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A few days after our return from the river trip, I went to Atlanta and began work at the Army’s 4th Corps Area Net Control Station, WVR, located at Ft. McPherson, Georgia, adjacent to Atlanta. I was pleased to discover that I was among the most experienced operators there, and the only one with a knowledge of radio equipment. I enjoyed the work very much. The job paid $1,620 per year, which was more than I had imagined I would be able to earn at first, and I received a considerable amount of valuable technical and operating experience.

The kind lady at the boarding house where I lived allowed me to install my amateur radio equipment and put up a Windom antenna between some trees. I soon made the largest purchase I had ever made when I bought a Hallicrafters Sky Champion S20R. Although relatively inexpensive ($49.50), it was a quite satisfactory communications receiver. I used the transmitter shown in the photo taken in April 1940. The S20R is the same receiver as was used at the field stations in District D, and is shown in a previous photo. I again enjoyed many hours on the air. Although living in a city was strange to me, life was great! Today (2005), the old S20R receiver still works. Although no longer in use, it is very nostalgic to see it on the shelf, and to remember the fun it gave me over a number of my early years as a radio amateur.

After we returned from the river trip, Guy Coleman joined the C.C.C. and became a radio operator at the C.C.C. camp at Quitman, Mississippi. Quitman was a station in the net where I served as Chief Operator at Ft. McClellan, Ala. Guy also became a radio amateur with the call W5KFL. Guy later joined the Navy and became a Signalman. Sadly, he lost his life when his ship was torpedoed during WW-II. He was the only close friend that I lost during WW-II. In recent years, Guy’s brother Jim Coleman, who painted the name “Teeny” on the boat, gave me the previous photo of the Quitman station with the S20R receiver. He also gave me one of Guy’s W5KFL QSL cards.

About the middle of 1941, I learned about the Civilian Technical Corps, a British organization being formed to recruit American technicians, among them radio technicians to work in the new RDF system (now called radar) that gave advanced warning of enemy aircraft approaching the shores of the United Kingdom. Believing that it was a worthy cause, and eager to gain more technical experience, as well as excitement, I submitted my application and was soon afterward accepted. Before leaving, I had a few days vacation at home, and enjoyed it very much.

I was very sad to know that it would be a long time before I would see my family again. It was also sad to realize that it would probably be years before I would again be able to use my amateur radio equipment. I packed my equipment it in a strong box, nailed it shut, and shipped it home. I knew that my mother would guard it carefully. Although leaving was sad, I felt that I had to do it. She was told to use my Hallicrafters receiver as the family radio, as they didn’t have a good radio. It was still serving as the family radio when I returned home after the war in December, 1945.




My family - Mother, Joe, my step father Melvin Sanderson, and Anne standing in front of the family home previously shown. They were dressed to attend church. -- This photo was taken in 1941 during my visit home shortly before leaving to join the C.T.C. This is my most nostalgic photo from that period.

On Sept. 19, 1941, I departed Atlanta by train and traveled to Montreal, Canada, where I officially became a member of the Civilian Technical Corps. I was issued a Royal Air Force uniform with black buttons instead of brass. To keep the enrollees busy, we were often marched up and down Mount Royal, which overlooks Montreal.

When the time came for me to depart for Halifax, Nova Scotia, to board a troop ship bound for England, I could not leave because my passport had not yet arrived from New York. Luckily that prevented me from being with that group of 19 C.T.C. men who lost their lives when their ship, the S.S. Vancouver Island was sunk in the North Atlantic with no survivors on Oct. 15, 1941. I left in the next group and sailed to Liverpool on the HMTS Andes, arriving there on October 17, 1941. After a brief stay at CTC headquarters in Bournemouth, England, I attended a RAF school for several months to learn to maintain and repair the early warning radar system known as the “Chain Home” (CH) system. Upon graduation, I was assigned to a CH station on the Isle of Man, an island in the middle of the Irish Sea. I had done well at school, and the head instructor told me that I had received by far the best posting. I greatly benefited from the training and technical experiences, and my time on the Isle of Man was enjoyable. I even had an opportunity to use radio telegraphy when I would often relieve the telegraph operator at the tracking station who was sending airplane plots to the plotting room. After a year and a half, it became apparent that the CTC might be terminated due primarily to the U.S. having entered the war, and I decided to make a change rather than to wait for events to happen over which I would have no control.

L
eft: - Jim Farrior, in CTC uniform. - Photo taken at Douglas, Isle of Man, April, 1943

While our ship was being loaded with cargo, Capt. Wilder, our skipper, gave me several days off so that I could return home to Letohatchie for a visit. All of my family were there, including Anne, who had married but her husband had been posted to an distant army post in Texas. It was wonderful to see them and to hear their “southern” voices. It seemed like old times. I also had an enjoyable movie and dinner date in Montgomery with Teeny Jenkins, who had written to me while I was away.

