[ARC5] [Vintage-Military-RADAR] Gibson Girl- Response Summary

Tue Aug 14 17:12:19 EDT 2012

Gibson Girl "recently":

I served aboard the USS Gallant, MSO-489 an Ocean Minesweeper based in
Oakland CA.  When I left the ship in Sept 1986 we had a Gibson Girl ready
to go on the starboard bridge wing in its yellow flotation case.  It was
complete and maintained in the Ships "3M" system for readiness. Not sure
when they left the fleet for something better......
(yes, wooden ships can sink!)
Tim
N6CC

On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 5:37 AM, J. Forster <jfor at quikus.com> wrote:

> **
>
>
> Hi,
>
> On the question of documented Gibson Girl rescues, here is a collection of
> responses I've received:
>
> In the pacific the Japanese spoofed the Gibson Girl hoping to sink any
> rescue ships.
>
> Fred W4JLE
>
> ---------------
>
> I was a radio operator on the US Navy P2 patrol plane during VietNam era,
> yes, I do recall the Gibson Girl yellow transmitters on board, as part of
> the life raft equipment, that was somehow crammed into the main wing right
> near the radio compartment.
> We received periodic refresher training on them. I never used one, and a
> living testimony to talk about that. Ha ha.
>
> Chuck
>
> --------------
>
> In Latitude 38, a West Coast sailing magazine there was an account of a
> Gibson Girl signal playing a key role in a yacht rescue near San Francisco
> about 20? years ago. Definitely decades after WW2. The story was written
> by a USCG pilot who was on the mission. The pilot had his ADF tuned to 500
> KC. There was a big storm raging. Not sure how the distressed yacht
> managed to get an antenna up. Kite?
>
> I commercial fished tuna between Midway Island and Japan in the early 80s.
> We carried a Gibson Girl complete with hydrogen generators, box kite,
> balloon, etc. Bought it from George Bello, an Oakland CA surplus dealer.
> Anyone remember George? The Gibson Girl came with a yellow tag indicating
> that it had been on a USAF C 130. It was in a yellow bag laced up with
> something like a long shoelace. Fortunately we never had to transmit a
> Mayday or SOS. Got a many tons of Albacore tuna out there. Delivered them
> in Hawaii. Good times.
>
> Mark
> AF6IM
>
> --------------
>
> Here is a documented Gibson Girl rescue:
>
> 73, Bruce WA8TNC
> ================
>
> 39th Bomb Group
> Osaka Mission 1 June 1945
> Crew 30
>
> Just after landfall that day, Orr and his Crew 30 had trouble with an
> engine, but they refused to abandon the mission and went on to the target
> just before bombs away, a direct flak hit struck another engine and put it
> out of commission.
>
> Then, shortly after land's end, the propeller broke from the engine that
> had first given trouble and struck the B-29's fuselage with great force. A
> gaping hole was torn in the airplane, placing it in imminent danger of
> breaking up in the air.
>
> Working from the right side of the plane, Qrr and his pilot, Lieutenant
> Monte Frodsham, were able to bring the bomber under some measure of control
> and to maintain flight through some five hundred miles of turbulent frontal
> weather on instruments in a right-wing-low, nose-down attitude.
>
> The B-29 was in perilous condition with accumulated damage now amounting to
> the loss of two engines, a flak hit in the third, damage to the flight
> controls and the hole in the fuselage. As a matter of fact, whenever Bill
> Orr pulled back on the controls the whole plane would bend and the crew
> thought that it must surely fall apart in mid-air.
>
> After flying for several hours in this extremely dangerous state, the plane
> finally came out of the overcast and sighted a small-uninhabited island.
> There Orr ordered the crew to bail out.
>
> Then one of the bravest acts of the 39th Group's history took place. The
> flight engineer couldn't swim, so Monte Frodsham took him on his back and
> jumped from the stricken plane. Monte hoped that he would be able to assist
> the engineer when they got into the water. But the force of the air tore
> the man from the pilot's back and they fell separately.
>
> Orr remained with his plane and was the last to leave. Although he was
> barely managing to stay in flight with the one engine he had left, he
> refused to bail out until he was sure that all his men were out safely. He
> circled the spot where they had jumped until he saw them all in the water,
> and then, despite the fact that the B-29 was rapidly losing altitude and
> might blow up at any moment, he flew it away from the vicinity so that it
> could not possibly hit any of the survivors in the water when it crashed.
>
> Then Bill jumped at a dangerously low altitude. He got into the water
> safely and was later picked up, along with the other men, by Navy rescue
> facilities.
>
> And in connection with the rescue, there is another remarkable story to
> tell...
>
> Staff Sergeant James E. Schwoegler, Orr's radio operator, had stayed in the
> crippled plane until the last minute to assure himself that the ground
> station received his position report of the bail out.
>
> The Navy sent a rescue submarine immediately, and Captain Robert S. Laak of
> Crew 45 (62nd Squadron) took off in a B-29 to help locate Crew 30's
> survivors.
>
> Laak got the vicinity of Orr's bailout on 2 June. A B-17 had already
> dropped the men a Higgins lifeboat, after sighting them the day before.
> But, shortly after Laak and his crew left Iwo Jima, the weather closed in
> to such an extent that the entire search mission, which lasted about ten
> hours, was flown on instruments at altitudes varying from 100 to 500 feet.
>
> On the approach to the vicinity where the survivors had been seen, Sergeant
> Lloyd W. Dunnet, Laak's radio operator, made contact with two submarines,
> one of which was eventually directed to the survivors.
>
> Orr and his crew were close to Sofu Gan Island, a bare rock jutting
> straight out of the ocean.
>
> This island was a dangerous obstacle to Laak's flying, for available maps
> did not show its altitude.
>
> However, it was picked up by radar and shortly thereafter an SOS from Off's
> Gibson Girl was picked up on the radio compass.
>
> Laak was at low altitude in a complete overcast and could not see a thing.
> But he persisted in his efforts to find the survivors and direct the sub to
> them. He homed on the SOS until the signal would fade out, and then he
> would circle in that area until he could pick up the signal again. Then he
> would home on it again, and gradually, after hours spent in this sort of
> thing, he was sure that he was right over the men in the water. At this
> time the altimeter indicated 200 feet, but the overcast was so thick that
> the surface of the water could not be seen.
>
> Laak's radar observer, Lieutenant Edward M. Coon, plotted the position
> where he was sure the Higgins boat was. This information was transmitted to
> the submarine nearest the spot. Then the B-29 continued to circle the
> position where the survivors were and to give instructions to the sub.
>
> ---------------
>
> Thanks,
>
> -John
>
> ===================
>
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