CMND Master Chief Donald House
US Navy Reserves
Anti-Submarine Sensor Operator
VP Squadrons
Iceland, Alaska, UK, Azores, Phillipines, Japan, etal.
1962-1990
US Navy Reserves
Anti-Submarine Sensor Operator
VP Squadrons
Iceland, Alaska, UK, Azores, Phillipines, Japan, etal.
1962-1990
Donald House was born in Philadelphia in 1942 just shortly after the beginning of WWII. He was raised in a suburb of Philadelphia by his mom, who was a nurse, and his dad who was a Chief Petty Officer in the Navy before he later became an electrician. Donald came from a military family. One brother served in the Navy, his other brother served in Vietnam with the Army and an uncle who served in the Navy in WWII.
Donald graduated from North Penn High School in Landsdale, PA in 1960. He immediately went on to community college to get his associates degree in electronics at Radio and Electronics in Upper Darby, PA. After he received his degree, he enlisted in the Navy Reserves. His first stop was the Memphis Naval Air Station for boot camp. He also received his Advanced Individual Training in electronics there. At that time the Navy did not have a specialty in anti-submarine warfare. That was something the sailors volunteered for. Donald volunteered and went through additional training which gave him a familiarization with the aircraft he would be flying on, how to survive a crash, how to use a parachute, how to put out fires and more. There was also additional specialized training in the equipment used to track the enemy. When the training was complete, the men were assigned to aircrews and sent to track Soviet and Chinese submarines.
Early in his career Donald flew on a P2V long range maritime patrol aircraft. These aircraft had two piston engines and two engines for long flight endurance and anti-submarine surveillance. Later the P-2’s were replaced by a newer generation of aircraft, The Lockheed P-3 Orion. This was a four-engine, turboprop aircraft specifically designed for anti-submarine and maritime surveillance. “These were large, land-based aircraft. I never went to sea, but I saw a lot of ocean.”
The P-3 Orion had an $8MM airframe. “We stuffed $12MM worth of electronics in that airplane.” The equipment included radar, sonar, and magnetic anomaly detectors (MAD). The MAD equipment would measure variations of the earth’s magnetic field. This variation could be caused by the ships and submarines they were tracking. They also operated electronic surveillance counter measure (ECM) and electronic surveillance measures (ESM) equipment.
Donald’s first tour with the Naval Reserves was 12 months. When he returned home, he took a job with Leeds and Northrup. The company manufactured recording machines. Don was in the testing and calibration function. Donald was also attending Delaware Valley College at night to pursue a business degree. After he graduated, he had a combination of an associates degree in electronics and his bachelor’s degree in business. This prepared him for a career in project management.
Donald satisfied his annual reserve requirements of 2 weekends each month and at least one 16-day tour. He often tried to attend a 2nd 14-day tour. These second tours helped him to be promoted.
Donald flew surveillance flights in both the Atlantic and Pacific. He operated out of such countries as Iceland, the UK, the Azores, Bermuda, Philippines, Guam, Japan, Italy as well as Alaska and Guam.
The surveillance took place in international waters that the entire world considered as 12 miles offshore. The North African countries recognized 15 miles as the limit. Donald remembers patrolling along the northern cost of Africa where the Soviet ships would drop anchor between the 12 and 15-miles limits. Donald recalls flying throughout this three-mile corridor taking photos.
The crew consisted of three pilots, two navigators, a flight engineer, three sensor operator ESM and MAD, two acoustic and ordinance personnel (sonar buoys or torpedoes or mines)
Each year the crews had to pass a flight physical and requalify their proficiency in a variety of skills. As the senior most enlisted man Donald was the Division Supervisor of 130 air crewman in 14 different air crews.
Donald’s primary job was the identification of the acoustics created by the submarines they were hunting. The Navy would deploy sonar buoys and Donald would analyze the sounds picked up by the buoys. From these sounds they could determine the type of submarine, speed, depth. Donald recalled the submarines were very hard to find. The older models were very noisy, but the newer generations of submarines were much quieter. The aircraft would fly low and slow over heavily armed surface ships and submarines which put their aircraft in a very vulnerable position. “Let’s just say there is some pucker power involved.” The crew could see the ships canons tracking their every movement.
The flight crews would also rig ships. Rigging ships involved dropping down to 300 feet and flying at slow speed to take surveillance photos. The aircraft would approach from behind and make multiple passes alongside, directly over, and along the stern. The Navigator would plot the location to support the photos.
