1948 Tinker Air Force Base Tornadoes
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Only a handful of tornadoes each year cause loss of life and/or significant property damage- and such storms are certainly a significant part of American history. But a particularly costly storm in 1948 not only made history, it changed our very understanding of tornadoes themselves, resulting in the first tornado forecast.
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I grew up in Shawnee, OK, about 30 miles from Tinker. My mother, fresh out of secretarial school, was one of the first hires. She retired nearly 50 years later as head of Airframe & Accessories. I grew up around and on Tinker. One particular vivid memory was when I was about 8. I had a plastic model of an F-111. I had a question about the front landing gear. Mom brought me and my model to the base one Saturday while she was working alert. We went to building 3001, the giant overhaul & maintenance building. A mechanic tossed a blanket over the nose wheel of an F-111 and we sat there looking into the nose gear bay while he explained what I couldn't understand from a single molded piece of plastic. "Ya wanna see the rest of the plane?". "Yes Sir!". I was first on the rope with my camera & 1000mm lens when the shuttle Enterprise, heading back to Florida from California on the back of the 747 after glider testing, overnighted at Tinker. Mom told me before the press knew. I grew up hearing about this tornado. Oklahoma was a great place to be a kid.
Wow. You were a lucky kid. Thanks for sharing that.
Same. Shawnee native and graduate
@@slareau662 Class of '78.
@@donwilbanks2226 pleasure to meet a true elder.
My mother was a secretary at Tinker in the middle ‘50s. As a native Texan she said she’d never seen such destruction as with Oklahoma tornadoes!
I worked near Mr Miller at Offutt AFB as a new weather forecaster in the early 70s. I was in awe of him and his ability to forecast severe weather events. He was "The Man". Later in my career I was able to successfully forecast severe events using Mr Miller's techniques. Thanks for a great presentation.
What words were banned by your superiors while you worked for the Government?
Just curious, because I think banning the word "Tornado" is a foolish decision.
I used to work at Tinker Air Force Base. Grew up in Moore and was lucky to live thru the first ever EFG5. The tornado sirens blare out every Saturday morning at noon. The song of my people. lol!
Tinker is actually in Midwest City, not OKC.
We have ones that go off with a real quick daily test (just enough to bring them partially up to speed and verify function) and then monthly full tests. Another city not far away tests em at lunchtime on Tuesdays, about 12:45.
It's amazing how much we forget they exist sometimes, honestly.
Tinker, like all military bases, is not technically "in" a city, even though it does exist within Oklahoma City's defined borders. Bases have their own zip codes, and are not part of a city or state's expenses or rules. They are directly governed at the federal level. If you click on the name "Oklahoma City" on Google Maps, you will see that its borders do actually encompass all of Tinker. The edge of the base is also the edge of the city where it directly borders with Del City in part, and Midwest City in part. So while you do enter Tinker directly from Midwest city on the north side of the base, the base itself is overlapped by OKC proper.
In an hour I will here those sirens:)
As an old Air Force pilot and a citizen of Oklahoma, I'm a little teary eyed. Osage Indian General, largest repair depot of planes some I flew, and the birth of tornado forecasting from a 1 and 20 million probability. You can't make this sh-- up. History Guy, you never cease to surprise. I thank you and solute you.
The irony of having the Tinker / Moore / Midwest City area be the first place a tornado was ever forecast is pretty amazing!
Because that small area continues to be a magnet for tornadoes to this day.
Three of the top 5 most destructive, highest wind speed tornadoes in history have been recorded within 30 miles of Tinker.
As a teenager, back in the 70's, before "storm chasers" became a thing, me and my buddies would jump in the pickup and head out to watch these incredible storms form.
Amazingly (from a forecasting perspective), they would usually form up at the same time of day in the same area (usually in May).
The ones that hit the Tinker / OKC area would start forming up in the southwest, sometimes south of Lawton in the early afternoon.. The entire systems would travel SW- NE in a fairly predicable time frame, so you could easily chase them without danger by just traveling to right angles from the storm.
TL:DR: By the time I turned 21, I had seen 21 tornadoes on the ground, including a pair of twins down in the SW corner of the state.
