Metz, France

1 Jun 63 to 31 Dec 63

During the period under review the Operations Centre was commanded by S/L RJ Millage who holds the position of Director Operations Centre (D/OC). This period was marked by two major changes and the further development of the system set up earlier this year to handle the low level training of the CF104 Squadrons.

On 1 Jul 63, S/L WS Harvey was TOS, bringing the strength of the Operations Centre up to six S/Ls, 5 F/Ls, 3 F/Os, and 22 other ranks.

The major changes mentioned above were as follows. Effective 6 Oct 63, the Operations Centre became part of SASO’s organization instead of reporting directly to the Chief of Staff. During this period, W/C RF Herbert assumed the position of Staff Officer Intelligence and Operations (SOInt&Ops). The D/OC is now directly responsible to the SOInt&Ops and through him to the SASO. The second major change was in conjunction with the disbandment of the last three F-86 IDF Squadrons, following which the Operations Centre ceased to be directly involved with the Air Defence organization.

The Agencies that the Operations Centre now deals with when passing low level flight plans are – the Traffic Co-ordination Centre (TCC) MENTHOL located at Drachenbronn, France for flights within France; and the Air Traffic Control Centre located at Bonn, Germany for flights within the Federal Republic.

During the period of this report the Operations Centre participated in the following exercises:

These were large scale AIRCENT sponsored exercises designed to practice Air Defence procedures.

This was CINCENT’s annual Major CPX, and included large scale live flying.

A recurring SACEUR sponsored alert exercise.

A recurring 4 ATAF alert test. Eleven during period of report.

A recurring test of ACE communications systems. Four during period of report.