130th AACS


From Mr. Chuck Mette, Olean, NY (2/21/05):

I first became part of AACS in 1943.  I had finished electronics school at Truax Field in Madison, Wisconsin, promoted to corporal and sent to advanced maintenance AACS school, Scott Field, Ill.  After I finished this school I was sent to Smyrna, Tenn.  for overseas processing.  After I finished the processing I was called to the orderly room and told I was going to Asheville, N.C.  for another school.  At the time I didn't know Asheville was the headquarters for AACS.  When I arrived there we were told that we were going to New York City to attend AT&T radio teletype school.  After being there about a week I was told that the plans were changed and AT&T instructors were coming to Asheville and the radio teletype school would be taught there at the AACS headquarters in one of the top 3 floors of the Ashville city building.  We got very valuable experience as we installed all the equipment that was used to teach the course.  We 13 finished the course on December 31, 1943 and shipped out the next day for the CBI to set up radio teletype systems.  Somehow I was picked to go to Kunming, China.  When I arrived at Kunming they had one radio teletype circuit set up.  The unit was known as a detachment of the 25th AACS.  Call sign was WUTK.  Later on we built a big new station on the other side of the air base with many radio teletype circuits and became known as 128th AACS and later as the 130th AACS, part of the 63d AACS Group.  I was shipped home on points in October 1945 with the rank of staff sergeant, discharged from Fort Dix on December 30, 1945.  I am a life member of the AACS alumni association.

Pictures of the 130th AACS radio station in Kunming, China, 1945...and the operators room note the CW operators and the radio and land line teletype machines....there was more around the corner in back of the room.

All the guys on this team were members of the 128th AACS stationed at Kunming, 1944.  We were undefeated (6 games) until we played the ground forces team in the Rice Bowl.  General Chenault bet the Ground Forces General of the CBI that his team would win.  We didn't know that the Ground Forces General recruited guys from all over to play us.  Most were professional and college players.  We had one college player on our team.  The rest were all high school players.  Anyway these guys showed how to play the game of football.  Anyway we had more fun watching Chenault pay off his bet.

Pictures of the air to ground and approach control section of the station at Kunming.  That's me climbing 180 foot homing beacon tower to replace burned out bulb at top of the tower.  I did this on a bet but would never try it again.  When you are twenty years old you try anything once.

This was our transmitter building and power house with the Hostel area and antenna towers.  The Old Burma Road went between the buildings (1944).

Pictures of some of the transmitters and some of the diesel power generators in the transmitter and power buildings.


A ticket to a show that was presented in the Hostel 10 rec. hall in 1944.


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