Lorraine Champeaux
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Air Force
Ms. Champeaux served in World War II in the U.S. Air Force from March 1944 until December 7, 1945.
She was assigned to the Walker Army Airfield, Victoria, Kansas, where she worked in the Celestial Navigation Trainer Department. Her rank was Corporal.
Ms. Champeaux was born in 1923, in Cloquet, Minnesota, the daughter of Ed and Leah Champeaux.
Source: Veterans’ Memorial Hall Veteran History Form; veteran’s account (see below)
From basic training in Des Moines, Ia., I was sent to Walker Army Airfield, Fort Hays, Victoria, Kansas. I was assigned to the Celestial Navigation trainer section for on-the-job training. This trainer used to give navigators going over seas to So. Pacific a little practice. As the war neared the end, this was replaced by radar. Lots of bookwork to study and learning the set-up of these trainers. They were like silos (4) with a cockpit set up near the ceiling and a mesh dome with all the stars in it. Navigators were given a mission to “fly” in the trainer. We had to set up the equipment and monitor the mission to be sure he was on track. Very interesting!
At our field, a B-29 and crew would arrive and be gone over before going to the Philippines. Crew would each be given a physical, and pilots and navigators each had to fly missions in the ground trainers. The rest of crew were to check on their jobs. The plane was completely gone over by our mechanics and in a about 1 week, all was done and they flew off to the South Seas and another plane and crew would come in and whole procedure would start again.
Toward last months of 1945, radar was put in the planes, so our trainers were now obsolete. I’ve never regretted my 2 years of service—learned a lot—met lots of nice people.
