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Seeking information on Manzana Base, NM

Marilyn Kirkley

I am looking for info on Manzana Base, New Mexico.

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    Found your link in History Hub while trying to decide whether to dispose of some old files: copies of orders from the Headquarters Filed Command, Armed Forces Special Weapons project, Sandia Base, Albuquerque New Mexico.  Special Orders 132, dated 5 November 1951, signed by KF Hertford, Colonel, CE Chief of staff for Brigadier General Stranathan covers a wide range of actions in the command.  Six Sergeants identified by name had separate rations terminated, and five enlisted were granted separate rations.  Major Charles Green was assigned to duty as the Executive Officer for Base Ord (Ordnance).  SSGT Roger Wallace and Sgt Arthur Flanagan were assigned as armed guards to escort a prisoner to the 5th Aviation Field Deport Squadron (Prison).  1stLT James Stanley was sent for Temporary Duty at Los Alamos; and several others were sent temporary duty to Special Weapons units in San Bruno California, Patuxent MD, and to HQ in Washington DC.  I also have a copy of a Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, Sandia Base Certificate for a non-commissioned officer who completed the "Assemblyman" training course in July 1950.  The Certificate is signed by Brigadier General Montague, noted as Commanding in July 1950.   Most likely the assembly of nuclear weapons.

    Several other orders for the months of August, November, and December 1951 announce conversion of Military Occupational Specialties for members of the HQs Special Weapons Group 8460 AAU, HQs Company, 8460th Special Weapons Group, the 111th Special Weapons Unit, the 1096th USAF SP (Special) Rept Sq (Squadron) and various detachments of the 1096th, and 1097ths USAF units.  There are Army, Navy and Air Force service men. both enlisted and officers on these documents.  Colonel Oberdeck is noted as the Commander of the Headquarters, Killeen Base, in Killen Texas, and sent people from the 8461st Special Weapons unit to Sandia Base for training / certification (Feb 1953).  All of these orders are marked RESTRICTED.

    Reading between the lines shows that Sandia Base was a training facility for Special Weapons personnel in all services.  That training included assembly of special weapons and probable radiation exposures.

    Of the 8 specific individuals I tried to track mentioned on these orders, all were dead.  I found one death certificate that indicated respiratory failure, pre-leukemia, and a myleoma????? (bad doctor handwriting) condition.  If any of these people on the orders are still alive, they probably will not talk to anyone about their service.  They were ordered, and convinced that their service was so classified that they are still at risk of being sent to jail if they talk about their special weapons service.  In attempting to assist a veteran with a radiation exposure claim related to "Bugcatcher mssions", where the Air Force flew specially equipped weather recon planes (WRB-57) into Chinese and Russian nuclear test radiation clouds in the 50s and early 60s.   While the military was aware of radiation hazard during this time, there was no good way to measure radiation exposure, and no basis to predict how much exposure would, or could lead to future medical problems.

    The veteran I was helping described a dosimeter he wore during his decontamination duties at Yokata Japan in 1962 and 1963.  I sent him to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Museum and he identified the dosimeter he used as a Radiac DT60/PD Personnel Dosimeter.  A reader allows an estimate of exposure measured in roentgen (equivalent to rad used below) . 

    Fast forward to late 70s and early 80s  physics, I know the glass / film inside this dosimeter measured (primarily) gamma and X-ray radiation exposure, and would not accurately reflect radiation exposure from the alpha and beta particles found in the fall-out the veteran was washing from the Bugcatcher aircraft.  Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory did a field study of the DT60 in Sept 1959 and found that gamma, neutron and x-ray responses from 25 to 600 rads at energies in excess of 200 kev were found to be within 20 percent (accurate) in 92 of the 160 dosimeters examined.  (This was generally favorable report but demonstrates that in 1959, we still didn't have a good understanding of the effects of radiation on the body.  A current CAT Scan exposes a person to .01 mSv of radiation.   Over a year, the average person gets 3 (three) mSv of radiation exposure from the sun & cosmic radiation which is equivalent to .30 rem.    For practical purposes, rem and rad are the same.  One measures actual radiation, and the other describes the biological impact of that same amount of radiation.  Bottom line is that 1960s dosimeters could only measured radiation doses whose energy levels greatly exceeded what is considered safe today for medical exposure.)  

