Forrest Perkins: Biographical note

Forrest D. Perkins joined the USAF in December 1946, becoming a Control Tower Operator in 1947.

After 3 years he became an Air Traffic Control Technician and worked in both ATC Centres and Approach Control locations until 1952, when he was assigned as Radar Approach Control Supervisor at Westover Air Force Base, Massachussetts.

In September 1953 he was posted to RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk, England, to help set up a new Radar Air Traffic Control Center using scopes remoted from the CPN-4 GCA surveillance radar. This system was supplanted in early 1956 by a new Centre located in the Control Tower building and using a dedicated CPS-5 long-range surveillance radar which, after improvements and modifications, was the system in use as at August 13 1956 with Perkins as Supervisor.

He returned to the United States to complete his service, retiring at Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma, in April 1967 after 20 years' experience of aircraft control.

Once out of the Air Force he decided to "go back to school", earning a BA in Psychology & Sociology, an MA in Educational Psychology and a Secondary Teaching Credential from the University of California, Santa Barbara.