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At War With The Weather
09/06/2002
Listen in RealAudio 
The importance of knowing what the weather will be is important for everyone, but it's
vital
for an army at war. Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook. Recently,
assistant
producer, Doug Sanborn went to a World War II re-enactment to find out more.
The year is 1943 and Meteorological Officer, Charlie Dixon is speaking to a squadron
of B-24
bomber pilots somewhere in the South Pacific about the weather for their upcoming
mission.
OK, well, it's actually 2002 and Charlie Dixon isn't really a meteorlogical officer, but he
portrays one as a living historian at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum's World War II
weekend in
Reading Pennsylvania.
CD: My job as a weather officer, was to stand up in front of the pilots at a briefing and
give them the best weather I could possibly give them. From any observers out in the
field to
incoming flights, anything that we could offer to get them safely out to the combat area,
to
their target, and get them home.
Sometimes, working in the weather could be a bit precarious, but not for the obvious
reasons.
Dixon related a story about a weather observer stationed on a hill in Burma.
CD: That's all he did was weather observations and relayed them back to base by
radio. He
got chased all over the mountain by the Japanese trying to catch him because they
were picking
up his frequency.
Dixon can't imagine any other character that he would rather portray at events and he
sums up
his feelings in one sentence.
CD: It's the job to have.
For The Weather Notebook, I'm Doug Sanborn.
The Weather Notebook is a production of The Mount Washington Observatory and is
supported by
Subaru of America and the National Science Foundation.
Today's Links
About the Mid Atlantic Air Museum's WWII Weekend
http://www.maam.org/maamwwii.html
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