The smelters around Falconbridge weren't the only prominent landmarks in the area. For over three decades, Sudbury residents could see large white globes atop yellow buildings on a far-away mountain north of their city. What most of the residents never saw were the radar antennae inside these white globes, antennae searching day and night for enemy aircraft.
This military complex opened as the No. 209 RCAF Radio Station in July 1952, one of the many stations of the Pinetree network. The anonymous numerical identifier was assigned for security reasons but this was dropped, one month later, in favour of RCAF Station Falconbridge. The station's main operating unit was the 33 Aircraft Control and Warning whose earlier radars included an FPS-3 Search, FPS-6 Height-Finder and TPS-501 Back-Up Height-Finder. Both Search and Height-Finders had a 200 mile operating radius with power outputs of about 2.5 mega Watts.
RCAF Station Falconbridge opened as a Ground-Control Intercept site. This meant that its role was to direct interceptor aircraft towards selected targets. The movement of all aircraft in the area was followed manually on large plotting boards constantly updated, a system devised during the Second World War by the RAF. This manual method was superseded by an automatic system in the early 1960s when the squadron was "SAGEd". Interception co-ordinates were now determined by computer and no longer by Fighter Control Operators. From then on, all movements monitored by all stations in the 23rd NORAD Region (which included northern Ontario) were reported automatically to Regional Headquarters at Duluth, Minnesota, and Falconbridge simply became a radar scanning station. The operating unit was consequently re-designated 33 Radar Squadron.
One other change that occurred in the 1960s was when the RCAF Station became a Canadian Forces Station as part of the tri-service unification program and 33 Radar Squadron ceased to exist as an official entity. This change-over occurred in October 1967. Personnel would now solely be assigned to the station rather than to the squadron or the station. The new CFS adopted 33 Squadron's crest and motto of Falconis Oculum Cave. (Beware of the Eye of the Falcon).
Radar operations continued as usual but in 1975, a new unit was formed at Falconbridge. In April of that year, a detachment of CFB North Bay's Air Weapons Control and Countermeasures School opened its doors at the station. The AWC&CS specialized in radar operations and electronic warfare, offering such training as in target plotting, weapons control and radar anti-jamming techniques. Most classes only counted a dozen pupils. Students graduated as either Air Weapons Controllers or Air Defence Technicians.
In the mid 1980s, when the North American Air Defence Modernization program was implemented, radar operations ceased at most Pinetree stations. These were declared redundant when the new North Warning System was established in the far north. The radars at Falconbridge were shut down on 31 December 1985 and the station disbanded the following August. It was sold for $140,000 in February 1987.
One interesting item in the station's history is the tracking of a UFO by Search and Height-Finder radars. In the early hours on 11 November 1975, a "bogey" was tracked several miles south of Sudbury. Apparently, the UFO had come close enough to the station for it to have its diameter estimated (100 ft) and shape recognized with the help of binoculars. (It was spherical with craters or indentations on the outside, possibly portholes). Two F-106 interceptors were scrambled from Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan but no visual contact was reported by the pilots. This event occurred in a period of high UFO activity; many of these were reported over Strategic Air Command sites in North Dakota, Maine, Montana and Michigan during that and the previous month. (In addition to SAC Headquarters, the CIA also wanted to be kept informed of these "visits").
The station is presently owned by Valley View Developments. The military residences are now rental units. Also remaining are the administration buildings, guard house, chapel and what used to be the CANEX. At one time, there was talk of making the station a casino but this never happened. A close look at the operations buildings was not possible as the current owner, for some unknown reason, won't allow the public near there. Seen from a distance, the Ops site looks intact, with the exception of the missing radar domes.
Paul Ozorak