Spotting
Aircraft Over
East Bloomfield
in WW II
Shortly after the attack
on
Pearl Harbor
, the War Department established the Aircraft Warning Service (AWS) where
citizens volunteered to spot potentially hostile aircraft.
Throughout the
US
, concentrated mostly on the East and West coasts, approximately 16,000
observation posts were established and staffed by more than 800,000
volunteers. The AWS existed
for about two and a half years and discontinued in May of 1944.
Llewellyn Van Buren was
appointed chief observer for the
East Bloomfield
post; Captain Van Buren was a retired rural mail carrier and a veteran of
the Spanish American War. Van
Buren lived with his wife on the northwest corner of
Main
and Church Streets and was a local character who always lead the Fourth of
July parade in his uniform. Van Buren put together a group of
volunteers to staff the activity 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; since I
wasn’t involved at the start I don’t know how many people were
involved or the names of the participants.
I do know that Van Buren did a good bit of the daylight spotting.
The spotting station was a very small shack located east of the
Hilltop Inn at the northeast corner of
State Street
and
Oakmount Avenue
. It was no larger than 6
feet by 6 feet with small windows on all four sides.
The spotters were provided with identification booklets for
identifying planes and forms to fill out when a plane was spotted.
The job consisted of watching and listening for airplanes; when one
was spotted the form was filled out with: Number of Aircraft; Aircraft
Identity, if possible; Single or multiple engines; Seen or Heard; How far
from post; Direction headed; Altitude: High, Med., or Low; and Speed:
Slow, Fast, or Very Fast. The
sighting was called in to the filter center in (I think) Canandaigua.
This was done by cranking the telephone and when the local operator
in Holcomb said “Number Please” the spotter would respond with “Army
Flash.” When the call was
connected to the filter center, the post code number (which I don’t
recall) was given and then the data on the form read off.
Since my brother Phil was
in the U. S. Army serving in the South Pacific and my brother-in-law Pete
Vandenbergh was in the U. S. Navy, I wanted to be an observer so I could
serve the country in some way. When
the program first got underway, I was only 12 and considered too young. My
chance came when I was 14, just a few months before the AWS was
discontinued. The program was
winding down because the possibility of enemy aircraft being in
US
airspace was considered much less likely.
In the winter and spring of 1944, I was assigned a 4 hour shift
from
4am
through
8am
, one day a week. One of my
older brothers, Bob or Cal, would give me a ride from our home in Holcomb
to the spotting station and after my shift, I would walk down
Oakmount Avenue
to
Bloomfield
Central
School
where I was in 9th grade.
I called in several sightings; in most cases I was only able to
determine the number of aircraft, the direction of fight, and the
altitude. While I had less
than 50 hours service, many spotters accrued several hundred hours and
some over a thousand. Medals
were awarded for those who exceeded 500 and 1000 hours.
I still have the arm band worn while on duty and a certificate of
appreciation dated
May 29, 19
44
. (See below)
A letter from Henry L.
Stimson, Secretary of War, dated
May 16, 19
44
was sent out to all the volunteers announcing the discontinuance of the
AWS and thanking them for their service.
Among other things he says: “ …... The aircraft warning
centers, at which many of you served and to which many others have
reported as ground observers, are to be closed.
….. This war has a
long way to go. We are
entering upon its crucial phase and victory lies far ahead beyond many
bloody battles. The War
Department sincerely hopes that you will not relax your war effort, and
urges you to transfer to one of the many remaining vitally important jobs
the loyalty and self-sacrifice you have shown in your work for the
Aircraft Warning Service. ……
The War Department is deeply grateful for the important service you have
rendered your country."
