| The Photo Mapping Wing
at Turner Air Base, Albany, GA. |
| Webmaster’s note: We are indebted
to Sparks Lunney and to Jimbo Kinter for their information on this
important part of the Turner Air Base History. They tell us they are
trying to locate enough of their colleagues to have a reunion. You might
wish to visit their reunion page run by Sparks at http://hometown.aol.com/reunion
1374th/index.html for more reunion information. There are also some links
from that page you may wish to follow as they provide good personal
information and pictures but be forewarned that this webmaster found those
links to be slow in loading .
Activated in October 1958 at Turner Air Force Base, Albany, Georgia with the then new RC-130 jet-prop aircraft, the 1375th Photo Mapping Group was responsible for the Air Force’s aerial mapping photography and electronic surveying, including world wide precision photo-mapping, electronic controlled photo-mapping and aerial electronic geodetic surveys. In February 1959, the original group was joined at Turner by the remaining groups of the Air Force photo mapping organization and was designated as the 1370th Photo-Mapping Wing operating from one location in order to meet the growing need for accurate world wide mapping and charting. Air Force Photo-Mapping has roots as far back as World War II with the 20th Combat Mapping Squadron, organized in 1944 and responsible for pre-invasion mapping of Japan. As early as the 1950s, the Air Force’s 1370th Photo Mapping Group, using RB50’s and Hirano group stations was busy mapping Viet Nam.
The photo mapping unit at Turner Field grew to 1650 men, 51 multi-engine aircraft and worldwide responsibilities. C-130 turbo-prop aircraft replaced the C-45’s. Initially, four H-21 Helicopters and three C 54’s joined the Wing. The Wing was organized into seven squadrons, one operation location and several aerial survey teams. Their exact mapping of the size and shape of the earth and the exact location of points on its surface were of great national significance as America entered an age of high speed computers and ICBMs. No existing maps were accurate enough for the emerging weapons of the future. With its mission "To Map the World", the Wing deployed its personnel as Aerial Survey around the globe, in places as diverse as Ethiopia, Columbia, Brazil, Venezuela, Peru and New Guinea. The teams were composite units of personnel and equipment went into the field throughout the world to function as a complete team of mapping and surveying. Supplies and logistical support were furnished by the 1370th Supply and Materiel. Either the 1371st with their RB-50’s or the 1375th with their RC-130’s did primary mission flying. The 1371st also furnished flying personnel for the C-52’s (c-54’s), C-47’s and CH-21’s which were used as cargo carriers. Communication and electronics support and personnel for the HIRAN ground stations were furnished by the 1374th while the 1373rd furnished the photographic processing, evaluation, geodetic computations and technical planning for aerial surveying. The personnel of the 1375th CAMRON did maintenance.
In October of 1968, as the world moved into the era of manned space flight and satellite surveillance, the Wing was moved to Forbes AFB, Kansas. Reflecting the changing technology, it was renamed the Aerospace Cartographic and Geodetic Service. Photos of the aircraft taken by Jimbo Kinter are located at http://www.1370th.com, a website owned and maintained by Jimbo (slow to load but under improvement). Rumor in Albany, Georgia says that Francis Gary Powers may have been at Turner as there seems to be some correlation between the mission of the Photo Mapping Wing and the mission of the U-2’s. Jimbo Kinter documents the landing of one U-2 at Turner, late in 1961. He watched it land from the excellent viewing location of his helicopter section in the hangar directly across from the 5000 foot mark on the runway where the U-2 stopped. It was immediately surrounded by Air Force Patrol and firefighting equipment. The Base Commander drove out on the runway. The U-2 pilot got in the commander’s vehicle and drove to somewhere on the base. They returned about an hour later, the pilot got in, fired up the U-2 and then took off in the direction he came from. During this time the runway was closed to all traffic. Due to security at the time, no one that Jimbo knew took any pictures of the event.
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