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PAWS
Pacific Air Weather Squadrons
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| PAWS,
the Pacific Air Weather Squadrons,
is an organization made up of former members of the various Weather
Reconnaissance Squadrons based in the Pacific in the late forties and
fifties. The majority of the members served in the 512th/56th,
513th/57th, and the 514th/54th. They have a few members who served in
Alaska. Many members served in more than one of the Recon
Squadrons. Most of their members were involved with the WB-29. The group was started in 1990 by the late Russ Conant. He wanted to get together with old friends from his weather reconnaissance days. Russ, with much hard work, a lot of research, and help from other Pacific veterans, like Don Haas, Bob Mann, Ray Hintzen, and Chuck Higgins, put together a large roster of potential members. They went about tracking folks down, and, in 1992, the first small group gathered in Massachusetts. Since then, PAWS has held an annual reunion at a different location every year. PAWS currently has an active roster of about 325, an inactive roster of 4000, and a TAPS roster of 1000 veterans of these units who have passed away. Many members of PAWS are also members of AWRA, and we continue to encourage this cross membership. In 2005, PAWS formally incorporated as a tax exempt, not-for-profit, corporation in the great state of Texas. If you have questions about PAWS, or would like more information, contact: Frank
Whitmire, Secretary Treasurer
2300 Oak Knoll Court Colleyville,
TX
76034
E-mail: frankb29@sbcglobal.net Phone: (817) 283-8038 FAX: (817) 545-4964 |
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Officers of PAWS, from left to right: Charles Hampton, Vice President; Joe Spinozzi, President; and Frank Whitmire, Secretary Treasurer |
PAWS 2010 Reunion When:
Specific dates TBD
Where:
Charleston, SC Host Hotel TBD
Scheduled
Events: TBD
For
Additional Information, contact Frank Whitmire at:
E-mail:
frankb29@sbcglobal.net
Phone: (817)
283-8038
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Now, back to the story of
PAWS - Pacific Air Weather Squadrons
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| When we said that a lot of work was involved in finding the folks who served with them in the Pacific, we meant it. One Pacific squadron formed and trained at Morrison Field, Fl (now West Palm Beach Airport) prior to being shipped overseas. Another trained at Tinker AFB, OK. The 512th formed and trained at Fairfield-Suisun AAF, CA (now Travis AFB). In each case, there were movement orders listing all unit personnel, both ground and flight crew, that relocated to Guam, Hawaii, and Japan. When the unit designations were changed in the early 1950's from 512th, 513th, and 514th to 56th, 57th, and 54th, there were orders transferring everyone from one unit to another. These (and other) Special Orders contained a gold mine of potential contacts for Russ Conant and his volunteer helpers. They went through these orders line-by-line attempting to locate everyone and find out where they were at that time (1992). |
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| Many
weather reconnaissance veterans have saved photographs over the
years. Some, like the group posing in front of WB-29 44-62089 with their trophy (left) , were candids taken by individual squadron members. Others, like the one from B-29 Flight Engineer Class 090 72B at Chanute AFB, IL were official USAF pictures. All are wonderful reminders of that long ago period of time in our lives. Now, don't you wish you'd identified everyone by name somewhere on the back? |
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