US APO 863 NEW YORK – FROBISHER BAY, NWT
Latitude:
Longitude:
68 degrees 31 minutes West (southeast Baffin Island)
Population:
135 approximately (1963)
Origin of Name:
Named after Sir Martin Frobisher who visited the area in 1576, 1577 and 1578 in search of the Northwest Passage and gold. The settlement took its name from the nearby bay.
After the Americans built the air base at Frobisher Bay in 1942 (see APO 692), it was turned over to Canada on September 1, 1950, but the US continued to use it. In the early 1950’s Frobisher Bay was used as a transshipment point for supplies flown to the newly established American air base at Thule, Greenland. A Pinetree Line radar station was built by the US above their base in 1952 and the "Polevault" communications system was added two years later. These facilities, known as the "Upper Base", were located north of the airport on a high ridge. The radar station (also known as site N-31) was closed on November 1, 1961. It appears that the "Polevault" communications facilities were used until 1974 when the whole site was abandoned. The buildings were finally dismantled and removed in the summer of 1997.
During DEW Line construction from 1955 to 1957, Frobisher served as a major staging area. In 1957 the US air base was transferred from the Northeast Service Command (part of the local system of defence for North America) to the Strategic Air Command (SAC) which operated long range bomber aircraft. SAC required an in-flight refueling base in the Eastern Arctic and chose Frobisher Bay in 1959. A large building was constructed in 1960 to the east of the new north-south airstrip built in 1958 for international air traffic. In 1961 there were 130 Americans at this SAC facility. It was deactivated in 1963 and the building was turned over to the Canadian Federal Government.
APO 677 opened in 1942 and was located at Goose Bay, Labrador. Unit 1 of APO 677 was located at Frobisher Bay and may have served the Americans there in the interim between the closing of APO 692 in 1949 and the opening of APO 863 in 1955. APO 863 seems to coincide with American activities at Frobisher Bay related to the construction of the DEW Line. After the closure of APO 863, it appears that Unit 5 of APO 677 Goose Bay was opened to serve the remaining American military personnel at Frobisher Bay.
APO 440 appears to have been opened to serve the Pinetree radar site but was replaced or changed to APO 228.
Opened: April 6, 1955 - New York Port of Embarkation
Closed: September 30, 1958
Units Noted:
926th Aircraft Control & Warning Squadron
76th Air Postal Squadron, Detachment 4
US Coast Guard LORAN Station, Cape Christian, NWT
Postal Markings:
