A Story of Canadian Military Communications 1903 – 2013

BGen William J. Patterson OMM, CD (Ret’d)

Published by The Military Communications and Electronics Museum Foundation

SATELLITETOSEMAPHORE

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cha pte r te n

The Royal Canadian Air Force Telecommunications is formed in 1934, and serves in the Signals and Radar Branches during the Second World

War, and afterward in NORAD, NATO, and Air Traffic Control,and on operations in Libya and Afghanistan

The Early Years, 1921 – 1939

It is interesting to speculate on how

circumstance drew together two new militaryorganizations trying to establish themselves

at the end of the First World War. The Cana- dian Corps Signal Service, 1914 – 1919, which grew out of the Canadian Signal Corps formed as a part-time militia unit in 1903, was looking for ways to become a viable permanent army signal corps. The Canadian Air Force (CAF) had had a short-lived existence during the First World War and also looked to forming a full- time permanent air force in post-war Canada. A new CAF was formed in 1920 under the aus- pices of the Air Board that was focused on civil- ian operations: forestry fire patrols, surveying, and anti-smuggling patrols. Similarly, a new Permanent Signal Corps was founded in 1920 with just six officers and fourteen NCOs. Both organizations were anxious to assume a promi- nent place in Canada’s Armed Forces and by a confluence of needs and abilities both were drawn to Canada’s North.

The ability of the airplane to open up the Northwest Territories, compared to land and water travel, which was only possible a few months of the year, was the CAF’s greatest strength. A successful trans-Canada flight in

1920 proved that long distance flying, by day or night, was feasible provided that certain communication and navigational aids were available: wireless communication in the

plane, wireless direction finding apparatus on the ground, and weather forecasts. The CAF’s first major role, flying forestry patrols to de- tect and monitor forest fires, was perhaps more prosaic than what the combat veterans of 1918 had in mind but it proved its worth very quickly and contributed towards the awarding of “Royal” status to the CAF in 1924. The CAF, from its beginning, needed to find the means by which to communicate from air- craft to a base that would quickly disseminate its in-flight observations. It turned to the Army’s Permanent Signal Corps with which there was already an area of co-operation. The CAF’s major base was Camp Borden, at the time in a rather isolated rural area west of Bar- rie, Ontario. To maintain communication with Ottawa the CAF used expensive and not totally reliable civilian telephone and tele- graph companies. At the same time, the new Permanent Signal Corps was looking for a place to conduct training, and Camp Borden had space and unused buildings left over from the First World War. In a joint venture, army signallers established a wireless station at the CAF station in Borden in 1921 and proved that its method of communication with Ot- tawa was faster,

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more reliable, and cheaper. A working relationship between the CAF and the newly-formed Royal Canadian Corps of Sig- nals (RCCS) was born.

In 1922, the RCCS began to train during the summer at Camp Borden and the follow-

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ing year established a permanent depot. In the same year, an experimental radio station was built at High River, Alberta to provide communications to CAF planes flying forestry patrols. The northern forests of the Prairie Provinces, at the time and until 1931, were the responsibility of the federal government. The CAF had four planes flying patrols out of High River; the RCCS installed and main- tained the radios in the planes and operated the ground station. During the first summer season the system worked extremely well. The pilots used voice only, although the sets had a capability for key transmissions which were more effective when atmospheric interference was strong. The pilots always gave their loca- tion before sending messages to allow the ground crew to track them in case of an emer- gency. The sets in use at the time had a range of 100 miles, which was improved over time as the sets and aerials built by the Signals Inspec- tion and Test Department (SI&TD) were up- graded. While two-way conversation was possible, the noise factor in the plane mostly

restricted the system to pilot to ground. The

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efficacy of the system was demon- strated in 1923 when a pilot de- tected a fire 190 miles north of High River and was able to pass its location to the base, which alerted fire-fighting crews hours before they would have received the infor- mation by other means.

Such successes led to the CAF and the RCCS entering into a contract that lasted until 1931, when the Prairie Provinces assumed responsi- bility for monitoring forest fires from the federal government. Dur- ing the nine years, a total of 12 wire- less stations, not counting High River or Winnipeg, which was a major RCAF base, were opened. What began as a minor commitment of 12 signallers in 1922 grew to an RCCS team of 6 officers and 67 men. In addition to their primary task of passing forest fire information, the stations in the Prairie Provinces

were able to handle a large amount of com- mercial traffic in the areas being opened up in the northern parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. This part of their role became so important that the major stations of Win- nipeg and Edmonton began to stay open all year because they could pass messages to the commercial nationwide telegraph companies. Beginning in 1925, RCCS operators were trained in meteorology and were able to send twice-daily weather reports from the Northwest Territories and Yukon (NWT&Y) Radio System as well as to the fire patrol stations that were of great importance to the RCAF. At the same time, the SI&TD was able to make improve- ments to RCAF aircraft communication sys- tems. Cockpit conversations were not well-served by the old speaking tube or by hand signals, especially on aerial photographic flights. When short range flights were required the standard RCCS

500 watt station was much too powerful, so a smaller 100 watt set was pro- duced by the SI&TD. A new CT21 transmitter, which was superior to the wartime RAF T21 set, was installed in the new DH “Moth” aircraft.

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The Canadian set was much smaller and by being mounted on coil springs was less likely to go off frequency during a rough flight. In addition to supplying wireless operators, the RCCS set up a wireless school in Jericho Beach, Vancouver to train RCAF personnel in wireless procedure.

A good example of the use of aircraft and ground control stations was the 1928 Hudson Bay Expedition, which was to study weather and ice conditions prior to opening Fort Churchill as a port. Three ground stations were established by the RCCS in 1927 and were manned in 1928 by Department of Ma- rine operators. Six RCAF Fokker aircraft were equipped by the RCCS with transmitters capa- ble of being modulated to transmit Morse Code. There were only three communication failures during 175 flights, clearly demonstrat- ing the success of the project.

In 1928, the RCAF instituted, in conjunction with the Post Office, an airmail system along the St Lawrence River from east of Quebec City to Windsor. To assist with this system the RCCS opened up a major radio beacon station at St Hubert, QC, just south of Montreal. In addition to providing navigational support it gathered weather reports from a US weather station at Arlington, Virginia and rebroadcast them to RCAF stations and to aircraft in flight. The next year sub-stations were opened in London and Windsor to enhance the Beacon System; be- cause of this success, plans were made to set up a similar chain of beacon stations in Western Canada. Although the forestry patrolling sys- tem ended in 1931 and the 12 minor stations were closed, the steadily increasing number of RCCS stations in the Northwest Territories meant that weather reports and ground-to-air communications continued.

In 1933, the RCAF introduced wireless training as part of its regular training. RC Sigs personnel at Camp Borden installed the British Air Ministry R 1082/T 1083 radio equipment in the station’s Avro Tudor air- craft. The sets allowed for two-way telephony and Morse code telegraphy for

artillery recon- naissance. Orders were placed with the RAF for new equipment that was being produced

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in 1934 and the RCAF concluded that it was time to have its own signalling expertise. A small RCAF telecommunications group was formed in 1934 consisting of just seven men: four RCCS personnel who transferred to the RCAF: SSgt J.G.L. “Buck” Foster, Sgt P.E. “Mickey” McGuire, LCpl W.L. “Jock” Duncan, and Sigmn O.C. “Louie” Lumb; and from the RCAF: mechanic “Nibby” Baker, battery man and switchboard operator “Bud” Lacey, and electrician “Harry” Keane. This small group was attached to the School of Army Co-opera- tion at Camp Borden commanded by Squadron Leader (S/L) C.M. “Black Mike” McEwan. There was also a Meteorology School commanded by Flight Lieutenant (F/L) C.R. “Roy” Slemon, which received weather forecasts from Arlington, Virginia. The first installation of the new RAF T21C transmitter, Morse code only, was in a Vickers Flying Boat at Vancouver and the second in- stallation in a Fairchild float plane on RCMP narcotics patrols in British Columbia.

The development of a wireless capability in the RCAF proceeded rapidly. In 1934, an RAF officer, F/L W.G.B. Pretty attached to the RCAF formed a Signal Section. A recruiting program in Ottawa screened potential sig- nallers. The criterion for acceptance was ei- ther wireless experience and senior matriculation or recent graduation from high school. Twenty-one candidates were selected for two Wireless Electrical Mechanic courses, WEM “A” and WEM “B”, which began at Camp Borden on 11 October 1934. The sixth month “A” course was for those with a wireless background; the eleven month “B” course was designed for those with little or no technical training. The course leader was F/L H.B. God- win, who was assisted by the “original seven.” The RCAF followed this small beginning with the formation, on 1 July 1935, of a Signals Branch in the Air Staff Division at Air Force Headquarters (AFHQ) in Ottawa. Another RAF officer, F/L J.G.W. Weston, who had the specialist “S”qualification, was appointed as

Air Signals Advisor; the RCAF followed the lead of the RAF. To increase its knowledge of RAF Signals, F/L R.E. McBurney (RCAF No. C

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- 96) was sent to the RAF School at Cranwell, England to attend the 14 month signals offi- cers’ course. Upon graduation in 1936, he be- came the first RCAF officer to receive the specialist symbol “S.” Other officers at the rate of one per year followed: F/Ls H.B. Godwin,W.A. Orr, M.M. Hendrick, and D.G. Williams. In 1935, two officers were sent on a two month tour of RAF signal facilities; this short signals training for two officers was repeated each year until the outbreak of the Second World War.

In addition to the wireless electrical me- chanics course, a 40 week wireless telegraphy (W/T) course was conducted at Camp Borden in 1935. The first two courses successfully graduated 28 students. In 1936, the Wireless School moved from Camp Borden to Trenton,

the site of a new training facility. Graduates of the School were entitled to a qualification

Jones; and Leading Air Craftmen (LAC)s E.J. Gauthier* and G. Simoneau. The training of signallers was hampered by the shortage of up- to-date equipment of RAF design, therefore, commercial type transmitters and receivers were used. In 1937, a survey of RCAF officers revealed that of those who had qualified in one or more of the ten skills courses available only ten had qualified in signals, the lowest number for any of the courses. The growth of RCAF Sig- nals was painfully slow. It was 1938 before the Wireless School was recognized as a separate entity in the RCAF Officers’ List with S/L W.A. Orr, F/L M.M. Hendrick, and F/O E.L. Miners as instructors; the Warrant Officer was J.G.L. Foster. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the RCAF Signals Branch had a total of 24 officers: S/Ls R.E. McBurney, H.B. Godwin, and W.A. Orr; F/L M.M. Hendrick,; 4 F/Os and 16 P/Os. Only 58 airmen had graduated from the Trenton Wireless School with an- other 60 still on course.

Cpl S.C. Jones, an instructor on the firstThe first graduates of the Wireless School in 1935 were entitled to the Wireless Operator Badge. Its symbolic thunderbolts were incorporated into the Communications and Electronics Branch Badge.

badge worn on the right sleeve above a rank badge. Both the Wireless Opera- tors (WOps) and the Wireless Operator Mechanics (WOMs)

Wireless Electric Mechanic course, wrote a graphic description of the training endured by the first 21 recruits enlisted as AC2 appren- tices at $1.70 a day. He recounted that the first few months were spent equally between “square-bashing, form fours and fix and unfix bayonets,” and technical training. As a respite

wore the same badge: a hand grasping a thun- derbolt. This same badge was also worn by RCN personnel in the radio communications and electronics trades. It is interesting to note that the new RCAF permanent facility at Tren- ton was built at the same time as that being built for the RCCS at Kingston. Both installa- tions had similarly designed buildings, all fin- ished in white stucco.

In 1937, the Wireless School assumed a new and individual identity: RCAF Station Trenton Wireless School. The instructional staff was commanded by F/L H.B Godwin, a graduate of the RCCS School at Jericho Beach and qual- ified “S”, included Flying Officer (F/O)s W.A. Orr, M.M. Hendrick,

E.L. Miners, D.G. Williams, and D. Hutton; Flight Sergeants (F/Sgt)s S.R. Burbank and J.G.L. Foster; CplsH.R. Trepanier, G. Tutt, E. Boyden, and S.C.

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from drill, there was physical training (PT), compulsory sports, and route marching. The Technical Training School (TTS) taught aero engines, airframes, metal shop, and carpentry. After that introduction, the students went on to signal training: semaphore, Lucas lamp, Morse code, radio circuits and apparatus, and finally “air operations.” A candidate was intro- duced to the rear open cockpit with a trans- mitter and a receiver in front of him. Below and to the right was an antenna, 250 feet long, which was reeled in and out by hand. On the

* Gauthier was commissioned in 1942 and eventually rose to the rank of Group Captain (G/C). At the end of his career he wrote a series of articles about his service and RCAF Signals from 1935 to 1965. It is fortunate that he did so because his record of 30 years of the Signals/Telecommunications Branch is the only one in existence.]

