Misawa

I traveled to Misawa Air Base in northern Japan in late October, 1985. This was only two years after Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by the Soviets in the Sea of Japan, not far from Misawa. Times were tense in those days. I suppose they still are...but for different reasons. My biggest fear on this trip was not the Russians -- it was flying to Misawa from Tokyo's "domestic" airport. Think back to the mid-80's and consider for a moment the difference between a major international airport, say DFW, and its nearby "domestic" counterpart, say Love Field. Now...suppose you have landed at DFW but speak only Japanese. You can probably find some translation help to get you to your hotel. And if you've chosen a major, downtown "international" hotel, you can probably find someone there to assist you during your overnight stay. They can no doubt get you into a taxi the next morning and direct the driver to take you to Love Field. But once you exit that taxi at Love Field...the next person you encounter is likely to be a Southwest Airlines ticket agent who might be able to figure out that you want to fly to Midland and who can surely process your credit card to pay for the ticket. But her sign language attempting to explain to you how to get through Security and where the gates are and how the flight is 30 minutes late, etc. will look like so much arm-waving. You are on your own...surrounded by a massive crowd that does not speak your language. This is what I expected at Haneda Airport after arriving at Narita Airport and spending the night at the New Prince Takanawa Hotel [where the sauce on the spaghetti I ordered in their Italian restaurant was -- I swear -- Wolf Brand Chili]. Even the "pay for your ticket in person" was true because, like Southwest, the flight to Misawa was on Toa Domestic Airways, a Japanese airline that did not "inter-line" with the major international carriers and thus my travel agent could not buy the ticket in advance (at least not through American's Sabre system). In those pre-internet days, travel was a bit dicier...

The doorman at the hotel got me into a taxi headed for Haneda, and moments thereafter, I had a good omen. The taxi driver turned the volume back up on his radio and we were suddenly listening to the 1985 World Series on US Armed Forces Radio! [Best I recall, this was a Wednesday morning, so it was probably game 3 played in the US on Tuesday night, Oct. 22nd, which also happened to be my niece Regan's 2nd birthday -- sorry I missed it, Regan!] As it turned out, the ticket agent at Haneda spoke decent English and I made the flight without difficulty. My work on base took me onto the roof of a building where I had a great view of the AN/FLR-9 antenna. Nice to see that it's still there...

[AN/FLR-9 at Misawa AB, 40 43 23N, 141 19 44E]

AN/FLR-9 at San Vito, Italy

In late March, 1986, I traveled with a co-worker to San Vito "Air Station" (i.e. staffed mostly by Air Force personnel, but no runways anywhere around). San Vito is near Brindisi, Italy; we were there to do a site survey pertaining to the installation of some equipment. What I remember most about this trip was that we arrived a day or two after the Navy sailed across the "line of death" into the Gulf of Sidra and mixed it up with Libyan strongman Col.Muammar Gaddafi. We were in Greece immediately before the visit to San Vito, so we flew from Athens to Rome (on Olympic Airways) en route to Brindisi. The Rome airport had been attacked by terrorists a mere three months earlier.  Within a day or two after we got back to the US, 4 Americans were killed when a bomb exploded on a TWA flight from Rome to Athens. For those of you who think terrorism (and aviation terrorism in particular) is a recent historical development...think again; this was 26 years ago. I did not get combat pay for this trip, but I did have some lousy pizza at Lecce, Italy (no tomato sauce), got caught in a semi-riot at a security checkpoint in Paris DeGaulle Airport, and flew Air France for the one and only time in my life (Paris to Houston). But these incidents are not visible from space; the San Vito FLR-9 antenna site is. The antenna was decommissioned when the US abandoned the base in 1993, no longer necessary with the end of the Cold War.

AN/FLR-9 antenna at San Vito Air Station, Italy [40 38 51N, 17 50 25E]

AN/FLR-9 at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska

Alaska was always on the front line of our Cold War defenses, for obvious proximity reasons. Much of the military activity was controlled from Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska (but not the capital). The base was built in 1940, becoming a forward outpost relatively close to Japan. I traveled to Elmendorf several times in the mid-80s, and on one occasion, I visited the facility adjacent to the AN/FLR-9 antenna. Recent satellite imagery suggests the building is still in use...perhaps the antenna as well.