Also saw what would have been a world record hail stone in a field.
It was so big, we at first mistook it for a salt lick (a 1ft cube of salt given to cows).
Still remember my buddy yelling out after picking it up:
"Its a gdamn piece of hail!"
Yep, there's a reason why the Moore / Norman area is home to the National Weather Service, the National Severe Storms Laboratory, the Storm Prediction Center, and probably a couple of others I'm forgetting. It's interesting how the state has a sort of storm / tornado culture among the general population. There are a few outbreaks I won't easily forget, the May 3rd, 1999 outbreak being one of the scariest.
That hail story is crazy! I can't imagine the updrafts that would be needed to keep a chunk of ice airborne for long enough to get that large.
I refer to the strip of land from Lawton up the H.E.Bailey through Choctaw "God's bowling alley".
@@Brian_H.116... Why do you use words like "Outbreak" for a Commonly Occuring Weather Event?
Why did Air Force Brass need "Forecasters" for an area that was KNOWN for Severe Weather?
Would you build an Air Base in Tornado Alley?
Why do you give your Government a Pass on doing it then?
@@alec_f1... So did the people who lived there BEFORE the Air Force moved to town.
Maybe the Air Force Brass should have looked at the HISTORY before they built a Facility completely reliant on Good Weather.
Is that too Simple to understand?
The irony of having to divert to Tinker in a B-52H for "severe weather" at Barksdale was not lost on me.
The nice thing was that there were plenty of folks to help us put the jet to bed that night.
I was assigned to Barksdale from 83 to 87. I miss that place.
I worked B-52's at several SAC bases working on mostly B-52D's and G's with a few H's. I still miss SAC and that BUFF. But I don't miss Loring AFB and the winter with -100° wind chill. I had the best job on the base too in FMS.
@@EIBBOR2654 I worked on the KC-10A's. Radio specialist. Thanks for serving.
Brings new meaning to the phrase Tinker Toys, when the weather tosses planes around like a child's playthings. 😳
Happy Hump Day THG and fellow students. Class is about to start, so please take your seats.
You have a great day! I love learning everything the history guy tells us❤
Missus here. I am a weather weenie, so watch severe weather and tornadoes extensively. That is how I know of Tinker AFB, but I never knew that MG Tinker was a Midway casualty. Thank you for your service, sir! I think you would have thought it was worth it. An unexpected and amazing victory!
Those two Air Force weather officers should have received the presidential medal of freedom for all the lives their work has saved.
Those lives were put in harms way by building Air Bases in Tornado Alley.
You don't need a palm reader, witch, Forecaster, or crystal ball to KNOW what it says in the Farmers Almanac and History Books.
@@truthsRsung their work has saved THOUSANDS of lives since their work in the late 40's.
@@RedBull34thID ...That's one way of looking at it after they spent the early 40’s economizing Death.
How many times did the Air Force send up Aircraft without understanding Weather?
Sounds a lot like pushing babies into a Pool, to see how Fast they Learn to Swim.
"Air Farce" is more like it.
Builds airports in Tornado Alley, THEN Looks into Tornados.
Worship them if you want, but don't be trusting the weather "forecast."
I spent some time in “Tornado Alley” In the 1970’s. The National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman not too far from Tinker was trying to verify a Doppler Radar by sending F4 aircraft directly into storms with tornado activity. It was some wild times. Tornadoes actually do sound like freight trains BTW.
Definitely sound like trains. Had a class 4 go right over the top of me. That weather service buildings were strange to see underground. Walk over the top of them.
I grew up in Dallas and we would get tornado warnings a lot. My father told me that's how you can tell you were hit by one - the freight train sounds.
Strong ones sound like trains. Or at least, the EF-3 that passed by my parents' house did. However, the EF-0/1 that went by down the street a few years later sounded like a screaming fury. Both were very unsettling to hear.
My best friend got stuck in OKC by getting stationed at Tinker (and eventually starting of a family). Some Air Force bases are like black holes that never let people PCS if they can help it. I was nearly stuck in Wichita for the same reason (McConnell). There was also a Tornado at McConnell back in '91 that did about $60 million in damage to the base.