As Chief Radio Officer, I made a number of voyages in the Atlantic, and Mediterranean War Theaters on the Chandler, and in December, 1943, sailed out of New Orleans on the S. S. Anthony Revalli, another Liberty Ship, and made two voyages in the North and South Pacific War Theaters. On the last voyage that I made in the Merchant Marine, we arrived in Okinawa shortly after the Japanese surrender. We endured two terrible typhoons in Buckner Bay, during which many ships were sunk in the harbor, and many lives were lost. While there, I was able to visit with my uncle, Colonel Hundley Thompson who was Provost Marshal of Okinawa. He had received recent news from home. In December 1945, the war having finally come to an end, I left my ship in Long Beach, California, and returned home.

At home in Montgomery

In 1944, Melvin’s job had been moved from Letohatchie to nearby Montgomery, and Mother and Melvin had bought a small home in Montgomery. Now accustomed to country life, my mother had brought her chickens with her as there was room for a chicken yard. She and Melvin were very happy there. While waiting for the Spring quarter to begin at Auburn, I found some things to do. I bought a car and began dating some pretty girls. The home had a vacant space in a hallway, and Mother had a small table I could use, so I put up a simple antenna, unpacked my amateur radio equipment, and was soon on the air contacting some of my old amateur radio friends. We indeed had a lot to talk about. Amazingly, the equipment had waited patiently for me in its wooden box, and everything worked when power was applied.

When I entered the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now named Auburn University, for the spring quarter of 1946, the lady at my boarding house permitted me to put my Windom 20/40/80 meter antenna between two trees and also provided a small table for my radio equipment. I continued to use my old transmitter that I had built in 1940. For nostalgic reasons, I couldn’t part with my Hallicrafters Sky Champion receiver that I had bought in Atlanta, but I bought a surplus BC-348Q receiver. This surplus Army Air Corps receiver cost very little and came in the original unopened box. It was a fine receiver, and if it had not been surplus military equipment, it would have been far too expensive for me. Since it was made for aircraft power, I had to build a small power supply to replace the small motor generator that was inside the case.

During the time I was going to school, I served as Chief Engineer of AM station WJHO that served the towns of Auburn and Opelika, Ala. At the station, I met, and later (12/24/47) married Peggy Adams. She had been the copy writer for the station. We had a short, but very happy honeymoon in Key West, Florida. Upon our return, we moved into an apartment at 500 ½ South 8th St. in Opelika. It was upstairs above where Peggy had lived with her mother. The building belonged to T.K Davis, Peggy’s brother-in-law, who would later become Mayor of Opelika.

Peggy and Baby Sue - 1948

Peggy and I were very happy when our first child Sue, was born on October 12, 1948, while I was still attending school. Having had no experience with babies, we had a lot to learn. Peggy’s mother helped a lot.

Having more than one job, and taking a full load at school, I was kept pretty busy and had no opportunity to use my amateur radio equipment. However, I did buy an enlarger and some other photographic equipment so that I could take and print photos of baby Sue.

After receiving a BS degree in Electrical Engineering (Communications Option) in the fall of 1949, I taught radio subjects at Auburn for a year as a replacement for a professor who had returned to MIT to complete the requirements for a PhD.

Shortly before completing my teaching contract at Auburn in 1950, I was offered a position with Dr. von Braun’s Guided Missile organization in Huntsville, Ala. That began an aerospace career in which I would remain until my retirement in 1980. After about two years, I became the first American in Dr. von Braun’s organization to be placed in a technical management position. Two of the German scientists reported to me. I was responsible for guidance schemes and for guidance and control hardware design and development for the guided missiles Redstone, Jupiter, and Pershing, and also had hardware responsibilities for America’s first satellite, the Explorer. Also included in my responsibilities, were the guidance and control system for the development phase of the Saturn Space Booster. During that period, I also received a commendation from the Navy for some guidance, control, and fire control studies that I personally made for what would become the Navy’s submarine launched Polaris missile.

Shortly after our initial arrival in Huntsville, we bought an almost new home on Thornton Circle with a separate garage that had a large attached room suitable for my amateur station and workshop. I had been inactive for several years as our home in Opelika provided no possibility for getting on the air. After moving in, no time was wasted in unpacking the gear, putting up the antenna, and getting on the air. I used my old transmitter that I had built in 1940. When a rather wealthy neighbor who had dabbled in ham radio, but had lost interest, offered to sell me his National HRO receiver for a price that I couldn’t refuse, I sold my BC-348Q receiver and bought the HRO. I had not imagined that I would ever own such a fine piece of equipment.