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right side were a receiver control and a Morse code key. The electrical power came from a generator mounted on the lower wing of a bi- plane and was driven by a propeller facing into the slip stream. When not in the air the generator propeller was held by a rubber band. Failure on the part of the student to re- move the band before take-off meant climbing out on the wing to remove it! In addition to all the radio equipment, the operator was dressed in a bulky flying suit with a message pad strapped to one knee. He was encum- bered by a parachute harness that was hooked to his parachute, on which he sat. The reward for success in this field was flying pay of 75 cents a day. In addition to the hazards of flying and trying to decipher signals coming through the earphones in the flying helmet, students had to cope with music from Toronto Radio Station, CFRB. The RAF radio equip- ment was set for European frequency alloca- tions and inconveniently in the middle of the broadcast band was CFRB. As was the norm in the 1930s, church parades were compulsory and the commanding officer’s inspection a weekly routine. For these occasions, the re- cruits wore their No. 1 dress: breeches with puttees to the knee and gloves. As Jones wrote, “Thus telecom arrived in the RCAF.” Of the 21 initial recruits, 19 graduated.

The Second World War

By 1938, as war threatened, the Canadian gov- ernment, in keeping with Great Britain’s em- phasis on air defence, made more resources available to the RCAF. Two subordinate head- quarters were established: Western Air Com- mand in Edmonton on 1 March and Eastern Air Command in Halifax on 15 September. On 15 December 1938, the position of the Senior Air Officer was upgraded to that of the other Service Chiefs, and Air Vice Marshal (AVM)G.M. Croil became the first Chief of the Air Staff. In September 1939, RCAF communica- tions were limited. The first priority of the newly appointed Directorate of

Air Signals was to link the defence installations on the East and West Coasts of Canada and Newfoundland

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with their respective Command headquarters and with Air Force

Headquarters (AFHQ) in Ottawa. Work began on the East Coast to es- tablish

Goose Bay, Labrador as a base for North Atlantic submarine patrol aircraft and as a staging station for aircraft flying over the Atlantic to Great Britain. Goose Bay had

no land line communications; it was dependent solely on radio

communications. Through the combined efforts of the RCAF, the RAF, the

Canadian Army, and later the US Army Air Force (USAAF), Goose Bay became a large

air- base and navigation aids facility. On the West Coast, the rapid increase in

defence installa- tions, especially after Japan entered the war, re- quired the efforts

of all three Services to build reliable land line and radio communications. The

second priority was to build facilities to supply radio detection finding (RDF)

equip- ment and to teach personnel how to use it. Later called RADAR, an acronym

for “radio de- tection and ranging,”it was a technique that used radio waves to detect

objects at a distance by bouncing radio waves off the object. Some of the waves

would return to the source as an echo, which could be used to calculate the dis-

tance to the object and to track it.# In 1939, F/O W.A. Orr went to RAF Cranwell to

take the RDF Course, where he joined F/O D.G. Williams who was on the Signal

Officers’ Course. When they returned to Canada in the early 1940s, they brought

with them several hundreds of pounds of blue prints to have

RDF equipment made here.The supply of radio and radar equipment

was a serious problem at the beginning of the Second World War. Previously, equipment had been purchased from Great Britain but with restricted funding, a result of the Great De- pression, there was little money to buy new

# The system was made workable by a British scientist, Dr Robert Watson-Watt in the 1930s. By 1936, four long-range, skyward-looking, radio towers had been erected along the east coast of England, where exper-

iments were carried out over the next three years that showed that it was possible to track the position, speed, and direction of a flight of aircraft. This work was of the greatest importance to the security of British air space from hostile aircraft approaching from the European Continent.

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The AR 2 Receiver was designed and manufactured by the Northern Electric Company.This model was built in 1943 by the RCA Victor Company.

equipment. Once war broke out, Canada had to find its own sources of supply. First, the RCAF turned to the Northern Electric Com- pany to design and manufacture the AT1 transmitter and the AR2 receiver that would incorporate all of the most recent advances in

less School was moved to Montreal to become No. 1 Wireless School; in September 1944, it was moved to Mount Hope, Ontario. No. 2 Wireless School was opened in September 1940 at Calgary, No. 3 in February 1941 at Winnipeg, and No. 4 in June 1941 at Guelph, Ontario. The wireless course was planned as a 24 week course but was changed to 16 weeks for the first course, which proved to be inade- quate. The course was lengthened to 18 weeks and before the year 1940 ended was increased to 20 weeks. In 1941, the course returned to

radio design: light weight for their power and rugged enough to withstand vibration, shock, temperature, and altitude changes. The first prototypes were tested on a flight from Trenton to Montreal on 24 January 1940. The tests were successful and the equipment was manufac- tured in large quantities to support the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). At RCA Canada a ground transmitter, the AT3, was developed, which incorporated the latest in fre- quency control, stability, and remote control. Canadian Marconi developed a small transmit- ter for use in fighter aircraft.

The BCATP was a British post First World War plan to train RAF aircrew in Canada but because of the Great Depression it never ma- terialized. When the Second World War broke out, the plan was revived with the British Gov- ernment wanting to train 50,000 aircrew an-nually, a number that would require at least

its original planned 24 weeks but in 1942 it was increased once again to 28 weeks. Wireless training was not easy! A total of 18,496 stu- dents, 12,744 of them Canadian, graduated from the four schools; most of them served as air gunners as well. One of the students at No. 2 Wireless School at Calgary was involved in an accident on 10 November 1941; LAC K.M. Gravell was posthumously awarded the George Cross for trying to save the life of his pilot in the crash of their TigerMoth aircraft. His citation told how he, in spite of his clothes being on fire and having lost one eye, tried to go back into the burning air- craft to rescue the pilot. He must have been in the vicin- ity of a school because a fe-male teacher pulled him

90 flying schools. The monetary requirement

away from the burning air- George Cross

to put such a large-scale scheme into effect was staggering in terms of late 1930s finances. On 18 November 1939, Canada, the UK, Aus- tralia, and New Zealand agreed to fund a por- tion of the anticipated cost of $689 million. When the plan ended on 31 March 1945, it had cost $2.2 billion ($28.5 billion in 2013 dollars) of which Canada paid 75 per cent of the cost. At the end, the BCATP consisted of four headquarters and 124 schools, from which 131,553 aircrew graduated; over 50,000

were pilots. Fifty-five per cent of the graduates were Canadian. There was a total of 856 fatalities during BCATP training.

The BCATP had four wireless training schools. In February 1940, the Trenton Wire-

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plane and rolled him on the ground to extin- guish the flames. Gravell died in hospital from his extensive burns.

While the provision of radio equipment and the training of personnel to operate and main- tain it were well within the capability of Cana- dian companies and Canadian wireless schools, the same could not be said for radar. The criti- cal technology had been kept a secret by the British, so when war broke out little was known about it in Canada. Radar training and the de- ployment of equipment was made the respon- sibility of the RCAF Directorate of Air Signals. Early in 1940, the most senior RCAF Signal of- ficer, Wing Commander (W/C) R.E. McBurney, was appointed Director of Signals and headed

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RCAF (Women’s Division) WDs doing semaphore drill.

a special RDF Committee tasked with establish- ing radar production, training for radar tech- nicians, and radar protection for Canada.* There were two immediate problems: first, to find a company to build the equipment and second, to train personnel to operate it.

The solution to equipment supply was solved by the Canadian government setting up a factory. In August 1940, Research Enter- prises Limited (REL), a Crown Corporation, was opened at Leaside, Ontario and supplied radar equipment to not only Canada but also to the USA and Great Britain. Interestingly, the first Canadian-built radar equipment went to the USA to be deployed to protect the Panama Canal because the Americans at the time did not have radar of the calibre of the British-de- signed and Canadian-built equipment.

The expertise to start up REL and to train

* See Appendix 51 for a biography of McBurney

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radar technicians was found, initially, by re- cruiting a number of Canadian experienced civilian radio personnel, both professional and amateur, and, without any military train- ing, to send them to England to study the British system. A ham radio operator, H.W. Jackson, later wrote how he and all other radio licensees were contacted by the Depart- ment of Transport in mid-1940 offering them the rank of LAC Wireless Electrical Mechanic (WEM) in the RCAF. Jackson reported to a Manning Depot on 21 October 1940 and, with virtually no training, he in the first group of 55 (other groups followed) left for the UK, landing in Scotland on Christmas Day 1940. After a short period of on-job training and a short wireless course at the RAF Yatesbury School, he was sent to the RDF School at RAF Cranwell. After graduation in mid 1942, he did radar duty at two locations in the UK. In 1943, he was returned to Canada to replace

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the RAF instructors who had started up No. 31 Radio School at Clinton, Ontario. Jackson re- mained there as an instructor until May 1946, when the school was turned over to the RCAF permanent force, and he was demobilized.

Radar was the great advantage the RAF had in defeating the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain in September 1940. Britain realized immediately the usefulness of radar and asked Canada to train 5,000 radar technicians as soon as possible. In addition to the several hundred amateur radio mechanics sent over- seas in the fall of 1940, three RCAF officers were despatched to the UK in November 1940 for training. The three, F/Ls G.M. Fawcett andC.J. Campbell, and F/O G.H.L. Norman, re- turned to Canada in May 1941 and they were of great help in siting ground stations for Canadian radar defences, providing engineer- ing advice to the REL, and fitting airborne equipment. Another officer, F/L C.B. Lim- brick who had been attached to the RAF also helped to train radar operators in Canada. In April 1941, a team of experts after looking for a site that had good power facilities near a large body of water, and with easy proximity to sources of supply and transportation but not too close to a prominent place, chose Clinton, Ontario to be the location for a radar school. On 27 August 1941, No. 31 Radio School (RAF) opened under the command of W/CH.W.L. Cocks, RAF. The site was surrounded by electrically charged fencing patrolled by armed guards. There was a staff of over 400 that could train 650 students at a time and graduate 250 every month. By early 1943,Canada had sent over 5,000 radar technicians

Radar School at Cranwell, they were despatched all over the world as radar techni- cians attached to RAF units.

Although there was a great demand for radar mechanics and operators both in the British and Canadian Forces, the first graduates of No. 31 Radio School, renamed No. 31 RDF School in July 1942, were members of the US Navy and Marine Corps. The US kept a count of their graduates and their story was reported in the August 1945 issue of Time Magazine,

From tiny Clinton, Ontario (pop. 2,000) came a significant story of international co-operation. In four years, 2,325 Ameri- can (and 6,500 Canadians) have been graduated from Clinton’s Royal Canadian Air Force Radar and Communications School. The U.S. students, most of them University men, thought so highly of the school that it later became the model forU.S. training centres.

The Air Force Telecom Association has tracked 5,847 of the 6,120 (the actual num- ber) Canadian graduates who, in addition to service at 40 Canadian radar sites, were em- ployed by the RAF in Britain and all over the world. One possible reasonfor so many Canadians serv- ing in RAF radar sites was that the RAF Director of Radar and Director General of Signals, AVM V.H. Tait, was Canadian-born and a graduate of the University of Manitoba. There wereRCAF radar officers and

to the UK; most were posted to the RAF.

men in 30 countries, includ-

The Burma Star

While the Clinton site was being selected and the school was being built, 2,415 poten- tial radar technicians were sent in June 1941 to 13 Canadian universities and the Royal Mil- itary College for a 13 week basic electrical course. Only 1,450 graduated, a failure rate of 40 per cent, but the course

was repeated sev- eral times as the need for potential radar tech- nicians was so great. Successful candidates were sent overseas with a minimum of military training, and after further training at RAF

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ing 723 in Southeast Asia, where the senior of- ficer was W/C D. Gooderham who was awarded the OBE and the US Bronze Star for his leadership. There were 296 radar stations in the UK; each maintained a 24 hour watch from Good Friday 1939 until 8 May 1945. Some of the more unknown and obscure sites to which RCAF personnel went were in the Mediterranean: Sicily, Italy, Sardinia, Corsica, Turkey (in civilian clothes), North Africa, Malta, and Palestine; and to the South Pacific:

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Guadacanal with the USMC, Australia and New Zealand. Some officers in England played a role in radar research at Malvern, Worcestershire, where the H2S ground-map- ping airborne radar equipment was developed to allow Commonwealth aircrews to bomb un- seen targets at nights and through clouds. Others worked on the radar navigational aids, Gee and Oboe, that kept aircraft on course and improved the accuracy of bombing. In ad- dition to static radar sites, they operated mo- bile stations on the D-Day beaches in Normandy, at the airborne landings at Arn- hem, and during the Allied campaigns in Northwest Europe.