The SP at the front gate "was wrote up" for allowing an unauthorized entry to the base as he didn't check the tornado's badge😂😂😂
You might have liked being 'stuck in Wichita' - it's a great place to live...
@@stirlingschmidt6325... It is if you like to ignore the History of Weather, or like blaming your ignorance of it and spouting things like, "Act of God."
What kind of Leader puts Air Bases in Tornado Alley, while ignoring History?
Did they Learn from their mistakes? Nope.
@@stirlingschmidt6325 I was there for 6 years, and only enjoyed it less as time went on. Many--if not most--people thrive on routine, but I was drowning in it. It didn't help that I grew up with the ocean, forests, rivers, lakes and mountains all within a 5 minute drive and/or walking distance - and when I got to those places they weren't just muddy disappointments crowded with loud people, boats, kids and dogs. I suppose if you're rich enough in Wichita, you can share a spring-fed puddle with some other rich people and avoid *some* of that.
A buddy I went through Tech School with was sent to FE Warren, when he got there he liked it, for a while, but wanted to go overseas. He went to Personnel and the CMSgt there told him to forget about leaving, they needed SP's and it's unlikely he would leave. His Flight Chief had been there 18 years and even tried to go to Vietnam, nope, had to stay there.
This isn't the only time weather has wreaked havoc on the USAF. On Labor Day, Monday, 1 September 1952, a tornado hit Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, damaging aircraft of the 7th and 11th Bomber Wings' complement of B-36s. Some two-thirds of the USAF's entire B-36 fleet was affected, as well as six aircraft being built at that point at Convair's Fort Worth. But one of the planes damaged was later rebuilt as the NB-36, an aircraft that carried a nuclear reactor to study the feasibility of using nuclear power in aircraft.
A few years ago I was woken at 3AM,by a tornado warning. I had never been in that situation before. Living in a mobile home park, there no where to seek shelter. I immediately started praying for God to protect everyone and everything in the path of it. It went right above our homes, jumping over farms,fields and finally took down part of a very large factory. The night watchman was the only fatality. Our whole area was without power, roads were blocked by falling power lines,trees and the factories twisted metal roof was found all over the country side! I had never been that close to one and pray I won't ever experience another one. It is simply terrifying!
After dark tornadoes are my worst nightmare.
Very distinctive sound that once you've heard you never forget. Have personally heard it 3 times most recently the past tornado events here in the Chicago area last month. Definitely a Code Brown moment.
It's definitely a sound you never forget. @@garysprandel1817
Praise the Lord you’re still alive. It must have a life altering experience for you.
I live in a camper trailer in central Louisiana. Two tornadoes have touched down close enough to plainly hear since I got here in late 2022...one that December less than 2 miles to my southeast at 2am. It was a full 2 minutes after I recognized the roar before my weather radio issued the warning. I have no car. No place to go. Severe storms and tornado warnings are so common here and so frightening.
We had an EF-3 nip the SE corner of base back around spring of 2004. Every spring we have some kind of tornado come skipping by. I used to see the sheet metal still in the trees when leaving base just 2 years ago.
I started to read the first part of your post and wondered what kind of a plane the EF-3 is. 🙄
@@OGKenGit's a spy/surveillance/communications plane
@@OGKenG Yeah, I can see that!!! Pretty funny!
Thank you for the lesson.
In a documentary some years ago a weather forecaster from Oklahoma spoke about the early days of tornado forecasting.
He said back then the only way I could predict where a tornado was if you were on the phone telling me it was hitting your neighbors house.
With technological advances today he could forecast a watch and give you up to 30 minutes of warning to take shelter.
I was in Norman Oklahoma in a concrete and steel building when a class 4 tornado went directly over the top. Before the eye, the suction of wind was unbelievable. The eye was pretty calm.
You saw it yourself?