Later, we bought a considerably nicer brick home in Thornton Acres and had room for an office and the amateur radio. Using some of the parts from the old original 1940 transmitter, and some new parts, I designed and built a 20, 40, 80 meter, 400 watt CW transmitter that used an 813 final amplifier tube. This was far more power than I had ever had before. I was rather well equipped, but when a friend offered to sell me his old RME 69 receiver like I had used in the C.C.C., I couldn’t help but buy it. This receiver and my old Hallicrafters S20R were kept strictly for nostalgic reasons. By then, I had run out of space for additional radio equipment. The house had a utility room that I equipped with light-proof shades, which made it ideal for a darkroom. Unfortunately, few of my evenings were free as the nature of my work required that I bring home a considerable amount of work.

Rather early on in Huntsville, I became involved in amateur archaeology, and served as President of a newly formed archaeological club. We bought a small second hand 12 foot Arkansas Traveler boat with a Johnson 12 horse power motor. That gave us access to many ancient Indian sites along the Tennessee River where we could collect artifacts. We also used our car to travel to ancient Indian sites in our county and surrounding counties. Boating was so much fun that we soon sold the Arkansas Traveler and bought a new16.5 foot fiberglass boat that we named “River Flivver”. It had a 50 h.p.motor and was good for water skiing and moving at a rather high speed from one Indian site to another, as well as for picnics on the scenic lake. The trailer permitted us to take the boat with us on our yearly vacations to Panama City, Florida.

Peggy and I were again blessed when our second child, Janis, was born on 7/6/1955. Even while she was still quite small, we would take her for outings in River Flivver.

In late 1959, Lockheed in Sunnyvale and Palo Alto, California, offered me a Director level position to be in charge of Guidance and Control, Aerodynamics, and Performance for the Polaris Fleet Ballistic Missile, and the Agena Space Vehicle. The position provided a substantial increase in pay and offered more opportunity for advancement.

Our family had an exciting trip by car to California. My brother Joe, who changed his last name to Sanderson shortly after our mother married Melvin Sanderson, already lived in the Bay area with his wife, Dorothy, and children Joseph, Linda, David, and Mary. He gave us great assistance when, in advance of our arrival, he made arrangements for us to rent a home in San Jose until we found a nice home on Wakefield Terrace in Los Altos, which was much closer to my work.

Left - We pose at a motel in Santa Fe, N.M. during our trip to California in October, 1959.

As soon as we were settled into our home in Los Altos, I decided to get back on the air. Before leaving Huntsville, I had sold my transmitter and receivers except for my old Hallicrafters set, so I bought and built a Heathkit transmitter kit and an antenna tuner kit. At an amateur radio equipment store in San Jose, I bought a Hallicrafters SX 111, which was a very good receiver, although not as good as the HRO that I had sold.

At the same time, I bought a transistorized Hallicrafters TTO electronic keyer, which made both automatic dots and dashes, unlike my McElroy speed Key (bug) that made only automatic dots. Shortly before I had left Atlanta to join the C.T.C., I had designed and built a similar device that used vacuum tubes and relays. Although it worked well, and I had learned to use it, the other telegraphers at WVR objected to the clicking noise made by the relays. Having acquired all of the things I needed, I was soon back on the air enjoying amateur radio whenever I could find the time. Once one has learned telegraphy, it takes but a very short time for get back up to speed.

Our family found that California provided many recreational activities. We had brought our boat “River Flivver”, but boating there was not as nice there as on the Tennessee River. We mostly boated in San Francisco Bay and in the Sacramento River. We soon bought a vacation trailer so we could spend weekends in the Redwood forests, and also make longer trips towing the trailer. We towed it to the World Fair in Seattle, and to Death Valley, as well as other places. We would often drive up to San Francisco, where we could eat wonderful food in Chinatown. We had a very good life.

My work was interesting, challenging, and required much travel to Washington and to subcontractor facilities in all parts of the country. My organization contained over 500 technical and scientific people, many of whom had M.S. or Ph.D. degrees in Engineering and Physics. My travels often took me to Huntsville, so I remained familiar with the town and the people with whom I had worked there.

In 1962, as National Chairman of the Guidance and Control Committee of the American Rocket Society, and acting on my own initiative, I set up a two day Guidance and Control technical conference at Stanford University that was attended by about 550 scientists and engineers from around the country. It would have had a larger attendance if it had not required a secret clearance. In planning the conference, and getting approval to use University resources, I worked with and got to know the famous Dr. Frederick Terman, who compiled the “Radio Engineers’ Handbook”, which was published in 1943. I had bought a copy when my ship was in New York in Sept. of 1943. In 1962, Dr. Terman was Provost of Stanford University, and his Handbook was still considered a primary source book for radio engineering data and information.

