[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 27283-27284]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   TRIBUTE TO THE MEN WHO FLEW EC-121

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ALLEN BOYD

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 15, 2000

  Mr. BOYD. Mr. Speaker, today I pay tribute to the brave men who flew 
the EC-121 Lockheed Super Constellation from Otis Air Force Base (AFB), 
Massachusetts, in the 1950's and 1960's. The 19 member crews of these 
aircraft flew countless radar surveillance missions to provide early 
warning radar coverage for the United States during the height of the 
Cold War and were a first line of defense against a surprise attack. In 
particular, I want to pay tribute to the fifty officers and airmen who 
died when three EC-121's crashed in the North Atlantic.
  Otis AFB, located on Cape Cod, was the only Air Defense Command base 
with units performing three of the Air Defense Command's prime 
missions: radar picket plane surveillance, fighter-interception, and 
ground-to-air missile operations. With the completion of the Distant 
Early Warning (DEW) Line in 1958, the northern areas of the United 
States and Canada were still vulnerable. Consequently, the radar 
warning networks were extended seaward at Otis AFB on the east by using 
the 551st Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) Wing. This wing 
supplemented the radar protection along the East Coast of the United 
States.
  The 551st Wing at Otis was the only Air Force organization flying the 
EC-121H ``Warning Star'' Super Constellation known as Airborne Long 
Range Input (ALRI) aircraft. Those aircraft carried more than six tons 
of complex radar and computer communications equipment on each flight 
and provided instantaneous automated relay of air defense surveillance 
and early warning information by data-link direct to ground based 
communications facilities. This information was then passed to high 
speed Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) Air Defense Command and 
Control computers in the East Coast SAGE Direction Centers and to the 
North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) Combat Operations Center in 
Colorado Springs, Colorado, for air defense evaluation and action. It 
is interesting to note, especially for the younger generation, that the 
551st Wing flew their continuous missions over the Atlantic Ocean 24 
hours a day.
  On March 2, 1965, the 551st AEW&C Wing celebrated its 10th 
anniversary. It was noted that the 551st Wing had progressed through 
many changes--some involving electronic equipment and other gear. Still 
the mission continued to be an effective--although more sophisticated--
form of radar surveillance against the enemy. During that decade, the 
aircraft of the 551st Wing had accumulated more than 350,000 hours of 
early warning radar surveillance missions over the North Atlantic 
without an accident involving personal injury or a fatality. However, 
the fatality-free decade celebration didn't last long.
  The ten-year celebration hardly had ended when on July 11, 1965, one 
of the Super Constellations, the Air Force model EC-121H radar 
aircraft, developed a fire in the number three engine. The decision was 
made to try ditching the plane approximately 100 miles from Nantucket, 
Massachusetts, in the North Atlantic. Unfortunately, touchdown in the 
night-time
  On Veterans Day 1966 (November 11th) another EC-121H crashed in 
approximately the same general area as the first one, by unexplained 
circumstances. This accident was about 125 miles east of Nantucket. All 
19 crew members were killed and their bodies were never recovered.
  On April 25, 1967, another EC-121H ditched in the North Atlantic 
approximately one mile off of Nantucket just after having taken off 
from Otis AFB. There was one survivor, and 15 crew members were lost. 
Only two bodies were reported by the Air Force as having been 
recovered. Colonel James P. Lyle, the Commander of the 551st AEW&C Wing 
to which all the aircraft and crew members were assigned, was piloting 
this plane when it crashed.
  Colonel Lyle had been assigned to take over that command nine months 
earlier. It is sobering to note that it was he who presented each of 
the next of kin of the November 11, 1966, crash victims with the United 
States Flag during that memorial service. Then five months later 
Colonel Lyle met the same fate.
  The EC-121H aircraft was phased out and the 551st Wing was 
deactivated on December 31, 1969. Later, Otis AFB was renamed Otis Air 
National Guard Base. Today at that base, Otis Memorial Park is 
dedicated to the 50 members of the crews of the three aircraft who lost 
their lives. With the exception of the remaining immediate family 
members of the flyers and some of the friends of the flyers, few 
remember these tragic events ever happened.
  I admit that I never knew about these events until a constituent of 
mine from the Second Congressional District of Florida, Senior Master 
Sergeant A.J. Northup, USAF (Ret.), brought this to my attention. I 
would be remiss if I didn't recognize MSgt. Northup and his 30 years of 
service to our nation. He actually spent four years as an Airborne 
Radio Operator/Electronic Countermeasures Operator aboard the RC-121 at 
Otis AFB. I thank him for his service to our nation and for working to 
bring these events to light.
  More than half a century ago, President Franklin Roosevelt reminded 
the American people that, ``Those who have long enjoyed such privileges 
as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.'' I hope 
that we as a nation, and each of us as individuals, will

[[Page 27284]]

take to heart President Roosevelt's reminder that it is the sacred duty 
and great privilege of the living to honor and remember those who have 
died to protect the American ideals of freedom, democracy and liberty. 
The men and women who have died in service to America, and especially 
the 50 heroes aboard these fateful EC-121H flights, deserve no less.

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