Attention of Chuck Lutz - special control tower
- YLG80
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Attention of Chuck Lutz - special control tower
Here is a very special Air Base mobile control tower assembled on a trailer !
With a heater !
The picture has been taken in a forward Airfield in Belgium, shortly after the battle of the Bulge. High resolution original photo :
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4zh919ybzy8hi ... r.jpg?dl=0
Yves
With a heater !
The picture has been taken in a forward Airfield in Belgium, shortly after the battle of the Bulge. High resolution original photo :
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4zh919ybzy8hi ... r.jpg?dl=0
Yves
Last edited by YLG80 on Tue Oct 02, 2018 7:55 am, edited 2 times in total.
Ford GPW 1943 - Louisville - DoD 12-7-43
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Re: Attention of Chuck Lutz - special control tower
Enhanced detail of that amazing forward "Flying control tower"
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Re: Attention of Chuck Lutz - special control tower
Looks like it's missing the drivers side tire too. This is pretty interesting. My Willys MB-T trailer was a "ATC-G" (Air Traffic Control-Ground) trailer for the 21st FG. I'd love to see any other pictures that others have of 1/4T trailers on air fields! - Eric
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Re: Attention of Chuck Lutz - special control tower
Pretty cool Yves!
I see the jerry can and what looks like a stovepipe behind the trailer so I guess it was a heated enclosure. I didn't see an antenna for his radios though. I wonder how he got into that thing? Maybe they cut out the rear panel or maybe there was a door in the wooden sides somewhere?
They'd have to heat it also to keep the radioman's breath from completely fogging up the Plexiglass I think!
I see the jerry can and what looks like a stovepipe behind the trailer so I guess it was a heated enclosure. I didn't see an antenna for his radios though. I wonder how he got into that thing? Maybe they cut out the rear panel or maybe there was a door in the wooden sides somewhere?
They'd have to heat it also to keep the radioman's breath from completely fogging up the Plexiglass I think!
Chuck Lutz
GPW 17963 4/24/42 Chester, PA. USA 20113473 (USA est./Tom W.)
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Re: Attention of Chuck Lutz - special control tower
Nice photo!
Looks like a flare pistol in his left hand. Could be anything, but my bet is not a control tower (too low to the ground and no radios).
Guessing it's a "wheels watch", where he'd shoot a flare to signal a pilot who forgot to put wheels down --- power up, go around, try it again.
Handset on the box outside looks like field wire telephone to me, probably rings in the real tower, the one with a heater AND hot coffee.
Looks like a flare pistol in his left hand. Could be anything, but my bet is not a control tower (too low to the ground and no radios).
Guessing it's a "wheels watch", where he'd shoot a flare to signal a pilot who forgot to put wheels down --- power up, go around, try it again.
Handset on the box outside looks like field wire telephone to me, probably rings in the real tower, the one with a heater AND hot coffee.
Last edited by Ron D on Tue Oct 02, 2018 12:46 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Ron D
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Re: Attention of Chuck Lutz - special control tower
Here is the caption at the back of the photo:
There is a a cable and a handset on top of the box.
Yves
Not sure, but the radio could be located in the snow on the left side of the trailer on the photo.There is a a cable and a handset on top of the box.
Yves
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Re: Attention of Chuck Lutz - special control tower
Airplanes mostly take off and land into the wind. When the wind changes enough, the control tower orders a runway change and all airplanes take off and land in the opposite direction. Because of this, most control towers are usually positioned near the mid-point of runway length so they can best see both ends of the runway.
A "wheels watch" is best positioned at the approach end of the runway to see wheels down as far out as possible. This photo seems to show that position. When the control tower orders a runway change, they get on the field phone and tell the watch to jump in his jeep and get to the other end of the runway. It doesn't look like that derelict trailer could be hauled back and forth anyway (dragged maybe?), so my bet is there's another just like it already at the other end of the runway.
I think Wheels Watch on military airfields went by the way side back in the late 60's, maybe early 70's. Advancing technology made them obsolete. I'm pretty sure that landing with your wheels up is still a big deal......
A "wheels watch" is best positioned at the approach end of the runway to see wheels down as far out as possible. This photo seems to show that position. When the control tower orders a runway change, they get on the field phone and tell the watch to jump in his jeep and get to the other end of the runway. It doesn't look like that derelict trailer could be hauled back and forth anyway (dragged maybe?), so my bet is there's another just like it already at the other end of the runway.
