“Shadetree” AeroSpace

Warning! This has nothing to do with Photography! But it’s a pretty good story.

Long, long ago, about 1971, I was Navy, on a surprising Shore Duty Tour. After completing Polaris Electronics “A” School (26 weeks) and Mk. 84 Fire Control “C” School (26 weeks) and Basic Enlisted Submarine School (8 weeks), I got orders to “Pomflant”. Say what?

Discovered “Pomflant” was the USN acronym for “Polaris Missile Atlantic”. Which was about to practically change to “Poseidon Missile Facility, Atlantic”. It was up the peninsula from Charleston, part of the Naval Weapons Station, Charleston. Naval Base Charleston was between. Charleston is still there (for awhile, sea rise is a thing). Pomflant is long gone, last converted to an Army Munitions Depot, it’s genesis before becoming Pomflant. Almost poetic.

Discovered the Navy and Lockheed Missile & Space Company and General Electric Ordnance Systems had a new bird to produce: the C-3 Poseidon. Bigger than a Polaris, longer range and MIRV capability. So along with the Lockheed, GE and Civil Service Inspectors, Sailor bodies were needed, like moi.

Naive beyond belief (19 years old) it didn’t occur to me it wasn’t normal to be in a single barracks of Sailors adjacent to three barracks of Marines who patrolled 24×7, with loaded weapons, between twelve foot high barbed wired topped fences, all lit up like daylight. Turns out the grass covered mounds stored the largest concentration of thermonuclear weapons in the US Arsenal. But that’s not what this is about.

I had convinced the Loan Committee at the Navy Federal Credit Union that I was ok for an $1,100 loan to buy a 1968 Mercury Cougar (after a trade in offer of $700 for my 1965 Mercury Comet). And being miles out in the Piney Woods, there was a fully equipped Auto Hobby Shop behind the barracks! One of my first mechanical adventures was replacing Shock Absorbers. Sears had “Heavy Duty” ones for about $8. And I spent a Saturday in the shop and installed the new ones. But practical as I was (am), thought the rubber grommets, beveled washers and nuts and bolts too good to just throw away. Saved in car trunk.

Okay, so this is what this is really about. I worked in “MACB” aka Missile Assembly and Checkout Building. Looked like a basketball cut in half and covered with sod. Underneath the sod was multi feet thick reinforced concrete. Entrance was though massive, double blast doors. It was surrounded by Missile Assembly Buildings. My day job was testing the new Poseidon Missile under the watchful eyes of Civil Sevice Inspectors, following step by step procedures, often “Reader Worker” rountine. And the main piece of purpose designed test equipment would put an appliance store Refrigerator Showroom Display to shame!

It required “Calibration and Certification” every 90 days, a very strict procedure. Inside one 19″ multi-door bay was a squirrel cage blower for cooling. It had a belt driven split sheave so the speed could be adjusted to spec. It was mounted to an adjustable aluminum frame at four points, by rubber grommets with bonded nuts & bolts. Found a couple broken. An “older” Sailor who’d been there awhile told me they would just “Super Glue” them . The replacement parts were $$$$ and scarce. And here’s where I got in trouble.

Remembering the left over hardware in the trunk of my “68” Cougar, I cleaned up my old “Shock Absorber” parts and installed them in lieu of what I thought was poor design. Used a “Stroboscope” to calibrate the RPM (thanks Doc Edgerton). It met Calibration Spec and was WAY quieter. BUT, somebody ratted me out (probably the Super Glue guy). A Lockheed Engineer showed up and had me open the equipment door. He saw and nodded, said “very nice” and then said “Take it out!” It wasn’t and I wasn’t, “Mil Spec”!