Recreation at H-3
There was a nice ceramic kiln and several molds in the Special Services building at H-3. Sometimes there were so many people casting ceramics that the molds had to be pulled out of service to dry out.
The process for making your ceramics involved pouring the clay mixture, called slip, into the mold and letting it set for a day or two. After it set it was called greenware. You handled greenware VERY carefully otherwise you had a collection of small clay pieces. The greenware was baked in the kiln shown for a few hours and after cooling, the casting, now called bisque, was painted with any of the several glazes provided. Then it was baked again. Sometimes several glaze and bake cycles were completed to come up with the finished piece.
Marty Chevian took care of these ceramic supplies. I don't think anyone could even guess how many pieces were cast at H-3. It must have numbered in the thousands!
Pictured are the kilns that were so heavily used.
Click HERE to see what's "cooking"
The process for making your ceramics involved pouring the clay mixture, called slip, into the mold and letting it set for a day or two. After it set it was called greenware. You handled greenware VERY carefully otherwise you had a collection of small clay pieces. The greenware was baked in the kiln shown for a few hours and after cooling, the casting, now called bisque, was painted with any of the several glazes provided. Then it was baked again. Sometimes several glaze and bake cycles were completed to come up with the finished piece.
Marty Chevian took care of these ceramic supplies. I don't think anyone could even guess how many pieces were cast at H-3. It must have numbered in the thousands!
Pictured are the kilns that were so heavily used.
Click HERE to see what's "cooking"
H-3 also had a local outlet for Armed Forces Radio And television Service. We actually did not have any television so I figured I would put that into small print! Remember, this was before the days of satellite broadcasts or VCRs.
What we did have was a radio station. It operated on 1,400 KHz with power of 10 watts. When I took it over, because of a poor antenna system, it had trouble even reaching the Transient barracks, maybe five hundred yards away. The station was located across from the search radar tower, in the same building as supply and the Electronics office. Every audio tape recorded anywhere on H-3 had that distinctive buzz caused by the radars overpowering signal whenever the antenna rotated around toward you. After I used my Ham radio experience to properly match the antenna to the transmitter, using some coaxial cable "donated" from radar maintenance, the coverage was improved enough that we put a decent signal into the town of Hofn. |
An interesting little side note is that during an inspection by the IG of USAF, some three star general, it was asked if we received any complaints from the town since back at Keflavik there was a considerable opposition raised to the AFRTS TV signal Kef was broadcasting. The C.O. told the three star "No. We don't even get into town." Yet I know that by that time we had several listeners in Hofn who passed on their thanks for having another radio station to listen to. Here are a couple pictures showing me at the radio station. You will note the NON-uniform look of Sgt. Pyrdek. Yes, we really did pack some civilian clothes when we went North! Barney: This radio station didn't work when we arrived there and I well remember you scrounging parts and cable from the radars and got it going really good. The station had lots of records and programs which helped break the boredom and isolation of H-3. |
Fishing was a major summer time recreation. Native trout were plentiful and often very hungry and the scenery was beautiful and so serene. It was a great place to spend some quiet time.
Movies were sent to H-3 most every time that the mail plane made it in. Going to the movies was one of the ways the Airmen of H-3 spent their free time. The movies would be circulated between the Airman's theater shown here and the Officer's barracks, the civilian dormitory and the Navy barracks. Marty Chevian was the man who handled the movies (and the popcorn!) for the site. Some of the movies were very good and some of them were.....
We also had some facilities to help us stay in shape and burn off that excess energy. Pictured below is our gymnasium and some of the equipment it had.
You might note that the gym also featured an indoor "swimming pool". Of course, at its deepest spot, it was only a few inches deep and even then, only when the snow melted or it was raining. It made for some interesting footing when you had a hot game of basketball.
Trees – We all recall the lack of trees in our little corner of Iceland.
Some of us went with an Icelandic family for an all day trip to a park, or whatever it was called, in the “9 passenger vehicle” to see trees. By a mid-westerner's standards they were pretty small to be called trees but they were all there was. Any excuse for a trip off site was welcome. Photos & comments courtesy Ed Mann
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Pictured here is the Library. All two bookcases of books. And I think that everyone at H-3 read every single one of these books, twice. The Library was another of Marty's projects.
The boats were transported to the site in the big old gray Navy truck that was also used as the site's garbage truck.
The fish that were caught often ended up in the frying pan being cooked over a campfire on the lake shore.
There were also a few parties. Usually it was to celebrate DEROS. That menat it was the month of your " Date Estimated for Return from Over Seas". That was always a happy event.
On a few occasions, we could take a trip into Hofn to do a little sightseeing and souvenir shopping.
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One of the big attractions was "Midnight Baseball". Here only a few miles from the Arctic Circle, we had more than enough light to play ball at Midnight on July 4th. There were a series of preliminary games played earlier in the evening to determine just which two teams would have the honor of starting the ballgame at 0000 Hours on July 4, 1968. Sorry to say, I can't recall just which teams were playing or who won.
Yes, you did get some "bad hops" when playing this infield!
Barney: This game started at 0001 on the 4th of July.
This was an annual event and hopefully no-one ever attended just 2 games.
Yes, you did get some "bad hops" when playing this infield!
Barney: This game started at 0001 on the 4th of July.
This was an annual event and hopefully no-one ever attended just 2 games.
Dining In was a formal military dinner to celebrate some special event. Here is a picture of a Dining In at Hofn. (also shown under Miscellaneous Things pages)
Dining In 1967 - the people in the picture from the March 30, 1967,
Dining In at the 667th from left to right are: Chaplain Lamesters (Protestant Chaplin from Kevlavik), LTC Frank Scarino (667th CO mid 66 to mid 67), Ed Mann (supply officer), Capt Cunningham
(paymaster from H-1, I think), Admiral Stone (CO of IDF and our honored guest), Bob Bouldin, Frank Hurdon, a volunteer waiter (was there such a thing as a volunteer in the military?) The whole squadron and our navy companions were there too.
Photos & comments courtesy Ed Mann
11-09-2009 Update: The unknown volunteer waiter barely visible on the right is me, Steve Spies.
Click on the picture to see a larger image.
Dining In 1967 - the people in the picture from the March 30, 1967,
Dining In at the 667th from left to right are: Chaplain Lamesters (Protestant Chaplin from Kevlavik), LTC Frank Scarino (667th CO mid 66 to mid 67), Ed Mann (supply officer), Capt Cunningham
(paymaster from H-1, I think), Admiral Stone (CO of IDF and our honored guest), Bob Bouldin, Frank Hurdon, a volunteer waiter (was there such a thing as a volunteer in the military?) The whole squadron and our navy companions were there too.
Photos & comments courtesy Ed Mann
11-09-2009 Update: The unknown volunteer waiter barely visible on the right is me, Steve Spies.
Click on the picture to see a larger image.