I think Wheels Watch on military airfields went by the way side back in the late 60's, maybe early 70's. Advancing technology made them obsolete. I'm pretty sure that landing with your wheels up is still a big deal......
Ron D
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Re: Attention of Chuck Lutz - special control tower
Still looks like a stovepipe to me....several jerry cans in the pic, a telephone that he obviously does not need to get to very easily and, could that be a blinker signal light instead of a flare gun? On second thought, there are no radios because there isn't a jeep or other means of powering them up in the pic. Although that stovepipe may be connected to a generator and is venting the exhaust away from the "control tower".
Removing a tire is a pretty good means of basically keeping any well-intentioned field ops personnel from towing it "out of the way".
Removing a tire is a pretty good means of basically keeping any well-intentioned field ops personnel from towing it "out of the way".
Chuck Lutz
GPW 17963 4/24/42 Chester, PA. USA 20113473 (USA est./Tom W.)
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Re: Attention of Chuck Lutz - special control tower
Here's a photo of the standard WW2 flare pistol. The tell-tale double hooks on top nailed it for me, as I cleaned the same model in 1975. One opens the breech, the other ejects the spent flare casing.
https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-o ... -type-m8-5
Every signal light gun I ever saw on an airfield had much larger diameter --- like 8-inches (large coffee can size). And they had to be pointed right at the target. A flare going skyward is a much faster message to a pilot.
"Removing a tire is a pretty good means of basically keeping any well-intentioned field ops personnel from towing it "out of the way"."
Never heard of that, but anything is possible I suppose. In my experience soldiers always have better intentions of things to do, especially without orders to tow things out of the way on an active airfield.
Not trying to dispute, just offering opinion based on experience. I think the caption of the photo is half-goofy at best. Would the public relations folks really claim "mobility" with a photo of a trailer like that? I thought with the Battle of the Bulge over we were closing in on the kill.
Either way, it's a great photograph.
https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-o ... -type-m8-5
Every signal light gun I ever saw on an airfield had much larger diameter --- like 8-inches (large coffee can size). And they had to be pointed right at the target. A flare going skyward is a much faster message to a pilot.
"Removing a tire is a pretty good means of basically keeping any well-intentioned field ops personnel from towing it "out of the way"."
Never heard of that, but anything is possible I suppose. In my experience soldiers always have better intentions of things to do, especially without orders to tow things out of the way on an active airfield.
Not trying to dispute, just offering opinion based on experience. I think the caption of the photo is half-goofy at best. Would the public relations folks really claim "mobility" with a photo of a trailer like that? I thought with the Battle of the Bulge over we were closing in on the kill.
Either way, it's a great photograph.
Ron D
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Re: Attention of Chuck Lutz - special control tower
I think the Marines still had a wheels watch into the 70s. At my Crash Crew barn we had a sign with the dates and names of the wheels up saves.
Side note, to get picked for wheels watch....you did something very stupid..
One of the few, Frank USMC RET
Side note, to get picked for wheels watch....you did something very stupid..
One of the few, Frank USMC RET
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Re: Attention of Chuck Lutz - special control tower
Semper Fi, Frank. I agree that Wheels Watch was payback duty, the price for learning not to do stupid stuff. Like filling the coffee pot out of a rubber hose. Who knew? Nothing ticked the Top off faster than nasty coffee!
Regards,
Ron
USMC, Retired (1972-2001)
Regards,
Ron
USMC, Retired (1972-2001)
Ron D
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Re: Attention of Chuck Lutz - special control tower
Not sure what this trailer was exactly for, but here is another picture of a bigger trailer/caravan in an air field in England.
They were using a visual warning by means of a flashing blinker signal through an open plexy nose. @1942GPW
Tunis,Tunisia air base : Portable radio station showing the portable radio station with the transmitter receiver and operator in the jeep, with the two PE-75's in the trailer
They were using a visual warning by means of a flashing blinker signal through an open plexy nose. @1942GPW
365th Fighter-bomber group-airbase, Belgium, 1945. The queue in front of the mess ! This is likely the jeep and trailer that Chuck was talking about.I'd love to see any other pictures that others have of 1/4T trailers on air fields!
Tunis,Tunisia air base : Portable radio station showing the portable radio station with the transmitter receiver and operator in the jeep, with the two PE-75's in the trailer
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