Detachment 1
601 Tactical Control Squadron
Ayers Kaserne
Butzbach/Kirchgoens, Germany
Det 1, 601 TCS
Message Board
December 3, 2008
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[Tue Jun 10 21:16:32 2008] home.....
Max,
I'm curious if you're the same Max Carter I served in the Air Force in Germany with. Ayers Kasern near Butzbach, Germany in the late 60's. I recall we were both into stereo's, built the "Brute 70" power amp. from scratch. Parts from Allied Radio & others. It does look like you in the pix. Let me know. You may respond to alucke@juno.com.........Al Luckey
[407]
[Thu Jun 12 05:48:44 2008] viewcoms.
Yeah, I'm the same guy, now 40 years older, retired and living in Wyoming (29 years). I still have that Brute 70, modified and repaired over the years but still going strong. I remained interested in electronics after leaving the service and have more or less made a living at it, plus doing a lot of hobby stuff.
Max ('66 - '69)
[341]
[Wed Aug 13 18:57:39 2008] det1board.
Hi Max,
I'm on vacation this week with grandkids visiting so I had some opportunity to take a couple of day trips. Dover AFB (about 40 min. from here) has an air mobility museum, free to all, that we visited. There's many old cargo planes and others on display, some of which you can get into and sit in the cockpit, etc. Located just south of Dover AFB, this museum is staffed with many volunteers from the WWII and Vietnam era. It's interesting to hear their stories of flying in these machines.
This morning, we visited the American Helicopter Museum in West Chester, Pa. They have many old machines which you can also explore. Of special interest is a V-22 Osprey. The one they have is one of the prototypes. We weren't alloted entry today but I believe groups can arrange it. At least that was what one of the volunteers claimed. Some of the old Vietnam era choppers are there to.
Both museums have a website so anyone who reads this may "Google" air mobility command museum and American Helicopter museum to find the appropriate website. A day well spent.
I hope this finds you well, Max. Ok here, just getting older by the day1 No cure for aging I understand. Have a nice w/e.
Al Luckey, New Castle, DE
[1333]
[Thu Aug 14 07:15:50 2008] det1board.
Hi again Al,
Sounds like a nice way to spend a vacation. Years ago I went through an air museum in South Carolina. Among the items on display was an Atlas first stage booster. The item that really stuck in my mind was a B-24 bomber. I couldn't believe how TINY it was. Guys actually got in those things and flew off to be shot at!
Yeah, sittin' here aging away also. I enjoy retirement for the most part. I deliver meals and do other stuff for the local Services for Seniors a couple hours a day. Much as I enjoy it, there are times..
Max
[598]
[Fri Aug 29 18:06:52 2008] det1board.
Hi Max,
Well, Summer is just about over. I spent the week in Rochester, NY for some training and regretted having not taken a sweatshirt along. The nights were chilly--lower 50's and some upper 40's. Lake Placid which was a couple hours drive northeast recorded 33 degrees. It's still August!
I plan a return trip to the Air Mobility Museum sometime in the near future. This time without grandkids so I can read the displays more closely. It was sort of like going to Washington, D.C. with a school trip. I did that four times with each of my children. It was a fifth grade trip so you're in charge of three or four 10 yr. olds. Naturally, they always wanted to go to the Air and Space Museum. So then, that is the only part of the Smithsonian I have spent much time in. Same thing goes for there. Maybe someday when I finally do retire I can plan a trip there to so I can actually read the displays.
I have another vacation week after next so bought Yankee tickets. My wife and I will take two of the grandkids to attend a Yankees/Devil Rays baseball game. It's the last year for Yankee stadium so should be interesting.
I moved my mom down here from Pa. recently so have severed my last ties with the state. It was rather sad but life marches on. I still have some nieces and nephews up there but we're not real close. We all have our own lives, you know.
I really don't know what I would do if retired, Max. Most likely the same thing I do on vacations--take a few day trips now and again, putter around the house and get involved in a few work projects here and there. I could maybe finally catch up on my reading! You think?
Have a nice holiday weekend, Max. I'll talk to you soon.
Al
[1855]
[Tue Sep 2 18:52:12 2008] det1board.
Hi Al,
Having been retired now for almost 8 years, the first 5 with a wife and family and the last 3 alone, I can tell ya that it ain't all fun and games, but I do enjoy it for the most part. The kids are only an hour away and I communicate with them regularly. I'm on good terms with the ex.