@@HollyMoore-wo2mh yes, it was like depressurizing an airplane. Everything not tied down was sucked out the window. And anything you can think of was flying thru the air at over 120 mph. Trash cans,tables, car pieces,stop signs. And this wall of debris when it hits something it's like a bomb
Class 4 tornado? 👀 yeah ok… this isn’t how a tornado works either. Fake
As someone born smack dab in the middle of the last century, it is interesting to contrast the state of weather forecasting when I was a kid compared to now. Back then forecasters were either guessing or lucky if they could produce an accurate forecast beyond 24 hours. Now, in certain areas of the country at least, accurate forecasts are made that extend out for as much as a week.
I still call them “weather guessers”.
My grandma could predict rain or snow more accurately than the weather man way back when, lol!
And yet, those predictions can still get to you (or not) by as much as 48 hours either way.
My aunt Faye always took an umbrella with her "so as not to get rained on" and she seldom had to use it.
Preparation is 95% of the job.
It’s simply amazing how the ability to predict the weather has improved in the past 10 years.
As a kid in the 60's, I can remember when issuing a Tornado Warning required three municipal officials. By the time they talked it over and the Warning was actually sounded, the storm would be long gone.
Finally hearing the sirens, confused citizens would yell out to each other, "Its a turn'n round"!
The planes were tossed about like Tinker Toys.
And what is a bit sad is there are, now, more people that have no idea what Tinker Toys are or were, than those that do. I loved my Tinker Toys in the late 50's, early 60's and went on to be an engineer, now retired. For you young people, think wooden Lego's. 🙂
I don't give a Tinker's damn.
🤣🤣🤣
Yeah you went there.... 🤣🤣🤣 good one by the by.
@@frankroberts9320 🤣🤣 I haven't that in a while. Thank you. 🤣🤣
Having lived in Oklahoma and specifically Midwest City…spring storms can be devastating.
In 1965, the Minneapolis suburbs were hit by as many as 13 tornadoes. The WCCO tv & radio weather forecaster, Bud Kraeling, stayed on the air, warning people where the radar was showing activity. He was predicting from about 5pm on that we were in for some rough weather....
I remember getting shoved into our storm cellar, under our house (entry on the outside!) to wait out the rest of the storm. The first, which hit us at 7:12 pm, went over/around us as we were at the back door, waiting for Dad to get the hatch open. The storm put a tree down on the house, a branch knocking and pinning him to the ground, which likely saved him. Once the wind had died down from that burst, he got the chainsaw out of the garage and opened the hatch.
Mr. Kraeling certainly kept people calm and informed that night!
Sounds like a lil WD40 and keeping track of the key for the cellar would have "saved" all of you a traumatic experience.
Better to blame an "Act of God" for standing around idol in the weather, than your pappy.
My father was stationed at NAS Minneapolis at that time, I think the date was May 5th or 6th. We lived in Bloomington not far from the old Metropolitan Stadium (Go Twins and Vikings). We ended up at one of my dad’s buddies place, they were originally from Texas and were actually putting a basement under their house, (most of the houses were built on slab concrete floors). Didn’t get the all clear until around midnight. I’ll never forget that.
Having received my Ph.D. from University of Oklahoma, I tell you NOTHING is more spectacular and LOUD than a B-1B, "The Bone", taking off from Tinker in Moore and hitting its afterburners over campus in Norman. You could be in the middle of a bomb shelter of a lecture hall or engineering lab deep inside some archaic academic cathedral built of concrete and steel. And those Bones would rock the place. Those pilots loved showing off to The Sooners. I could even see when to planes flew over on my profilometry scans on metal surfaces that used non contact polarized light sitting on a hydraulically isolated bread board table (but was isolated from fraking earthquakes) So impressive.
Also, was Tinker hit again around 2014 a little? like just a hangers got banged up?
"...taking off from Tinker in Moore and hitting its afterburners over campus in Norman." When did Tinker AFB move from Midwest City to Moore which is some 10 miles to the SW as the crow flies?
An FB-111 has a pretty loud take off. Try being behind one of those as they take off from a hardened structure during a base exercise.
Those are both some swing wing beauties..
111s out of Arkansas?
