Cape Makkovik, Labrador

1957-1961 – Historical Report – USAF Historical Division

Documentation pertaining to Gap filler sites has proven to be extremely difficult to locate or obtain. All of the AC&W Squadrons which formed the 64^th Air Division (Defense), NEAC, were expected to provide Historical Reports on a quarterly basis. We have not been able to locate any Historical Reports which originated at the Gap Filler Detachments. As a result, we focused our attention to the AC&W Squadron Historical Reports, and in some cases, we were able to find some mention of Gap Filler(s).

The 923^rd AC&W Squadron was located at Hopedale, Labrador. This squadron had a Gap Filler Detachment within its overall area of responsibility. This unit was:

Detachment 1 – Cape Makkovik, Labrador – N-28A

The following detail pertaining to this Gap Filler site has been extracted from the 923^rd AC&W Squadron Historical Reports – and provides some detail of interest to the reader.

August 1956

Tech Supply – General:
One NCO was sent to Makkovik in August to receipt for and safeguard supplies for Detachment 1.

One Airman, 64151, arrived for assignment at Makkovik. He was detained and employed in the Supply Section at Hopedale pending completion of the facilities in Makkovik.

January 1959

On 14 January, Detachment One’s FPS-14 was off the air three hours and 21 minutes before the set was returned to normal. This condition was traceable to the lack of an FPS-14 Minor Stage on order through Supply at Goose AB since March 1958. FPS-14 operation was continued with Xtal Mixer discontinued, leaving only one channel operating at peak performance. The 1958 order for the needed part was cancelled and reordered under a 1959 control number.

1 January 1960 to 31 March 1960

Operationally, the detachment functioned at peak level during the first quarter of 1960 as the number of tracks plotted totaled 1,566.

NOTE:

We are aware that the Detachment #1 Gap Filler Site at Cape Makkovik was only operational between 1957 and 1961. It is unfortunate that we do not have very many quarterly Historical Records for Hopedale during this four year period. It is, however, somewhat unlikely that there would be a great deal of additional detail pertaining to the Gap Filler Detachment in the missing Hopedale Historical Records.

The only recurring detail which was found in all appropriate Historical Records for Hopedale was found in Section 4, as follows:

Subordinate Units
Detachment #1, 923 AC&W Squadron, Cape Makkovik, APO 677, New York, New York.