Holberg, BC

1958 – General Historical Resume – National Archives of Canada


 

General Historical Resume
RCAF Station Holberg, BC
1 Jun 58 to 30 Nov 58

The principal events of interest for this period were as follows:

On 1 Jun 58, CMU arrived on the unit for the purpose of commencing construction on the Power House addition.

On 25 Jul 58, S/L DK Game, Air/P, relinquished command of RCAF Station Holberg to W/C TJ Evans, Air/P.

During the second week in August, Tidewater Construction Company commenced clearing land for the new PMQ construction area.

On 28 Aug 58, the Commander 5 Air Div, A/C AD Ross, accompanied by W/C FW Hillock and F/L GE Waugh carried out his annual inspection of RCAF Station Holberg. A ceremonial parade and review were scheduled but inclement weather forced cancellation.

On 8 Sep 58 the ADC Vulnerability Team made an attempted penetration of the unit, however, all members of the team were captured by station security guards without actual entrance to any installation being accomplished, although several security guards were captured at the power plant. Station personnel are very security conscious and simulated penetrations by local teams are made regularly to maintain their interest and proficiency.

On 9 Sep 58, the Chief of the Air Staff, A/M Hugh Campbell made his first official visit to this unit. The visiting party included A/C AD Ross, W/C EHM Walsh, and F/L M Wright. A ceremonial review and parade were held.

During the summer and fall an intensive beautification program was carried out using the medium of volunteer labor and self-help. This program included planting of many lawns, construction of fences and rock gardens, as well as general clean-up. The results obtained have been the occasion of many favourable comments.

 

Operations Section
Narrative Report
1 Jun 58 to 30 Nov 58

The work load of 53 AC&W Squadron has remained fairly constant during this six month period with the exception of the month of July. During July, several factors combined to reduce both the operational availability and control requirement of 53 Squadron. These factors are listed as follows:

  1. A minor maintenance overhaul was carried out on 13 and 14 of July.
  2. Installation and painting of a larger vertical plotting board was completed.
  3. 409 AW (F) Squadron was engaged in flying commitment which did not require control by this unit.

A total of 16 equipment failures have occurred during this period. These failures plus normal planned maintenance result in the unit being unable to operate for 3.4% of the period.

The intercept control statistics for the period are as follows:

Type

Attempted/Completed

Percentage

Training type intercepts

1857/1288

69.36

Tactical Type mainly on B-47, B-52, F-89 and Neptune’s

355/190

53.52

Multi Fighter type

1225/729

59.55

Intercepts on Unknowns

41/38

92.69

Hours of controlling

439 hours 40 minutes

 

Requests by civilian and military aircraft for aid in navigation and forwarding of position reports has increased as the Radar Advisory System has matured.

Surveillance

A breakdown in tracks passing through this units area is listed below:

Friendly tracks

10,594

Unknown tracks

406

Tactical tracks

453

Canned tracks

780