The stables on the north west corner of the base was pretty much destroyed and several horses were killed and there were some of the barracks hit along the west side of the base also I think the golf course had some damage
Col. Millers underling, Larry Wilson (notable for being the first lead meteorologist of what would become the Storm Prediction Center) is still with us at the age of almost 90, and was/is one of my mentors. The wisdom gained from this day is still being felt in this field
I remember being sent up there from Sheppard to help after they got hammered by a tornado when I was in 25+ years ago.
I spent a month at Sheppard AFB one week back in 1976, Hot as hell in July.
@@user-oh2hs6jh5x 🤣🤣 It's even worse in Aug.
Thanks for this! I was stationed at Tinker from 1971 to 1975 and my wife and I lived in Moore Oklahoma which is the tornado magnet of the world. Thankfully, storm prediction and spotting has become much more effective.
New History Guy download is always a good way to start my day
I remember recommending this a few years ago. So glad you were finally able to do this episode.
I'm still waiting for any of my suggestions to be done; with the large number there must be, it obviously takes a while.
@orbyfan yeah. Some take a lot of time to research. I know this one was hard enough, because I have looked into this several times and finding as much as he did is very impressive.
I moved to Altus AFB in 1955. We learned early on to be sensitive to tornados.
I was going through aircraft maintenance training in April of 1979 at Sheppard AFB in Texas. A tornado blew through the nearby town of Wichita Falls, wrecking a large portion of the town. It missed the base, but the city was in a mess and us airmen all volunteered to help clean up. I've never seen that kind of devastation before. One anecdote, I was helping to clear off a large fallen tree from someone's house and looked down at debris that covered the ground and saw an LP record. I picked it and looked at label, it was an album by a 1960s group called the "Tornadoes." It had scratches, holes and little chunks on wood stuck in it. I asked the owner of the house if was his and he said no, what about it. I pointed out the label and suddenly he wanted to keep it, how was I to say no? The "Tornadoes" were famous for the hit instrumental "Telstar."
Anyway, the Wichita Falls tornado was the most expensive tornado in history, the first top one billion in damages. In the late 1990s, another tornado beat out Wichita Falls by a few hundred million. It was in Oklahoma City...
Reminds me that the forecast for Johnstown, PA on July 19th 1977 was 30 percent chance of rain with possible rainfall of 1/4 to 1 inch.
They were a bit off.
"Missed it by that much."
Never saw lightning like that night. Kept this 12 year old up until very late. Rain like crazy.
I worked in the same room as retired colonel Miller. He stayed on at Air Force Global Weather Central at Offutt AFB Nebraska the unit as the head f0recaster.
I saw the results of a mini but powerful twister once when I was a kid. I’m so glad I don’t live in a tornado area.
I live by tinker.
Tinker is a client of ours. I can't wait to share this little piece of history with them. Thanks History Guy (and all those who help produce your videos!).
I wish that my dad could have watched this. He worked at Tinker from 1962 to 1964. He would have been fascinated and might have recognized several areas of the base.
I love these weather stories! It might be interesting to note that one of the weather forecasting tools available to the weather service were surplus AN/APQ-13 radars, originally designed for use with B-29s (several of which were parked at Tinker field). In fact, the "crotchety old" radar at the base provided them with the first clear warning on March 20 that a violent thunderstorm was approaching. Fortunately, unlike what happened at Pearl Harbor, they believed their radar. But unfortunately, by then (as you note) it was too late to do much of anything about it but duck and cover.
I have always had a facination with weather and at one time, wanted to be a meteorologist, although I never knew where to begin.
Im living vicariously through this episode.
I grew up in the OKC area. I've always said: In OKC, if meterology isn't your profession, its your hobby.
My rental home is in Midwest city and right across the street from the main entrance to Tinker Air Force Base. At night you can hear the engine repairs or work being done. They run the engines testing them I guess.
Thanks for sharing this story.
Oklahoma City is pretty big and Midwest City is just to the east and I still consider it all part of Oklahoma City. Other people don’t though. And that’s OK. Hehe.
