"
.
FP
°
#&t Ow History Office
lu
An March Trip Report written by Col. Wignall refers to a trip to
Headquarters, ARDC and JTF-7 on 9 and 10 March where a number of items
were discussed, including attending the "Operation EARLYBIRD Planning
Conference" at JTF-7.
Referred to first of all were the discussions transferring
IndianSprings from ARDC to TAC and the fact that this transfer was presently
in the state of negotiation.
Secondly the B-57 replacement airc raft situation
was discussed at some length and the AFSWC requirements were clarified to
ARDC.
Third, it is stated that at JTF-7,
he learned that the Army is taking
over both Johnston and Kwajalein to serve as missile launch points, both
‘on a contract basis with the Navy writing the contract for Kwajalein support.
As a result of planned activities at Kwajalein,
MATS activites at Eniwetok has gone away.
the requirement for increasing
Next, discussions looked at the
reductions that had taken place inthe Army detachments at Eniwetok, Task
Group 2. 2, where earlier the Army had determined that reducing to the level
of 396 personnel was as low as they could go,
they have now unilaterly reduced
their strength to 224 and JTF-~7 is making a considered effort to get the Army
to reconsider its position but are not optimistic.
The impact of this personnel
cut on support provided to the Air Force is substantial.
The FARLYBIRD
planning conference was postponed and will be rescheduled for some time in
late March.
Among his conclusions, Col. Wignall feels that paper work must
be provided to ARDC to increase the B-57 inventory of the 4926th from 10 to
12 aircraft.
A 30 March 1959 memo within the Special Weapons Center notes
the following projects: - Kiwi, Sounding Rocket Launch from B-57, EARLYBIRD,
WILLOW,
JAVELIN,
and Reactor Hazards.