Lac St. Denis, QC

1952 – 11 AC&W Squadron History – National Archives of Canada

Early in May the first WD’s arrived at Lac St. Denis. The GSM’s were being set up in the Operations Building, and plans were being made for accommodation and employment of Reserve personnel during the joint RCAF-USAF Exercised planned for July.

Some flight trials were attempted during the month.

More flight tests were carried out during June. S/L Yarnell of ADCHQ and a group of Reserve Support Officers toured the unit and were briefed on the Operations of the unit.

Plans were made for taking over the Ops Building and a conference was held with USAF personnel regarding overlap telling procedures.

Exercise Signpost was to commence on 19 July and plans were made accordingly. S/L PVK Tripe was transferred to the unit as Chief Operations Officer.

Preparations for Exercise Signpost were continuing. During the early part of July the following Operations personnel were transferred to the station: Major CE Williams (USAF), F/O’s Prentice, Hilton, Santsche, MacLean, Nourse and Gatz.

Personnel were briefed regarding the Exercise and shifts were organized so that the Operations personnel would be ready for the Exercise.

Reserve personnel from the following units were attached to 202 Radio Station for the duration of the Exercise: 2401 AC&WU; 2442 AC&WU; 2445 AC&WU; 2424 AC&WU; 2405 AC&WU, 1 R&CU.

On 19 July 52, Exercise Signpost commenced. Bomber forces consisting of medium bomber aircraft from Maritime Group, light bomber aircraft from ADC; heavy, medium and jet bomber aircraft from USAF SAC were used to test the Defence systems of Eastern Canada and the north eastern United States. These raids originated from bases in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.

In general, the exercise was of great value in testing the Operations methods in use at Lac St. Denis. Some faults in the organization were brought to light and much valuable experience was gained by personnel, both regular and reserve. As a result of the lessons learned it is believed that future exercises of this nature will meet with a much higher degree of success. It must be remembered that the majority of the personnel were working on a heavy radar site for the first time. Having come to the unit a short time before the exercise began and some natural confusion resulted. Seen in this light the results were fairly satisfactory.

Early in August, all Controllers from 202 Radio Station attended a conference at ADCHQ during which an evaluation on the Air Defence system was given and personnel were brought up to date on the general Air Defence system.

Operations during August returned to normal and the usual practice intercepts were carried out using aircraft from 427 and 434 squadrons. The unit was on an Ops EW state and as a result, operations were limited.

In September, GCI practice was continued. Preparations were made to accommodate 1 ADCC which was to move from St. Hubert. This move was completed and 1 ADCC became operational at Lac St. Denis on 17 September.

During this period many changes in telecommunications etc. were being incorporated in the Operations Building, resulting in many periods when the unit was shut down.

On 1 October, 202 Radio Station was re-designated 11 AC&W Squadron.

On 1 October, confirmation was received that S/L Tripe was to proceed to the UK as an RCAF Observer for Exercise Ardent. F/O Gatz and F/O Nourse were posted to Tyndall AFB Florida on the Fighter Controllers course.

Preparations were being made for the installation of micro-wave equipment, also for the official handing over of the radar equipment by CGE. A/M Curtis was present at the handing over ceremony.

Operations were interrupted during this period due to the painting of the radome. This was confined to daylight hours of operations.

On 24 October, a C-47 was used to calibrate the radar. Overlap plotting with St. Albans was also begun during this period. The first large number of U/T Controllers arrived during this period. These controllers were to get contact training while awaiting postings to Tyndall on course.

Visiting during this period included:

On 4 November at 0900Z the unit was ordered to Ops GCI state by 1 ADCC controller. The necessary personnel were contacted and the unit was declared to be Ops GCI at 0951Z. 427 Squadron had 4 aircraft on readiness at 1005Z. Two intercepts were completed during the morning.

On 5 November interceptions were carried out on a Lancaster by 427 and 434 Squadron aircraft under Firefly control, by the following controllers:

On 10 Nov Lancaster 199 of 408 Squadron Rockcliffe broke off an exercise with 434 Squadron due to the fact that the fighter aircraft were breaking off their attacks at 25 to 50 yards range. This despite the fact that they had been told to attack with caution by Firefly controller.

A USAF ECM team visited the unit on 19 Nov and personnel were given a lecture and saw movies on the effect and purpose of radar and VHF countermeasures. Bad weather delayed their scheduled operations vs. Firefly but on 21 Nov they were able to demonstrate their ability. It was interesting to note that the Radar Techs, when permitted, were able to counteract the jamming to a limited extent by changing frequencies. Although this practice was continued, the aircraft were eventually able to jam us effectively and the stalos went out of action due to the rapid frequency changes. It was considered that much practical experience was gained by controllers and personnel from this exercise.

On 27 Nov the Radar was shut down while the technicians replaced the hub seal in the radome.

15 U/T controllers were posted to the unit this month and four were posted on the controllers course.

Operations were carried on as usual. GCI practice was carried out with 427 and 434 Squadrons.

Preparations were made for Exercise Turkey Run. Reserve AC&W Squadrons were scheduled to begin weekend training at the unit. 2401 (Reserve) AC&W was the first to utilize this training scheme.