One correction, Sir. The list of aircraft repaired, or what we say 'sent to depot' about 3:40 was correct except for the stated "KC-35", That is supposed to be KC-135 StratoTanker. The Depot's official name at that time was "OCAMA", or Oklahoma City Air Material Area, and is now the Oklahoma City Air Logistic Center (OC-ALC). My son is stationed at Tinker AFB and the more well remembered tornado event at Tinker was the May 1999 outbreak that did significant damage to the main base as well. Sent him a link to this video, may give him a chuckle with his current basing in "Tornado Alley". 🙂
Great, revealing report. Thank you. Another interesting tornado story is a deadly hit at Wichita Falls, Texas on 3 April 1964. That one hit Sheppard Air Force Base and northwest Wichita Falls killing 7 people and injuring 111 others. Another tornado in April 1979 was even more widespread over that area. But two at Tinker in 5 days ... wow.
My wife and I were at Sheppard AFB in 1979 going to tech school. I remember standing in line waiting for the power to come back on so we could get beer out of the vending machine. In the aftermath, the air was thick, and seemed like there was fine dust and debris suspended in the air. Wichita Falls really got slammed.
The April 1964 storm was the first tornado broadcast on live TV. czcams.com/video/ycxQnTNWheI/video.html
We were at Sheppard AFB when the April 3, 1964 F5 tornado hit killing 7 people and injuring 111 others. Wichita Falls experienced 5 million dollars of worth of damage and hundreds of homes were destroyed. It’s was one of the largest tornadoes of all time with winds greater than 261 MPH. The disaster was one of the first to ever be captured and broadcast on national television. It caused an additional 10 million dollars of damage to the Base. My mother watched the tornado from the window of our Capehart housing coming directly towards us at Sheppard. I remember afterwards seeing the leveled buildings on Base where my mother had dropped my dad off only two hours before. Thankfully, the full ICBM silos on Base were spared . My father signed up during WWII (one of 4 brothers) within days of Pearl Harbor. Within weeks he was stationed at Hickam Field working on the clean up there and at Pearl. He was in the newly formed Army Air Corps, later opting to serve in the USAF in 1947. He rose from an NCO through the Warrant Officer ranks to the rank of CWO4 before retiring. When we were at Sheppard in the early 60’s my Uncle Bill, an Air Force aircraft mechanic, was stationed up the road at Tinker. I’ve grown up with stories of Patton, Billy Mitchell, Omar Bradley, Admiral Nimitz, the Battle of the Bulge, Midway, and Iwo Jima. As a child my father took me to every WWII war movie that ever played on Base, which probably was unusual for a young girl in that Era. To me that WWII/GI generation will always be ‘The Greatest Generation’. It is not surprising that two from their ranks are pioneers of what has become the crucial tornado early warning system. Thanks TheHistoryGuy for bringing back cherished memories for so many of us.
I grew up near Tinker AFB. My dad there for 30 years. Great video !!!
Thanks for a trip down memory lane!
How many times growing up were you encouraged to hide in a hole due to weather?
Do you think it happened before the Air Base was Built, in Tornado Alley?
Do you think that Air Force Brass ignoring weather patterns was Wise when they built a Facility completely reliant on Good Weather, in that Location?
Greetings from Connecticut, fellow classmates! Enjoy the lecture!
Was stationed at Altus AFB. Had a tornado just to the east, which caused some minor damage. Altus has had a few tornados over the years.
The store and house mentioned belonged to my grandparents G E and Lena Davis. The three injured civilians were the grandparents and my aunt. My mother, Georgia Davis Blackwell, who is still living at 94 and remembers this well came home that Saturday night from a date to find her house gone.
Good Wednesday morning History Guy and everyone watching. Have a great rest of the week.
I used to live in OKC. The Wx folks are outstanding. They can tell you what street the Tornado is traveling through. I also worked as a USAF operations guy and spent a lot of time with the Wx guys watching them come up with their best guess.
Living in Dallas, we watch our weather. Sadly people are upset at our weather guy when the weather is not as devastating as predicted.
We cancelled our baseball game cause you said tornadoes were in the forecast arggghhhhh
That and parades because of storms that didn't show up. I always felt bad for the kids that practiced and didn't have a chance to show off what they had learned. (Dallas resident too.)
