European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 14, 1980, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday june 14, 1980 the stars and stripes Page 5 exercise in desert trains air Crews for global chores Indian Spring. Nov. Is the first moves of the . Rapid deployment Force in a Middle last War could Materia Lize As two tiny Green spots that suddenly appear in the desert sky above a Small aus Tere air held. Lesbianism probed on Navy ship Long Beach Calif. Up the Navy is investigating charges of homosexuality among women Crew members on the missile test ship Norton sound and has asked Many of them to undergo voluntary psychological testing it was reported thursday. The probe began May 15 with an investigation of 24 women nearly one third the females assigned to the ship. The newspaper daily Breeze which Dis closed the investigation said most of those suspected of homosexuality were 2nd and 3rd class Petty officers. It said none of the female of cars aboard the ship had been accused. A Navy spokesman said the investigation had since been narrowed to 16 women. Jim Mcdonough also noted that no charges had been hied against any of the women. The ship docked at Long Beach for maintenance was one of the first to accept females under the Navy s women at sea program. There arc 375 Crew members assigned to the ship including 58 enlisted women and three female officers. The ship routinely operates off the Southern California coast and is at sea an average of 3-4 Days a month. The daily Breeze published in Torrance Calif., based much of its report on a source at the Long Beach naval Hospital where several of the Crew members began voluntary psychological testing for lesbianism starting last Friday. Some of the women reportedly refused to be tested. V m m a and of time in the stars and stripes. 30 years ago today june 14, 1950 a four motored air France sky master carrying 43 passengers and eight Crew members from Saigon to Paris plunged into the persian Gulf killing at least 45 persons. 20 years ago foday june 14. I960 the father of Cap tured american u-2 Pilot Francis Gary Powers obtained a passport and said he was going to Russia to visit his son. To years ago foday june 14. 1970 sen. John Tower to Texas said his recent Lour of South Vietnam has shown him that the pro Gram is working. The patches As they emerged Here wednesday were the parachutes of two specially trained air Force commandos skydivers dropping from High Altitude. Their Mission was to set up the radio Bea con and the flares that would guide in a larger commando unit coming in a Low Fly ing c-1.10 transport. The goal As demonstrated wednesday in an air Force exercise called red hag. Was to locate a Remote Airfield or even a stretch of desert Highway and to use it to stage air strikes against a mythical aggressor that has attacked vital . Interests in the Middle East. Within 10 minutes the commandos had secured the Airstrip and two Small Green attack aircraft a-1 of had landed to be loaded with fuel and anti tank ammunition from a second c-130. The air Force was ready to go into Battle from a base very near the front lines of the the Point of the demonstration part of a month Long exercise Here is that the air Force is learning How to stage attacks from Bare base facilities places that have Little More to Start with than a hard surface Sand and wind. Although the air Force showed off an array of its new weaponry including the tank killing a-10 and the High performance f-15 Eagle fighter it also demonstrated that it is not an easy or a familiar Job to launch High technology weaponry from a base where you Start out with nothing. Europe s needs much of the training tactics and Doc Trine of the modern air Force has been tailored to the demands of a War in Europe where bases Are not Bare and where allies can support the air Force with sup plies and skilled technicians. A lot of that doctrine is being relearned Here in the biggest air Force desert exer Cise Ever undertaken. By the end of this month about 5,200 flights will be flown from Here from nearby Nellis air Force base just outside Las vegas and from three other desert bases. It. Gen. Arnold w. Braswell com Mander of the air Force component of the rapid deployment Force told reporters that the hardest problem to master will be maintenance the need to have portable hangars skilled technicians and parts available near the area of combat. The Type of desert Battle that the air Force is preparing for is similar to that of the Arab israeli War in 1973. It is a sophisticated High intensity conflict in which Victory May go to the Side that can quickly reload and relaunch its planes. Once you Are up there everything is All the same said Tim Rinnan a Pilot of an f-4 phantom Jet who with a laser guided bomb hit a truck in front of a grandstand full of reporters and air Force officers overlooking a desert test Range. The difficult part in the desert is getting up began in 1975 red Flag exercises began Here in 1975 when the air Force developed a special Squadron of aggressor fighters that were designed to Minu c the tactics and the performance of the soviet Mig-21. The idea was to come As close As possible to the demands of Aerial combat. Until this year however most of the exercises were designed to train pilots and ground Crews for Battle in Europe. The desert was an unintended but necessary Hazard the Only place in the where the air Force could find enough unpopulated space to practice its cymbal Type the current preoccupation with inc Middle East the air Force i emphasis on inc nato role is continuing. Susan Richardson co Star of the to series is enough tries out the new Buccaneer ride at he magic Moun Tain amusement Park in Valencia Calif. Getting her kicks the Buccaneer ride resembles a pirate ship suspended from an a Frame. Ii Moi in i 70-Degrce arc in either direction in a Mailer of seconds. A it s great when if s Over that Friday the 13th Philadelphia up circus per formers have a Good reason to fear Friday the 13th. On that Day in february 1931,legendary Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Star aria Lisl Lillian la Itzel fell to her death under inc big top. It All started with said frosty Little Clown director with Ringling which was to be performing in Philadelphia Fri Day. She was a big circus people arc a Little More superstitious than Little a circus Clown since 1956, said thursday and on Friday the i3lh we have to be extra careful. It s a bad Day for circus people know How to woo lady Luck. Certain colors arc not worn songs arc not Sung traditions Are followed scrupulously. Many of the fears Center on Clown Alley the clowns dressing room. Clown Alley has always been a place with the biggest taboos said Little. No one on Clown Alley is allowed to cat peanuts whistle or play the radio without courting bad Luck said Little. For the whole Ringling troupe there is a never broken Rule that the circus band can not play Auld Lang sync or Home Sweet Hume on any but the final night of performance. A watch slopped us 8 o clock was a portent of doom said Fox. Circus people believe the common superstition that accidents come in threes said Little. But other things common Folk observe arc largely ignored. We break a lot of mirrors on Clown Alliv and we have to under ladders All the said Little but i won t go near Swissair buying planes Zurich up Swissair. Soil or land s National airline announced plans to spend $600 million for four new Boeing 747 jumbo jetliners and two do ios. Swi Suir said inc do ios arc to be delivered in 1982 and the 747s in i9s3 a Black Good Luck charms used by circus people include a Bracelet or ring made of elephant hair printing the final engagement on the billboard posters upside Down or a piece of red fabric sewn to a costume. Yellow or Green fabric Are bad Luck. Little admitted he does t believe them All but i la be glad when it s Charles p. Chappy Fox vice president and director of circus research for the greatest show on Earth in their Winter quarters in Winter Haven. Fla., remembers some of the very old circus superstitions a few no longer observed. Circus performers would always enter the ring on the right foot said Fox. One that no one much bothers with any More said Fox. Is the legend that the circus could expect the worst kind of Luck if a woman was sitting in the front Row knitting. Mayors plead for Federal Aid Seattle a with a earnings of violence and growing hunger in the cities the nation s mayors pleaded wednesday Foi Federal assistance and decried the budget cutting fever in Congress. This current mania in Washington to balance the Federal budget at any Cost is hardly a courageous answer to our serious National mayor Richard Hatcher of Gary. Ind. Said in his inaugural speech As president of the . Conference of mayors which ended its annual Conven Tion. The american people have been stampeded into an unwarranted fear of the con sequences of vet another Federal deficit Hatcher said. Millions of american people arc being denied Basic necessities in order to obtain an illusory and almost meaningless National goal " Hatcher said cuts in Federal programs make it impossible for some to Mccu their
