General Historical Resume
RCAF Station Holberg, BC
Station Hospital
Three male and four female infants were delivered in the Station Hospital.
Staff changes included:
SOS |
158441W |
F/O JG Laird |
Med/Nur |
SOS |
71686W |
F/O JM Pearsen |
Med/Nur |
SOS |
68671W |
F/O BJ MacDougall |
Med/Nur |
SOS |
35132 |
Cpl. WR Crowley |
Clk Med 3 |
TOS |
135037W |
F/O MDG Brochu |
Med/Nur |
TOS |
83548W |
F/O BP McCann |
Med/Nur |
TOS |
97822W |
F/O EP Murray |
Med/Nur |
TOS |
44885 |
Cpl. SD Smith |
Clk Med 3 |
First Aid courses were conducted on a continual basis during this period.
The first member of the RCAFs Womens Division to visit Holberg was Cpl. Leong-See. She was here for five weeks as a dental assistant to the Army dentist.
Religious Administration (P)
23 Dec 62
White Gift Service in the Chapel with the Sunday School pupils in attendance. As a result, $52.00 was sent to AFHQ toward the Sunday School Project of aiding Canadian Indians on the Ohsweken Reserve in Ontario build a new church.
8 Jan 63
A total of $767.48 was sent to AFHQ as the Missionary Offering for 1962 from the Protestant Chapel.
31 Mar 63
First broadcast of "Chapel Chimes" a weekly fifteen minute Radio program sponsored by the Chapel over Station CFHG.
1 2 May 63
Visit of the Director of Religious Administration (P), G/C ES Light, to our Station with a reception held in honour of his visit on 1 May in the School Auditorium.
Religious Administration (RC)
25 27 Mar 63
A mission was preached by Reverend FD Galbraith, the civilian officer for the RC clergy.
15 Apr 63
F/L JB Lavigne assumed duties as RC Chaplain.
Construction Engineering
Due to a shortage of funds during this period, very few construction projects were carried out. The CEU, however, completed two very necessary projects. One was the placing of Gabions along both banks of the Goodspeed River at the bridge, on the access road to the Station. Work commenced during January and was completed in May 63. The other project was the changing of the air conditioning in the SAGE Annex, which was completed in approximately four weeks.
The work accomplished by the CE Section during this period consisted of routine maintenance of buildings, roads, and a considerable amount of brush cutting. Due to the fine sunny season, grass cutting and weeding commenced with an early start.
By May, the exterior painting program was well under way.
MSE
28 Dec 62
Oil tankers with one hundred thousand gallons of fuel arrived on 28 Dec 62 and 5 Jan 63. Holidays were shortened in order to meet the unloading deadlines.
31 Jan 63
The Commanding Officer congratulated the section on an accident free period of six months.
3 Feb 63
High winds and rain caused a small landslide and a few fallen trees to block the road to the Operations Site. Within a few hours the road was cleared, and traffic was resumed to normal.
5 Feb 63
Due to heavy rains, the level of the Goodspeed River rose high enough to cause minor damages to part of the road between the dock and the station.
Fire Department
Three fires occurred during this period. All three fires were in the Apartment blocks and caused a total damage of $72.77. In addition, during this period, the fire crew responded to three false alarms, 3 civilian fire calls, and 2 other emergency calls where no fire resulted.
In April FS GA Bates assumed duties as Fire Chief.
During May, 30 personnel from Rayonier Logging Company were given training in basic fire fighting. These personnel were to form a volunteer fire crew at the Rayonier Logging camp.
SGTO
1 Dec 62
Personnel employed in Ground Training at the start of this report were:
F/L AJ Fraser |
SGTO |
Sgt. RW Griechen |
NCO i/c Ground Training |
Cpl. BJ Mossip |
|
LAC BF Turner |
|
18 Dec 62
Sgt. OD Jerowsky assumed duties of NCO i/c Ground Training upon transfer of Sgt. Griechen. Sgt. Jerowsky was TOS from TSE Trenton.
Dec 62 Jan 63
Safe Passage training was carried out, conducted by Ground Training personnel. This training was given to all operations personnel and was followed up with practical experience under supervision.
24 31 Jan 63
Sgt. Jerowsky, NCO i/c Ground Training, attended SAGE LRR training at McChord AFB and Blaine AFS, Washington.
Feb Mar Apr 63
SAGE LRR conversion training for all FtrCops was carried out continuously in preparation for LRR Operations. This course was instructed by the Ground Training staff, under the direction of the NCO i/c Ground Training.
5 Feb 63
Desk Top V, a NORAD wide STP exercise, took place on this date. Ground Training staff co-ordinated and monitored the exercise.