While the majority of RCAF radar officers and men served overseas a large number served on 40 radar stations in Canada and on sites in Newfoundland and Labrador. Early in the war, there was a fear of long range bomber attacks on vital Canadian targets in eastern Canada. After Japan joined the Axis Powers, there was a fear of carrier borne aircraft raid- ing the West Coast. Ground radar units were installed as early warning for the approach of hostile aircraft and for the control of Cana- dian interceptors. While there were never any hostile incidents, the radar units proved in- valuable in keeping track of Canadian aircraft and helping to locate lost planes. A system was instituted by Air Traffic Control on both the East and West Coasts to monitor Canadian air- craft, especially those on anti-submarine pa- trols. Many lives were saved as a result of locating downed aircraft. By February 1945, there were 29 radar stations on the East Coast and 11 on the West Coast.*

By May 1944, these stations were equipped with Mk III Interrogation Friend or Foe (IFF) equipment that consisted of a transmitter, re- ceiver, display unit with a plan position indi- cator, and a special antenna mounted on a thirty foot tower. The tower sent a coded in- terrogation signal that could only be re- sponded to by an aircraft equipped with a matching code transponder. Maritime air pa- trols had Air-to-Surface Vessel (ASV) radar, air-

* See Appendix 44

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RCAF Radar Station at Patricia Bay, South Vancouver Island, 1942. [LAC/NAC]

craft interception (AI) radar, and IFF. It was the policy of AFHQ

in Ottawa to concentrate on ASV because of the German

submarine menace in spite of the extra training that was

required to acquaint aircrews with its use. ASV equipment

was made initially by REL but later more sophisticated models

were produced in the USA. In May 1943, the first ASV units

were delivered to the RCAF and proved to be invalu- able in

detecting German submarines, which had to spend time on the

surface charging batteries. Although a very small target,

they could be detected by ASV and destroyed by bombing. The

German submarines had a de- vice to detect hostile radar and,

even if the air- craft did not pick up the submarine on its

radar, the radar signal was enough to cause the submarine

to dive. Early German successes sinking ships in the Gulf of St

Lawrence were thwarted by late 1943 by the RCAF using ASV.

Because of the tight security regarding radar, officers

working in radar were shown in the Officers’ List as being in Radio. The Radio (Radar) Branch began on 27 January 1941

and by October 1941 there were 160 officers compared to a total of 76 under

Signals. Radio Branch officers continued to outnumber those in the Signals Branch.

During the War a total of 1,059 officers, led by W/Cs D. Gooderham,

R.E Mooney, W.S. Kendall, and J.A. Ross served in the Radio Branch. It was 1944 before offi- cers were listed as Radar Officers.

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A World War Two Ground Control Station; note that the WD Cpl is wearing the Wrls Op Badge.

The Radar Branch suffered 68 fatal casual- ties from 1941 to 1945 with roughly half of them in ground stations and half of them in the air. There were 29 deaths attributable to enemy action, 20 due to accidents, and 19 from natural causes.*

On 18 July 1941, the number of officers with the qualification “S” was increased as W/C A.H.K. Russell; S/Ls R.M. McKay, E.L. Miners, and A. Walmsley; F/Ls R.S. Blackner,A.M. Cameron, C.G.W. Chapman, R.B. Hood- spith, D.C. Horne, D.F. Manders, B.G. Miller,H.R. McLaughlin, H.F. Monon, J.T. O’Leary,A.P.W. Richer, and R.C.A. Waddell; and F/OsH.C. Vinnecombe and L.G.R. Virr qualified.S/Ls C.J. Campbell and G.M. Fawcett, and F/LG.H.L Norman were the only officers with the designation “R” for radar. In 1942, the Signals Branch consisted of 114 officers. Each year it grew in size: in 1943, 182

officers; in 1944, 256 officers; and in 1945, it reached its high- est strength: 1 G/C, C.J. Campbell, 11 W/Cs,

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30 S/Ls, 88 F/Ls, 178 F/Os, and 2 P/Os, a total of 310 officers. In 1944, there was a new entry, “Signals Cypher”, with 21 F/Os and 5 P/Os. Approximately 400 officers and 4,000 men and women served in the Signals Branch during the Second World War.

During the war, approximately 10,000 all ranks served in the Signals and Radar branches of the RCAF. Many were recognized for their service with honours and decorations.#

No.1 RCAF Radar and Communications School Clinton

On 31 July 1943, the RCAF took over Clinton from the RAF and re-designated it as No. 5 RCAF Radio School. It was commanded by W/C K.R. Patrick who remained as CO until the end of the war. For his leadership, W/C Patrick was awarded the OBE and the US Le- gion of Merit in the rank of Officer. The im- portance of the role played by Clinton during

* See Appendix 47 # See Appendix 45

22

the Second World War was acknowledged by Air Commodore (A/C) C.P. Brown, RAF, and the Director of Radar. He said in a UK Air Min- istry Release in late 1945 that by early 1941 Britain could no longer recruit suitable candi- dates as radar mechanics, and had sent an ur- gent message to Canada requesting a thousand before the end of the year. He stated,

it would not have been possible to meet the vital and increasing demands of radar in the latter part of 1940 and the follow- ing years without the knowledge that Canada was undertaking the recruiting of men to help us handle this immense weapon. The exact nature of duties could never be made known publically in Canada at the time, of course. But so en- thusiastically have RCAF personnel been since the earliest days that their role in the unseen struggle through the years of the war is one that Britain will never forget.

On 20 September 1945, Clinton was declared to be a peacetime establishment for the train-

ing of radar personnel and re-designated No.1 Radar and Communications School (1 R&CS). A one-year course to train RCN radio technicians and radio operators was initiated in 1946 with 127 students graduating in 1947. Soon, a number of different courses at the Group One Level were offered: Radar Techni- cian Ground Navigational Aids, Radar Techni- cian Ground Control and Warning, Telegraph Technician, Communications Operator, and Communications Technician Ground. Later, more advanced courses were given: Field Maintenance on specialized equipment and Advanced Technical Training for all the Level One courses. The Basic Electronics Course (BEC), which was a pre-requisite for the Level One courses, was given to Armament Systems Technicians, Electrical Technicians, Instru- ment Technicians, and Communications and Radar Technicians. A Fighter Control Opera- tor course was also given until it was moved to a Radar Station at Lac St Denis, Quebec.

From 1947 until 1963, when all officers’ training was moved to the Central Officers’

23

RCAF Station Clinton, circa 1960.

24

School at Centralia, Ontario, a total of 20 Telecommunications Officers’ Courses were conducted at Clinton. The Air Radio Officers’ Course was also given by No. 1 R&CS from 1947 until 1951, when the Air Radio Officers’ School was established as a distinct organiza- tion inside Clinton Station. In 1951, to ensure a high measure of quality control of the stu- dent graduates at Clinton, No. 12 Examina- tion Unit was established. It remained at Clinton, although renamed in 1961, the Training Standards Establishment (TSE), until the closure of Clinton in 1971.

When No. 1 R&CS became a peacetime RCAF Station in 1945, there were changes. New amenities were added: 220 Permanent Married Quarters, a school for dependant children, an Olympic-size swimming pool, and an ice skating arena. A new modern radar building was erected in 1960 with search equipment, similar to Air Defence Command radars, for the training of Radar Ground Tech- nicians. During the 1950s and 1960s, thou- sands of RCAF technicians were trained to work on Pinetree Line Radar. Clinton also ini- tiated training in the new field of Automatic Data Processing (ADP), both for data process- ing and for use in the new Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) Air Defence Sys- tem. Clinton made not only a significant con- tribution to the winning of the Second World War but also to Canada’s post war defence re- quirements for NATO and NORAD. The train- ing of thousands of electronic technicians assisted the development of Canada’s elec- tronic industry when RCAF personnel left the Service or retired.

RCAF Communications Training, 1946 –1971

In 1946, the RCAF moved into a peacetime mode but on a much larger scale than before the Second World War. All RCAF recruits began their service career by attending the Manning Depot at St-Jean, Quebec. There, prospective airmen and airwomen

underwent a ten-week indoctrination course that covered military procedure, customs, discipline, dress,

25

and drill. During this period, trainees were tested by the Airman Selection Unit for

apti- tude in any one of the 70 trades in the RCAF. Those selected for basic electronics

were sent to 1 R&CS to take a 14 week Basic Elec- tronics Course (BEC) prior to

any applied trades training. Depending on their suitability, some graduates of the BEC were sent either to the Basic Radar Course

(BRC) or the Basic Communications Course (BCC). Those se- lected for either

instrument or electrical trades were sent directly to Camp Borden for

applied training in those fields.BRC and BCC graduates were monitored

while undergoing training and were assigned to one of the six telecommunications electron- ics technician trades. Those selected for arma- ment electronic systems went directly to Camp Borden for specialist training. So did the Com- munications Technician Air and Radar Tech- nician Air trades who took their 10 week and 15 week courses respectively at the Airborne Electronics Trades School at Camp Borden. The remaining BRC and BEC graduates re- mained at Clinton to take ground-equipment maintenance applied training. These included Teletype Technician, 34 weeks; Radar Techni- cian Ground (navigational aid), 14 weeks; and Communications Technicians Ground, 10 weeks. Clinton also conducted refresher train- ing for these advanced trades courses as new equipment came into service. The total time to train a Teletype Technician from his day of entry into the RCAF was 58 weeks not counting annual leave and public holidays. Only then could he take his place in the world of air op- erations in Canada, NATO, NORAD or on UN Missions. Additionally, there were two courses given at Clinton that did not require a prereq- uisite course: the 25-week Communications Operator Course, and the 4-week Crypto- graphic Operator Course.

Radar equipment training in the 1950s was carried out on the Canadian-built AN/FPS-502 search radar, the AN/TPS-501

height-finder radar, and the AN/UPX-6 IFF radar.* After the

* See Appendix 31 C for an explanation of the code to identify radar equipment

26

An early Air Traffic Control MPN Series Ground Approach Radar. [LAC/NAC]

completion of a new training building in 1960, training began on the more advanced AN/FPS- 508 search radar, the AN/FPS-6/AN/FPS-507 height-finder radar, and the AN/UPX-14 IFF radar. Training was also carried out on naviga- tional aids, in particular Ground Control Ap- proach Radar. In the early 1950s, the RCAF purchased the AN/MPN-1 radar that signifi- cantly improved Air Traffic Control (ATC) serv- ices. This equipment allowed the controller to guide an aircraft to the airfield and line it up on the runway 24 hours a day in all weather conditions. New units – AN/CPN-4s –devel- oped in the mid 1950s, were installed in the Air Division bases in Europe and major air- fields in Canada. The equipment had a 40 mile surveillance display and a 10 mile preci- sion approach capability. Further develop- ments led to the AN/FPN-33 and AN/FPN-36 Quad-Radars that had four capabilities: height finding, surveillance, precision approach, and airport surveillance. All this equipment could be deployed in case of emergency.*

After the unification of the Canadian Forces in 1968, all ground radar and communications training was concentrated at CFB Kingston, the home of the RCCS. All training at Clinton was

eventually transferred to Kingston, and No. 1R&CS closed on 31 August 1971.

