Mont Apica, QC

CFS Mont Apica had a long history beginning in the 1950s. The Pinetree radar line was a joint Canadian-American project designed to detect hostile aircraft heading south. Radar operators scanned the skies on a 24-hour basis looking for intruders and those that looked suspicious were confronted by fighters from such places as RCAF Station Bagotville. The operating unit at Mont Apica was 12 Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron.

RCAF Station Mont Apica was built in two sections. The domestic area at highway level consisted of personnel quarters, mess hall, station headquarters, recreation hall and engineering shops and the operations site a few kilometers north on a mountain-top housed the radar antennae and operator equipment. Twelve Squadron first used two CPS-6B radars, one for searching and the other for height-finding, but these were replaced in the early sixties by an FPS-508B and FPS-507A respectively. The station, squadron and support personnel collectively numbered approximately 200.

On a day-to-day basis, the radar operators monitored flying objects within their 200-or-so mile operating radius. Target echoes, also known as tracks, were assigned a track number consisting of one letter, up to three numbers and another letter (e.g. M001L where M would be read as Mike and L as Lima) where one of the letters indicated which station had first picked it up and the other, the station that last followed it. The target was also assigned a positioning code which naturally varied as the aircraft moved and this code consisted of two letters for geographical minutes, two for seconds and four numbers (e.g. AABB0001).

In the early days of North American air defence, target aircraft picked up on radar scopes were plotted on large boards that depicted the area around the station. The movement of aircraft was shown by having personnel push small models around with cue sticks. Once the target left the operating area, the next station was advised so that its personnel could continue tracking it. If fighters were scrambled for interception, attack coordinates would be calculated manually and relayed by radio by the stations Fighter Control Operators to pilots.

The main drawback to this system was that it was generally slow and prone to operator error. In the jet age, seconds were needed to correlate intruder data and for fighters to be dispatched, not minutes. As new aircraft entered the Soviet inventory, a quicker air defence methodology was devised, one that used computers to calculate interception coordinates and to communicate same to the pilots. Under the new SAGE system, clerks would no longer plot models across a board and the operators were now limited to target tracking; the computer did the rest. With the new equipment, operators also had the capability of displaying a correlation box on their scopes which could show the actual Selective Identification Feature numerical code, geographical reference code and track number. Other personnel in the operations centre had the task of marking intruder information on a large plastic vertical board, time of original plot and remarks.

In addition to radar operations, Mont Apica served as an educational function. Late in 1963, the RCAF opened an Intercept Controller School there to train men and women as fighter controllers. Courses were also offered to Telecommunications Officers for familiarization with Back-Up Intercept Control operations and to Commanding Officers in battle command tactics. The controller school was closed in 1969 in anticipation of a new school set to open the following year at North Bay.

One of the major problems that has plagued communities in northern and central Quebec since colonization has been black flies in the summer. With Mont Apica located deep in a valley with little wind, its problem was acute. In fact, some say there were only two seasons there: winter and flies. Early on, the RCAF bought DDT fogging machines for use at Pinetree sites and for a while, the smoke kept the flies in check. Residents only had to remember to close their windows, irrespective of temperatures, and those that did not endured nasty coughs. DDT was used for years but when it was realized that it presented a health hazard to humans, its use was cancelled. The gas was replaced with another compound but the flies eventually developed resistance to it and when the fogger made its rounds, swarms could be seen trailing it. The dilemma remained: what could be used against the flies that did not threaten humans?

In 1987, GDG Environment from Trois-Rivieres was contacted by the Department of National Defence to tackle that very problem. The companys solution had a natural angle. The firm had previously learned that a certain bacillus bacteria produced a compound toxic to black fly larvae only. The toxin, called BTI, selectively acted on the larval stomach only, which implied it could be sprayed into the environment without affecting wildlife or humans. Its application in the summer of 1987 resulted in a 90% decrease in black fly population. Its success meant that for the first time since the stations opening, personnel could now enjoy the great outdoors during the summer.

The radar unit at Mont Apica was known as:

As has been mentioned in other articles, most of the Pinetree line was shut down in the mid to the late eighties. The domestic area at CFS Mont Apica was closed in 1990 but the radar centre remained open for a few years first as a detachment of Fighter Group HQ and later, as a sub-unit of 3 Wing, CFB Bagotville. These were used to help train pilots and aerospace controllers. As no living quarters were maintained, radar personnel commuted every day by bus from Bagotville. Finally, the radars were turned off in 1993 and taken down. Today, the entire station is gone and when visited by the author in March 1997, its precise site could barely be identified as it lay in deep snow.

Twelve Squadron survives to this day but in a new home at Bagotville. Its primary role is to monitor military flights over the Lac St.-Jean Military Flying Area. The unit consists of a Remote Training and Operations Centre at Bagotville and a new TPS-70 transportable radar at Lac Castor. Signals are sent from the antenna to the RTOC via microwave and to North Bay via satellite. The designation of this unit as 12 Squadron is not accidental since this was also the name of a radar unit at Bagotville during World War II.