The water below was a beautiful shade of blue-green. The pink coral was shining through. Light winds. Variable. And me, a 24-year-old Air Force lieutenant navigator, hopping island to island across the Caribbean.
Even compared to Joburg. Bangkok, Thailand. Adana or Istanbul. And all the other exotic places I’d been, this was the most fun airlift mission I ever flew.
The mission was called “Up Range.” In support of NASA radar tracking sites in the Bahamas and the Caribbean. It went from Patrick AFB, Florida to Grand Bahama to San Salvador to Eleuthera to Grand Turk to Antigua. Maybe not in that order.
Low stress.
The pilot could tune in the next stop on his ADF radio.
Nobody was gonna get lost.
The Overnight
Antigua was the payoff. We stayed overnight, and the island did not disappoint. Great Caribbean food. Rum punch. Steel bands. Dancing. And lots of ladies who were there teaching or nursing.
A fun, easy going mission.
Not a bad place for your aircraft to break, either. But that never happened.
Twenty-some years later, the Beach Boys would write a song trying to describe exactly that kind of night. Rum punch. Steel drum band. Cocktails and moonlit nights. They called the place Kokomo.
I just called it Antigua.
Enuf.
Sometimes your recollections cause me to do some Google searching of my own. Your comment about the teachers and nurses made me curious. Did the US have a base in Antigua or was it a British facility? Next question: Are British bases “self contained” communities like the American bases Jim and I experienced as kids?
Short answer to your question is ” I dunno”
My assumption is that people stationed there, either US civilian ( NASA or other space connected contractors) or military ( small number), could bring families for a 2 or three year tour. I never noticed much British presence. Therefore, school teachers and nurses were essential. Their whole job was tracking and supporting space shots. Since our time there was super short , usually 12-15 hours, I didn’t get to know a lot. We just enjoyed some rum punch, a nice party with good food and music from steel bands. And then we’d rest up for flight back to the States in the morning
You may learn more from google searching than I could tell you from my short visits 60 years ago.
It’s great that you’re reading and commenting on the ” old man’s” recollections. I’m very much enjoying my partnership with Jim on this effort. Being able to recollect and write clearly about parts of my life is helping me stay ” with it”. Many of my colleagues are not so lucky. Love ya❤️
If you google. Antigua Air Station it’ll tell anout the US AirStation there for many years that closed in 2015.