The average patrol was eight to 12 hours proceeded by a one-hour security briefing that gave the crew mission specific information. Longest flight was 18 hours. These aircraft did not have the capabilities for air refueling. Instead, they would shut down one, or two engines at times to conserve fuel.
Donald recalled having a fire on board while in mid-flight. They were over the Canary Islands and the closet place to land was North Africa “which is internment territory”, so landing was not an option. “Your training kicks in. You go find the fire and put it out.”
On one memorable flight the aircraft was flying over the Bay of Tangiers off the coast of Africa when they took enemy fire. “We were not supposed to be there. But that’s all…(he could say)”. The details remain classified as of this writing. No damage or injuries reported.
Donald recalled spending 14 days at a Sound Underwater Surveillance System (SOWS). A land-based facility that had a cable attached to it and it lay on the ocean floor to pick up sounds. They were based on the north shore of Puerto Rico and the cable was pointed north toward Iceland. The facility had strong amplification equipment, and it was so sensitive, they could hear submarines all the way to the Greenland Iceland UK gap. The acoustic signature information would be forwarded to the anti-submarine surveillance aircraft in the related airspace.
They would also work with the Coast Guard to find boat and ships suspected of carrying illegal drugs. While these boats could outrun the Coast Guard cutters, they could not outrun the surveillance aircraft.
While Donald was fulfilling his Navy Reserve requirements, he was also building a career as an engineer and project manager. He left Leeds and Northrup to join Honeywell. Donald was part of a business line that bult industrial control systems for international operations. He managed a group of engineers that built, tested, programed and installed the equipment out in the field. He spent a great deal of his time traveling around the world. While at Honeywell Donald met his wife, Lucille, while at Honeywell. They were married in 1986 and are celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary this year.
Donald left Honeywell after 18 years to join Moore Products where he had a fulfilling career and spent part of it, four and half years, in Singapore. “We really enjoyed the Ex-Pat life.” The company was later acquired by Siemans and Donald became a district manager for electrical services in the California market.
Donald then moved on to Schneider Electric where he was employed in electrical services sales. He later retired from Schneider, and opened up his own consulting business, specializing in electrical sales. Don later retired from consulting and the business world.
After 28 years of service with the Naval Reserve Donald retired from the Reserves. “I loved it.” He doesn’t miss the bureaucracy and “I loved the guys and girls, what did what we did, and I loved the flying, and I loved tracking and rigging ships.”
Donald, thank you for your long career of service to your country and the doubtless sacrifices both you and your family made to keep us safe through your surveillance. Who says you can’t make a career as a ‘Peeping Tom’.
Donald graduated from North Penn High School in Landsdale, PA in 1960. He immediately went on to community college to get his associates degree in electronics at Radio and Electronics in Upper Darby, PA. After he received his degree, he enlisted in the Navy Reserves. His first stop was the Memphis Naval Air Station for boot camp. He also received his Advanced Individual Training in electronics there. At that time the Navy did not have a specialty in anti-submarine warfare. That was something the sailors volunteered for. Donald volunteered and went through additional training which gave him a familiarization with the aircraft he would be flying on, how to survive a crash, how to use a parachute, how to put out fires and more. There was also additional specialized training in the equipment used to track the enemy. When the training was complete, the men were assigned to aircrews and sent to track Soviet and Chinese submarines.
Early in his career Donald flew on a P2V long range maritime patrol aircraft. These aircraft had two piston engines and two engines for long flight endurance and anti-submarine surveillance. Later the P-2’s were replaced by a newer generation of aircraft, The Lockheed P-3 Orion. This was a four-engine, turboprop aircraft specifically designed for anti-submarine and maritime surveillance. “These were large, land-based aircraft. I never went to sea, but I saw a lot of ocean.”
The P-3 Orion had an $8MM airframe. “We stuffed $12MM worth of electronics in that airplane.” The equipment included radar, sonar, and magnetic anomaly detectors (MAD). The MAD equipment would measure variations of the earth’s magnetic field. This variation could be caused by the ships and submarines they were tracking. They also operated electronic surveillance counter measure (ECM) and electronic surveillance measures (ESM) equipment.
Donald’s first tour with the Naval Reserves was 12 months. When he returned home, he took a job with Leeds and Northrup. The company manufactured recording machines. Don was in the testing and calibration function. Donald was also attending Delaware Valley College at night to pursue a business degree. After he graduated, he had a combination of an associates degree in electronics and his bachelor’s degree in business. This prepared him for a career in project management.