17 Apr 63
A Tactical Evaluation of 25th NORAD Region was conducted. 53 AC&W Squadron, as an integral part of 25th Region, was evaluated by an ADC Tac Eval Team. An STP exercise and live exercises were run as part of the evaluation. Ground Training personnel co-ordinated and monitored these exercises.
Group 1, 2 and 3 Trade Examinations. Twenty-eight airmen attempted the examinations.
17 24 Apr 63
53 AC&W Squadron was evaluated by the ADC Tactical Evaluation Team. The Ground Training section was evaluated in all aspects of Operations Training.
15 May 63
Desk Top V NORAD wide STP exercise, was run for the second time in 1963. Ground Training staff co-ordinated and monitored the exercise.
23 May 63
Group 4 Trade Examination. Four NCOs attempted the Examination.
29 May 63
Cpls. Qualifying Examination. Eight Cpls. Attempted the Examination.
30 May 63
FS Qualifying Examination. One FS attempted the Examination. F/L CL Vaessen assumed duties of SGTO upon transfer of F/L AJ Fraser.
Telecom Section
4 Mar 63
Accepted GATR site by signing AFTO 88 from RCA.
31 May 63
Unit prepared to switch over to a SAGE tied site 1 Jun with the exception of the Air/Ground/Air channels which are expected to be operational 1 Jul 63.
Marine Section
15 Jan 63
The Naval Auxiliary Vessel "Laymore" installed two aircraft moorings in Holberg Inlet.
31 Jan 63
The civilian aircraft CF-HJK, Alert Bay, crashed near Holberg Dock. Casualties were picked up by MV "Avocet". Sgt. WL McCallum, on attached duty from Station Cold Lake, was coxswain of the "Avocet".
24 Apr 63
The 75 foot personnel vessel, YFP 308, arrived from HMC Dockyard, Esquimalt, to replace MV "Nimpkish II" during a refit.
27 Apr 63
The naval tug "Clifton" arrived from Esquimalt and proceeded on the return trip with the MV "Nimpkish II" in tow.
2 May 63
The MV "Nimpkish II" arrived at HMC Dockyard, Esquimalt for refit for a duration of 60 days.
Recreation Centre
During this winter and spring period, the Recreation Centre conducted a varied program of athletic and social activities. Service and civilian personnel were all able to participate in activities according to their own interests. At the end of May, the Destroyer Escort "HMCS Saguenay" visited Holberg. The recreation staff organized a sports competition between Air Force and Navy personnel.
General
Following are general items of interest which have occurred during the period covered by this report.
Strength
Many changes in the personnel strength occurred during the period as a result of officers and airmen becoming tour expired. Approximately 50% of the total strength of the unit was involved in the change-over.
General Historical Resume
Operations Section
6 Dec 62
Nuclear Defence Staff visit by F/L Winchester, during which a practice alert was held to test Squadron alerting and Nuclear Defence procedures.
10 Jan 7 Mar 63
During this period, 7 USAF controllers from the 552nd Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing, McClellan AFB, Sacramento, Calif., visited the Squadron. These officers visited in groups of two, each staying for a two week period commencing 10 Jan 63. Their mission was to gain intercept practice and to be evaluated on their control capability, since they conduct very few manual intercepts during their normal work. The officers who visited were as follows:
Major Kelly |
Captain Foster |
Major Fritz |
Captain Whelan |
Captain Hollingworth |
Captain Land |
Captain Bradshaw |
|
28 Jan 63
The Squadron participated in the control portion of 409 AW (F) Squadron Tactical Evaluation, during which period many practice intercepts were conducted.
5 Feb 63
The Squadron participated in Exercise Desk Top V, a NORAD wide synthetic exercise.
5 Apr 63
W/C JS Inglis, CO of 409 Squadron, and two USAF exchange officers of that Squadron visited the Station.
17 24 Apr 63
A Tactical Evaluation of the Squadron was conducted by the ADC Tactical Evaluation Ground Team lead by S/L Pattinson.
17 18 Apr 63
As a part of the 25th NORAD Region, the Squadron participated in Exercise "Mute 5" an Operational Readiness evaluation of the 25th NORAD Region conducted by NORAD HQ.
1 May 63
The Squadron commenced automatic HRI operation on a part time basis as a part of the SAGEing process.
16 May 63
The active portion of exercise "Desk Top V" was conducted.
1 Dec 62 31 May 63
During this period the Squadron participated in 23 Region and Sector live exercises, and also in a large number of synthetic exercises, all designed to maintain the operational efficiency of the Air Defence System.