The RCAF Communications System, 1948–1965

In 1948, DND formed the National Defence Communications System (NDCS) by amalga- mating the communications networks of the three Services. There were five major tape relay centres over which all military messages passed. The primary station located in Ottawa was operated by the RCCS. It also manned the one in Edmonton, which was also the HQ of the NWT&Y Radio System. The RCAF operated two centres, Winnipeg and Vancouver. The RCN manned the one in Halifax. After five years of operation, the NDCS reverted to the three Services operating their own networks. The RCAF Administrative Communications System was activated in the spring of 1955, and the tape relay network was named the Air Force Communications System (AFCS). A per- manent HQ was established at Rockcliffe, Ot- tawa in March 1955, and relay centres located in Winnipeg, Vancouver, Edmonton, St-Hu- bert, and Halifax were operational on 17 June 1955. The system was renamed the Main Com- munications Relay System (MCRS) in 1957. In accordance with the reforms introduced by Defence Minister Paul Hellyer in April 1964 and put into law on 7 July, DND amalgamated the communications systems of the three Serv- ices into the Canadian Forces Communica- tions System (CFCS) on 1 April 1965. The first commander of CFCS was G/C D.B. Biggs, CD.# Under the leadership of G/C R.E. Mooney, CD, the CFCS evolved into Canadian Forces Com- munication Command (CFCC) in 1970.^

The RCAF in NATO

On 4 May 1951, the Canadian Government honoured its commitment to the North At- lantic Treaty Organization (NATO) by an- nouncing it would send twelve fighter

27

* See Appendix 31 for a technical explanation of radar equipment

# See Appendix 46, for his biography^ See Appendix 49 for his biography

28

squadrons to Northwest Europe. Previously in January 1951, the RCAF had sent No. 421 (F) Squadron to train with the RAF and it was log- ical to begin the transfer of fighter squadrons to Europe by sending them first to the UK. On 15 November 1951, RCAF No. 1 (F) Wing, consisted of No. 410 Squadron with 21 Sabre aircraft, took over RAF Station North Luffenham, Rutland. On 2 January 1952, an Air Division Planning Team was formed in Paris to look after Canada’s Sabre squadrons as they arrived in Europe. The first Squadron, No. 441, left Halifax on the HMCS Magnificent and arrived in the UK on 28 February 1952. It was the only squadron to cross the Atlantic by sea; the remaining squadrons crossed by airborne relays. The first was No. 439, which flew the 3,560 miles from Uplands to North Luffenham by way of Bagotville, Quebec, Goose Bay, Labrador, Keflavik, Iceland, and Prestwick, Scotland. When No. 439 landed on 14 June 1952, No 1 Wing was complete withNos. 410, 439, and 441 Squadrons. The Wing stayed and trained in the UK until a base was built for it in Marville, France. The next flight took place on 28 September 1952 when the entire No. 2 Wing, which consisted of Nos. 416, 421, and 430 Squadrons, crossed the At- lantic. In this instance, it flew directly from Prestwick to Grostenquin, France, landing on 11 October. It was followed in March 1953 by No. 3 Wing with Nos. 413, 427, and 434 Squadrons, which flew directly from Prestwick to Zweibrucken, West Germany, landing on 7 April. The final flight took place in August 1953 when No. 4 Wing, which consisted of Nos. 414, 422, and 444 Squadrons, landed in Baden-Sollingen, West Germany on 4 Sep- tember 1953. At that point, No. 1 Air Divi- sion, part of the 4th

Allied Tactical Air Force (4 ATAF), was complete. The headquarters for the Division had been formed in Metz, France on 10 April 1953. It controlled, in ad- dition to the fighter squadrons, 601 Mi- crowave Relay Squadron, 61 Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron, 30 Air Mate- rial Base in Langar, UK, and an Operational Training Unit in

Sardinia, Italy.From the time of the arrival of the RCAF 1

29

Air Division’s fighter wings in France and Ger- many in 1952 - 1953, communications were a significant aspect of their operational readi- ness. Each of the four Wings had a Station Telecommunications Officer who was respon- sible for the maintenance of aircraft avionics (airborne communication and electronic equipment), navigational aids, ground commu- nications, and the operation of the telephone and station alert systems. He commanded the technicians and operators for radar, ground and air, NavAids, communications ground and air, and the teletype and telephone systems.

As the type of aircraft changed over the forty years of NATO service, so did the commu- nications. At first, the Wings were equipped with three squadrons of F-86 Sabre jets. In order to increase all-weather capability, one squadron in each Wing was equipped with CF- 100 Canuck all-weather interceptors in 1957. In 1963, the CF-100 squadrons were dis- banded and the eight remaining squadrons with F-86s were re-equipped with CF-104 Starfighters, which carried nuclear warheads under joint US/Canadian control. On 31 March 1967, the number of squadrons was re- duced to six, and No. 1 Air Division HQ at Metz and the Stations at Marville and Grosten- quin were moved to Lahr, West Germany. On 31 August 1969, No. 3 Wing at Zweibrucken was closed down. On 1 October 1970, the size of the Canadian air commitment to NATO was reduced from six squadrons to three with no

61 AC&W Squadron at Metz, France with a DECCA 80 Radar (May 1955 - December 1962). [LAC/NAC]

30

nuclear capability. No. 1 Air Division was re- named No. 1 Canadian Air Group with its three squadrons located at Baden-Soellingen. In 1985, the CF-104 was replaced by the CF-18 jet until the mission ended in 1992.

From August 1955 to September 1961, air defence services were supplied by 61 AC & W Squadron located near 1 Air Division HQ at Metz. It was commanded by W/C W.C. Strange. The equipment used was the British Type 80 DECCA, Marconi Fixed Coil Display, the US AN/FPS-8 back up search radar, and three Height Finders of the AN/MPS-14 mo- bile type. With the introduction of the CF-104, which was designed for low level operations, radar control was not required.

RCAF Telecommunications personnel were responsible for all air and ground communi- cations and electronics equipment until the unification of the Canadian Forces. After 1968, avionics became the responsibility of the Aeronautical Engineering (AERE) Branch. The newly created Communications and Elec- tronics (C&E) Branch assumed responsibility for NavAids equipment, air defence systems, and ground communication equipment.

When 1 Air Division began to move into France and Germany, the civilian communica- tions systems were not capable of handling the increased usage. 601 Radio Relay Squadron, later renamed 601 Microwave Relay Squadron, was established in 1953, under the command of S/L J.G.F. Sansoucy, to provide all the com- munications within the Division. The adminis- trative HQ of 601 was located with No. 2 Wing at Grostenquin, France and the operational HQ was located with Air Division HQ in Metz. Four communications vehicles were backed up to each other to form a hollow square over which a wooden shelter was built. This arrangement provided 22 voice channels and 18 teletype circuits to each of the four wings. There was a backup system available to deploy to alternate airfields in case of hostilities.

Initially, Communication Technicians

(Ground) who had received a six week Systems course at the RCA facility in Camden, New Jer- sey, USA, a two week Climbing and High Rigger course at Clinton, and two week Heavy Vehicle

31

601 Microwave Relay Squadron, deployed circa 1958.

driving course at Centralia, were assigned to the 601. Reinforcement personnel were taught in theatre. In its final configuration the mi- crowave communications system consisted of a large commercial truck designed to tow a 25 foot trailer. A RCA CW-20 microwave RF radio system was able to provide 24 voice channels, each of which could carry 18 teletype channels. The truck could act as a base unit when con- nected to a switchboard (Private Branch Ex- change or PBX) or it could act independently as a remote repeater. All the electronic and test equipment was rack mounted in a 8 by 20 foot box that was heated and air-conditioned and mounted in the truck. There was also mounted a telescopic tower to which a parabolic aerial was attached, that could be raised to a height of 40 feet. When it was deployed, the trailer had two Onan diesel generators providing 120/240 volts of regulated power and in a rear section, tools, two 5 foot

diameter parabolic an- tennas, tower sections, and enough guy wire to raise a 90 foot tower.

Microwave repeater stations had to have a line of sight path between stations. Conse- quently, they were located on the highest points of land and often nearly inaccessible. The station at Wintersburg in the Vosges Mountains, 100 kms from Zweibrucken, for ex- ample, was only accessible by four wheel drive vehicles. Personnel were housed in Arctic tents, each heated by an oil-fired furnace, with four

32

to six airmen per tent. Diesel generators sup- plied electric power. The station operated on two 12 hour shifts. Water was trucked in 20 litre containers and perishable food was purchased daily. Every two weeks half the personnel trav- eled the 100 kilometres to Zweibrucken for showers, laundry, pay, and groceries. In these forlorn and isolated situations, entertainment was mostly self-generated as the Voice of Amer- ica was the only reliable English language radio broadcast available. This system lasted until 1967 when the Canadians left France for Ger- many. There, good civilian communications systems were available as well as the Canadian Forces Communications System (CFCS)

In November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, and East and West Germany were re-united on 3 October 1990. With the end of the Cold War, the Canadian government began to plan the withdrawal of its armed forces from Germany. While discussions were proceeding, an inter- national crisis developed in the Middle East. On 2 August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait and refused to withdraw in the face of UN Resolu- tions. On 24 September, Canada along with 35 nations declared war on Iraq. The Canadian military response was muted: a squadron of CF- 18s was despatched from Baden to Doha, Qatar in late 1990. From there, air strikes were mounted against Iraqi forces in Kuwait. Telecommunications support to the CF-18 de- ployment was provided by an element from the Communication Squadron in Baden, West Germany. Maj A.G. Hines, the CO, went to Doha and commanded a scaled-down version of his squadron. For his exceptional work, he was awarded a Mentioned-in-Despatches.* The sudden collapse of the Iraqi Army in early 1991 resulted in an early return of the squadron to Baden. The withdrawal of the Canadian Forces from Germany by 1994 was announced in February 1992 and proceeded forthwith. By 30 April 1992, Military Air Com- munications System was closed at Baden as the CF-18s returned to Canada. One Canadian air element, however, remained in Europe for an- other 20 years; this was NATO AWACS.

* See Chapter Fifteen for additional details.

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AWACS

In the 1970s, the advent of high speed combat aircraft with low level penetration capability made it necessary to augment NATO’s ground- based early warning system. The solution to the problem was the introduction of the Air- borne Early Warning and Control System (AWACS). NATO acquired 18 Boeing 707 air- craft and proceeded to test the aircraft and its radar equipment in Seattle between 1979 and 1982. In this work Canada was a leader. LColJ. MacDonald, AERE, and LCol M Sywyk, CELE, led an international team of 12 nations con- ducting interoperability tests between the AWACS and the latest NATO ground defence system, the Airborne Early Warning Ground Environmental Integrated System (AEGIS). As a result, the AWACS fleet began flights in 1982 and became fully operational in 1988 as the world’s only multi-national, fully integrated, highly effective, complex weapons system. It not only enhanced NATO’s ability to counter more complex air threats but also provided a potent and readily available symbol of the Al- liance’s political solidarity. Since then, five more nations have joined the European com- ponent, making the fleet of 17 AWACS aircraft even more of an international force. In addi- tion to the main base at Geilenkirchen, Ger- many, there are three Forward Operating Bases: Trapani, Italy; Aktion, Greece; and Konya, Turkey; and a Forward Operating Lo- cation in Oerland, Norway. Six other countries have their own AWACS aircraft: USA, Britain, Japan, France, Israel, and South Korea.

Canada played a key role in the develop- ment of the system and was third largest con- tributor to the program. As well, Canada contributed $320 million, about 10 per cent of the initial costs. For our efforts, the position of Wing Operations Officer was filled by a CAF Colonel, and the Squadron commander of one of the three operational AWACS squadrons was held by

a CAF Lieutenant- Colonel. A number of radar and radio techni- cians were members of the sixteen-man aircrew, and there were ground-based CELE officers located at Geilenkirchen, West Ger-

34

A NATO AWACS. [NATO E - 3 A Component]

many. Other C&E members and technical per- sonnel were involved in the initial acquisition of the aircraft and its equipment and subse- quent modernizations. The end of the Cold War in the early 1990s did not end the useful- ness on AWACS. During the first Gulf War in 1990, AWACS aircraft flew 1,100 missions. They continued to provide valuable airborne surveillance and command and control capa- bility over the former Yugoslavia, where 10,000 missions were flown between 1992 and 2004. After the terrorist attacks on the USA on 11 September 2001, five NATO AWACS aircraft and crews were deployed for eight months in the US on OP EAGLE ASSIST to help protect the USA against further attacks. This action was the only one in the history of NATO where Article 5 of the Charter was invoked (an attack on one member is an attack on all). During the civil war in Libya, February - June 2011, AWACS aircraft flew 247 missions during NATO OP UNIFIED PROTECTOR providingsupport for the command, control, and com- munications of NATO air strikes. Since January 2011, NATO AWACS has been flying on-going missions over Afghanistan in support of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from the German air base at Masar-e Sharif. In spite of these successes, the Canadian gov- ernment decided in late 2011 to withdraw from the AWACS Program. Between 2012 and 2014,

the Canadian Forces will conduct a phased withdrawal from the Program.

35

The RCAF and the Libyan Civil War

Civil war broke out in Libya in February 2011 and in the interests of people fleeing the fight- ing, a Non-Combatant Evacuation Operation was organized by the UN based on the island of Malta. Canada became involved in OP MO- BILE, to enforce a no-fly zone and an arms em- bargo, on 17 February and by 20 March 20118 Air Communications Control Squadron (ACCS) along with CF-18 aircraft had arrived in Trapani, Sicily, where they were ready for operations within 48 hours. 8 ACCS also was deployed to Poggio Renatico, north of Flo- rence, Italy, to set up the Canadian Air Oper- ations Centre (CAOC) for the Canadian Air Component Commander. The CAOC was op- erational by 12 April.

On 31 March 2011, NATO organized OP UNIFIED PROTECTOR with a Task Force HQ in Naples, Italy under the command of Cana- dian LGen J.J.C. Bouchard, who controlled air strikes by NATO aircraft on selected targets in Libya. A National Command and Coordina- tion Support Centre was set up there by a de- tachment from the Canadian Forces Joint Signal Regiment (CFJSR) from Kingston, which provided both long range communica- tions back to Canada and local line communi- cations at all Canadian sites. At the same time a CP140 Aurora detachment was deployed to Sigonella, Sicily supported by personnel from Trapani. Six Aurora aircraft were equipped in 2009 with Model-N Tactical Common Data Link systems, which gave them the capability to transmit high capacity data or full motion video to users on the ground.

