Page 67 - Winterling's Chasing the Wind

It didn’t take long for me to recognize the weather pattern on Shemya. On my first day,
there was a mixture of rain and snow falling. Finally, it all turned to snow. The strong
winds blow most of it across the island into the ocean, but in sheltered places, it grows
into drifts several feet deep. I was assigned to working the day shift so I could be
familiarized with the procedure of plotting reports from trans-Pacific aircraft.

The plane’s navigator would send a report of the clouds and winds affecting their flight
every hour. We plotted their position and weather data with grease pencil on a large
plexiglass- covered map of the northern Pacific Ocean. This helped us prepare
forecasts for other aircraft that would fly into those conditions.
I was also learning about Shemya’s weather by reading a local forecast study and by
talking with each of the forecasters. Our weather was not truly Arctic because we were
only a couple hundred miles farther north than Seattle, Washington. We were only 200
miles from the International Date Line, but our time was only one hour different from
Anchorage, even though we are 1,500 miles south-west of them.

I wrote home about our mail. It usually went through Anchorage with our supplies. The
planes flew in twice a week. On a few occasions, our mail would go through
Minneapolis because Northwest Orient Airlines makes refueling stops at Shemya when
flying their Stratocruisers across the Pacific from Japan. I explained that our mail
should not be addressed to “Shemya AFB”. It should address to APO 729 which is the
military designation for our part of Alaska.

At the end of my first week, I noticed that we handled more civilian airplanes than
military ones. That’s because Canadian Pacific and Northwest frequently stop here on
their flights between Seattle and Tokyo. It’s not only for refueling but that we can
provide them with an updated mid-flight forecast. I really enjoy talking with these
airmen from the U.S. and Canada, and most of them are interested in the unique
weather on this small island. I love describing the latest weather situation affecting us
here, as well as the weather they may expect along their routes. I figured that I would be
doing flight briefings like these if I go to work for the U.S. Weather Bureau after I get
discharged

One very windy day with winds gusting to 50 mph, I was walking along the road next
to the runway when I spotted a Northwest Airlines plane approach for a landing. The
turbulence was buffeting the plane every which way as the pilot was aiming the nose
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