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| History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| (Source: Seventh Army Annual Historical Report FY 1954) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ORGANIZATION (30 June 1954): | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| (Source: Seventh Army Annual Historical Report FY 1956) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ORGANIZATION (30 June 1956): | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| The AAA Gun Bn
(90mm) consisted of a HQ & HQ Btry and four firing batteries (A, B,
C, & D). Each firing battery had four towed 90mm guns M2, a trailer-mounted SCR-584 radar, a trailer-mounted M9 fire control system, and other pieces of equipment. In 1951 or 1952, the SCR-584 equpment was replaced by a new fire control system called the Fire Control System M33. |
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| (Source: Email from James Slack, 504th Opn Det) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I was commissioned
a 2nd Lt. through the ROTC program at Utah State University and ordered
to training at Fort Bliss in October of 1954. Got married to my college
sweetheart in Price, Utah on March 19th, 1955, after completion of
training and then sent to Germany. We traveled concurrently aboard the USS General Butner from New York to Bremerhaven, then by train to Mannheim where we were met by the unit exec. I was assigned to the 504th Ops Detachment, part of HQ Company of the 34th AAA Brigade. General McDonnell was (34th AAA) Brigade Commander. We were Headquartered in Funari Barracks, Mannheim/Kafertal. I was a 1st Lt and was there from late 1954 to September 1956. The 504th set up and operated the Air Control Command Center for the General (CG of the 34th AAA Brigade). We would receive information on incoming enemy aircraft (during drills) and plot positions on a large plotting board. This information was then relayed by radio and land line to the Groups and Battalions who used their long range acquisition radars to pick up the aircraft and then the batteries would use their radars (as in the pictures below) to lock on to targets and feed info on speed and altitude to the guns. This was all done by computer. The gun crews would insert a round into the fuse timer, load and fire. We would conduct field exercises about twice a year - set up the Air Control Command Center in a huge 90 x 90 circus type tent. No firing on these exercises. To actually exercise the guns, the units would ship by train to the North Sea. The wife and I were quartered in an area know as "Little America". This was a huge apartment complex constructed in Mannheim near Funari Barracks especially for service personnel and their families. Needles to say, the complex was excellent - 4 stories, 4 apartments to a floor and completely furnished. The correspondence I sent came from some former AAA people who replied to a notice I published in the VFW Magazine about a reunion for the 34th and 504th. Very few responses. No reunion. I think a web site may help to bring some of those that served in Germany during the 50's together. Our mission was defense of the Rhine River Bridge. We were equipped with 90 mm and 120 mm AA guns and the service was just converting to Nikes when I left. Always wondered if we could have shot up Russian Migs with the 90's and 120's. |
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| (Source: Email from John King) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I recently read
an email from 2nd Lt. James Slack, 504th Opn Det, providing some past
history on the 34th AAA Brigade. I also served in Germany at the same
time as Lt. Slack. His condensed history of the 34th AAA Bde is pretty
much as I remember it. I have one minor correction: from 1955 to 1956 I was assigned to the 40th AAA Gun Bn. The location was not Rhein Ksn, Wiesbaden but Kleber Ksn, Kaiserslautern. This is just a point of fact, hoping that the history of the 34th stays correct. Each AAA unit had a crest and motto, our motto was "Defend or Die". Thank You Lt. Slack for keeping this small part of our military history alive. |
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| (Source: Email from Charles E. Rogers) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I served with
the 504 AAA Operation Detachment at Funari Barracks, Kafertal, Germany
attached to 34th AAA Brigade. Our group was there during the early
1950's. I am including a history of the group that was written June 21, 1954 and published on a roster written for Brig.General Frank C. McConnell. We have been researching the unit and members of the group for reunion purposes. As you well know such research is a constant treasure hunt. Charles Rogers |
