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By Mark J. Price
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Monday, Sep 22, 2008
Akron citizens peered through binoculars and telescopes 24 hours a day in the 1950s to protect the city from a Soviet attack. Working in two-person teams, volunteers stood guard at an observation post atop the 15-story YMCA.
Veterans, retirees, factory workers, housewives and students were among Akron's silent sentinels of the Cold War. They kept track of everything flying overhead — Goodyear blimps, light airplanes, hot-air balloons — and immediately reported any suspicious aircraft to the Canton Air Corps Filter Center at an undisclosed site in Stark County.
The U.S. Air Force recruited civilian volunteers in 1952 to join the Ground Observer Corps as plane spotters in Operation Skywatch, a program to supplement U.S. radar defense.
Akron Mayor Charles Slusser appointed Bruce W. Wert, assistant manager of advertising and sales at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., as supervisor of the downtown observation post.
''We know Russia has the A-bomb,'' Wert told citizens. ''We know she has a fleet of long-distance bombers capable of flying from behind the Iron Curtain to most of our large cities and dropping death and destruction from the skies.
''We also know it is possible for enemy planes flying low to escape detection by our radar installations. The only insurance we have against planes that escape our radar is the network of ground observation posts, located at eight-mile intervals throughout the United States and Canada.''
About 12,000 plane spotters served at 600 observation posts in Ohio. More than 800,000 civilians volunteered at 16,000 posts across the country.
Akron's post was a remodeled greenhouse anchored to the roof of the YMCA. The glass cage, which measured 10 feet long, 10 feet wide and 8 feet high, was equipped with a desk, telephone, hot plate and coffee pot.
Starting with a corps of eight volunteers, the local post grew to 200 plane spotters who took turns serving two hours a week in teams of two. They stood guard around the clock — in sunshine, rain or snow — and craned their necks as they scanned the horizon. No visitors were allowed on the rooftop to interfere with the important duty.
After volunteering for 20 hours, the observers earned a silver medal with a pair of wings. Some skywatchers wore blue uniforms with patches that read ''Air Defense — Akron Observer.''
A preparatory course taught civilians how to identify aircraft. They kept detailed notes of all passing airplanes, including engine classification, altitude, speed, direction and status. When they saw four-engine planes, they immediately called the Canton filter center, which tracked all flight plans on a giant map of the eastern United States.
''Any time an unexplained plane is reported and shows up in our radar equipment, we either get a satisfactory identification from it, or a fighter plane goes up to find out what it is about,'' Air Force Lt. Ralph Frybarger explained in 1952.
Skywatchers learned what to do if U.S. military pilots shot down enemy planes. Citizens were instructed to restrain crash survivors ''the best way possible'' and place them in isolated jail cells. No one was allowed to talk to the captives or give them food or cigarettes until military interrogators arrived. Medical care was permissible if necessary.
Akron was considered a prime target for attack because of its rubber industry. No one openly questioned whether it might be too late to protect the city from annihilation if an enemy plane already was overhead.
More than 400 people attended a Mayflower Hotel banquet for the Ground Observer Corps in 1954. While the gala was in full swing, two volunteers remained atop the YMCA to guard against enemy attack.
Gen. Benjamin W. Chidlaw, director of the U.S. Air Defense Command, expressed confidence in the network of skywatchers. He said it was ''warmly inspirational'' to see Akron volunteers working together ''to plug the holes in our warning system.''
''Today, if Akron were a target for an enemy bomber, this bomber would not reach the city,'' Chidlaw said.
Post leader Wert submitted his resignation ''with extreme regret'' in 1956 because he could no longer devote enough time to the cause. He praised the loyal citizens who had maintained a 24-hour watch since 1952.
''They stand this lonely vigil with very little recognition and no remuneration except the satisfaction of a job well done,'' he said.
Lurlyne Hassard, a Cuyahoga Falls woman who had volunteered 2,000 hours as a plane spotter, succeeded Wert and supervised the post's move to Akron Municipal Airport. The new location at the terminal provided better radio communication and easier access.
Airport Manager B.E. ''Shorty'' Fulton welcomed the civil defense program.
''If skywatching does nothing else for the people who are in it, it teaches them alertness and gives them a realization of what our country is doing in the way of air defense,'' he said.
''Hundreds of volunteers who have taken part in this operation here during the past few years are now familiar with all types of aircraft and able to identify a plane instantly.''
Col. Barney Oldfield, chief of information services for the Continental Air Defense Command in Colorado Springs, Colo., was the keynote speaker at the post's dedication in 1956.
''The critical period for the Ground Observation Corps lies between now and 1959 or 1960,'' he said. ''By that time, the distant early warning line should be in operation in northern Canada and in the Arctic.''
Sure enough, Akron's civilians wouldn't have to suffer neck strain too much longer.
In 1957, the United States and Canada cooperated on a close-knit system of radar stations that could better detect incursions into North American airspace, including the approach of low-flying planes. The North American Air Defense Command — known as NORAD — began operation a year later in Colorado.
The Air Force placed the Ground Observer Corps on a standby basis in 1958. Instead of working around the clock at the Akron post, the 40 remaining skywatchers returned once a month to log flights on a part-time basis. They put away their binoculars and telescopes for good when Operation Skywatch disbanded in 1959.
Finally, it was OK for Akron residents to lower their gaze. The city was safe from enemy attack — at least for the moment.
Mark J. Price is a Beacon Journal copy editor. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or send e-mail to mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Akron, OH
Posted 11:32 AM, 09/22/2008
False Flag stuff perpetrated against the American people by its own government isn't new. They really had us going back then. That's why us ol' geezers can smell a red herring these days.
Posted 12:14 PM, 09/22/2008
and to think today we turn a blind eye to obama, a communist running for president. guess they're trying a new approach.
Posted 12:18 PM, 09/22/2008
Thank you for this fascinating bit of history! Much appreciated.