Donald satisfied his annual reserve requirements of 2 weekends each month and at least one 16-day tour. He often tried to attend a 2nd 14-day tour. These second tours helped him to be promoted.
Donald flew surveillance flights in both the Atlantic and Pacific. He operated out of such countries as Iceland, the UK, the Azores, Bermuda, Philippines, Guam, Japan, Italy as well as Alaska and Guam.
The surveillance took place in international waters that the entire world considered as 12 miles offshore. The North African countries recognized 15 miles as the limit. Donald remembers patrolling along the northern cost of Africa where the Soviet ships would drop anchor between the 12 and 15-miles limits. Donald recalls flying throughout this three-mile corridor taking photos.
The crew consisted of three pilots, two navigators, a flight engineer, three sensor operator ESM and MAD, two acoustic and ordinance personnel (sonar buoys or torpedoes or mines)
Each year the crews had to pass a flight physical and requalify their proficiency in a variety of skills. As the senior most enlisted man Donald was the Division Supervisor of 130 air crewman in 14 different air crews.
Donald’s primary job was the identification of the acoustics created by the submarines they were hunting. The Navy would deploy sonar buoys and Donald would analyze the sounds picked up by the buoys. From these sounds they could determine the type of submarine, speed, depth. Donald recalled the submarines were very hard to find. The older models were very noisy, but the newer generations of submarines were much quieter. The aircraft would fly low and slow over heavily armed surface ships and submarines which put their aircraft in a very vulnerable position. “Let’s just say there is some pucker power involved.” The crew could see the ships canons tracking their every movement.
The flight crews would also rig ships. Rigging ships involved dropping down to 300 feet and flying at slow speed to take surveillance photos. The aircraft would approach from behind and make multiple passes alongside, directly over, and along the stern. The Navigator would plot the location to support the photos.
The average patrol was eight to 12 hours proceeded by a one-hour security briefing that gave the crew mission specific information. Longest flight was 18 hours. These aircraft did not have the capabilities for air refueling. Instead, they would shut down one, or two engines at times to conserve fuel.
Donald recalled having a fire on board while in mid-flight. They were over the Canary Islands and the closet place to land was North Africa “which is internment territory”, so landing was not an option. “Your training kicks in. You go find the fire and put it out.”
On one memorable flight the aircraft was flying over the Bay of Tangiers off the coast of Africa when they took enemy fire. “We were not supposed to be there. But that’s all…(he could say)”. The details remain classified as of this writing. No damage or injuries reported.
Donald recalled spending 14 days at a Sound Underwater Surveillance System (SOWS). A land-based facility that had a cable attached to it and it lay on the ocean floor to pick up sounds. They were based on the north shore of Puerto Rico and the cable was pointed north toward Iceland. The facility had strong amplification equipment, and it was so sensitive, they could hear submarines all the way to the Greenland Iceland UK gap. The acoustic signature information would be forwarded to the anti-submarine surveillance aircraft in the related airspace.
They would also work with the Coast Guard to find boat and ships suspected of carrying illegal drugs. While these boats could outrun the Coast Guard cutters, they could not outrun the surveillance aircraft.
While Donald was fulfilling his Navy Reserve requirements, he was also building a career as an engineer and project manager. He left Leeds and Northrup to join Honeywell. Donald was part of a business line that bult industrial control systems for international operations. He managed a group of engineers that built, tested, programed and installed the equipment out in the field. He spent a great deal of his time traveling around the world. While at Honeywell Donald met his wife, Lucille, while at Honeywell. They were married in 1986 and are celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary this year.
Donald left Honeywell after 18 years to join Moore Products where he had a fulfilling career and spent part of it, four and half years, in Singapore. “We really enjoyed the Ex-Pat life.” The company was later acquired by Siemans and Donald became a district manager for electrical services in the California market.
Donald then moved on to Schneider Electric where he was employed in electrical services sales. He later retired from Schneider, and opened up his own consulting business, specializing in electrical sales. Don later retired from consulting and the business world.
After 28 years of service with the Naval Reserve Donald retired from the Reserves. “I loved it.” He doesn’t miss the bureaucracy and “I loved the guys and girls, what did what we did, and I loved the flying, and I loved tracking and rigging ships.”
Donald, thank you for your long career of service to your country and the doubtless sacrifices both you and your family made to keep us safe through your surveillance. Who says you can’t make a career as a ‘Peeping Tom’.