By 2 June 2011, there were 655 Canadian military personnel deployed in four different lo- cations across Italy in support to OP MOBILE. In addition, integral support by Communications and Information Systems (CIS) was provided by the Directorate Information Management End User Service based out of Canadian Forces Sup- port Unit (Europe) Detachment in Selfkant, Germany. This included providing COMSEC support, the contracting of leased services, a Na- tional Rear Link connectivity, Blackberry cellu- lar services, and the provision of CIS equipment.

36

Reliable communications were essential for the command and control of Canadian air as- sets in four widely-spread locations. There were 37 C&E Branch personnel deployed in these locations operating 5 different networks with 225 work stations providing phone, cel- lular services, video teleconferencing, radio, and crypto support. C&E Branch personnel also played a key role in introducing new ca- pabilities to operations. Enhancements were made to the Joint Mission Planning Systems for the fighter community, and assistance was given during the introduction of a Joint Di- rected Attack Munitions capability (GPS guided munitions). This was the first time CF- 18s had used these munitions in operations.

This most recent Canadian air operation in Libya was highly successful and provided a good example of the capabilities of the C&E Branch. In spite of the fact that personnel were gathered from all over Canada and from dif- ferent organizations (CFJSR, 8 ACCS, NDHQ) and all of the Air Wings and Bases, they demonstrated great team cohesion and coop- eration.

International Security Assistance Force

As a result of Canadian participation in UN sanctioned NATO operations in Afghanistan, new technologies have been introduced into the RCAF. Intelligence Surveillance Recon- naissance (ISR) has been enhanced by the aid of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The CF first used a UAV called the Sperwer in Afghanistan during OP ATHENA, 2003 - 2009. A three metre-long UAV it can cruise at alti- tudes over 16,000 feet for over five hours. By using Synthetic Aperture Radar and Electro- Optic/Infra-Red technology, it can send im- ages of targets up to 150 kilometres back to its operators using a high bandwidth Line of Sight J-band data link to transmit information to a Ground Data Terminal. In 2009, the Sper- wer was replaced with the IAI Heron, now the CU 170, which has more operational capabil- ity. Its data link is interoperable with the ground based Remotely Operated Video En-

hanced Receiver 4 system. It has been cred-

37

ited with scouting out enemy activities, espe- cially the planting of improvised explosive de- vices (IEDs), which has saved lives. This success has led the RCAF to make plans to es- tablish a permanent Medium Altitude Long Endurance UAV through the Joint Unmanned Surveillance Target Acquisition System project that will include a Tactical Common Data Link and SATCOM.

Canada also acquired new ISR capability for both ground and air application in 2009 when six CH-146 Griffon Helicopters were retrofit- ted with a Mini-T TCDL system capable of transmitting high definition video and other ISR data to ground based terminals. This op- erational capability proved to be very useful in Afghanistan. Also in 2009, 43 Lockheed Mar- tin Pantera Targeting Pods that can provide Full Motion Video data link were purchased for the CF-18. They proved very useful in Libya in 2012.

During OP PODIUM, the Vancouver Olympic Games in 2010, the RCAF used many data link systems including those on the CF- 18, the CP-140, and the CH-146. This was the first time that ISR was employed in Canada in a strategic role. A network of ground receivers collected the data that was used locally and by the Canadian Air Operations Centre (CAOC). The same capabilities were also used during OP CADENCE, the 2011 G8/G20 Summit held in Canada. Based on these successes, the RCAF began to implement an ISR on-demand data- base network to connect to the Wings.

Communications through high bandwidth SATCOM is another endeavour the RCAF has undertaken to enhance further its ISR capabil- ities. Radar and Imaging for the Land/Littoral Environment Technology Demonstration Project was established in 2008 to demon- strate the technical feasibility and operational utility of integrating advanced airborne sen- sors with a secure, interoperable, smart, and beyond line of sight communications system that allows sensor data to be intelligently dis- seminated to terrestrial users in real-time. The project has

provided a reference architecture that is being use as a foundation for future ISR improvements.

38

Air Traffic Control

From the earliest times of flight, there was some form of air traffic control (ATC). Ini- tially, coloured flags were used but they gave way to Aldus Lamps where different coloured lenses, red and green, gave directions to air- craft. When all other means fail, Lamps are still used today. As wireless equipment was de- veloped and improved, radios, radars, and radio beacons became the navigational aids (NavAids). As the numbers of aircraft in- creased general rules known as Visual Flight Rules (VFR) were developed to set safe limits of visibility and ceiling for take-off and land- ing. With the invention of more sophisticated equipment, Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) were introduced to permit safe take-off, flight, and landing in darkness or reduced visibility due to weather conditions. The development of radar became an important tool in ATC, es- pecially in Canada during the Second World War. No hostile planes were ever detected dur- ing the War by the Canadian radar sites but friendly aircraft were plotted and in the case of emergency the last location of a missing air- plane was invaluable for rescue teams.

The growth of communications, radar, nav- igational aids, and aircraft avionics necessi- tated a base or wing organization to manage and conduct the required technical support. The title of the air force officer in charge of telecommunication support to Canadian air- bases has evolved over the years from Station to Wing to Base Telecommunications Officer (BTelO) to the present day Wing Telecommu- nications and Information Systems Officer (WTISO). The organization supplying the technical support is the Wing Telecommuni- cations and Information Systems Squadron (WTISS). Over the years, the title of the radio and radar technicians providing support for air operations has evolved into Aerospace Telecommunications and Information Sys- tems (ATIS).

Before integration, the BTelO was respon- sible for all ground-based

communications: telephone and radio services, land lines, and navigational aids. The BTelO and his technical

39

staff worked closely with the Air Traffic Con- trol Officer and the ATC staff. The BTelO was also responsible for airborne communica- tions, radars, and avionics, such as TACAN and IFF. At large bases the BTelO was a Major who had a Captain and a Master Warrant Officer to assist him. In smaller bases he was a Captain with a Warrant Officer as assistant. After inte- gration, the telecommunications support sys- tems were split and the Avionics Section became the responsibility of the Aeronautical Engineering Branch. CELE officers retained control of all ground-based telecommunica- tions equipment and personnel.

In the 1980s, the introduction of the Ter- minal Radar and Control System (TRACS) in- creased the responsibility of the BTelO, whose rank was raised to that of Major at TRACS bases. The introduction of Automatic Data Processing (ADP) systems added to the re- sponsibilities of the BTelO. Over time, C&E technical training courses were developed to meet these new requirements.

Recent deployed operations have involved both CELE officers and ATIS technicians. When DND activated OP APOLLO in Decem- ber 2001 to support operations in Afghanistan, a CELE officer, 10 ATIS techni- cians, and one lineman from 14 Wing Green- wood were deployed to Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They were part of the first rotation of Canadian military

WTISS deployed on OP APOLLO, at Camp Mirage, 2001 - 2002.

40

ACCS Quad and MPN 25 radars at 8 Wing Trenton.

to Afghanistan; called Roto 0 it lasted from December 2001 until July 2002. The advance party of Maritime Patrol Detachment left Greenwood on 27 December 2001 and ar- rived in Dubai on the 29th. The main body fol- lowed in early January 2002 and were joined by a detachment from the Joint Signal Regi- ment in Kingston, which provided rear-link communications to Canada with a Satellite Communications (SATCOM) Mobile Terminal 5 (MT5). This small group of C&E personnel, housed in portable trailers, helped establish what became known as Camp Mirage. The ATIS techs connected the trailers by cable and installed computers and telephones. Cellular services were soon established allowing per- sonnel to correspond with Canada. When it was announced that the Army was going to begin operations in Afghanistan, Camp Mi- rage became the supply base and expanded rapidly. In late January 2002, a Tactical Airlift (TAL) detachment arrived from 8 Wing in Trenton as well as a Crypto Custodian and an- other lineman from 14

WTIS. With the begin- ning of Hercules fights into Afghanistan, High

41

Frequency (HF) communications were set up. In early March, a National Support Element was sent to Camp Mirage to expand its facili- ties, requiring more trailers and more com- munications. The growth of Camp Mirage was complicated by the insistence of the UAE gov- ernment that the Canadian presence was not to be disclosed. When it became clear that it would be a permanent facility, new communi- cations were installed in new buildings that kept the men from 14 WTIS at Greenwood busy until they were replaced by a team from 8 WTIS at Trenton in July 2002. Before they left, two of the Greenwood techs, realizing the need for a form of entertainment for the res- ident personnel and for those passing through to Afghanistan, set up an outdoor theatre against the side of one of the build- ings. In spite of its rudimentary set up the the- atre operated for years afterwards.

Prior to 1969, RCAF Station Trenton’s De- ployment Team and Air Traffic Control’s transportable Quad-Radar provided NavAids and radar control at unprepared airfields. In 1969, it became the Air Transportable Com-

42

munications and Control Team (ATCCT). In 1979, it became a formed unit (ATCCU) that

changed its name in 1993 to 8 Air Communi- cations and Control Squadron (8

ACCS). A highly skilled, unique organization, it was pre- pared to be

deployed on short notice to wher- ever air operations require transportable radar,

NavAids equipment, control tower, air- field lighting, and auxiliary power. Its capabil-

ities were proven in January 1978, when a Russian nuclear powered satellite reentered the earth’s atmosphere over Canada’s north and spread radioactive material over a wide

area. To provide communications for the cleanup crews, a team from the ATCCT was dispatched from Trenton to Yellowknife and

Baker Lake in the Northwest Territories. It es- tablished a temporary tented camp on

the Th- elon River on 7 February. Communications were found to be difficult

because atmos- pheric conditions in the north play havoc with HF transmissions. To

assist with the communi- cationproblem, 742 Communication

Squadron erected a 900 metre long “droop- ing dipole” aerial but it still took 36 hours be- fore a message from the Thelon River site could be delivered to Edmonton. Air

Com- mand delivered a satellite terminal on 4 March and better communications

resulted. Similarly, establishing a beacon system as a NavAid for CH 135 helicopters

proved diffi- cult until AN/TRN-30 solid state beacons with a range of 25 miles were

installed. The entire operation lasted 84 days, during which the ATCCT used every

conceivable means of com- munications: LF, HF, microwave, and satellite radio.

Since then 8 ACCS has continued to perform stellar work, for example, to UN

Mis- sions in 1992 in the former Yugoslavia, 1994 in Rwanda, and 2004 in

Haiti. Operational for over 60 years, the organization has continued to be a first-

response team for ATC capability and communications anywhere in the world. A team led by S/L A.E. Keddy studied ways

in the 1960s to improve ATC. The culmination of the team’s work was the

initiation of the Ter- minal Radar and Control System (TRACS) in 1977. A project team led by Col G. Smith worked for six years to put

TRACS into six air

43

bases, it was backed up by a Training and Sup- port Centre (TASC) at CFB Trenton. At each airfield there were two main sites: the Radar Head and the Instrument Flight Rules Control Centre (IFRCC). The system was integrated with existing ATC equipment in the control towers and employed uninterruptible power backed up by auxiliary power units. The Radar Head housed an Area Surveillance Radar (ASR) with a range of 80 miles and a Second- ary Surveillance Radar (SSR) that provided200 miles of coverage for transponder- equipped aircraft. The IFRCC held control consoles for the Radar Processing and Control Subsystem (RPDS), the Communication Con- trol Subsystem (CCS), and Navigational Aids Management Subsystem (NAMS). TRACS pro- vided recording of both audio and radar track data that proved useful in cases of accidents as it captured the exact flight path of the aircraft. In addition to providing the technical expert- ise in the design work, the TRACS team had to act as the prime contractor for the production and installation of the system. The first opera- tional TRACS site was CFB Trenton, which was officially opened by the CDS, General Ramsey Withers, on 21 May 1982. The others sites, Moose Jaw, Bagotville, Cold Lake, Comox, and Greenwood, were commissioned by June 1983. The TASC at Trenton was renamed the Terminal Radar and Control System Support and Training Unit (TRACS STU) and became part of Air Command in July 1983.

On 29 June 1995, TRACS STU was amalga- mated with the Aerospace Maintenance Devel- opment Unit (AMDU) to form the Aerospace Telecommunications Engineering Support Squadron (ATESS). The AMDU, part of the Trenton community for over 50 years, was an outgrowth of 6 Repair Depot (6RD), which had been formed on 18 March 1940 at Tren- ton. Following the Second World War, 6RD modified aircraft to new roles and acted as a storage depot. In October 1967, it was reor- ganized as the AMDU to

provide third-level en- gineering, maintenance, and supply services to aerospace operations. It also developed maintenance schedules for aircraft and tech- niques for non-destructive testing. The TRACS

44

STU provided technical training for radar and radio technicians and operational training for air traffic controllers. It became a centre of ex- pertise for training and hardware and software support for air traffic systems used by the Canadian Forces.

