The Sidney herald., 1957-02-14

Nelson and Jay Lalonde as OBJ
servers; one plane donated by the
Burns Flying Service, piloted by
Albert Ledbetter, with George
Jones as observer; and one do
mated by DR.. d. c. Baker, piloted
by John Burns, with Homer Cor
der as observer.
Friday, many of the planes par
tlclpating reported no success as
weather worked a hardship on
pilots and observers, as snow,
freezing rain and ground fog we're
reported in the Fit. Peck, Glas-
gov, Sidney and Williston areas.
Hope was high until the very last
that Mr.. Wye had not been ser
iously injured and that he would
stay with his plane until found.
Friday evening at IL p. m, 1t.
Col. Anthony of the Montana
Wing of the Civil Air Patrol at
Helena, telephoned Commanding
Officer 1t. John Burns of the Sid
ney Squadron of CAP that the
Sidney Squadron was assigned to
assist the Montana Aeronautics
Commission in the search and res
III mission for Mr.. Wye and the
Cessna 1870 he was flying. The
Sidney Squadron was aIerted by
telephone and Radio Station KG-
CX to report at the Sidney Air
port Saturday morning. Staff Of
ficers Of the Squadron met early
Saturday morning at the Lalonde
hotel for breakfast and prelim-
mary briefing.
Headquarters were established
in the terminal building occupied
by Frontier Airlines at the Sid
ney airport. 1t. Burns stated that
many assignments had to be made
before a search of the area assign
ed to Sidney could be started,
among which were to Maintenance
Officer Jack Knoop and John Mar
mon to inspect and ready all air.
craft available, being assisted by
Civil Air Patrol Cadets Lee An
derson, Billy Thompson, Richard
Haugen and Clifford Tyree. 1t.
Homer Gorder assembled survival
equipment for each plane, with
binoculars for each observer. Lit
Burns expressed his appreciation
on behalf of the Squadron to ev-
eryone who loaned this equip
ment. 1t Baker was in charge
of plotting and charting of areas
to be assigned each p1an4 taking
part in the search. 1t kansDa-
ker was assigned the operation Of
the office and telephone comx1un-
ications. On request of Command
er Burns, road equipment Of the
City Of Sidney was dispatched to
the airport to clear the runway
of snow and to stand by as a part
OF the ground rescue team. Rich
land County equipment was dis
patched to Ted Sorensen's private
air strip to clear it of snow, for
use as a secondary and emergen-
cy landing field. County equip
ment also stood by in case of
need.
At this point 1t. Burns contact
ed Search and Rescue Officer Ly-
man Choat of Miles City, who was
n charge of search and rescue
operations for this area under the
Montana Aeronautics Commission
and outlined the area that the
Squadron was to cover.
This included the area south to
he Sidney-Richey railroad, east
md north to the confluence of
he Yellowstone and Missouri riv-
RS, and west to the Redwater. Al
% included was an res north to
'lentywood and to a point about
5 miles west and south again to
he Missouri river. The entire area
vas then gridded, dividing il
nto five sections and assigned to
Flames suitable to their speed and
.as supply. All planes then were
ERECTED in the pattern to follow
nd to contact base operations v
ry two hours. =
1t. Jim Sebastian was assigned
o dispatch and clearance of air.
raft and was assisted by Civil
Air Patrol Cadets Janet Buchholz,
linda Burns and Julie Hoversten.
It. Lyle Arneson was in charge
f all communications.
Company "A" of the Montana
Iational Guard dispatched six vol
nteers, Sgt. Bob Koch, M-Sgt.
Vanderhoof, Sgt. Frank
'erhassel, SIC Glenn Stanford.
&c Martin Dahl, SIC William
orester and Pvt. Richard Chris
'nsen with two jeeps and a 21z-
IN truck, ready to S at the
ommand of the Mission Com
lander to transport any equip
tent, medical supplies or person
Radio communications equip
lent of Company "A" was avail
Die for use. They were ready
nd prepared to go any place in
lie area to search, and to stay
vernight if necessary. Capt. D. c.
aker, Commanding Officer of
ompany "A", stated that his
ompany of the Montana Nation
Guard is prepared with exper-
need personnel and necessary
luipment to meet any such emer-
sncy arising in this community
lat may require that type of Ter
ce when the services and equip
ent of private or other agencies
not available.
Aircraft used in the search were
Navion owned by Tractor and
iuipiIiciit ~, Plloteu Dy LII
I'm Burns with John Marmon,
airy Bracken, 1t. John Low and
aryl Moser as observers; Piper
Il donated by the Burns Flying
piloted by 1t. d. d. Ba-
with Bud Bracken as obser-
r; Piper J-3 donated by Or. ID.
Continued on page 81