European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 01, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Is amp ill talks to a military Airlift come Ting Ropcean is class Michael Madole left rear and staff sgt. Neil Frame operate the strategic air come Fig ant talk Quot radio sgt. Patrick operates a spectrum analyser which provides a visual display of a satellites radio signal. 3-Anc i me ase s in a Audij my Toner Croughton a. Big electronic ears1 Are listening to it All a serenity of Croughton quickly evaporated when the Gui War began. Leaves were cancelled personnel were put in two hour recall and work shifts were extended to t 12 hours. Everyone pulled armed guard duty and All prepared to act As litter bearers in Case there was a Quot flood of. Incoming casualties at nearby Raf upper Heyford. _ a a a a adding Impromptu overhaul of its routine the Small base absorbed 300 More personnel a spillover. From up ser Heyford which had swollen in size . Incoming medical . Sandra Karas the chief of operations at a a a Croughton is justifiably proud of the role Raf Croughton sued Gulf War As Well As its current involvement in operation provide Comfort now under Way in Northern. A. Iraq a we were the sole provider of specifically tailored weather data for desert storm Quot Karas said referring to Croughton s ability to collect and disseminate weather. Data monitored from foreign weather data interception is Only one of a multitude of services provided on a 24-hour basis.--. Also within the facility personnel Ara dedicated to the a giant Taik. Radio network to a a a give the Sac commander instantaneous worldwide. Contact with his Fleet of aircraft. A a v a Croughton a global corp Mahland control station a a a. Goneof"t4 worldwide enables do Way. Communications a Between ground stations and a aircraft a including vip flights Rescue and and airborne command posts to a few a. A the station., which won Safe s Best radio facility -. A award for 1989 and was nominated for the same award to font990, served As an electronic communications Hub for thousands of Mac and tactical aircraft operating Over the. Atlantic Ocean and the european and Middle Eastern Heaters of operation during the Gulf War. Another facet of Croughton s operation is a an automatic. Digital network switching Center a component of the a tense communications system which provides am highly efficient Storb and Forward message service to the Quot other Federal agencies. A a 1 a a a. Quot Croughton normally processes about 3 w million a a a. Messages per month from various sources which averages a Little More than one message every single a second 24 hours a Day seven week but the. Traffic easily doubled or tripled in some sections when the Gulf operations began a _ t through urge War Croughton continued to Crank a out the traffic with Little Opportunity for a Roa in Nance. A Small Chart on the Wall in the. Satellite. Communications terminal shows that the term in a i. Maintained Arv average of 99.5 percent reliability Over the past several months. Because communications were so vital to the War Effort the terminal could not Collord to shut. Down for routine maintenance for even a single minute. T Migyanko described. Croughton s efforts in As few Twords As possible Quot we handled so much saudi traffic v we had Sand on the a. Quot May 1, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 15
