European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 21, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse A epitomized the Tough do. Ark time in and women recruits. Toss during Basic training. 21. 1977 Vicki Esposito prepares to drop weather instruments into a typhoon. By Andrew ii. Malcolm new York times t begins As a suspicious speck on a photo radioed ram a satellite hover ing in hours it can become a typhoon whose furies kill hundreds. Wreak millions of dollars in damage and disrupt entire National economics through out the Western stands Between these storms and Asia s millions Are people like Robert Packer Bill Naus Bob Tuttle and Vicki Esposito a sergeant who never saw such winds Over her Home in Rockville Centre. Are the typhoon chasers the Little known band of 80 men and women of the 54th weather recon so at Andersen air base Guam who ride their planes through each one. Of these storms testing and tracking their strengths to Send warnings on ahead. The readings on their instruments flashed Back to Guam by radio and then on to the threatened nations and United states military bases give Asia and the rest of the world disaster warnings plus running accounts of the destructive dangers of these High powered natural Phenomena which Are Given names like Pamela Kathy and june. And with the year s eight month typhoon season Well under Way now. The Crews Are Back up in the air again looking for Trou ble sometimes it can be a Little hairy said sgt. Eugene Hall of Tunka Hannick. A you would t normally choose to have the plane plummet 1.000 feet in two seconds and then shoot Back up you icam to live with Coffee All Over you " said sgt. Esposito who was the first female Crew member to Fly weather recon Naissance. A similar air Force unit in Mississippi monitors hurricanes in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico but Crew members and meteorologists who have flown in both units say nothing can com pare with the awesome fury and scale of Pacific above they look like soft Cotton Pimp Hicls. They Rise up in the unpopulated fastness of the Pacific drawing in air and building in circular intensity until one Sturm can stretch out 500 Miles or More Kach typhoon May have several tornadoes within it plus a dozen thunderstorms whose wind driven Rains easily soak through solid Cement blocks. Sometimes Loo the lightning Burns holes in the Plune. Kach storm has its own personality said Captain Packer. They Range ruin a piece of cake to this time i m quitting flying sometimes it seems like you re flying inside a cow at when the suspicious Cloud formations appear a six person Crew in a c140 is Dis patched from Andersen air base to investigate. Since the Squadron s watery turf covers seven million Square Miles this can mean a trek 12 to ii hours Long. Sometimes noted col. William Chris Tian Squadron commander Well track a typhoon for a week Over the same distance As say from Atlanta to to enable the computers to predict the intensity and path of each storm the Squadron must Pierce the storms at pre Cise six hour intervals. This often Means that two or three aircraft must be going coming and on the scene at any one time. And sometimes the trackers have to Deal with two or More storms moving West simultaneously. Capt. Packer a Pilot from Alhambra calif., described the feeling you first see these creatures As a Grey smudge on the horizon. Then they loom larger and larger sometimes up to 40 or so thousand feel. At first you can t feel the winds. But the Ocean becomes a Light Green with Long swatches of White foam swirling about. The sky gets dark real dark. The Waves whip up a times to 15 or 20 feet. It rets rough then. There s lightning All Over. The plane is slowing with St. Elmo s fire. There arc tremendous Walls of air currents surging up and driving Down. You re watching the radar to Dodge the hard spots hut after a while it s All hard spots and you Jusi Plush of through at about 300 Miles an in their seals other members of the Crew take instrument readings to Chart that storm s personality. Esposito drops out Parachute equipped radios in Metal canisters to Send data Back to the base. Yeah it s scary she says but you figure we re it for warning Mil Lions of people. And then it does t seem so suddenly the plane Breaks through to the typhoon Eye. The sea is smooth. The air is Calm. And then whammy said sgt. Hall you re into the other at times the winds reach 200 Miles an hour Well above the super typhoon classification and a Pilot will find his plane Sud Denly turned 100 degrees. We have the authority to pull out if it gets too bad said Packer. But sometimes there in t enough time. On oct. 12, 1974, one plane of the Squadron flew into typhoon Bess Over the China sea and never came out. Nothing was Ever found. Family members say they worry at times but often they have the worst of a storm. Last May when Soper typhoon Pamela slammed into Guam crewmen were flying overhead warm and dry while families huddled below in boarded up Bil lets flooding with rain. Sgt. Tuttle for one talked to his wife Jackie on the radio. He recalled she said sorry Honey we lost the bar Buti m trying to save the Grandfather clock,4 " the stars and stripes Page is