AN/FLR-9 antenna at Elmendorf AFB, Alaksa [61 15 52N, 149 51 04W]

Karamursel, Turkey AN/FLR-9

The US had a long and important military relationship with Turkey during the Cold War due to its proximity to the Soviet Union. Thus, it is not surprising that there are many relics of that relationship visible from space. One of them is the former FLR-9 antenna site at Karamursel, near Istanbul. Karamursel's location on the Bay of Izmit has resulted in it serving as a base for various navies at least since 1327. (I don't think the US was involved back then.) The US operated a base here for many years, but pulled out for good in 1979 (though the handwriting was on the wall in July, 1975 when the Turkish government demanded an immediate shutdown of the base in response to a US arms embargo). The FLR-9 is long gone, but the circular vegetation patterns continue to mark the location.

FLR-9 site at Karamursel, Turkey [40 42 35N, 29 31 39E]

Clark AB, Philippines

In October, 1985 I traveled to Clark Air Base, Philippines. What I remember most about that trip was being deathly ill with high fever when I began the trip at DFW Airport on an early evening flight to San Francisco, where I connected to a Philippine Airways overnight flight to Manila. By the time we refueled in Honolulu around 2:00 am, I didn't have the strength to even bother to get off the plane during the 90-minute stopover. Aspirin kept me lucid enough to clear passport and customs in Manila at dawn on a Sunday. Many of the streets in downtown were closed that morning for the Manila Marathon, or somesuch race. The driver dispatched by the Hyatt Regency to pick me up at the airport was available for hire, so I arranged for him to drive me to Clark AB on Monday morning. I spent the rest of Sunday in bed, suffering jet lag and high fever. We departed for Clark before dawn Monday to avoid the horrible city traffic (I still recall the "Stay in Your Lane" banners hanging from various overpasses -- and yes, they were in English, the official language for business, at least, it was in 1985). Best I recall, it was a 2 or 3 hours drive. I still had the fever when I checked into the Visiting Officer's Quarters at Clark, and I went promptly to bed, turning on the radio to listen to the Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Giants game on Armed Forces Radio, a Sunday night game (October 6th) in the US. I napped off and on during the game, but when I awoke for good, I knew I was delirious: The Giants, needing only to kneel down for a couple of snaps to run out the clock and preserve a 2 point victory, inexplicably ran a handoff play and fumbled, with the Cowboys recovering. Rafael Septien kicked a field goal to win the game for the Cowboys, 30-29. My fever broke at the same time. I was never a big Cowboys fan -- still not -- but it can be a good way to pass the time by radio, even in the Philippines.  But I digress...

Clark AB had hosted a FLR-9 antenna since April, 1965, and it was easily spotted as we drove around the base. I do not know if it was dismantled before the US pulled out of Clark rather suddenly in 1991. The Mt. Pinatubo volcano erupted in March and virtually wiped out the base. Rather than rebuild (and with the base lease having expired), the US abandoned the facility and it became dormant looting grounds for many years. Eventually, the Philippine government went in and redeveloped the facility. In doing so, they definitely won the prize for "Best Redevelopment of a FLR-9 Antenna Site". It's called Clark Expo, home of the Nayong Pilipino Historic and Cultural Amusement Park. The site also includes an exhibition center. The distinctive circular arrangement is unmistakable; even the outer ring antenna pole locations were reused.

FLR-9 Site at Clark AB, Philippines [15 12 18N, 120 31 39E]

FLR-9 at Augsburg, Germany

I visited Augsburg in August, 1985. This Google Earth image shows that the FLR-9 appears to still be intact. Don't know if it's actually being used any more.  [48 27 05N, 10 51 46E]

FLR-9 at RAF Chicksands

Many circular antenna arrays have been built around the world, almost all of them for military purposes. I have visited a few of these sites. I believe the first one I ever saw (in 1982) was this one at RAF Chicksands, UK. Its military nomenclature was AN/FLR-9, but most people just called it a "Flair 9". It's been dismantled, but the land-scar will be there for a long time... [52 02 39N, 00 23 21W]   Below is a ground level photo I took in October, 1982