I especially like the fact that I don't have to go to work! How I hated that. Many an evening was ruined by the dread of having to get up the next day and haul my butt to work. (Especially hated over-night travel, spending evenings in a damn motel room.) Not that I don't work now. I do quite a bit of work actually. But it's physical, not mental. I'm doing it because I want to, and it's on a schedule of my own choosing. Then there's the hobby stuff: electronix and computer stuff for the most part - mental for sure, but if I get tired of it for what ever reason (tired eyes are a biggy) I walk away from it.
Been fooling with laser communications with another guy on and off for the last couple of years. Click here and follow some of the links. Also dabble with the PHP programming language a little. This heating fuels calculator, for example. Penny-ante stuff, but kinda fun.
Good health also helps.
Max
[19]
[Sun Nov 16 19:05:37 2008] det1board.
Hi Max,
I was just surfing a bit this evening and decided to drop by to say hi. I was looking at the Sembach AB alumni website last evening. Lot's of pix from the 60's and old memories stirred up my nostalgic impulses. I've seen many websites dedicated to Germany and Europe in general during the cold war years. I don't believe many people know how many of us were over there during those times. Some of the bases resembled small cities by today's standards. By contrast, there is only a small number of people stationed at those bases today. They decommissioned the 601st during the 90's since it's reason for existing had passed with the cold war. What I found most interesting was that they actually dug up the flight line at Sembach. I don't quite understand that. As of a couple of years ago, the tower still stood, abondoned. It looks like the local farming communities have taken over part of what used to be the flight area. I was also reading that the base housing is in such disrepair that they're abandoning it by attrition and plan to demolish it. Those barracks we lived at were mostly built in the 50's so I doubt they could be in much better repair. Sembach is now an annex of Ramstein AB. It's lost its' status as an air base with the demise of the flight line. What's unclear to me though is the present use of the base. In aerial shots you can see the 601st control and reporting center (where we had the radar, communications gear, etc.) is an empty area. I'm not really sure what the current units stationed there do.
Have a nice Thanksgiving, Max. I hope you and your family can get together to enjoy the holiday. Three of my 4 kids will be at our house for the holiday. Ugh, and I have to work Friday! Fun!
[1864]
[Wed Nov 19 07:05:52 2008] det1board
Al,
Yeah, many of those old European bases are derelict. Ayers Kaserne also is pretty much trashed out. The Det 1 radar site is now a gravel pit! I wonder who gets title to those places when they are abandoned?
Not sure where Thanksgiving will take place for me. It's either 110 miles up the interstate to my brother's place, or 70 miles in the other direction to one of my kids' places - will see..
Happy Holidays!
Max
[492]
[Sat Nov 22 08:36:45 2008] det1board
Hi Al,
> I'd be interested in
> viewing the site that shows a gravel pit at the radar site. Send along
> the link when you get a minute.
The link is below. I couldn't figure out how to save the close-up view of the gravel pit, but you should easily be able to find it and zoom in from this view.
Ayers Kaserne is to the upper left of the town of Kirch Göns, the gravel pit is located in the upper center of Ayers. The post theater (which no longer exists) was one block north of the parade ground, the radar site was one long block north of the theater.
Kirch Gons, Germany
Max
[905]
[Sun Nov 23 10:28:59 2008] det1board
> You seem to have a better recollection of the layout than I do.
> Except for the building we lived in, I was a bit foggy as to the layout
> of the rest of the site. I knew approximately where the radar site was
> but I couldn't recall where the theater was and I'm still confused as to
> the location of the snack bar/bookstore, etc.
> I remember Sembach better but that's likely because I was there
> somewhat longer than I was at Ayers. We got out more at Sembach than we
> did at Ayers, to. Not much to do at Ayers, go to the movies whenever it
> changed, work, eat at the snack bar and hang around the barracks on our
> off time. I guess that's how we got so wrapped up in stereo's.
> It's sad, though, to see it in the state of disrepair in which it
> exists now. I understand President Ford was there once.
> Al
Yeah, I'm in a similar state of confusion regarding the layout of Sembach, even though I visited the place a number of times and attended several week- and two week-long seminars there. I recently looked at an aerial view and was totally dis-oriented. I think I've identified where the snack bar/BX area was but don't have a clue about where the radar dome/site was. I remember the Rod and Gun Club was sort off in the woods somewhere.
Your confusion about where stuff was at Ayers might be related to the fact that there were two radar sites in use during the time we were there. The original site was two blocks east of the barracks, south and east of the parade ground, next to the library.
The snack bar/bookstore etc. was part of a complex west of the parade ground. It appears to be totally trashed now.
Max
[1946]
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