Holberg, BC

1956 – General Historical Resume – National Archives of Canada

General Historical Resume
RCAF Station Holberg BC
Period 1 Dec 56 to 31 May 57

There were three major items of historical interest during the period from 1 Dec 56 to 31 May 57.

10 Feb 57

Gale force winds, coupled with a power failure resulted in the destruction of the radome. The power failure lasted only 26 minutes, but the unit was off the air until 5 Mar.

19 Apr 57

Five hikers from Station Holberg became lost during a trip to Raft Cove and back. Two days later than their estimated time of arrival back at the Unit, which had originally been 22 Apr, the adventurers were found unharmed by a search party about five miles from the Station.

Station Holberg has become a reasonably familiar name in local newspapers, as a result of many incidents involving cougars. These animals are responsible for the deaths of a large number of pets belonging to Unit personnel. Although one female adult and two cubs have been destroyed so far, the search for more marauders continues.

 

 

Operational Diary
Operations Section
Period 1 Dec 56 to 31 May 57

There were several unrelated incidents that had a bearing on the operational work load of 53 AC&W Squadron. They were as follows:

  1. The unit went on annual maintenance from 041720Z Feb to 091703Z Feb.
  2. A power failure resulting in the collapse of the main search gear bubble put the unit off the air from 100606Z Feb till 052228Z Mar.
  3. The absence of 409 Fighter Squadron for the month of May.

The intercept control statistics for the period are as follows though not normal for the reasons mentioned above.

Type

Attempted/Completed

Percentage

Training type intercepts

388/269

69.33

Tactical type mainly on B-47, B-36, B-52 and Lancaster’s

34/26

76.47

Multi Ftr type (low due to new personnel)

85/38

44.73

Intercepts against "Unknown" targets (aircraft aborted on one)

12/11

100.00

Hours controlling

  

115:11

In addition there were many hours spent giving both civilian and military aircraft navigation assistance.

Allowing for mechanical failures (65) it has been estimated that the combat effectiveness of 409 Squadron and 53 AC&W Squadron as a team was 78.8% for the referenced period.

Surveillance

The surveillance section also does not show average figures for the period under review due to the reasons previously mentioned. Statistics for this section are as follows:

a

Friendly tracks

7285

b

Unknown tracks

378

c

Keystone tracks

52

d

Canned tracks

398

Note – Practically all of the unknown tracks were subsequently identified by late flight plan or interception.

Personnel

Strength increase for the period was four officers and eight airmen. Promotions were one Cpl. and two Sgts. (one substantial).