    Returning to the reluctance of individuals involved in special weapons to talk about their service, two years after my dealings with the veteran from the 56th Weather Recon Squadron, I met another veteran from the same unit who had a little overlap in time with my first veteran.  When I asked him what he knew about the BugCatcher missions, he became highly indignant, remined me of the Atomic Energy Act, and told me he was going to report me to the FBI.  He left my office convinced that I was an irresponsible idiot for talking about Bugcatcher and possibly a spy.

    Manzana Base was part of, or at least controlled by Sandia Base which totally surrounded Manzana.  1970s vintage maps show a weapons storage are within Sandia Base which is most likely the Manzana Base. In 1971, Kirtland AFB took control of both Manzana and Sandia.  Confusing???  Consider this a part of inter service rivalry.  Sandia Base (early 50s) was commanded by an Army General who couldn't be a base commander if he was part of an Air Force Base.  The Dept of Defense was not created until 1947 and competition between the Services was intense  (This hasn't changed much but cooperation is better.)    The Army was still stinging from losing the Army Air Corps to the newly created Air Force.  Manzano, as a special weapons facility, had both Air Force security Police and Army personnel as shown by the orders cut by an Army Commander detailing two Air Force Sergeants to take an AF PFC to an Air Force Prison.  The same set of orders sent two Navy men to Norfork VA. 

    Hope this paints some background for you. 

    Read: " The B29 in Weather Reconnaissance" by Tom Robison   (BugCatcher Missions)

                 About Operation Sandstone in 1948.   Major, eventually Colonel Fackler, dreamed up the Bugcatcher missions and was tasked by Major General John Mills, Commander of the AF Special Weapons Command, which became the AF Special Weapons Center at Kirtland AFB.  (Sandia Base was adjacent to Kirtland AFB and merged with Kirtland AFB in 1971.  Manzano Storage was part of Sandia and also merged into Kirtland AFB)  Col Fackler died in 1986 from a type of Brain Cancer at 71 years of age.  He suffered from a type of brain cancer that "could be triggered by radiation exposure.  His family believed it was from many years of of sampling flights through radiation clouds.    http://www.awra.us/gallery-feb07.html

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    Found your link in History Hub while trying to decide whether to dispose of some old files: copies of orders from the Headquarters Filed Command, Armed Forces Special Weapons project, Sandia Base, Albuquerque New Mexico.  Special Orders 132, dated 5 November 1951, signed by KF Hertford, Colonel, CE Chief of staff for Brigadier General Stranathan covers a wide range of actions in the command.  Six Sergeants identified by name had separate rations terminated, and five enlisted were granted separate rations.  Major Charles Green was assigned to duty as the Executive Officer for Base Ord (Ordnance).  SSGT Roger Wallace and Sgt Arthur Flanagan were assigned as armed guards to escort a prisoner to the 5th Aviation Field Deport Squadron (Prison).  1stLT James Stanley was sent for Temporary Duty at Los Alamos; and several others were sent temporary duty to Special Weapons units in San Bruno California, Patuxent MD, and to HQ in Washington DC.  I also have a copy of a Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, Sandia Base Certificate for a non-commissioned officer who completed the "Assemblyman" training course in July 1950.  The Certificate is signed by Brigadier General Montague, noted as Commanding in July 1950.   Most likely the assembly of nuclear weapons.

    Several other orders for the months of August, November, and December 1951 announce conversion of Military Occupational Specialties for members of the HQs Special Weapons Group 8460 AAU, HQs Company, 8460th Special Weapons Group, the 111th Special Weapons Unit, the 1096th USAF SP (Special) Rept Sq (Squadron) and various detachments of the 1096th, and 1097ths USAF units.  There are Army, Navy and Air Force service men. both enlisted and officers on these documents.  Colonel Oberdeck is noted as the Commander of the Headquarters, Killeen Base, in Killen Texas, and sent people from the 8461st Special Weapons unit to Sandia Base for training / certification (Feb 1953).  All of these orders are marked RESTRICTED.

    Reading between the lines shows that Sandia Base was a training facility for Special Weapons personnel in all services.  That training included assembly of special weapons and probable radiation exposures.