I can see for miles to the southwest from my front windows,Oklahoma has always endured these monsters still do. Thanks
Loved this episode. I grew up in Oklahoma as a young boy enamored by the plain's thunderstorm systems. Thank you for providing a piece of history so important to me. As always, great history!
I work at Tinker now I am enjoying this story I have heard a lot about this storm. Thank you
I was stationed at Tinker AFB 92-97. I made a lot of friends who were Native Okies and they all would tell me that if I didn't like current weather to wait as it would probably change in the next 5 minutes. Tinker was one of the best assignments I had in my Air Force career. Great place.
I'm sure I've heard that in every state that I've spent time in and that's over a dozen.
Another wonderful episode, very professionally done. I thought of an idea for a topic; the North American Blizzard of 1966. I am only aware of it because I was a little over two years old and my mother took me to the hospital in Syracuse, NY with a hernia. She said the power went out and there we were, trapped in a hospital elevator with me screaming! Can you imagine that? Over 200 people died, it must have been horrific.
Tornados have always fascinated me because of their raw power but thankfully, I never had to face one.
And I thought I knew everything there was to know about WWII and the Cold War... Awesome video!
You always put the numbers on the board.
Superb!
I grew up in Oklahoma, and was a storm chaser and storm spotter (big difference, btw) for a decade. This story truly is where modern tornado forecasts began. That area of Oklahoma County in Oklahoma does seem to be the bullseye on the dart board of tornadic storms.
It was that way BEFORE the Air Force moved to town.
You made a Career of Extreme Weather, while that Air Force Brass flushed millions of tax dollars down the toilet by IGNORING IT.
To understand the power of a tornado. I once did a tornado restoration job on a warehouse. This tornado was an F2, so on the smaller side. Regardless though. It had lifted a 48’ long semi trailer filled with folding metal chairs, up and out of a loading dock slamming it down not the 3/16” flange I-beam building posts so hard that they were bent like they’d been made of cardboard.
The man wondering how he would fare as an elevator operator reminds me of Jimmy Doolittle sitting on his crashed B-25, thinking his career was over.
I remember in 2016, in Kokomo area, a tornado warning went out, and people were complaining on Twitter that their shows were being interrupted. It blew my mind that we got to a point that we were too accurate
The timing of your release of this video is appricated.
I am a storm chaser and never knew about this story. I was in OKC in May of 1999 after the Moore EF5 tornado and that one just missed Tinker.
As a lifelong Oklahoman, we have become very dependent on the weather forecasting in this state. Especially during tornado season, and you will still find me and my fellow Oklahomans outside with a glass of tea, scanning the skies while the sirens blare!
You also forgot to mention that the term “Tornado Alley” was also coined at Tinker AFB.
Brings to mind the September 1, 1952 Tornado that hit Carswell Air Force Base. It damaged two-thirds of SAC’s B-36 Peacemaker Force.
Next month, April 3rd and 4th is the 50th anniversary of the 1974 Tornado Outbreak. I hope you have a memorial video planned.
As always, thanks for another very interesting video.
czcams.com/video/WZiVdGvhzVo/video.html
@@TheHistoryGuyChannel Thank you.
More interesting than I figured!!! Well done
Now do the 1954 tornado that hit Carswell AFB and the Convair plant next to it.
Being an born in OK and in my 41 years i can not imagine living with no Tornado warnings/sirens/forcasts. Its choatic enough with the benefit of technology.
My Dad assigned to the 6th Mobile Weather Squadron at Tinker. He was there and went through the tornado
He knew Major Faulbusch and Capt Miller who made the first tornado forecast
Armchair meteorologist ("carseat meteorologist?") here...I'm surprised they were able to forecast as well as they could back then. Even through the 70's, watches and warnings were unreliable in areas where weather changes quickly
Speaking of bad weather, I hope our military either put hangars underground or moved major airfields out of Tornado Alley
Love watching channels like yours. Unfortunately, the Monday before this past Christmas, I suffered a stroke and haven't been working since.. money is tight.
