Interview of Joseph O. Fletcher by Brian Shoemaker
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Date
2006-01-05T19:15:55Z
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Byrd Polar Research Center Archival Program
Abstract
Col. Fletcher began his affiliation with the military in the ROTC program at the University of Oklahoma, enrolling in 1936. He received his Masters Degree from MIT in meteorology and went into active service in 1941. After his active duty service (1941-42), Col. Fletcher returned to MIT to work in the Radiation Lab as a researcher and test pilot. He worked on the development of the use of microwave radar for direct observation of meteorological processes. Col. Fletcher also helped set up a world-wide system for collecting measurements of wind slough and meteorological observations involving convective storms using anti-aircraft fire control equipment. He also designed configurations for various aircraft, including the B-25, B-24, and P-61. While stationed in Guam, Col. Fletcher was involved in organizing reconnaissance flights using B-29s with attached APQ-13 domes. After the war ended in 1945, Col. Fletcher was assigned to the All Weather Flying Division based at Ohio State University. A resulting development from this time was the Thunderstorm Project. After a trip to Washington, D.C., Col. Fletcher was able to finish graduate school at UCLA, where he received a Masters Degree in physics. In 1947, he moved on to Wright Field as head of the Research Plants Branch and eventually ended up back at MIT in the Cambridge Research Laboratories. While there, the laboratories on meteorological instrumentation in New Jersey were combined with those in Cambridge, creating a parallel division of electronic laboratories for geophysics. Col. Fletcher became the head of these combined laboratories, then known as the Air Force Geophysical Laboratories (aka Geophysical Directorate). This group is now known as the Phillips Laboratories.
Col. Fletcher was first associated with Polar Region study when he took command of a squadron of aircraft in Alaska in 1958. This group flew off the Russian coast- one day between Eilson and Tokyo, the next Siberia to the North Pole (called the Loon Treks and Ptarmigan Treks respectively). The purpose of these flights was weather reconnaissance and radar development. Col. Fletcher discusses the difficulty of airplane maintenance in extreme temperatures and flying in adverse weather conditions. The flights were also used as cold weather and emergency testing grounds for various airplanes and equipment, including the C-54, B-29, C-124, and Gooneybird (DC-3). Col. Fletcher, Dr. Rhodahl, and Captain Briniger stayed at T-3 (one of the smaller ice islands in the Canadian Arctic Region near Ellesmere Island, about 90 miles from the North Pole) for 2 ½ weeks to test the efficiency of the emergency response team on the Ptarmigan flight path. Col. Fletcher then extended his stay to 3 months, from mid-March until June. As part of this mission, Col. Fletcher flew with Bill Benedict and Bert Crary to the North Pole to take measurements. Col. Fletcher discusses Crary’s science, with its particular focus on geophysics, seismicity, and acoustics.
After completing his time at T-3, Col. Fletcher returned to the United States and was assigned to the 4th Weather Group as a part of the R & D Command, whose job it was to operate the weather stations that were in support of all research installations around the country. While stationed at the Air Force Headquarters in Baltimore, Col. Fletcher came into talks surrounding the United State’s vulnerability over the Arctic and the need for a DEW line warning system. The Air Force began the construction of this line around Alaska in 1951, which was contracted out to the Western Electric Company, a division of AT&T, headquartered in lower Manhattan. Col. Fletcher was assigned as the Air Force Project Officer and discusses the operational concerns and issues during this project, which was completed in September 1953.
After working on the DEW line project, Col. Fletcher was assigned to Maxwell’s Air Command and Staff School and then the Air War College. He spent 1953-56 in this position, where his primary duties included lecturing about air operations in the Arctic. From 1957-58, Col. Fletcher worked at the Navy War College and played a role in the development of two drifting stations during IGY (Alpha and Beta). In the summer of 1958, Col. Fletcher went to Norway where he was the Chief of the Air Mission to the Norwegian Air Force. Following this, Col. Fletcher returned to Fort McNair to work for the Industrial War College and eventually ended up at the Pentagon on the Air Staff.
Col. Fletcher discusses his time with the Rand Corporation, working on research projects for NATO. Most of these projects involved the development of methods of defense and attack involving the mobilization of aircraft fleets. Col. Fletcher also became interested in the changing global climate and began to do research on environmental topics. He wrote on both the Arctic and Antarctic, with his work eventually leading him to climate studies at the Equator, especially the tropical Pacific. Col. Fletcher moved to the University of Washington to help set up the AJAX experiment. From there, he went on to NSF and became the Head of the Division of Polar Programs in 1971. He discusses his work with Jakob Bierknes and his (Bierknes) understanding of the El Nino phenomenon and its effect the global climate. This led to the formation of a new division at NSF, the Global Atmospheric Research Program (GARP).
