Service
"A", the hourly teletype reporting system, was practically the only
means available for the transmission of aviation weather reports for
operations in the United States until the middle of 1944 when special
Army circuits were installed. As the Army established new air bases
in the United States for training purposes, weather reporting stations
were also established and the number of hourly weather reports in
the United States increased very rapidly, placing a heavy load on
the Service "A" system. Transmission time on Service "A" was extended
from 30 minutes each hour to 45 minutes each hour, and upper air data
and terminal forecasts were added to assist the military services
in their training operations.
The Weather
Bureau maintains a hurricane circuit along the Gulf Coast during the
hurricane season-approximately June 15 to November 15. This circuit
was extended into several Army and Navy bases along the Gulf Coast
and in the southern states. One outstanding use of this circuit was
to bring reports into New Orleans, Louisiana, where the Weather Bureau
in early 1943 had established a special unit for the preparation of
intercontinental weather bulletins. Reports for the use of this unit
were transmitted over the hurricane circuit from Miami, West Palm
Beach, Brownsville and other collection points in the area for broadcast
over the WEK radio station. During the winters of 1942-43 and 1943-44,
the hurricane circuit was continued beyond the normal season in order
that the flow of meteorological data might continue uninterrupted.
Following the establishment of Service "O", which also served this
area, it was unnecessary to a seasonal communications system.
Meteorologists
Assigned to Specific War Duties.-Selected personnel
were assigned to duty in the various war theaters and elsewhere, as
forecasters, research workers, advisors and instructors. Insofar as
possible the requests were complied with. In filling these assignments
a careful balance had to be maintained between essential civilian
and military needs, account being taken of reduction in Weather Bureau
personnel as a result of the draft or enlistment. Selection of Weather
Bureau personnel for assignment was based on specific requests by
the Armed Forces, and on judgment of the Bureau as to the experience
and other qualifications of its personnel when no specific requests
were made. In the paragraphs immediately following are listed the
assignments together with a brief summary of accomplishments.
On specific
request by the Army the head forecaster of the Chicago Forecast District
was assigned to the training program for tropical weather forecasters
being carried on at the Institute of Tropical Meteorology at San Juan,
Puerto Rico. Selection was based upon the wide experience of this
official as forecaster in general and, in particular, upon his experience
with the weather of tropical North America and the Caribbean region.
He was stationed in San Juan during the period July 1 to November
30, 1943, and again for two weeks in February 1944. Between June 1944
and February 1945, this official was assigned to Headquarters, 10th
Weather Squadron, operating in the China-Burma-India Theater. His
station was mainly in Calcutta, India, where he prepared forecasts
for B-29 bombing operations in southeast Asia.
The forecaster
of the Miami Forecast District was selected for assignment during
the spring, summer and early fall of 1945 to the Tropical Weather
Unit, Howard Field, Panama Canal Zone. At this Unit he served as an
instructor in tropical synoptic meteorology and participated in hurricane
and other types of weather-reconnaissance flights.
The head
forecaster of the Los Angeles Forecast District was selected to serve
during the summer of 1944 on a forecast instruction team operating
in the USAAF 1ST Weather Squadron in the western United
States. The selection was based upon his experience as a forecaster
in this region, and on his background as an instructor in various
university meteorological courses. His work consisted of teaching
Army meteorologists forecasting principles as applied to the western
United States, with emphasis on upper air analysis, the coastal stratus
problem, and improvement of surface map analysis. From the fall of
1944 through the spring of 1945 this official was selected for assignments
to Headquarters, 10th Weather Squadron, CBI Theater, at
Calcutta. One month was spent at the Weather Central in Chengtu, China.
In addition to instructing Army meteorologists in new methods of forecasting
and weather analysis, his work here consisted of preparing forecasts
for bombing and other military operations and assisting in the organization
of a local-forecast program for severe storms in northeast India.
Later, during the summer and early fall of 1945, this forecaster was
assigned to the Tropical Weather Unit, Panama Canal Zone. His work
at this Unit consisted of instructing Army meteorological classes
on the Weather of southeast Asia, conducting a research program, and
participating in hurricane and other types of weather-reconnaissance
flights.
During
the summer of 1941 the Army found it essential that a meteorologist
experienced in aviation forecasting be assigned to Gander, Newfoundland,
to assist in and coordinate the forecasting program for the ferrying
of Hudson bombers and other plans across the North Atlantic. One of
the forecasters of the Weather Bureau serving at the Forecast Center
in New York, was selected for this work because of his airline and
Weather Bureau forecasting and organizational record. He spent three
months on the assignment.
Because
of the successful and efficient way in which he accomplished his work
at Gander he was selected in May 1942 to open and be in charge of
the station at Goose bay, Newfoundland, where forecasts were issued
for the ferrying of fighters and bombing planes to the British Isles.
The later assignment lasted four months.
In 1943
the Army Weather Forecasters' School at Grand Rapids, Mich., found
themselves strongly in need of a man wit a broad background of meteorological
experience and training. From the many men considered for the work
one serving at Weather Bureau Washington Office, was chosen because
of his outstanding ability as a teacher and his knowledge of meteorology.
