 Working at the light end of a very large motion picture processing machine, at Vandenberg AFB, California in the early 1970's. Our initial training was held at Lowry AFB in Colorado where we attended technical training school in order to become a Motion Picture Lab Specialist. |  One of the missile launches at Vandenberg AFB in California. You can see the coastline and the Pacific Ocean in this westward looking view. |
Processing Motion Picture Film at Vandenberg AFB in 1971-72
While stationed at Vandenberg in the early 1970's, I had an opportunity to work on the technical aspects behind the making of motion pictures for the U.S. Air Force. The four major areas of training involved Processing, Printing, Timing & Assembly, and Quality Control. Our initial training took place at Lowry AFB just outside Denver, Colorado. My assignment to Vandenberg introduced me to the beautiful weather and lovely countryside of California. Moving from the snow, ice and bitter cold of Colorado in December 1970 to the radiant sunshine and balmy, warm temperatures of Southern California in January 1971 came as quite a welcome surprise in the Winter of that year. Instead of weathering gray overcast days while confined indoors, I found flowers in full bloom and the intoxicating aroma of freshly mowed grass greeting my senses as I arrived on base.
The Processing Lab
The large Houston-Fearless ME-4 processing machines cast an impressive sight at first glance and required a great deal of technical know-how in their maintenance and operation. The dark end allowed only a barely perceptible glow of low grade red light, so one had to adjust between the brightness of the light end of the machine and the relative dimness of the dark. I often had the task to clean the machines and learned how to make their stainless steel exteriors gleam with a bit of hand polishing along their long and intricate architectural edges.
The Photo
The photographer wanted an action shot of an Airman working at the light end getting ready to cut the film at the appropriate moment, a series of steps to assure that each spool of film was handled properly and that the machine would continue to run without having to shut down. There was only a brief moment of time allowed to photograph this event and then the final result handed to me some time later. I was an Airman First Class at the time on my way to becoming a Sergeant. Later I would be transferred to the Editorial Section where I would work as an Artist/ Illustrator doing charts & graphs, designing creative projects and learning some of the basics of lettering and film animation.
The Processing Lab
The large Houston-Fearless ME-4 processing machines cast an impressive sight at first glance and required a great deal of technical know-how in their maintenance and operation. The dark end allowed only a barely perceptible glow of low grade red light, so one had to adjust between the brightness of the light end of the machine and the relative dimness of the dark. I often had the task to clean the machines and learned how to make their stainless steel exteriors gleam with a bit of hand polishing along their long and intricate architectural edges.
The Photo
The photographer wanted an action shot of an Airman working at the light end getting ready to cut the film at the appropriate moment, a series of steps to assure that each spool of film was handled properly and that the machine would continue to run without having to shut down. There was only a brief moment of time allowed to photograph this event and then the final result handed to me some time later. I was an Airman First Class at the time on my way to becoming a Sergeant. Later I would be transferred to the Editorial Section where I would work as an Artist/ Illustrator doing charts & graphs, designing creative projects and learning some of the basics of lettering and film animation.
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