The ATESS currently provides personnel and equipment on short notice to support do- mestic and global contingency and flying op- erations. Its capabilities were used to find the location of Swiss Air Flight 111, which went down in the Atlantic off Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia in September 1998. A cockpit fire had damaged the aircraft’s transponder and the civilian ATC lost critical aircraft location infor- mation. Using ATC tapes from the primary radar at 14 Wing at Greenwood, Nova Scotia, ATESS analyzed the tapes on the TRACS Taped Radar Analysis Program. It was able to calcu- late the precise latitude and longitude of Swiss Air Flight 111 when it entered the water.

One of the ATESS’s roles is to train ATIS technicians, particularly on new equipment and whenever equipment is upgraded. The 2011 replacement of the AN/FPN-503 (V)-1 Precision Approach Radar (PAR) by the PAR 2000 is one example. The new equipment in- corporated the latest in digital technology for voice-guided precision, approach landing services during poor visibility. The AN/FPN- 503 (V)-1 had entered the service in the late 1970s and had undergone several modifica- tions all by ATESS technicians.

The Canadian Quad-Radar began its service in the 1950s. It became the main radar for 8 ACCS in Trenton and was deployed globally and all over Canada. It was also used at Kingston’s Vimy Barracks after 1970 to teach the principles of radar theory to student tech- nicians. After over 50 years of service, the Quad-Radar was finally retired with the instal- lation of the PAR 2000 in CFB Shearwater.

As a follow-on to TRACS, the Military Auto- mated Air Traffic System (MAATS) project was initiated in the early 1990s in conjunction with Transport (now NAV)

Canada to auto- mate air traffic services, and to ensure that military air operations continued to function effectively with the national and international

45

civilian ATC systems. MAATS was intended to provide the infrastructure, systems, and auto- mated capabilities to interface with all Air Traffic Management Systems and to consoli- date the IFR operations from seven bases to two Military Terminal Control Centres that were to be collocated at the NAV Canada Area Control Centres in Montreal and Edmonton. In June 2006, it was declared that the objec- tives of MAATS could not be coordinated with the civilian Canadian Automated Air Traffic System. It was decided to proceed with an “in- house” solution called Phoenix.

The Phoenix project focused on the re-vi- talization and integration of ATC information sources at each of the seven major Air Wings: Comox, Cold Lake, Moose Jaw, Bagotville, Trenton, Greenwood, and Goose Bay. It was designed and built with standard, commercial off-the-shelf hardware and open source soft- ware based on the proven Radar Processing Display System II (RPDS II), which was certi- fied for Operational Airworthiness. Phoenix successfully upgraded the Air Traffic Manage- ment System capability including the Radar Processor, the Navigational Aids and Meteor- ological Sub-System, the Air Movement Statis- tics Package, and the Flight Data System. With the successful installation of the Phoenix equipment at 8 Wing Trenton, a Provisional Operational Airworthiness Clearance was granted in October 2007. The Phoenix proj- ect was successfully completed at all seven major Air Wings in 2011.

RCAF long-range HF aeronautical commu- nications sites were located at ten stations after the Second World War. In 1959, a new concept of air ground communications was imple- mented at Trenton, called the Military Aero- nautical Communications System (MACS). It began with the opening of a new air/ground/ air station. In 1964, the radio room was re-lo- cated to Carrying Place, a short distance from Trenton. In the beginning the radio room was a noisy workplace filled with

constant radio static, Morse Code, continuous traffic with air- craft, telephone patches made by both aircraft and ground units, and weather reports. Slowly, the noise levels dropped with the cessation of

46

Morse Code and the introduction of the VOL- MET system of automatic weather reports. On 6 May 1985, 708 Communication Squadron was renamed MACS Trenton and at the same time it was modernized with a $35 Million up- grade. It was able to monitor over 18 frequen- cies, and from its consoles could directly handle telephone patches, selective calling, an- tenna rotation, and frequency changes. All changes were done digitally with computer software and automatic voice recording. MACS operators were employed in monitoring Search and Rescue operations and in a joint effort with other stations could give valuable assistance. In 1973, MACS operators set up an A/G/A facility in Egypt in support of OP DANACA, that had 1 Canadian Signal Regi- ment deployed as part of UNEF II. It also par- ticipated in OP MORNING LIGHT, the search for debris from the Russian Cosmos 954 satel- lite. After 1995, most MACS operations were centred in Trenton with remote sites at St John’s. NL and Edmonton, AB.

RCAF Air Defence and NORAD

Canada’s response to the threat of a German or Japanese air attack during the Second World War was the building of radar air de- fences on the east and west coasts, but no at- tack occurred and the radar defences were removed after the war. It was not long after 1945, however, that a new and more serious threat arose. The development of the inter- continental nuclear bomber coupled with the deterioration of diplomatic relations between Russia and the western democracies suddenly made the whole of the American continent a potential target. As the shortest distance be- tween Russia and its most feared opponent, the United States, lay over the North Pole, Canada suddenly became both a target and a line of defence. Canada and the United States (through the Permanent Joint Board on De- fence that had been established in 1940) de- vised a defence strategy: a network of radar sites spread across the Canadian North to

pro- vide warning of an incoming bomber attack, and a fleet of interceptor fighter aircraft to

47

shoot down the intruding bombers. There was also a need for a central command and con- trol agency, if the response to a threat was to be coordinated and timely. This strategy de- pended not only on the deterrence of radar sites and fighter aircraft but also on an offen- sive retaliatory nuclear strike capability pro- vided by the USAF’s Strategic Air Command.

As most of the industrial heartland of North America was near the east coast, the majority of the radar sites were planned to be located in Eastern Canada. As early as 1949, plans were made to position radar sites along the 50th parallel in Eastern Canada and along the 53rd parallel in British Columbia. The Pinetree Line consisted of 26 sites erected by 1953 and 11 more sites by 1957; in the 1960s another seven were built. Canada built and manned 24. The USAF built and manned 20 sites but even- tually 12 of them were taken over by the RCAF. Four of the sites doubled as Air Defence Con- trol Centres, as the system was divided into four sectors. During the final years, 1985- 1990, all 24 remaining sites were manned by the Canadian Forces. The total cost was $450 Million; Canada’s share was $150 Million.*

A typical Pinetree site consisted of a long range search radar (LRR), usually an AN/FPS- 3 or AN/CPS-6B; a lower power, shorter range, back-up search radar, usually the AN/FPS-502; and one or two height finder radars. It also had ground-air-ground radios and a domestic facility large enough to accommodate three to

Two CF-100s fly over CFS Falconbridge Pinetree Site, 1981.

48

four hundred personnel. The radars’ vacuum tube technology meant they were mainte- nance intensive: in the manual operation mode, there would be five six-man mainte- nance crews with a sergeant as chief and five technicians on a 24/7 basis. Each site had a Station Telecommunications Officer (STelO), who was responsible for the maintenance of all radar and communication systems. In the late 1950s, some sites were equipped with the dual channel LRR AN/FPS-20/AN/FPS-508, which significantly improved reliability. Ini- tially, every site also had a AN/UPX-6 IFF sys- tem, which was expanded to a Selective Identification Function (SIF). The AN/UPX 6 was later replaced with the AN/UPX-14.

Many of the Pinetree sites were self-con- tained communities complete with single and married quarters, mess halls, schools,

chapels, and sports and entertainment facilities. Al- though many were semi-

isolated, often there were villages not far away, and there were op- portunities to

develop a good military-civilian rapport. In addition, athletic and social com- petitions

developed among the sector stations. In Canada, the radar sites provided target

tracking and control for fighter interceptor squadrons at Ottawa and North Bay, ON; St- Hubert and Bagotville, QC; Comox, BC; and deployment sites. The units initially flew the F-86 Sabre, and then the Canadian-designed

and built CF-100 all weather interceptor. Air Defence Command HQ was established

in 1951 in St-Hubert, which was linked to most of the radar sites and all fighter bases by the RCAF Communication System and by leased commercial voice circuits. The pilots and fighter controller at each radar

site were con- nected by RCAF ground radio sites co-located

with the radars.At the same time

as the Pinetree Line was becoming oper- ational in the mid- 1950s, it was known that the system pro-

warning time and limited low-level radar cov- erage. The solution was the development of two more radar systems: the Mid-Canada Line proposed by Canada and the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line advocated by the USA.

The Mid Canada Line was a “doppler fence” consisting of 90 unmanned stations

and 8 sec- tor control centres sited along the 55th parallel. It became operational on 1

January 1958. The sector control centres were manned 24/7 by 11 RCAF personnel

and up to 150 civilian con- tractor staff. Sightings of operational interest were

passed to an air defence control centre. The west half of the Mid Canada Line

closed in January 1964 and the east half in April 1965. The construction cost was

$225 Million. The DEW Line construction was begun in April 1955, and it was fully operational on 31 July 1957. It was built

along the 70th parallel from Alaska to Greenland and consisted of search radars

and gap-filling Doppler bi-static radars. Manned primarily by US contractor

personnel, there were 21 Intermediate, 18 Auxiliary sites, and 4 main stations in

Canada. There were four RCAF personnel in each main station, primarily for sovereignty

reasons. The DEW Line was manned 24/7 with each site re- laying aircraft tracks of interest to its main sta- tion data centre by

teletype. The various traffic tracks were consolidated and relayed by a main data

centre to an air defence control centre. In Canada, the data centres were staffed

primarily by RCAF Fighter Con- trollers/Operators, however, a

Telecommuni- cations Officer was assigned to command one of the data centres each

year. The DEW Line continued to operate until the early 1990s, when it was

replaced by the North Warning System (NWS). The total construction cost of

the DEW Line was more than $500 Million. By the time the Pinetree, the Mid Canada

Line, and the DEW Line were operational, the Canadian and US governments had worked out not only the doctrine, policies, and proce- dures to control the air defence assets of each country to ensure a timely

49

and effective re-Stoney Mountain,Alberta Mid-Canada Line radar, 1958.

vided minimum sponse to an airborne threat but also to meet the vital requirement to preserve sovereignty.

* See Appendix 43 for a list of sites This effort resulted in the North American Air

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The DEW Line Site at Tuktoyaktuk, NWT.

Defence (NORAD) Agreement that was signed by both countries on 12 May 1958. The Com- mander-in-Chief (CINC) of the North Ameri- can Air Defence Command would be an American four-star general responsible to each country, and his Deputy CINC would be a Canadian three-star general officer. By the early 1960s, NORAD was employing 250,000 American and Canadian servicemen and women and civilians.

Canadian participation in NATO and NORAD in the 1950s and beyond resulted in significant growth of RCAF communications personnel. In October 1950, the RCAF Signals Branch was renamed the Telecommunications Branch and throughout the 1950s its size steadily increased. In 1950, in addition to sen- ior signal officers: AVM R.E. McBurney, CBE, CD, A/Cs H.B. Godwin, CBE, CD, M.M. Hen-drick, OBE, CD, and W.A Orr, CBE, CD, the new Branch had two G/Cs G.M. Fawcett, MBE, CD, and E.A.D. Hutton, CD, and 153 other officers. By 1952, McBurney had retired and replaced by AVM Godwin with Hendrick and Orr still Air Commodores. The Branch had grown to a total of 223 officers, an increase of 45 per cent. In 1955, with Godwin, Hendrick and Orr still serving, the Branch continued to grow to a total of 316 officers, a further increase of 39 per cent. In 1957, AVM Godwin had been joined by Hendrick with Orr remaining as an Air Commodore. The Branch now had a total of 402 officers, an increase of 28 per cent over 1955. By 1960, Godwin had retired leaving Hendrick as the sole communications AVM; A/C Orr was still serving and he had been

joined by A/C E.C. Poole, CD. The Branch had a total of 620 officers, an increase of 54 per cent over 1957. During the decade of the 1950s, the Telecommunications Branch had grown from 155 to 620 officers, an increase of 400 per cent. There would have been a corre- sponding growth in other ranks, especially technicians but statistics are not available.

During these early days of the Cold War, RCAF Telecommunications officers and tech- nicians played key roles, not only maintaining radar and communications systems at the Pinetree sites, Data Centres, and fighter bases but also performing critical staff functions at Air Defence Command HQ. They assisted the Commander in the management of the sys- tem and in the development of strategies and plans for the ever-changing system configura- tions and modifications. Similarly at RCAF Air Material Command HQ in Ottawa, Telecom- munications officers and NCOs managed the life cycle support of the systems in the field and worked to develop follow-on programs. Given that many of the radar systems were owned by the US, a major effort was required to coordinate ongoing logistical support of these systems.

While the US and Canada were developing the NORAD system with its three lines of radar defence, the world of technology was evolving rapidly. The Soviets launched Sputnik 1 in Oc- tober 1957, the first military use of space. The development of intercontinental ballistic mis- siles (ICBMs) and submarine launched ballis- tic missiles (SLBMs) over-shadowed the threat of the manned bomber. These new threats re- quired different defences but, as the USSR continued to upgrade its Long Range Aviation Fleet, defence against manned bombers re- mained a valid requirement.