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| UNIT HISTORY The 504th AAA Operations Detachment was originally activated in the ETO at Great Chesterford, Essex, England, on 30 April 1944 as the 153rd AAA Operations Detachment in accordance with T/O & E 44 7, dated 28 February 1944. During World War II this unit received battle participation credits for the following Campaigns: (1) Northern France, (2) Central Europe, (3) Rhineland, and (4) Ground Combat. European-African-Middle Eastern Theater. The 153rd was transferred in an inactive status to the control of the War Department concurrently with its inactivation in September 1945 at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. On 13 October 1948 the 153rd AAA Operations Detachment was re-designated the 504th AAA Operations Detachment and designated a Regular Army Unit. During June 1949 the 504th AAA Operations Detachment was activated and assigned to the Fourth Army at Fort Bliss, Texas as a General Reserve Unit. Upon completion of training the unit was transferred to Fort Devens, Massachusetts in August 1950. The 504th AAA Operations Detachment was assigned to the 80th AAA Group at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. During the month of December 1950 the 504th AAA Operations Detachment was transferred to Fort Wadsworth, New York. From Fort Wadsworth the unit was transferred in April 1951 to its present overseas station in Mannheim, Germany where it is currently assigned to 34th AAA Brigade. |
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| (Source: STARS & STRIPES, Sept 11, 1956) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 Units Keep AAA Training Targets Flying Army's RCAT Pilots: They Never Leave the Ground GRAFENWOEHR, Germany -- Nearly 400 aircraft are maintained here by a small squad of "pilots" who never get off the ground. Members of the 49th and 53rd AAA RCAT Detachments headquartered at Grafenwoehr fly thousands of miles every month without leaving the ground. Their mission is to maintain and operate one of the most unique training aids in the Army -- Remote Controlled Aerial Targets. The Grafenwoehr RCAT repair shop, housing hundreds of midget aircraft, extra motors and repair parts, is a military mecca for the model airplane enthusiasts. Here skilled aerial technicians assemble, repair and test-fly miniature aircraft for the use in the 7th Army's mammoth antiaircraft training program. |
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| "These babies aren't toy airplanes," emphasizes MSgt Harry E. Palm. "They'll do everything an airplane will do, and a lot of things an airplane can't do." The RCAT utilized to test the accuracy and efficiency of 7th Army anitaircraft firing at Grafenwoehr and Todendorf ranges is 12 feet long. Capable of a top speed of 220 mph, it is powered by a single 72-hp, two-cylinder, air-cooled engine -- more than it takes to fly some light sports planes. The unassembled miniature planes are crated in a large box when they arrive at the Grafenwoehr shop. RCAT experts must unpack, build and tune-up the craft. About 200 aircraft are maintained on the ready line at each range. Extensive use of the machines by both small automatic weapons units and the larger guns firing at Todendorf keep the RCAT outfit humming in high gear. Controlled by Radio Launched with JATO units or conventional cables, the planes are controlled from the ground with a jeep-mounted radio transmitter. The "pilot" operates a "stick" on the control box to guide the small aircraft on its course. A gyro unit in the RCAT receiver helps maintain level flight. "They snap roll, dive, loop and spin," according to land-bound navigator Sgt Walter M. Frye. "They make a pretty tough target for even the best artillery outfits." A device as unique as the airplane itself is utilized to land the aircraft. At a signal from the ground, the powerful engine sputters into silence, a trap door opens in the fuselage and a large parachute billows free to lower the plane gently to earth. "Average flight-life of an RCAT is nine or ten hours," according to 1st Lt Dudley D. Yost, CO of the 49th. "We repair what we can. The rest goes in for salvage." "They take quite a beating up there," added Palm. "The smaller guns aren't too bad, but once those Skysweepers start banging away at Todendorf, these little RCAT's don't last too long. A near hit is enough to damage them beyond repair." During their brief employment the miniature planes present a highly realistic and maneuverable target for 7th Army's aerial gunners, whether flying free or trailing 15 yards of target sleeve fluttering 100 yards behind. Less than a hundred aerial experts maintain these money-saving targets at Grafenwoehr and Todendorf ranges. Yost heads the 50-man 49th Det, and 2nd Lt Joseph E. Lynch commands the 25 soldiers of the 53d. |
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504th
AAA Opn Det
