July-August - Air Defense Artillery School

80 THE COAST ARTILLERY J
Among other trammg innovations at the Antiaircraft
Artillery Training Center was the use of simulated .50
caliber antiaircraft machine guns, firing a plastic missile
propelled by a compressed air charge. The machine guns
are fired at small armadas of model airplanes which zigzag
backwards and forewards on wires strung between high
poles. A backdrop of heavy canvas catches the missiles
which are gathered for re-use. Training officers were represented
as well pleased with the new phases of training gunners.
Realistic effects are further attained by recorded firing
bv an actual .50 caliber machine oun over an amplihino
" 0" 0
apparatus.
On June 20 approximately two hundred and seventy-five
members of the First Class of the United States ~lilitar\'
Academy arrived at Camp Davis as part of a tour of larg~
Eastern Army camps of the various branches of the service.
They were headed by i\lajor General Francis B. Wilby,
Superintendent. and Brigadier General Phillip E. Gallagher,
Commandant, of the United States i\lilitary Academy.
The cadets arrived by special train and attended services
at various camp chapels in the morning. In the afternoon
they witnessed a demonstration of barrage balloon tactics
by a detachment from the Barrage Balloon Training Center
which was sent for the purpose from Camp Tyson, Tenn.
In the evening, the cadets were guests at a dance and reception
held for them at the Officers Club. In the following
three days the cadets were occupied wi~h a study of training
methods at the Antiaircraft Artillery School.
C
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BRIGADIER GENERAL H. C. ALLEN, COnlmwlding
By Major Prime F. Oshorll
This Training Center has come into the hotter months
with a fine record of achievement behind it. Firing records
have been made and broken, conditioning-march times have
been cut, and more units are qualifying all personnel on
the obstacle and infiltration courses. The Camp itself is
undergoing a face lifting treatment with the erection of
several new buildings and spring-cleaning of grounds and
areas.
Redecoration of the Guest House lounge has been completed
with the painting and varnishing of the walls and
wainscoting. This completes the change begun some time
ago with the addition of comfortable, brightly upholstered
The car and target.
rattan chairs and sofas, and several small tables. And Carn
Hulen officers are at last to have a club of their own. Sch
uled to be completed in July, the new building will be 71
feet wide and 173 feet long. Fronting on Tres Palacios Sa
and the Gulf of i\ lexico, the new quarters will include sue
badly needed features as a capacious lobby, containing tel
phone booths, check rooms, and rest rooms. The lobby w'
lead into a forty by sixty polished maple dance Hoor su
rounded bv a balcony, the northeast end of which is I
open to a 'large gam~ room and storage area. A separate
restaurant, complete with steam table and soda fountain
will also fill long-felt wants. In addition, a paneled taproo
opening on a screened porch will take care of the throngs
who do not choose to patronize the soda bar.
Among the training improvements this summer have be
the completion of the antimechanized ranges at the India
ola firing point. These ranges have been carefully laid ou
and constructed to provide the firing units with the fin
practice on any target, under various conditions, and ar
types of courses. The antimechanized range is a figure
shape with the target car pulled around the mile-long cou
by a section-hand car equipped with a remote control brak
ring device and automatic acceleration and decelerati
mechanism. A dirt embankment thrown up parallel to I
tracks protects cars, power unit, and rails against the aut
matic weapons fire. Curves are sharply banked to permit
maximum speed of thirty miles an hour to be maintain
throughout the course. The target itself, built up from I
car, projects above the embankment and approximates t
silhouette of a tank. The shape of the range allows gu
at any position to track and fire at a target continually cha
ing its direction; thus one circuit includes crossing, in
ing, and outgoing courses. Several emplacement areas ha
been built, permitting the siting of .50 cal. machine g
and 40mm guns at their effective ranges for fire on the ta
as it darts among trees and bushes. The target car can
controlled from the nearby safety tower making it unn
sary to approach the range during firing. The car has a fu
capacity sufficient to run the target continuously for
proximately three hours thereby permitting about a half
of uninterrupted fire. However, the target is usu
destroyed or badly torn up by well-directed gun fire 1
much shorter period.