The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1946-03-04

Aircraft carrier cities in them
selves are the Naval Air Stations
of the city, including the Sea-
plane Base on Palm Avenue, Boca
Chica Field out at Boca Chiea and
Meacham Field blimp training
base on Roosevelt Boulevard-an
units of U. S. Naval Air Station,
Key West.
There are two sides to this huge
story of Americas Night Fighter
Annapolis of the Air bases here.
One side is the magnificent train
ing the country's best naval fight
ers receive in night fighter work
using the latest IN navigation and
in ordnance plane tactics at night.
/ The other side is that of logistics
or supply or the housekeeping
end fthe big naval bases. =
! Making a complete tour with
Lieutenant Commander Harold
Unterberg of Boca Chica Field,
and Lieutenant Herbert McNeal,
public information officer at the
Naval Air Station, my eyes were
open wide at the extenSiveness IF
the operations here. Very few
who see all this from the out e.
side and do not go inside the gates
know exactly what there is and
was one of those who never sua-
pected the extensiveness of the
operations here.
My mind is jammed with Wis
ions of beautiful cream-colored
quarters; of a mammoth gaIIes.
into which two lines are fed; of
Homoja huts, the navy version
of the Army Quonset ,huts; of d
huge flying field along whose
perimeter we drove and drove To
cover the entire area; of huge
hangers and planes drawn up in
squadron after squadron; of the
latest in fire-fighting equipment
and rescue craft. So behind 81
those tight squadrons yoa seq II HI
the sky there are the house
keepers" who arrange to keep elm
Tying. .,tt Hrilob bnB a.0ftE
We. first toured Seaplane Base
here in Key West, Going into the
main main gate we passed. first brown
colored wooden houses which is
the, housing project for enlisted
men and their families. Mighty
handy to jump out of bed, grab
some breakfast and report for
morning quarters color at eight
o'clock. We showed our pass u
the marine at the gate who smart
ly saluted the officers in the car
as only marine can salute. To
the left is a secuLy office where
passes. are issues and alongside
F., the office of the officer of the
day.
! To the right is the administra
ton building where is housed the
main offices of the Seaplane
Base. Here is Commanding Off
Ger Captain William H. Hamilton
and Executive Officer Comdr.
Groome E. Marcus, Jr. Here are
the public works officer and the
personnel officer, the industrial
relations officer, the. central files
office and the disbursing officer
! Getting into a station wagon we
started down the station. Driv-
ing out on the old Trumbo Island
fill, which fronts Garrison Blight
on the northern side, we saw the
huge Operations Tower, with it,
large, blush glasses giving four
way view. Besides general oper-
atoms used in handling all planes
f., coming into the Seaplane Base,
, there is also based here the larg-
est radio unit in the naval bases
here All radio and teletype mes
sageS coming into Key West are
! "processed" and routed through
this building. A large number OF
frequencies on the various receiV-
ers are manned at this control
tower. Here also is an adjunct OF
/ the naval weather observer crews
!. Whit cooperate with the Boca
Chica weather observer station
Through these stations also come
the reports from all over the coun
: try as to the progress of storms
! and low and high pressure areas
i At the east end of this fill is a
;, bulkhead and the water entrance
into Garrison Blight and across the
way the Key West Yacht Club
! Doubling back,on our paths along
this fill over which once ran
Flagler's Florida East Coast Rail
road, we pass the supply build
ing to the left. In this building
y are stored myriad plane body and
lengine parts which will ultimate
ly go to Seaplane Base aircraft
and Boca Chica Field planes.