THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
NOME, ALASKA
Telephone Main 125 $1.50 PER MONTH
P.O. Box 618 $16.00 A YEAR
E. P. BOUCHER . Managing Editor
CLINTON GRAY . Production Manager
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the
post office at Nome, Alaska, under Act of March 3, 1879.
HOW TO STAY HEALTHY IN A TOUGH NEIGHBORHOOD
Twenty years of'service to aviation in Alaska is |
the theme of the celebration which starts today in!
recognition of the 20th anniversary of Civil Aero
nautics Administration.
Few industries in North America have grown
as rapidly as aviation and all its developments have
been paralleled by aviation’s expansion in our com
munity. We are unique in our dependence on avia
tion as we are cut off from other population centers
by road or water most of the year and solely depen
dant on the airlanes for travel.
From the twenties when a single passenger could
make the flight to Fairbanks for about four hundred
dollars, aviation has grown until now in 1957, 6,000
flight plans were filed through the Nome Station and
over 8,000 aircraft landings and take-offs were logged
at the local airport by the CAA. This does not in
clude those planes which do not file flight plans in
the area.
CAA has been the guardian of the nation’s air
ways, giving us safer airplanes, safer airports, safe
aids to navigation and safe air traffic control.
Nome is happy to have the opportunity to join
with the nation in recognizing this anniversary and
to meet with the representatives of the organization
who will* be with us tomorrow as well as the local
station manager, Dusty Rhodes, who keeps things
rolling at Nome Field.
18-Year History Of CAA Operations At Nome
Courtesy Floryn Rhode
The CAA first began opera
tion in Nome in January 1940,
when a small station was estab
lished and operated on a cur
tailed, 8 hours per day basis.
This was proceeded by the es
tablishment of the Bureau of
Aeronautics under the Depart
ment of Commerce and headed
by Grant McMurray, now chief
of Procedures Branch, Air Traf
fic Control Div., Anchorage Reg
ional office, CAA. He came to
Nome in 1938 and was here for
the building of the first CAA
buildings.
In March of that year we com
missioned the radio range on an
8 hour basis, which was in
creased to 24 hours in May of
1940. In March of 1941 the sta
tion staff was increased to pro
vide sQfficient personnel to car
ry on 24 hour communications
service. At the same time, re
ceiver facilities were installed out
at ape Nome, to provide service
free from man-made electrical
interference. In March of 1942
the CAA commissioned a control
tower at Marks AFB to handle the
increased military traffic. In
1948 . radar ground control ap
proach equipment was commis
sioned at Marks AFB, to facilitate
handling traffic during poor
weather conditions. In 1950 when
the military reduced their activ
ity at Marks AFB, the control
tower and radar equipment were
decommissioned. At this time
also, the airport was turned over
to the CAA for operation and
maintenance.
Over the intervening years
improvements and additions to
the service have been instituted.
The Nome to Anchorage via Mc
Grath and the Nome to Fairbanks
•civil airways were established,
with more communications chan
nels being added. With in
creased traffic and the need for
more rapid communications in
connection with instrument flight
activities brought into being the
CAA Very High Frequency sys
tem between Nome and Fair
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Office: Black 76
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banks and fhus to Anchorage and
stateside CAA facilities, which
was commissioned in 1953.
• Improved equipment and dif
ferent radio frequencies for re
ceivers, the site at Cape Nome
was no longer needed and was
decommissioned.
White Alice System -
Later, with the vastly increased
communications requirements of
civil and government agencies, in
cluding the military, the White
Alice system was built, generally
under the supervision of the De
fense Department, eliminating the
need of the CAA system, which
was taken out of service and de
commisioned in April 1958, si
multaneously with the commis
sioning of the White Alice sys
tem.
6.000 Flights Plans In 1957
During 1957, over 6000 flight
plans were filed through the
Nome station; almost 14,000 air
craft were contacted by radio
while in flight. During the
same year, over 8000 aircraft
landings and take-offs were logged
at the CAA airport. In addition,
substantial numbers of landings
and take-offs were by pilots who
did not have radio, or did not
call the CAA thus never being
recorded.
The Electronics Maintenance
staff is responsible for the care
and performance of about 500
units of electronics equipment,
including the ground to air radios,
radio range, radio and teletype
I equipment, mobile radio equip
ment in Plant and Electronics
Maintenance vehicles, together
with the control lines and asso
ciated items.
The Plant Maintenance staff
is .responsible for the care, per
formance and operation of all
mechanical equipment and sys
tems, as well as maintenance of
buildings and utilities at the air
port, the ATC station and other
remote sites. This includes about
40 items of mobile medium and
heavy duty equipment, engine
generator units, airport approach
and field lights, and many other
individual equipment require
ments.
Priority For Improvements
In line with the current Con
gressional interest in expanding
and improving our entire Federal
Airways System, plans are pro
gressing at the National and
Regional levels to add new, and
improve existing, navigational
ft
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aids—'programs in which Nome
enjoys a high priority.
Items under consideration and
in the planning stages, include
facilities to permit a pilot to com
municate directly with the Air
Traffic Control Center at Fair
banks; VORTAC facilities—a sys
tem permitting a pilot to use any
radial, or compass heading as an
airway to or from tlp.e station, as
well as constant information on
the distance from his aircraft to
the station; modernized approach
and runway lighting systems;
other new aids for assisting flight
crews and CAA Specialists to in
crease the effectiveness, efficien
cy and safety of air transporta
tion.
Ike Asks If Washington
Was Investigated For
Accepting Sword
WASHINGTON, UP* — Presi
dent Eisenhower, tongue in cheek,
wants to know whether George
Washington was investigated for
i accepting a gift sword.
The President laughingly posed
j the question Friday in making
a surprise 30-minute tour of the
historic Washington hom,e at
nearby Mount Vernon, Va.
Turning from study of an or
nate sword given to Washington
by a German admirer, Eisen
hower pointed over his shoulder
at the weapon and inquired with
a grin:
“Do you suppose they inves
tigated him for getting a present?”
This was an obvious allusion
to the current controversary over
gifts from Boston industrialist
Bernard Goldfine to Sherman
Adams, Eisenhower’s chief aide.
The President made his un
scheduled visit to Mount Vernon
on the way back to Washington
from a Defense Department
conference at the Quantico, Va.,
Marine base.
Astonished tourists gaped as
Eisenhower walked in a drizzle
to the admission window and
asked whether he could buy a
ticket. But the gatekeeper, sur
prised as anyone, waved him on
through without taking any
money.
Tobacco Sales Rise
20% During Recession
NEW YORK, OP*—The smoking
tobacco business is booming and
the industry is trying to pin down
the reasons why. Sales of smok
ing tobacco in April rose 20.57
per cent over April, 1957.
Company economists say their
] best guesses are that the re-,
cession and a bigger college mar
ket have increased their business.
Fine Job Printing At The Nugget.
7
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\ Ever-widening circles
of discriminating Westerners
\ are discovering. Water
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^ refreshingly
/ different
"©UVMPI* »PIWINO COMPANY. OLYMPIA, WASH.. U. •. A. F-30 *