    Of the 8 specific individuals I tried to track mentioned on these orders, all were dead.  I found one death certificate that indicated respiratory failure, pre-leukemia, and a myleoma????? (bad doctor handwriting) condition.  If any of these people on the orders are still alive, they probably will not talk to anyone about their service.  They were ordered, and convinced that their service was so classified that they are still at risk of being sent to jail if they talk about their special weapons service.  In attempting to assist a veteran with a radiation exposure claim related to "Bugcatcher mssions", where the Air Force flew specially equipped weather recon planes (WRB-57) into Chinese and Russian nuclear test radiation clouds in the 50s and early 60s.   While the military was aware of radiation hazard during this time, there was no good way to measure radiation exposure, and no basis to predict how much exposure would, or could lead to future medical problems.

    The veteran I was helping described a dosimeter he wore during his decontamination duties at Yokata Japan in 1962 and 1963.  I sent him to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Museum and he identified the dosimeter he used as a Radiac DT60/PD Personnel Dosimeter.  A reader allows an estimate of exposure measured in roentgen (equivalent to rad used below) . 

    Fast forward to late 70s and early 80s  physics, I know the glass / film inside this dosimeter measured (primarily) gamma and X-ray radiation exposure, and would not accurately reflect radiation exposure from the alpha and beta particles found in the fall-out the veteran was washing from the Bugcatcher aircraft.  Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory did a field study of the DT60 in Sept 1959 and found that gamma, neutron and x-ray responses from 25 to 600 rads at energies in excess of 200 kev were found to be within 20 percent (accurate) in 92 of the 160 dosimeters examined.  (This was generally favorable report but demonstrates that in 1959, we still didn't have a good understanding of the effects of radiation on the body.  A current CAT Scan exposes a person to .01 mSv of radiation.   Over a year, the average person gets 3 (three) mSv of radiation exposure from the sun & cosmic radiation which is equivalent to .30 rem.    For practical purposes, rem and rad are the same.  One measures actual radiation, and the other describes the biological impact of that same amount of radiation.  Bottom line is that 1960s dosimeters could only measured radiation doses whose energy levels greatly exceeded what is considered safe today for medical exposure.)  

    Returning to the reluctance of individuals involved in special weapons to talk about their service, two years after my dealings with the veteran from the 56th Weather Recon Squadron, I met another veteran from the same unit who had a little overlap in time with my first veteran.  When I asked him what he knew about the BugCatcher missions, he became highly indignant, remined me of the Atomic Energy Act, and told me he was going to report me to the FBI.  He left my office convinced that I was an irresponsible idiot for talking about Bugcatcher and possibly a spy.

    Manzana Base was part of, or at least controlled by Sandia Base which totally surrounded Manzana.  1970s vintage maps show a weapons storage are within Sandia Base which is most likely the Manzana Base. In 1971, Kirtland AFB took control of both Manzana and Sandia.  Confusing???  Consider this a part of inter service rivalry.  Sandia Base (early 50s) was commanded by an Army General who couldn't be a base commander if he was part of an Air Force Base.  The Dept of Defense was not created until 1947 and competition between the Services was intense  (This hasn't changed much but cooperation is better.)    The Army was still stinging from losing the Army Air Corps to the newly created Air Force.  Manzano, as a special weapons facility, had both Air Force security Police and Army personnel as shown by the orders cut by an Army Commander detailing two Air Force Sergeants to take an AF PFC to an Air Force Prison.  The same set of orders sent two Navy men to Norfork VA. 

    Hope this paints some background for you. 

    Read: " The B29 in Weather Reconnaissance" by Tom Robison   (BugCatcher Missions)

                 About Operation Sandstone in 1948.   Major, eventually Colonel Fackler, dreamed up the Bugcatcher missions and was tasked by Major General John Mills, Commander of the AF Special Weapons Command, which became the AF Special Weapons Center at Kirtland AFB.  (Sandia Base was adjacent to Kirtland AFB and merged with Kirtland AFB in 1971.  Manzano Storage was part of Sandia and also merged into Kirtland AFB)  Col Fackler died in 1986 from a type of Brain Cancer at 71 years of age.  He suffered from a type of brain cancer that "could be triggered by radiation exposure.  His family believed it was from many years of of sampling flights through radiation clouds.    http://www.awra.us/gallery-feb07.html

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