On 8 Dec assistance was given to a USAF F-86 which was lost 70 miles south of Montreal. This aircraft eventually landed at Burlington.

Due to a change in planes, RCAF participation in Exercise Turkey Run was confined to radar stations plotting aircraft and passing this information to USAF. However, Firefly did manage to complete 1 intercept on a "Strike" B-29, using a T-33 as a "Shadow" aircraft for identification purposes. This exercise took place on 10 December. Firefly was congratulated by Amazon for co-operation shown, which may indicate some increase in operations efficiency.

On 12 December a KLM DC-6 from Shannon Ireland was heard trying to contact Montreal tower on 121.5. This aircraft was unable to land at Dorval due to weather. It was diverted to Ottawa but could not contact the tower. Firefly controller was able to contact both the aircraft and OW tower. Information re weather, runway in use etc. was replayed to the aircraft. This aircraft touched down at Ottawa with 10 minutes fuel left.

On 20 Dec, an attempt was made to do night interceptions with 2 CF-100’s from North Bay. Due to aircraft unserviceability this exercise was not carried out.

F/O Gatz returned from Tyndall AFB Florida.

The Christmas and New Years festivities being over and done with, Operations returned to normal.

434 Squadron at Uplands were concentrating on gunnery practice for the MacBrien Trophy and would not be available for GCI practice for some time. Operations was carried out with 427 Squadron.

Some difficulties on overlap telling and plotting with St. Albans were experienced and action was taken to prevent recurrences.

F/L Mahoney was posted to Camp Borden to take the Ground Defence Course.

A proposed exercise with CF-100’s from North Bay on 9 January was cancelled.

Reserve personnel were working during the weekend of Jan 10^th. Their efforts were confined to synthetic intercepts. OR’s were employed in various positions through the building under supervision of regular personnel.

Proposed exercise with CF-100’s on 12 Jan was cancelled due to weather conditions. This was repeated on 13 Jan, 14 Jan and 16 Jan.

Operations with 401 and 438 (Reserve) Squadrons on the weekend of 18 Jan was not carried out due to unfavourable weather conditions.

F/O Nourse returned from Tyndall AFB, Florida.

On 26 Jan, 2 CF-100’s from North Bay were controlled for a short time but due to VHF difficulties in the aircraft, no interceptions could be carried out. These aircraft were picked up on radar at 160-170 miles range, but could not be contacted on VHF until they were within 35 miles of Firefly.

Due to preparations for their Operation Leap Frog, 434 Squadron were not available for GCI practice during the latter part of the month.

The first two weeks of February were comparatively uneventful.

On 17 Feb, 4 intercepts were completed during a GCI exercise with 2 C-45’s from 104 K Flight.

On 22 Feb, 2 intercepts were completed with 401 Aux. Squadron.

On 24 Feb, the first night intercept with CF-100’s was completed by Firefly. Considerable difficulty has been experienced making VHF contact with these aircraft, but with the expected installation of new VHF sets in these aircraft, this condition should be eliminated.

On 25 Feb another exercise with CF-100’s was attempted. VHF contact with the aircraft was very poor. Radar contact was very poor too, due to temperature inversion. A check on VHF facilities at 11 AC&W Squadron on the following day proved transmitter and receiver to be good at ranges of 180 to 190 miles at 30,000 feet, both due north and due west of this station.

On 28 Feb an overfly of 21 B-36’s was intercepted by two sections of vampires from 401 and 438 Squadrons. 4 Tally Ho’s were received in 10 minutes from these aircraft. 2401 (Aux.) AC&WU operated at the unit on this weekend. Lice intercepts were not very successful due to the fact that the Vampires were difficult to paint.

Operations proceeded as usual in March. IFF equipment was installed and tests were carried out on 6 Mar. These tests were fairly successful and improvements were expected as the Techs became more familiar with this set.

The monthly total of intercepts increased due to improving weather and activation of 422 Squadron at Uplands. In this period a number of handovers to Hornet, Ablaze and Raymond were successfully completed.

An ECM course was given at this unit for Controllers and Technical Officers throughout Air Defence Command. ECM were carried out against Firefly for demonstration purposes and the jamming aircraft were successfully intercepted despite their efforts to prevent it.

In connection with the above exercise, 2 CF-100’s were controlled while they intercepted the ECM aircraft. These interceptions were also successful despite jamming of the AI equipment by the ECM aircraft.

On 15 Apr a group of officers from the RCAF Staff College visited the unit on a familiarization tour and observed an interception by 422 Squadron on a Lancaster.

Operations with Lancaster’s and C-45’s were carried out as usual and a record number of intercepts were completed with 113 being successful.

Long range checks on the IFF were carried out with very good results. Returns were picked up at ranges of up to 235 miles. Unusual performance was noted when an aircraft using IFF was picked up after landing at St. Hubert.

On 28 Apr a BOAC Stratocruiser was intercepted and a violation was filed on this aircraft.

An exercise using Broadcast Control methods to control a CF-100 on a night intercept was run on 30 Apr.

A Parliamentary Committee of Defence Expenditure visited the Unit during the month.

Signed by:

Commanding Officer
11 AC&W
Lac St. Denis, Que.