1871-1900 Yaquina Head Lighthouse Letter books

the Army to the Coast Guard. The RACON at Hoquiam, Washington, was not transferred. Army personnel had been retained there until the Point Chehalis RACON Station was completed.

The end of the war brought about the discontinuance of many Auxiliary Naval Air Stations. Those in the 13th Naval District with which the Aids to Navigation Section was particularly concerned were the Auxiliary Air Stations at Quillayute, Washington, Tillamook, Oregon and Shelton, Washington. Information received from the commander, Naval Air Bases, indicated that these three stations would be placed on a caretaker's status, meaning that 15 or 20 men would be assigned to the Air station at Quillayute, Washington, affected the RACON Station only in that the personnel assigned there were placed on subsistence and quarters and the RACON continued to give service to aircraft flying in that vicinity. However, as the beacon was located approximately three miles from the nearest water, it was doubtful that the station would be of any benefit to surface navigation. The Aids to Navigation Officer recommended that, in order to maintain the RACON for general air navigation, the beacon be moved to Destruction Island Light Station and there afford service for both air and sea navigation. Such a move would give added navigational RACON coverage and add a chain of RACON Stations for electronic navigation along the Coast.

The Tillamook RACON, as was seen earlier, provided limited coverage and was of little value except to the aircraft at the Air Station. The Aids to Navigation Officer recommended that the Tillamook RACON be decommissioned when RACON also provided limited service in much the same manner as the Quillayute beacon to cross-country flights. Whether or not it was to be continued, depended upon the investigation made by the Army and Navy authorities to determine their needs. There was little doubt that the Air Stations at Tillamook, Oregon, Quillayute, Washington and Shelton, Washington, would be discontinued.

Headquarters conducted a survey to determine what applications could be made of shore based RADAR to the performance of Coast Guard peace time functions. All types of applications were investigated in order that the fullest advantage might be taken of the latest electronics developments. The part RADAR had played to win the war was common knowledge. The part it would play during the postwar period was somewhat problematical and the subject of much speculation.

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PERSONNEL

Prior to, and for almost a year following, the consolidation of the Lighthouse Service and the Coast Guard, the Aids to Navigation Section was administered by an Associate Mechanical Engineer with the assistance of two clerks and a stenographer. Both operational and engineering activities were combined in this section until the District was reorganized according to the Coast Guard organizational plan. Engineering duties were then delegated to a separate Engineering Section and the operation and maintenance of aids to navigation became the responsibility of the Section. The Associate Mechanical Engineer, later promoted to Nautical Scientist, administered the department until the assignment of an Aids to Navigation Officer in 1944. Until that time, however, the staff had increased to two Coast Guard Officers (R) (male) and one SPAR Officer, 3 enlisted Coast Guardsmen and 6 enlisted SPARS. in 1945, An Assistant Aids to Navigation Officer, trained especially in electronic Aids, was assigned to the Section.

Although particular duties were delegated to certain desks, an attempt was made to instruct all personnel in the overall working of the department so that in the event of transfer, leave, discharge, or illness, there was no obvious vacancy that required complete training to handle. Supervision of filing, typists, records and all clerical work was done by a SPAR Yeoman, 1st class. Field trips were made by the Associate Mechanical Engineer and the male officers to inspect aids, prepare forms 2609, for proposed projects, investigate new sites, confer with Pilots' Associations and, in conjunction with the Engineering Section, to determine the requirements of new aids. All tender orders were issued from this Section and the reports of tenders' activities were kept on file. The SPAR Officer was instructed in non-technical operation of RADAR Beacons and Radiobeacons and was, in addition to her duties in the Section, also a Hydrographic Officer for the compilation of the Arctic Ocean, Bering Sea and Aleutian Coast Pilot for the District Coast Guard Officer.

The filing system, as developed in the department, consisted of a rough running log kept weekly and transferred to a smooth log under another cover at the end of each week. All correspondence was logged under its correspondent (to or from) and also its subject. File numbers were assigned and folder designations were made from an Office Index. Pieces of correspondence, filed since the origin of the system in 1943, had passed the 15,000 mark by the end of September, 1945. Folders numbered to 730 with a transfer file of several -83