Day Two; 10-8-2011

Well the day dawned with sunshine and great promise but did not turn out quite the way it was planned. I was down at the Hook at 9:30 (it's always easier when Sandy's leaving for work at the Home Depot early too). Picking up where I left off  from the prior week I was curious what the state of the stripper I left on two fin bolts would be - it seemed to be somewhat pliable but it was dry to the point of knowing not to leave it for that long again. Anyway, it was time to start on the smaller leading fins - these are held in with allen head cap screws which had been painted in pretty bad.  Back to the stripper:

Digging out the cap screws is going to be interesting; the stripper and paint form a thick paste and it is difficult to get a majority of it out of the screw head. I ended up with the allen wrench not pushing far enough in to the head because of the paste to get a good grip.

While wishing I had a good air line to blow it clear, I heard a truck pull up and it turned out to be Ken Braswell and his Father-in-Law, Bob. Bob is a WWII vet and graciously offered to loan us his air compressor. Well, they had the unit in the truck! I spent some time unloading it with them  and talking. By this time it was almost noon. Saturday was one of the scheduled tour dates for our IFC (The Integrated Fire Control i.e. the radar & vans) area. I got a call from Tony Tannucilli, our MP (volunteer) that we we only had Bill Jackson available for the tours and he was faced with a Boy Scout Troop as well as civilians - could I get up there and assist. I closed up the shop and went up to lend a hand.

I must say it was one of the busiest tour days I have ever encountered. We counted 110 folks through the gates and just Bill & I were giving the tours. Funny thing though, these folks were all truly interested. They asked lots of intelligent questions (young & old alike) and they actively participated in the tour. One gentleman was with the FAA and added a lot of great stories about the HIPAR radar; another fellow had been in the Navy and work worked with cryptography and helped explain how that worked in a system like ours. There was also a Nike vet who explained the failsafes on a nuclear weapon to the group. The groups took on a dynamic all their own and before we knew it we had run past closing time.

In the end, I did not make much headway on the missiles but I certainly reinforced the reason that I am doing them. "Til the next time....... Blazing Skies!"

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oozlefinch is the unofficial historic mascot of the Air Defense Artillery – and formerly of the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps. Oozlefinch is portrayed as a featherless bird that flies backwards (at supersonic speeds^[3]) and carries weapons of the Air Defense and Coastal Artillery, most often a Nike-Hercules Missile. Oozlefinch has been portrayed in many different forms and artistic interpretations through its history.^[4] Oozle's motto is "If it flies, it dies. Blazing skies." reinforcing the purpose of the Air Defense Artillery.