Russ Koch, a an electronics maintenance and repair technician on tropospheric communications equipment, (Air Force Specialty Code 30450), provided us with pictures and historical information on Det 150 in 1968 and 1969.  His information is very interesting since when he was at the site, it's name was spelled "Sahin Tepesi", but when I arrived in 1981, the Turkish government spelled the name as "Sahintepe".

In the picture above, Russ is working on an AN-FRC135a radio.

Russ, who is enthusiastic supporter of documenting Det 150's history, told us:

Pat,

Yes, I have got some good stories and pics of Sahin Tepesi (as we called it).  I will send you a package of (hopefully) interesting material to you over the Internet when I get it all together.  'Specially the topless gypsy belly dancers we had visit us for Christmas '68 (thanks!, SSgt Shaw).

Uh, well, maybe not some of the real "good" photos, but at least the ones that you could post..... (Ed. note -- Thanks, Russ, for looking out for our kid-safe rating!)Like our neat sailboat built from packing crates. One of the Turk drivers capsized it and lost the sail.  We used a bed sheet after that..... Or the riot when some Turk men spotted one of our guys ogling a top-heavy local girl on the beach down from our site (little Gemlik) (problem was he was using his bnoculars from about 10 ft. from the girls!) .... Like when Lt. Dorn and a guy from Power went over the cliff trying to catch a fly ball, .. bye bye, guys! (not too well liked, were they). ....  Skiing at Uludag in a white out, remote, lonesome bowl-skiing in the sun, trying to get up after falling in 5 ft. of powder (more like mashed potatoes). .....   (Ed. note -- Uladag is a ski resort located in Bursa, a city of 500,000 people about 35 miles SW of Sahintepe)

. 

I still have some of the towels and bathrobes I got in Bursa.   Best towels I have ever had.  ....  (Ed. note -- no wonder the shop keepers used to say they knew the Americans from Sahintepe for years.  Look at my Sightseeing Trips Page for my picture in another place in the Bursa Bazaar! )Walking down to Gemlik from the site -  long walk back up.....

.

(Ed. note -- check this pic of Russ on the Sahintepe Road against the pictures we have on here from 1981 .  It looks like Russ is about one quarter of the way up from the highway to the site.)

...Sgt. Frolich inadvertently turning the cooling radiators off on the left side (backwards) Klystrons, " Gee, how do I turn these valves on, Russ, turn left or right?"...ans., "Dunno"  -  Few minutes later - ZAP!  zipideedooda, POWEE!... "Uh, guess ya shoulda turned em the other way, Sgt.".,,,,  (Ed. note -- Klystrons were these huge radio tubes about twice the size of a milk can.  They cost about $5000 apiece when I was there in 1981.  Klystrons had an inner plating of gold (yes, gold!) and built up a huge amount of heat unless they were properly cooled by a radiator). 

Check your maps, they list Sahin Tepesi as about 3000 ft. elevation..  Would that be meters?  (Ed. note -- our maps when I was there said 2,915feet, which would be about 971 meters)

I am an environmental scientist at White Sands Missile Range, NM spent most of my career as a Forester, USFS.  Live on the side of a huge mountain, now, rather than on top!

Suggest you include    Sahin Tepesi and    DET 150 as a keywords for search engines.  (Ed. note -- done!)

Last names of some that come to mind (approx spelling)

Rearden, Lampe, Gillee, Shaw, Marciani, Frolich, Dorn, Pittman, Terry,  Sandspree...

Anything I can do to help with this effort, let me know.

Russ

Leveling the pool table every day or two because of earth quakes,  all the balls would be rolled to one side. ...  Souping up the slot cars for our extra-big track in the rec room. ...  Playing the piano near the bar (undoubtedly the most awfulest piano in the world). .... Not playing ping pong (no one would play me 'cause I was real, real good, but also dam arrogant).  Ya, you learn a lot about yourself when you live with the same guys day in day out, like it or not.  Couldn't pay me enough to go back voluntarily, but I can tell you for sure that, you, I and many others came away better people for the experience.  (Ed. Note -- Maybe that's why Det 150's motto was "Proud to be on top!")

Russ also provided two pictures which show the "steps" at Sahintepe -- all 126 of them! -- before they were covered with the sheet metal and fiberglass enclosure present when I arrived in 1981.

That's the back door to the dining hall's kitchen that's standing open.  The Radio Building is the red building at the top of the hill.

I guess I wasn't the only person who took pictures out of our trucks when we were driving around Turkey.  Russ sent this picture he took as one of the Det 150 trucks proceeded through the city of Gemlik on its way to the site.

Russ sent this info along about how he took these pictures:

I took about 50 photos around the site and in Turkey in 1968, using an old Rolicord twin lens reflex my Dad bought shortly before WWII.  The originals are large-format slides, about 4 times the
surface area of a 35 mm slide.

On the Interesting Stories page you'll find some notes about the "30-G" radio designator for Sahintepe.  Russ tells us of another designator:

For your info, I do not recall the 30 G designation being used by our comm technicians while I was there.  Sahin Tepesi was then abbreviated as TKG (Turkey/Karamursel/Gemlik).

Thanks, Russ, for sharing your pictures and stories with everyone

-- Pat aka Bluejeans

All pictures on this page copyrighted 1968-2002 David R. Koch

All rights reserved.