In mid 1983, Mr. Dan Haughton, the Lockeed Corporate President, sent me and another Lockheed manager, Dr. Potter Kerfoot, to Huntsville to evaluate the possibility of Lockheed building an aerospace research and development center in the Huntsville Research Park that was under construction. We met with Dr. von Braun, and the heads of the MSFC Laboratories, all of whom were good friends of mine.

We return to Huntsville!

Based on our positive report, Lockheed made the decision to open the Lockheed Huntsville Research and Engineering Center, and I was chosen to be the Director. Our family made a rather quick trip back to Huntsville towing our vacation trailer, but staying in motels. Our boat “River Flivver” was shipped back to Huntsville.

At first, we lived in an almost new home on Hickory Hill Road in southeast Huntsville, but shortly afterward I designed and built a nice home on a wooded lot on Criner Road in Jones Valley. I purchased the materials and contracted out the various types of work to specialized subcontractors. The home had a room over the garage where I could install my ham equipment and store my Indian artifact collection. Also above the garage was a small room designed to serve as a darkroom.

I continued my amateur radio activity. Because of the speed limitations in manipulating a telegraph key, bug, or electronic keyer paddle, code can not be sent as fast as a highly skilled operator can read it. In the 1970s, an electronic keyboard became available that would send faster code if the operator was skilled in touch typing. That permitted an increase in the speed of a conversation using code. As it had no memory, sending had to be done in “real time”, which required learning a new skill. A certain time was required for each character, and pressing the next key had to timed exactly right, or the code would not be sent correctly. When such keyboards became available, I bought one that was designed and built by a radio amateur, K4KN. I enjoyed using it, and soon made several high-speed keyboard friends. Later, keyboards having memory became available so the operator could type ahead of the sending and the keyboard would automatically supply accurate spacing between the characters and the words. Operators with less typing skill could therefore send perfect code.

Building the Huntsville facility and staffing it with the right people was a difficult but rewarding challenge. Running the facility was very interesting, because the work done covered all of the aerospace sciences. It was difficult because the contracts were won by competitive bidding. Also, I was working closely with Dr. von Braun and my old friends at NASA and the Army in performing advanced research and development contracts. I became a member and officer in a number of professional organizations, and also served on the Advisory Board of the University of Alabama.

My interest in archaeology continued, and collecting artifacts from the fields in Madison County and surrounding counties was often a family affair. We also bought a 35 foot houseboat, which we kept on Guntersville Lake. Our boat slip was near Wernher von Braun’s slip, and he, his wife Maria and son Peter would often come there on the weekends and would fish from the dock. When von Braun was inducted into the Space Hall of Fame in Texas, I went to the ceremony with a group from Huntsville. Maria was at the head table, and when she got up to introduce the folks from Huntsville, she introduced me as her “fishing buddy”.

The houseboat was very enjoyable, because with River Flivver in tow, we would find a nice cove where we could anchor and spend the weekend. We could use River Flivver for water skiing, and exploring the lake shore for Indian sites.

Later, we sold the houseboat and I designed and built a cabin on beautiful Smith Lake in Walker County, where we would often spend weekends. Smith Lake was large with many coves, wooded shores, and deep crystal clear water. Our house was built on what had been the top of a high bluff, and the water level came up to nearly the top. The water depth was about 50 feet under the floating dock and boat house that we built for River Flivver. There were a lot of woods near the cabin where I could hunt squirrels, so we ate a lot of squirrel stew in season. We could also catch fish from the boat or from the floating dock.

As if I didn’t have enough to do, I bought a 402 acre farm in north of Huntsville at Petersburg, Tennessee, where cattle were raised and a 100 cow dairy was operated. I really enjoyed the farm, as there was were good woods for hunting, but after several years, I reluctantly sold it when it became obvious that absentee ownership was impractical due to the impossibility of keeping reliable help.

Sue had always displayed a considerable artistic talent, and after she finished high school, she enrolled as an art student at the University of Alabama Huntsville Campus.

It came as a surprise to Peggy and me when we discovered that our happy family oriented lifestyle couldn’t last forever. Shortly after Sue graduated, she married Jack Harden, a NASA aerospace scientist who worked at the Marshall Space Flight Center.

It seemed like only a short while after that before Janis married Larry Nall, a biology student at the University of South Alabama, and she joined him in Mobile. Peggy and I were left in a very lonely home.

If there was anything good about our children having flown the nest, it was that we were free to travel when I could get off from work. We began by taking a trip to Greece and Egypt. Later, we made trips to Mexico, where I became very interested in Mexican archaeology. We sold our vacation trailer and bought a motor home.

In 1973, Janis and Larry became parents and we became grandparents when Jennifer was born in Mobile where Larry was still a biology student at the University of South Alabama.