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The Manley Dibble StoryDear Shelton: I don't believe I am actually an old timer, but here is something of interest that will interest you, especially knowing your love of aviation. I was working in Tucson back in 1952 when a job came open in Palmdale Tower. The CAA (now FAA) warned me it was "only temporary" but said I could have it. They were right, we had 4 controllers then, now with the center, aroung 500 work here, so I guess it's temporary only as life is temporary itself. Anyway, my job lasted long enough for me to retire in the fall of 1970, to stay on and enjoy Palmdale some more hopefully. It was a real jump from the work-a-day world of regular air traffic, into the complexities and wonderful opportunities of controlling test pilots who were handling airplanes so new, no one had ever heard of them. From 1952 on, we were actually the busiest airport in the world, had we worked around the clock at the frantic daytime pace. And the beauty of it was, every day was an adventure, records were being set all the time, and you never knew which down- the-street neighbor was the "worlds fastest man" today. It was always hard to describe the job to our friends in "regular" towers, they just did not believe the kind of traffic we handled. And, our big officials were worse. As you know, a big official is lost without his "book". And, no one but us had written the first page for the book on these new airplanes. When the big boys would come up and tell us we were not doing something by the "book", we would turn on them and ask a bland question about handling some "bird" they had never even seen. They would think it over and say "well, do what you are doing." And, we did, we built the procedures as we went along, and we chalked up a perfect safety record! Finally, one of our customers, a Major Clutter from
George AFB wrote us a letter which was actually a good "job
description." Since it tells the story of Palmdale Tower, here it
is. |
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