ees,
Some discussion of ship vs. shore weather observation led to indefinite
conclusions since no one was prepared to compare costs of a ship station
for this same period.
However, a rough estimate for establishment of a
weather station to accommodate 12 to 15 AWS people, plus some space for
survey people of H&N, would be approximately $285,000.
This must be
weighed against the advantages to be accrued from the additional weather
data. It was decided that only LSD ship support would be suitable for
beachhead and backup support until the weather camp could be operated
with a probable requirement of service from LSD for a total of ho days
in the EPG area. The site of the weather station would appear to be
best located at an apparently good beaching location on PokaaktTeland.
ky
;
It was further determined that the original plan for the Taongi- station
as prepared for Redwing could not be materially scaled down, but would
serve as a working basis. Further, the original estimate seems realistic
except for the additional cost for some seadrome development and beachhead establishment. Material and equipment could be diverted from presently
available supplies at Iniwetok but would have to be replaced to prevent
interference with the balance of the program at Eniwetok and Bikini. Buildings would be prefabricated at Elmer to the greatest extent to reduce the
on-site time required for erection.
Rawinsonde observations would be taken twice daily, although one daily
would suffice according to Lt Col Curtis. There is a problem of demolition of old Japanese small ammunition and bombs prior to any general
development work at Taongi, and it would be necessary to call on Army
demolition teams to accomplish this work. Resupply would probably have
to be effected by Kwajalein aircraft, since the 4951st Test Group (N) is
not presently equipped with SA-16 aircraft. Additional resupply might be
effected by diverting the Bikini shuttle LST at about three week intervals.
It is realized that great difficulty exists in the assignment of a LSD fof
this mission, and particularly since the requirement would tie it up for a
period of 35 to 40 days in the EPG area.
Dr. Felt interposed a serious question as to the validity of information
obtained from a one-point station only, and submitted that possibly additional stations approximately 200 miles to SW and SE would be necessary to get any pattern of value. It was suggested that possibly a
station could be activated at Bikini at a minimum expense, and that the
newly proposed Utirik station could be established incidentally with
Taongi, at no additional construction cost, provided ship support was
obtainable. This three-point proposal poses a problem of air weather
service personnel availability; however, no additional operational cost
should be realized by the air weather service by reassignment of personnel from other active locations. It Col Curtis stated that CDR Rex and
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