,
rescueoperations. Furthermne, the housingrequirementsfor the Air
Task Group presented an additional construction requirement. This
latter problem was the simplest to solve, and was met by ordering the
926th Aviation Engineer Battalion, comnsnded by Colonel Keith Barney,
from the 7th Air Force at @huto
Kwajalein. This battalion completed
the required construction well in advance of the arrivsl of the Air
Task Group, and was returned to Oahgby
air. The augmentation problem,
however, was not finally solved for several months, due to the necessity
of coordination
betweensh headquartersand the impossibility
of
assemblingall concernedfor a singleconference.
After assignmnt of a detachmentof the 2d EngineerSpecialBrigade
to the JointTask Forceon 31 Gctober,a letterof instructions
for its
commander,BrigadierGeneralD. A. D. Ogden,was preparedby J-3 in
collaboration
with the Task ForceEngineer. This letterof instructions,
whichwas signedby GeneralHull on 6 November1947, incorporated
the
MI to Major ’~V.
J. A. Hussey,CO of the 1.220th
ProvisionalEngineer
Battalion,(issuedon 30 October)and outlinedthe construction
requirements on the EniwetokAtoll in orderof priority. Duringthis sam
week, l)r.Fromanbroughtwith him to ‘lfashington
the firstdraft of the
scientificplan and discussedit in detailwith GeneralHn31, General
Barker,and other staffsectionheads,thus givingJ-3 its first fh
basis on which to base the all importantEvacuationand Reentry pl=S.
After a conferencewith GeneralKepner,CaptainRusselland Dr.
Graves,it was decidedto base the drone airplanesof the &
10
SectionIII
*
Task Group
,