The technological breakthrough of the early 1960s was the development of the Semi- Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) Sys- tem, the first automated command and control system in the world.

51

By 1963, 22 AN/FSQ-7 systems with active and backup computers were deployed in North America, including one in a purpose-built under- ground complex (UGC) at RCAF Station

52

North Bay. It was a nuclear-hardened facil- ity located 600 feet under Canadian Shield granite and had 142,000 square feet of usable space on three levels. It was a self-sustaining complex with water, fuel, and food supplies for 400 personnel for up to 30 days in a closed-up configuration. A new technical sup- port organization was created for North Bay: the SAGE Maintenance Control Unit (SMCU) with a Tech/Tel lieutenant-colonel as CO. His staff consisted of about 10 Tech/Tel officers and 40 radar and communications techni- cians. Five years of service in the UGC and par- ticipation in a lock-down entitled a person to refer to the site as “The Hole” and to be a member of the “Brotherhood of Under- ground Mushrooms (BUM) Society.” In the USA, a similar but much larger command cen- tre was constructed inside Cheyenne Moun- tain at Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The NORAD Regional Command Centre at St-Hubert was moved to North Bay on 13 May 1963 and the SAGE system became part of Air Defence Command (ADC) on 28 September 1963. The newly installed AN/FST-2 computer digitalized the analog radar data from each radar site and then transmitted it over tele- phone lines to the

parent SAGE computer. It

53

processed all radar data, flight plan data from the ATC and other inputs to present a consolidated air picture. Up to 150 as- signed controllers and operators were now able to track, identify, and control intercept opera- tions from their con- soles.

There was a require- ment to provide the con- trollers at the SAGE locations with remote ac- cess to the ground-air- ground radios at the new Ground-Air-Transmit-Re- ceive (GATR) sites, co-lo- cated with the radar sites. This was accom-

plished using commercial telephone circuits and new termination equipment at each end so that controllers could contact pilots using the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) AN/GRT-3 transmitters and AN/GRR-7 receivers. A mul- tichannel AN/GRC-27 radio was available as a back-up. The SAGE computer also had the ca- pability to transmit Time Division Data Link (TDDL) information to take control automat- ically of interceptor aircraft through newly in- stalled AN/GKA-5 and AN/FRT-49 radio transmitters at Pinetree GATR sites

Not all Pinetree sites were tied to a SAGE computer. The remaining operational USAF sites in Newfoundland and along the coast of Labrador continued in manual mode. Their supporting communications systems could not operate in the new digital environment. In other areas, an investment was made to im- prove communications quality and to en- hance survivability with the development and deployment of the ADCOM 2 microwave sys- tem connecting North Bay with several of its Pinetree sites and fighter bases. On a broader scale, work was in progress to establish the Canadian Switched Network (CSN), an auto- mated, dedicated, survivable voice and data network to meet air defence and other mili-

54

CFB North Bay Underground Complex Blast Door. [LAC/NAC]

tary requirements. The CSN was integrated with a comparable US system, the Automatic Voice Network (AUTOVON).

The introduction of the SAGE System and its subsequent modifications had an effect on radar site organization given that most of the operations functions were transferred to a SAGE facility. Most Pinetree sites linked to the SAGE System were reduced to four Tech/Tel officers: a Chief Ground Environment Officer, a Telecommunications Maintenance Officer with a staff of about 30 radartechnicians and 10 commu- nications technicians, a Sys- tem Standards and Training Officer with 4 technicians, and a Telecommunications Operations Officer with a staff of about 16 Fighter Control Operators, later Air Defence Technicians. The total staff requirement was approximately 125 all ranks. There were usually three Tech/Tel officers appointed as commanding officers of Pinetree sites at

any given time,

55

The SAGE System reduced the demand for telecom officers. In 1963, there were AVMsM.M. Hendrick and W.A. Orr, and A/C, E.C. Poole, together with G/Cs and 531 other offi- cers, a decrease of 81 from 1960. The de- crease continued in 1966, by then there were no telecommunications Air Vice Marshals and only two acting Air Commodores, D. Gooder- ham, OBE, CD and D.B. Biggs, CD and 460 other officers, a further loss of 79 officers.

The introduction of the SAGE System and the assignment of areas of responsibility to the new NORAD Regions tied in all Canadian Pinetree radars west of North Bay to one of the three NORAD Regional HQs in the US lo- cated at Duluth, Great Falls, and Tacoma. Sim- ilarly, some of the USAF radars were tied to the NORAD Region HQ at North Bay. NORAD de- veloped a system of co-manning US and Cana- dian military for many of its locations. The usual balance would have approximately 35 Canadians at one of these US cross-border NORAD Regions including a general officer as deputy commander, several air weapons con- trol officers and air defence technicians, plus two telecommunications officers and two radar technicians. These personnel were re- sponsible for managing radar site quality through the Performance Analysis by Contin- uous Evaluation (PACE) program. Personnel from the Pinetree sites enjoyed occasional vis- its to their parent Regional HQ to escape the

56

Tracking aircraft movements.

isolation and to appreciate the “big picture.” In the 1960s, further improvements were

made to joint US/Canada air defence. The USAF supplied 66 F-101 Voodoo fighters,

armed with nuclear-tipped air to air missiles to be under joint control, to replace the CF

100s. Two squadrons of US nuclear capable BO- MARC-B surface to air missiles were

deployed in North Bay and La Macaza, QC. Three of the original American Pinetree

sites were closed and 12 of their Pinetree sites were taken over by the RCAF. In 1962-

1963, the RCAF opened seven new Pinetree sites: Penhold, AB; Alsask, Dana, and

Yorkton, SK; Gypsumville, MB; Moosonee, ON; and Chibougamau, QC. Dur- ing the

initial ten years of Pinetree operation, the original radars had been upgraded or re- placed. By 1963, there were four search

radars in use: the newly installed frequency diversity AN/FPS-27, the AN/FPS-7 (later

modified to the AN/FPS-107), the US AN/FPS-93, and the similar, Canadian

modified AN/FPS-508. Each site had one search radar and two height- finder radars,

one of which was normally the newly installed AN/FPS-26, and the other, ei- ther

the AN/FPS-6 or the similar, Canadian-

57

modified AN/FPS-507.During the 1960s, improvements in

tech- nology allowed Canada to shut down the Mid Canada Line and for the US to close all 28 of the DEW Line “I” sites where the Doppler radars were situated. RCAF Pinetree Stations Edgar, Parent, St Sylvestre, Puntzi Mountain, Beaver Bank, and Pagwa River were closed. As always, command and control remained an issue, especially in the case of the failure of a command and control site. To counter such a problem, a Back-Up Intercept Control (BUIC) capability program was instituted. Each SAGE direction centre was assigned two radar sites with sufficient equipment and personnel to take over the tracking, identification and weapons control function in the event of a SAGE direction centre failure. To back up North Bay, the Pinetree sites at Senneterre, QC and St Margarets, NB were designated as BUIC III locations. In 1968, they each received a AN/GYK-19 BUIC computer and additional operations and technical personnel. Sen- neterre continued in this role until 1973 and St Margarets until 1984.

In 1969, the move of ADC HQ to North Bay

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was completed. This consolidated the air de- fence operations and management functions and freed up space in St Hubert for the newly created Force Mobile Command (FMC) HQ. The ADC HQ Deputy Chief of Staff for Com- munications and Electronics (DCOS C&E) was a Tech/Tel colonel who was responsible to the Chief of Staff and the Commander for the oversight and performance of all of the radar and communications equipment in ADC. His organization consisted of approximately 40 Telecommunications Officers and Senior NCOs.

In 1970 - 71, the air defence system took its first major step into the world of solid state electronics when all the tube-driven AN/FST- 2 radar processing computers at Pinetree sites were replaced with the AN/FYQ-47/AN/GPA- 124 Common Digitizer/Aircraft Identifica- tion Mark XII (CD/AIMS) system. Reliability was dramatically improved and failures sel- dom occurred.

Budget pressures that began in the late 1960s continued into the 1970s resulting in

the closure of more sites. In Ontario four sites were closed: Armstrong, Ramore and

Foy- mount in 1974, and Moosonee in 1975. All radar sites were ordered to de-

activate one of two height-finder radars. The USAF closed 2 DEW Line auxiliary sites in

1970 and the two BOMARC squadrons were withdrawn in 1972. On 2 September 1975, Canadian Forces Air Command under the command of LGen W. Carr, CMM, DFC,

CD was formed in Winnipeg and Air Defence Command became Air De- fence

Group, and later Fighter Group. The senior Air Force telecommunications function (DCOS C&E) and supporting staff also moved at that time from North Bay to

Winnipeg. At the same time, the Pinetree sites in Goose Bay and Gander were tied to

the SAGE computers in North Bay, which allowed a reduction in staff. In 1975, Air

Command consisted of 36 bases and stations, 24 Pinetree sites, and 21 DEW Line sites with a total strength of 22,829

all ranks and 7,838 civilians.While the reduction of the Telecommuni-

cations Branch continued as radar sites closed, a major activity for C&E officers began

59

in 1973 with the creation of a NDHQ organi- zation, Director General Communications and Electronics Engineering Maintenance (DGCEEM). The division was located at Rock- cliffe and during its 21-year existence it had a staff of between 470 and 580 officers and men of the C&E Branch and civilians. The role of the division was to provide engineering, proj- ect management, and life-cycle material main- tenance of selected communications electronics systems and equipment in support of the operational objectives and functional priorities of NDHQ. It also provided technical and administrative support to two major Crown Projects Offices: Canadian Force Sup- ply System Upgrade Project and NORAD Mod- ernization Project Management. It also exercised functional control over seven test equipment calibration centres across Canada, and the Canadian Forces Cryptographic Main- tenance Unit located in Kingston. During its existence, DGCEEM undertook at least 18 major projects and more than 60 minor ones. At one time, in the early 1990s the division had projects valued at more than $1.5 Billion, as well as annual operations and maintenance contracts worth $200 Million.

It was one of the four engineering divisions under the Chief of Engineering and Mainte- nance and it was organized into five direc- torates commanded by CELE colonels, land, sea, and air. DGCEEM was commanded by a succession of brigadiers-general: R.E. Mooney,R.M. Senior, M. Sugimoto, P.E. Woods, I. Alleslev, D. Battye, W.R. Oldford, and J.J.M. Charron.

In 1994, with the establishment of the De- fence Information Services Organization (DISO), command and control of DGCEEM was a shared responsibility of ADM (Materiel) and ADM (DISO). In 1995, the Air Capability Component C&E Team was transferred out of DGCEEM to the Director General Aerospace Engineering and Maintenance. At the same time, DGCEEM was renamed

Director General Information Services and Delivery and Sup- port and transferred from the Materiel Group to the ADM Defence Information Systems under the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff

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(VCDS). Presently, it is under the ADM Infor- mation Management.

In 1979, a Joint USA-Canada Air Defence Study examined evolving airborne threats to North America and appropriate responses. The Study led to the development of an Air Defence Master Plan (ADMP) that acknowl- edged that long-range bombers carrying air- launched cruise missiles (ALCM) represented a significant threat that had to be countered. Existing legacy systems, such as the DEW Line and the Pinetree Line, were not capable or not correctly positioned to deal with the threat. The ADMP concept of integrated attack warning and assessment called for a system of Over-the-Horizon Backscatter (OTH-B) radars covering approaches to North America out to 1,500 miles. The OTH-B used HF technology, which depended on the ionosphere for suc- cessful operation. The use of a north-looking OTH-B was ruled out because the severe and

unpredictable disturbances to the ionosphere caused by the Aurora Borealis would have ren- dered such a system unreliable and opera- tionally useless. Using space-based radar to detect and track airborne vehicles was also ruled out based on technical feasibility and prohibitive cost. These two factors led to the decision to replace the DEW Line system with a modern, automated, microwave radar net- work that would be able to detect both aircraft and ALCMs down to a low level, and that would complement the coverage of the planned OTH-B systems on the East Coast of North America and in Alaska. The new radar network would be known as the North Warn- ing System (NWS).

By 1984, the SAGE system computers had been replaced with the solid-state AN/FYQ-93 computers. The system was reorganized into regional and sector operations control cen- tres. At the same time, the NORAD areas of re-

Four CELE (Air) Colonels exchange positions at Cambridge Bay, NWT, 1991. L-r _, _, Col Sandy Taylor, _, Col Pep Fraser, Col Larry Saunders, _, _, Col Merv Sywyk, _. Col Saunders was taking over the position of Project Manager NAADM from Col

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Merv Sywyk; Col Pep Fraser was handing over the position of Director NWS Office to Col Sandy Taylor.