He was placed in charge of the weather -forecasting and map analysis
courses from January through September of that year.
Early
in 1944 a request was made by the Navy and the national Defense Research
Council that the Weather Bureau conduct a study of the relations between
weather and radar operations. An official of the Weather Bureau Washington
Office was selected to conduct the investigations because of his intimate
knowledge and experience in electronics. Approximately six months
were spent o the project and a report of the investigation was published.
It was
found necessary that the U. S. Army Engineer Corps establish a river
forecasting service in the European Theater of Operations in connection
with offensive action by the ground forces. An expert weather forecaster
with proper background was requested of the Weather Bureau to participate
in this service. Choice was made of the head forecaster of the Washington
Forecast District and formerly Chief of the Weather Bureau's Hydrometeorological
Section, because of his excellent record as a forecaster and his background
in hydrometeorology. He was stationed near Paris from late 1944 through
the spring of 1945 dealing essentially with problems associated with
quantitative precipitation forecasts.
The Army
Weather Central which was established in the Pentagon Building, Washington,
D. C., was faced with many problems which could be overcome only through
the assistance of a practical meteorologist of Long experience. The
meteorologist chosen for the required work was the district forecaster
for the Washington Forecast District, who, with many years' experience
as a Weather Bureau forecaster, has been rated as one of the outstanding
forecasters in the weather service. He was assigned to the Weather
Central from May 1942 to March 1945, his work concerning itself mainly
with map analysis, preparation of prognostic charts, and preparation
of aviation forecasts for the area in and around North America. He
was called upon to prepare forecasts for special flights such as were
made by the Secretary of War, General Arnold and other top-ranking
officers and officials.
Need
was found by the Army Weather Service for the technical assistance
of an experienced meteorologist to prepare a weather forecasting manual
to deal with highly specialized chemical warfare needs. A hydrometeorologist
serving at Washington was chosen for the assignment, who had a broad
meteorological background and who was considered particularly suitable
because of his specialized knowledge of the physics of air turbulence
in the lowest levels of the atmosphere. His knowledge, gained through
research on evaporation from snow and other surfaces, could be directly
applied to the problems of poison gas diffusion immediately above
the earth's surface. He was stationed in the Pentagon Building, Washington,
for approximately one month in the spring of 1944.
During
the later stages of the war in Europe it was found necessary that
a Weather Bureau official with a both administrative and technical
background be loaned to the Army Weather Service. A Washington official
was given this highly important assignment. From the spring of 1944
to the fall of 1945 he acted as a consultant to the staff of the Director
of Weather Services of the U. S. Strategic and Tactical Air Forces
in Europe, and also as liaison official between the U. S. Weather
Bureau and the Meteorological Office, Air Ministry, London. In these
positions he served as an advisor on problems of both technical and
administrative nature.
The problem
of aircraft icing is recognized to be of prime importance to nearly
all phases of aviation operations. Realizing its significance, the
Army requested the NACA to inaugurate a research program early in
the war. Need for the services of a trained and experienced meteorologist
soon became apparent. A university-trained meteorologist of the Washington
office was selected to participate in the program, one who had considerable
experience as an airway forecaster and as research worker. He was
assigned for the periods October 1942 to May 1943 and September 1943
to April 1944, to the Minneapolis Weather Bureau station for the purpose
of acting as a full-time consultant to the Army and NACA in the aircraft-icing
investigation. For three months prior to this assignment he was on
loan to the Army preparing a report on the climatology of the Southwest
Pacific Ocean region. Subsequent to the aircraft-icing assignment
he has been conducting research on long-range forecasting for the
Navy, on Navy funds.
Greatly
increased military air traffic between the U. S. and Alaska necessitated
the assistance of a meteorologist having long experience with the
weather of the Pacific Northwest. During the early months of 1942
an official of the Anchorage, Alaska, Weather Bureau office, was detailed
to Edmonton, Alberta, to collaborate with the Army, Northwest Airlines
and the Canadian Meteorological Service, in the establishment, organization
and operation of a consolidated air forecasting center.
In the
event of another war in the future, it is believed that trained, experienced,
and in some cases highly specialized meteorologists from the Weather
Bureau should be requested by and made available to the military weather
services at the outbreak of war. In order to accomplish the above
it would be necessary that the personnel quote of the Weather Bureau
be considerably expanded as soon as possible in order that a sufficient
number of competent men could be released at the start of another
war.
The practice
of assignment of Weather Bureau personnel as "technical consultants,"
in uniform and under the general jurisdiction of the Theater Commander,
appears to be quite satisfactory. While on military detail, however,
the grades of the consultants should be raised to a level consistent
with those of regular technical civilian employees of the Army and
Navy, since a request for such a consultant implies recognition of
the high professional level of the man whose services are sought.
It is believed that administration would function most smoothly were
the salary and per diem of the consultants paid by the Weather Bureau,
the latter being reimbursed by the military agency concerned. An allowance
should be made for expenses such as purchase of uniforms and traveling
equipment.
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