Lowther, ON

1994 - General History - Paul Ozorak


Built for the United States Air Force, Lowther Air Station on the Pinetree line opened in 1957 as a manual Ground-Control Intercept station. Site M-119 (M for Mobile), as it was known then, was initially slated for Oba on the CNR line but because of Oba's poor highway access, it was sited near Opasatika on Highway 11. The station became home to the 639th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron which began operations with an MPS-7 Search, MPS-14 Height-Finder and an FPS-4 Back-Up Height-Finder radar.

The 639th continued in its role relatively unchanged until March 1963, when it was automated through SAGE. The following July, the station was turned over to the RCAF and the operating unit became 36 Radar Squadron. In the 1950-60s, Lowther was included in what was then known as the Sault Ste. Marie Air Defense Sector but afterwards, it became responsible to the 23rd NORAD Region, headquartered at Duluth, Minnesota. 36 Radar Squadron was tied-in with the 87th Fighter Interceptor Squadron of KI Sawyer AFB in northern Michigan.

In October 1967, the station became Canadian Forces Station Lowther as a result of unification and 36 Radar Squadron, as an official unit, ceased to be. As of April 1970, Lowther was employing 142 military and 55 civilians. With the construction of the new North Warning System in the 1980s, it and many other stations along the Pinetree line were declared unnecessary. Radar operations thus ceased on 31 March 1987 and CFS Lowther was closed the following August.

CFS Lowther consisted of approximately 16 buildings, three radar towers and a separate radio site on Hyundai Road just outside of Opasatika (sometimes called Camp Forgotten). When first visited by the author in 1988, the station was literally a ghost town except for the three commissionaires guarding it. At that time, all the buildings remained however, the two trailer parks nearby had already disappeared. When revisited by the author in 1992, the high radar tower had gone as were the guards. The station is now used by the KTC Testing and Developing Inc. The remote radio site is now Hyundai's Winter Test Centre.

-- Paul Ozorak