I wonder if the great grandson of that caretaker still gets a check in the mail to take care of those two guns.

Makes me wonder if there is a forgotten BOMARC or a Nike Ajax installation somewhere.

 

[Gnomey]

Excellent!

 

[Capt. Vick]

Read a similar story about a very old building in England that was in serious need of repair, but what was needed was a piece of lumber of such size that it was doubtful to be found in modern times. Turns out that this was considered at initial construction and the requisite trees were growing for this very purpose under a caretaker for generations.

 

[XBe02Drvr]

Makes me wonder if there is a forgotten BOMARC or a Nike Ajax installation somewhere.

When I was traveling to my first duty station after A school, NAS Boca Chica, the AAT C402 I was riding in flew right over a Nike Ajax site deep in the Everglades southwest of Miami. A couple years later, I happened onto it again, flying up to Tamiami, and it now had Nike Hercules missiles. You'd think In that flat country an installation like that would stand out, but it was amazingly unobtrusive. I flew over that area fairly often, but only spotted it occasionally. In 1975, when I returned to instruct at the Navy flying club, I noticed that it still had Hercs, but was pretty bedraggled looking, with foliage growing up around the launchers, and little sign of activity. In 2002, escorting a troop of Boy Scouts home from Ft Lauderdale after an adventure cruise, our airliner turned south around to dodge towering CUs over the Glades, and I spotted the missile site again, clearly abandoned, with foliage almost totally obscuring the launchers, shelters, and even the perimeter fence. It's probably still out there, if you're feeling adventurous.
Cheers,
Wes

 

[MIflyer]

I talked to a retired airline pilot who owned a "ranch" or whatever you might call it, inland from Miami. They came to him and said they were buying a section of his property for a Nike site; I guess he had no choice in the matter under Eminent Domain.

The Nike site next to his property was closed in the 1970's. The ones in South FL were the last to go, due to the threat from Cuba. After the Army pulled out the buildings sat empty so after a while he started using them for storage. Finally he decided to see about buying the property back, visited the county office to see who it belonged to now and found out that the Army had never bothered to change the deed to reflect the change in ownership. Technically the property had always been his.

I was also told that they were closing down a Nike site in Mass. and a farmer bought one of the missile containers at auction. They are like jet engine canisters, which are liked by farmers because they make such good feed and water bins for cattle. He got it home, opened it up, and then called the Army, "There's a gol-danged missile in this thing!"

I heard a similar story about a farmer who bought a jet engine container at Tinker AFB. He got it home and found a jet engine inside. That started a discussion. "You bought a canister, not a jet engine!" "I bid on something and won it. I did not know what was inside, although the thing seemed a lot heavier than I had figured, but the engine is now mine!"

I doubt the farmer wanted to keep a Nike-Herc.

 

[XBe02Drvr]

"You bought a canister, not a jet engine!" "I bid on something and won it. I did not know what was inside, although the thing seemed a lot heavier than I had figured, but the engine is now mine!"

DEFENSE EQUIPMENT DISPOSAL OFFICE, TINKER AFB
You are hereby informed that your unauthorized possession of one Pratt & Whitney J57 jet engine, serial number xxxxxxx, fraudulently obtained, constitutes grand larceny, possession of stolen property, diversion of government assets, and a separate violation of the Defense Secrets Act for each day this asset has been in your possession.
You are reminded that due to this offense having occurred on Department of Defense property, this case falls under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, not civil law. You will be provided with legal counsel selected by the adjudicating officer in your case.
You are directed to report within 24 hours of transmission of this message, unaccompanied, to the guardhouse at Tinker AFB, for in processing. You are to surrender to the JAG officer who will meet you at the guardhouse all deeds to real property you may own, as well as keys to any vehicles and lock boxes, and up to date records of all financial assets. Failure to comply will result in enforcement action.

 

[MIflyer]

The errors made by the government supply system can be astonishing.

At Tinker AFB, the guys at the engineering test lab decided they needed to have some ordinary nails on hand, for building test fixtures and things of that sort. So they got the stock number and ordered 10 lb of nails. A few days later 3 pounds of nails arrived, followed by 3 pounds the next day and 4 pounds a few days later. Okay, so they had their 10 lb of nails. Then 5 lb of nails arrived a few days later and 10 lb of nails the next day and 5 lb the next day and so forth, a few pounds of nails every day or two until one day a truck pulled up and unloaded 3 tons of nails.

Also at Tinker AFB an organization realized they needed to have some cakes of soap for their bathrooms. So they found a stock number and ordered 100 cakes of soap. A truck pulled up one day loaded with cases of soap. "All this soap for us?" they asked. "We only ordered 100 cakes." The truck driver replied, "The unit of issue CS is not cakes of soap but cases of soap. We have two more trucks coming."

One day at Tinker AFB one of the technicians working at his bench was asked by his supervisor, "Is this your supply order?" The tech said it was his. His boss asked, "What did you order?" The tech replied, "A part for this valve I am working on." The boss replied, "Come with me and see what you got." Now the stock class of such components is 1660. 1560 is the stock class for aircraft structural componenets. There must have been a typo. Outside, sitting on a truck, was the tail for a B-52.

 

[MiTasol]

When I was in PNG in the early 70s and it was governed from Australia I went to a small town (under 50 people who spoke English) where the town drunk was a public service Caterpillar mechanic. Over six months earlier he had ordered a small part for a small cat and he was told to sit tight and wait for the part. The first part they delivered, using a specially chartered barge, was a D8 blade and they refused to take it back. When I left two months later he was still waiting and tight (drunk) most of the time from boredom.