European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 16, 1959, Darmstadt, Hesse A Crew member swings Brize Norton s base made radar turntable. Radar merry go round by Paul Spiers staff writer Brize Norton air base England has a new merry go round. But there la never be any wooden horses or Gaudy chariots aboard. Never any room pah pah music. And children Are not de purpose is prosaic aiding the ground controlled approach Goa radar system. Before the new merry go round there Wasa problem aligning the unit with another runway when the wind shifted As it i wont to do frequently and unpredictably in the , this time consuming operation taking up to 40 minutes was accomplished with slight interference with aircraft of a combination of an aircraft attempt ing an emergency Landing and a shift in the wind made the Goa turnabout time May the Goa unit at this strategic air come base was turned by the conventional method of disconnecting Power cables removing pieces of equipment and towing the unit through a Complete Circle until it was lined up with another the Power was reconnected the entire unit had to warm up to operating temperature before any calibration could be , after a Cash expenditure of $450, the unit is located atop a turntable that can easily be turned by two of the three member Crew and be ready for operation within 10 Job has been done As quickly As four minutes according to t sgt Emmett car Mena of Monroe la., Goa maintenance scrounging and Rube Goldberg ing were provided by a team of the 1970thaacs so 3920th consolidated aircraft maintenance so and 3920th installation Seq. Wheels for revolving the turntable were found at the air Force Salvage depot a Burtonwood. The problem of locating material and fabricating the turntable capable of sup porting the weight of the 17-ton unit was formidable. Scrap steel girders were welded together to form two foot Long tracks wide enough to hold the tires of the Goa trailers. Fabricating the turntable was accomplished in addition to the Normal work schedule of the departments and shops involved. The cams fabrication shop spent 900 Man hours on the construction of the turntable under the leadership of s m sgt Robert a. Thirstrup. The installations Crew under the direction of h. George Davis air ministry clerk of works at Brize Norton worked 250 Man hours preparing the foundations and pour ing in 351 cubic feet of Concrete. Installations personnel built a Concrete Center Circle 12 inches High to carry the Pivot pin and the inner wheels of the turntable. An outer ring of the same height supported the outer wheels. To enable Power cables to remain connected at All times a pipe was Laid under the foundation coming up the Center. By running the Power Cable through the pipe it would not interfere with revolving the turntable. Planning was so smooth that the go unit was Only inoperable six hours and 13 minutes for the final installation. The Tea was guided by the principles of a merry go round developed at Donaldson fab similar turntable has been installed at Sci Thorpe air base Norton officials said that a commercially built turntable might Cost be tween $60-80,000. The new Low Cost system they said has had no Adverse effect on safety dependability or ease of v Goren on Bridge a i