Col. Fletcher also discusses his time with NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) working with climate investigation and the issues of funding for all NSF programs. The planning and implementation of these climate investigations were initially called EPOCS- Equatorial Pacific Ocean Climate Studies. Col. Fletcher began working with them in September of 1974, with the budget initiative being approved in 1976. His primary question involved the strength of the global circulation of the atmosphere and its role as a variable. A history of the shifts in global circulation is given by Col. Fletcher as a means of discussing his own research. Col. Fletcher retired from NOAA in 1992 and continues to work on the biological aspects of circulation, including the carbon cycle.
Major Themes
Collection of wind slough and meteorological observations involving convective storms
using anti-aircraft fire control equipment
All Weather Flying Division and the Thunderstorm Project
Air Force Geophysical Laboratories (Geophysical Directorate)
Loon Treks and Ptarmigan Treks
T-3 (one of the smaller ice islands in the Canadian Arctic Region near Ellesmere Island,
about 90 miles from the North Pole)
Gooneybird aircraft
4th Weather Group and R & D Command
DEW line warning system
Air War College
Navy War College
Industrial War College
The Rand Corporation and NATO
The AJAX experiment
Global Atmospheric Research Program (GARP)
NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration)
EPOCS (Equatorial Pacific Ocean Climate Studies)
Description
________ Lotsby, pp. 14
Ned_________, pp. 18
Carl Rock, pp. 24, 28
_________ Treshnikov, pp. 30
_________ Somov, pp. 30
General Frank Armstrong, pp. 31
General William D. Olds, pp. 32, 43-44, 49-50
Bernt Balchen, pp. 35, 87
________ Arnold, pp. 35
________ Rhodahl, pp. 42, 45-46
________ Briniger, pp. 42, 46
Lou Erhardt, pp. 43-44, 47
Gordon Bradburton, pp. 43
Bert Crary, pp. 46, 54-57, 77, 81, 100, 106
Ed Ward, pp. 48-49
Bill Benedict, pp. 50, 52-54, 58-59
George Austin, pp. 51
Tracy Austin, pp. 51
_________ Chernivitsky, pp. 61
President Truman, pp. 64
Max Brewer, pp. 66
Trevor Harwood, pp. 70
_________ McCarty, pp. 72-73
Hugh Adeshaw, pp. 78
Tom Cunningham, pp. 79
Norbert Untersteiner, pp. 81-82, 98-99
Francis Weeden, pp. 83
Admiral Dennis Wilkinson, pp. 84-85
Jim Calpert, pp. 85-86
Daniel Ellsberg, pp. 94
Mack Hoag, pp. 94
Jim Schlessinger, pp. 94-96
Willy Weeks, pp. 99
Tom Jones, pp. 99-100, 105-106
Professor Jakob Bierknes, pp. 101-102
Gene Bierly, pp. 102-103
George Llano, pp. 106
Mort Turner, pp. 107
Dennis Ruthinson, pp. 107
President Richard Nixon, pp. 107-108
Phil Neurenberg, pp. 108-109
Bill Hess, pp. 111, 114-115
Bob White, pp. 111
Paul Wolf, pp. 113
Tivo ________, pp. 113
Herb Reel, pp. 118
JoAnn Simpson, pp. 118
Yock Koopner, pp. 118
________ Izzo, pp. 126-127
________ Romanathon, pp. 128
Susan Solomon, pp. 129-130
The media can be accessed at the links below.
Audio Part 1: http://streaming.osu.edu/knowledgebank/byrd/oral_history/Col_Joseph_Fletcher_1.mp3
Audio Part 2: http://streaming.osu.edu/knowledgebank/byrd/oral_history/Col_Joseph_Fletcher_2.mp3
Audio Part 3: http://streaming.osu.edu/knowledgebank/byrd/oral_history/Col_Joseph_Fletcher_3.mp3
Audio Part 4: http://streaming.osu.edu/knowledgebank/byrd/oral_history/Col_Joseph_Fletcher_4.mp3
The media can be accessed at the links below.
Audio Part 1: http://streaming.osu.edu/knowledgebank/byrd/oral_history/Col_Joseph_Fletcher_1.mp3
Audio Part 2: http://streaming.osu.edu/knowledgebank/byrd/oral_history/Col_Joseph_Fletcher_2.mp3
Audio Part 3: http://streaming.osu.edu/knowledgebank/byrd/oral_history/Col_Joseph_Fletcher_3.mp3
Audio Part 4: http://streaming.osu.edu/knowledgebank/byrd/oral_history/Col_Joseph_Fletcher_4.mp3