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sponsibility were redrawn to have four regions in continental USA, one in Alaska, and one in Canada at North Bay to cover both Canada East and Canada West. For the first time, all Pinetree radars were tied into North Bay and under Canadian command and control. The former Sage Maintenance Control Unit was replaced by the Wing Technical Services Offi- cer (WTSO) organization with 16 officers in- cluding 7 CELE Air, and 168 other ranks of the Radar and Radio Technician trades. Dur- ing this same time frame, the CF-101 Voodoo interceptors were phased out of service as the newly acquired CF-18 fleet took over the air defence role

The NWS program began in 1981 as a USAF initiative with the establishment of a System Project Office at Hanscom AFB, Bedford, Mas- sachusetts. From the beginning, a Canadian officer was part of the team developing speci- fications, conducting field surveys for poten- tial radar sites, and planning for equipment procurement. The specifications called for 15 Long Range Radars (LRRs) at 11 Canadian and 3 Alaskan minimally attended sites, and for 39 Short Range Radars (SRRs) to be in- stalled at unattended sites. The LRR would be the AN/FPS-117 radar under development by General Electric, while the SRR would have to be developed by a successful industry bidder. The NWS was to be positioned from northern Alaska along the existing DEW Line latitude to the Davis Strait, and then south down the Baf- fin Island/Labrador coasts.

The competition to design the entire system, including the development of the SRRs and the installation of 13 LRRs with a target Initial Op- erational Capability (IOC) of 1986, went to in- dustry in 1983. From the beginning it was evident that the US budget of US$775 Million was inadequate. The solution was to involve the Canadian government to absorb some of the cost. To that end, a Canada-US North American Air Defence Modernization (NAADM) agree- ment was signed in March 1985. The US was committed to provide the radars,

ground-air- ground (G/A/G) radios and cryptographic equipment under the US budget of $775 Mil- lion. Canada undertook to provide a satellite

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communications system, construct new radar sites for 36 SSRs and 3 LRRs, and to provide lo- gistic support sites (LSS), including a depot/maintenance facility, the NWS Support Centre, in North Bay. When the NWS Support Centre was opened it was named the “Build- ing/Edifice William Edward Goodchild” in ho- nour of WO 1 W.E. Goodchild, an original member of the first group of RCAF radar me- chanics in the Second World War, and who died while a POW in Indonesia. The remaining 8 LRRs in Canada were to be deployed to USAF modified DEW Line sites. The total Canadian cost was estimated to be $829 Million. The re- sponsibility for operations and maintenance (O&M) was assigned to Canada with the annual costs to be shared: the US paid 60 per cent and Canada 40 per cent of the total.

A Canadian Project Management Office (PMO NAADM) was set up in NDHQ under the leadership of BGen D. Battye, who later be- came DGCEEM. The initial task was a challeng- ing one: to have operational satellite communications in place by the fall of 1987 when the first LRRs were due to be installed. Three new LRR sites had to be constructed on Baffin Island and in Labrador to be ready for radar installation by the fall of 1988.

The NWS Communications Segment (NWSCS) was a satellite-based, hub and spoke system where each LRR and SRR was to be linked using the Anik Satellite through the Re- gional Communications Centre (RCC) in North Bay to the Regional Operations Control Centre (ROCC). A Canadian contractor, CANAC/Microtel consortium, used off-the-shelf commercial technology that met the NWSCS challenge. In September 1987, the Minister of National Defence, Perrin Beatty, used the new NWSCS to issue a “scramble order” from the ROCC in North Bay which launched two CF-18s out of Inuvik, NT. The fighters successfully in- tercepted an aircraft that had been detected over the Beaufort Sea by NWS radar. The CF- 18s were directed by the ROCC controllers

using the collocated G/A/G radio. Five LRRs were operational in 1987 and the remaining six in 1988-89. Unfortunately, the installation of the SSR radars was delayed but the construc-

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tion of the sites proceeded on schedule. The first sites were operational in 1992 and the en- tire system was in place by 1994, achieving full operational capability.

The NWS Office was created in 1985 as a part of NDHQ/DGCEEM to meet Canada’s re- sponsibility for the Operations and Mainte- nance (O&M) of the sites, when the sites became operational. The planners decided to

AN/FPS-70 transportable 3D radars, and 12e Es- cadron de radar was estab- lished near Bagotville, QC. These sites were also tied into the R/SOCC comput- ers at North Bay. In 1994, both squadrons were equipped with AN/TSC-

NWS Long Range Radar Sits, Labrador 2 (Saglek)

copy the industry contractor model that the USAF had used to maintain the DEW Line. A civilian contract was developed with valuable assistance of the USAF, and a competitive pro- curement initiated. The successful bidder was a Canadian contractor, Frontec Logistics, a joint venture, which assumed responsibility in 1988 for the three newly built LRR sites: two in Labrador and one on Baffin Island. It also took over the NWS Control Centre in the un- derground complex in North Bay. In 1989 - 1990, Frontec took over the O&M of the up- graded Canadian NWS sites from the Ameri- can DEW Line contractor. Similarly, as the SRR sites were completed, Frontec assumed re- sponsibility for their O&M by staffing five LSSs across the NWS. Maintenance crews periodi- cally accessed the unattended SRR sites, prin- cipally by helicopter support, which was positioned at the LSS sites.

As the NWS became operational, most of the Pinetree sites were closed during 1986 - 88, with only a few sites continuing to provide secondary radar data to Transport Canada. There was a significant reduction in C&E Branch personnel as 70 CELE Air officers and several hundred technician positions were eliminated. Four coastal sites Barrington and Sydney, NS, Gander, NL, and Holberg, BC, re- mained operational until 1990 - 91, when their radars were replaced by the modern, unat- tended AN/FPS-117 radars under the Canadian Coastal Radar (CCR) Program. The CCR radars were tied to the R/SOCC computers at North Bay. Two other sites, 42 Radar Squadron Cold Lake, AB and Mont Apica, QC, remained op- erational until 1990 - 91 to support fighter pi- lot training; they were designated Main Oper- ating Base (MOB)/ Training Radars.

In 1991, the older fixed radar systems were replaced by

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505 transportable satellite communications sys- tem and both Link-11 and Link-16 data link capability. 42 Radar Squadron moved to the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range and its Remote Operations Training Centre was located on the Cold Lake flight line. The MOB radar units maintain the capability to deploy with 72 hours notice in support of air defence, sovereignty, or training missions. The assigned aerospace controllers are able to conduct deployed op- erations using unit ground-air-ground radios. Each unit consisted of one Telecommunica- tions Officer and eleven technicians. In 2011, contracts were signed to replace the AN/TPS- 70 radars with a more modern system, the GM403M3-D long range, air defence radar. Scheduled to come on line in 2013, this new radar system will ensure Canada maintains a transportable air surveillance and aerospace control capability.

Another key element of the Air Defence Master Plan was the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACs), a combination flying radar and command and control system, that had been brought into service in the late 1970s to support NORAD air defence operations. Al- though flying AWACS aircraft on a 24/7 patrol basis was not feasible, the system was available

A NWS Short Range Radar Site, Labrador 3.

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to complement or replace ground-based radar sensors and command and control facilities in the event of an airborne attack. While flying in a NORAD role, Canadian CELE Air officers and ATIS technicians formed part of AWACS crews. Two Canadians, Sgt D.L. Pitcher, Air De- fence Technician, and MCpl J.J.P. Legault, Communication Technician, were killed on 22 September 1995 in the only AWACS fatal crash. The accident occurred on take-off from El- mendorf Air Force Base, Alaska; it was caused by multiple Canada Goose bird strikes.

About the same time that the NWS was be- coming operational, the Cold War abruptly ended. Almost immediately, the US and Cana- dian governments began looking forward to a “peace dividend.” Under the Cost Reduction Initiative, the NWS Office worked in concert with the O&M contractor, Frontec Logistics, and the USAF to relax response requirements and to implement technological upgrades. This enabled the reduction of staffing at LRR sites and, eventually, conversion to unat- tended status. The Canadian LSS were made responsible for the LRR sites as well as the SRR sites. This initiative was completed by 1996 and resulted in a fifty per cent reduction in maintenance costs. The NWS, although now consisting of unattended sites, less the LRR site at Lady Franklin Point, Nunavat (it was de- stroyed by fire in January 2000) has had a number of upgrades and continues to provide the essential information to meet the NORAD attack warning and assessment mission.

In 1996-97, the Canadian NORAD Region was moved from North Bay to Winnipeg, where it was collocated with 1 Canadian Air Division HQ. The day-to-day, air defence oper- ations continued to be conducted at North Bay with technical support from 22 Wing Telecommunications and Information Sys- tems Squadron (WTISS).

At 0600 hours 11 September 2001, NORAD staff was preparing for a routine air defence exercise. By chance, Russia was conducting its cyclical Long Range Aviation (LRA) training, which gave the NORAD staff an

opportunity to practice real-world operations. After about two hours into the exercise, attention was drawn to

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A 42 Radar Squadron Cold Lake deployed AN/TPS 70 radar.

communication activity between the FAA and NORAD controllers in northeastern USA. This was followed a few minutes later with a picture on one of the main situational screens of smoke billowing out of the North Tower of the World Trade Centre in New York Ciy. When about five minutes later a second aircraft was seen flying into the South Tower, the staff re- alized the first crash was not an accident.

The Command Centre went to Battle Sta- tions. By chance, the commanders of the Command Post and Command Centre, in- cluding the Air Director, were all filled by CF personnel. The Command Director was Cana- dian MGen E. Findley who ordered a Combat Air Patrol of about 300 fighter aircraft. With the news of more aircraft crashes, the massive blast doors to the CMAS were closed for the first time in its history. The FAA ordered all air- borne aircraft to land, which meant many in- bound overseas flights had to land

in Canada. The Russian LRA crews wisely called off their exercise and returned to base. After 9/11, NORAD contingency plans were amended to cope with both external and internal threats. The system, however, proved its worth during the critical hours of the terrorist attack by pro- viding valuable information about aircraft movement.

After September 11, 2001 (9/11), a new US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) was or- ganized in 2002 to be responsible for conti- nental security. Its commander, a four star general, was double-hatted as the commander

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of NORAD as well. The NORAD Command Centre in Cheyenne Mountain and the US- NORTHCOM Command Centre at Peterson AFB in Colorado Springs were amalgamated but each retained its own dedicated Opera- tions and Plans directorates. The new bi-na- tional, joint, unified Command consisted of three regions: Alaska NORAD Region (ANR), Canada NORAD Region (CANR), and Conti- nental NORAD Region (CONR). CANR was or- ganized with two Air Defence Sectors, East (EADS) and West (WADS); its commander also commands 1 Canadian Air Division. Each sec- tor functions at the tactical level, providing surveillance, identification, tracking, and weapons control. The NWS, Canadian Coastal Radars (CCRs), the Alaskan SEEK IGLOO radars along the northern and coastal ap- proaches, and the Joint Surveillance System (JSS) along the perimeter of the CONR protect the continent from both an outside aerospace threat and an inside threat. The monitoring of interior flights, an ATC responsibility, is shared by the US Federal Aviation Administra- tion (FAA) and NAV Canada.

In 2006, the AN/FYQ-93 computers were re- placed by the next generation, Battle Control System-Fixed (BCS-F). The underground North Bay complex was closed and replaced by a new above ground facility.

The aftermath of 9/11 resulted in a new mission statement for NORAD:

In close collaboration with homeland de- fence, security, and law enforcement part- ners, prevent air attacks against North America, safeguard the sovereign air- spaces of the United States and Canada by responding to unknown, unwanted and unauthorized air activity approaching and operating within these airspaces, and pro- vide aerospace and maritime warning for North America.

The addition of maritime security added a new facet to NORAD responsibilities. In Canada, a Maritime Security Operations Cen- tre (MSOC) was opened on each coast in 2004. An example of the worth of this organ- ization was the interception in August 2011 of the Sun Sea carrying 492 Tamil migrants with the aim of smuggling them into Canada. Its position was relayed to the Canadian Navy, the RCMP, and the Canadian Border Services Agency when the ship was 500 miles off the coast of British Columbia. The value of moni- toring civilian aircraft was evident on 3 June 2005 when the crew of a Virgin Atlantic Air- bus transmitted a code word signifying a hi- jack was underway. Canadian CF-18s were scrambled and the aircraft was directed to Halifax where a police response team was alerted. The transmission turned out to be a crew mistake but it was an example of the sys- tem working.

After 54 years of service NORAD is still work- ing. There are 9,000 personnel dedicated to the system compared to 250,000 in the 1960s. In the intervening years, technological ad- vances have made it possible to replace men with machines, even in the face of expanded responsibilities. NORAD is a working example of cooperation between two sovereign nations wishing to remain free.

The RCAF commitment to the air defence and air sovereignty of Canada and the USA has been unwavering for the past 60 years and will continue in the future. Today’s CELE Air offi- cers and ATIS technicians and their industrial partners, continue to deliver the operational capability to achieve the mission as they follow in the footsteps of their Telecommunication predecessors.