I was sent to Tinker AFB way back in the early 1990s for upgrade training. My luck, The first day in school. A tornado warning was sounded. Off to the shelters we go. They were only funnel clouds. 😊
Definitely two people who need to be remembered.
Such an interesting and well documented history !!! Great courage for those men to do this for the first time wow!!! Thanks for the history !!! It did deserved to be remembered !!!
Easily one of my favorite episodes. Bang up job sir.
THG, that was a fine story. I'm not surprised at all it happened in Oklahoma either. 😅
Seems like, today, the storms tend to strike farther east than OKC but tennis ball sized hail can also do some damage.
I grew up in Oklahoma City. I’ve Beth in buildings hit by twisters 🌪️ several times without ever being hurt in any way. I never heard about the 48 tornadoes before now. I’m not surprised that tornado forecasting happened in OK first.
Having lived in the Tennessee Valley of North Alabama for twenty years I can assure you that tornados occur in the same place quite often.
That was fascinating! Thank you!
Awesome story!
In 2013, I dropped my wife off at Lambert for a flight to Alaska. The tornado hit the terminal a few hours later. I was working at Boeing. The tornado hit a major electric sub-station and knocked out all power in the area. I sat outside a classified facility for the rest of the day to make sure no one got in.
I was born on Tinker in the 80s, lived within 2 miles of it my whole life. The business I work for we do a lot of work there, and I’ve never heard of this incident. I remember vividly the F5 that went right by it in 99 and almost destroyed our house. Another curious tale about tinker is the neighborhood in Midwest City, where I live on north side of runway, that was bought out by the base. The streets are still there, but no houses, I’ve heard there was plane crashes, I’ve heard it was just safety, so many stories but no answers as to why in my 40ish years
Great story! I laughed out loud when the General told the two weather officers that they were about to be the first ones to issue such a forecast! No turning back after that!
My father was a career Air Force officer, and I remembet him snd my mother telling me about a tornado that just missed Maxwell AFB in Montgomery Ala. My fathet was a B-29 instructor pilot at Maxwell at the time. Don't know the year, but I believe it was during WW II,, perhaps 44 or 45.
THG, you rock! Peace
I was north-northeast of Tinker on May 3, 1999 when the F4 tornado turned, barely missing the base and tearing apart Midwest City instead. I didn't have a storm cellar and it was wiping clean entire neighborhoods, so when it turned north I left home and headed west. Shingles were falling out of the sky like a twisted scene from The Birds.
By the time the tornado reached my house it had lifted so only took off some shingles, but my yard was covered in debris.
I live across the highway from Tinker.
Our Service Men protecting us and saving lives in yet another way!
A great story excellently well told. Liked and shared.
That was quite interesting to learn about.
Interesting stuff.
I've spent time on that base, and you can definitely tellnits born a few tornadoes. Neat that it's where we get the ability to forcast them from.
You should definitely cover some of the more notable tornados in US history!
Well done! Living in Tornado Alley (near Wichita) and in south central Kansas my entire life, I have yet to see a tornado, despite having seen the aftermath of Hesston, Greensburg, and Norman within days of the events.
Didn't think I was interested in watching this episode but said what the heck, and am saying thanks I did, learned alot. Thanks again H.G.
What an amazing story! It was one of the best of these episodes I have ever seen. Thank you!
THG is a tornado on CZcams 😂😂
Only 40% by 2006? That seems extraordinarily low. I'm sure it's better with the prevalence of smart phones today. There hasn't been a more recent study?
Well, even warnings can’t prevent all tornado injuries. They are still powerful.
A popular competition in 4-H was giving public speaking demonstrations. When i was 8, my big sister and her friend did one on civil defense, but it was mostly about tornadoes and what to do. Since they practiced their demonstration alot, I started to become so scared and paranoid whenever we had thunderstorms that I didn't get over it till i was in my 30's. We lived in the Texas panhandle.....
A military collogue I worked for years with was present for the McConnell AFB tornado that hit that base in the late 80's, I think. He said it was quite impressive to witness one.
I live not far from Tinker and used to work right across the street from the base. It is wild that the first Tornado warning was for the base.
An amazing story!