Pagwa, ON

1997 - General History - The NBC Group

RCAF Station Pagwa (site C-14, callsign Popular) was located on the northern line of the Canadian National Railway, 1.5 miles west of the village of Pagwa River, which is tributary of the Albany. It was 596 feet above sea level on the thick forest covered northern slope of the Canadian Shield. The station was midway between the towns of Hearst and Nakina, 571 miles east of Winnipeg, 250 miles north of Saul Ste. Marie and 128 miles west of Kapuskasing.

Pagwa was selected as an early warning radar site in 1950. The United States undertook construction which lasted from 1951 to 1953. When it was finished the USAF moved into Pagwa Air Station. The 913th AC&W Squadron provided radar services until the USAF handed the station over to the RCAF on 29 May, 1963.

37 AC&W Squadron was renamed as 37 Radar Squadron Pagwa on 1 May 1964 The 37th Radar Squadron became SAGE capable in 1963 and they reported to the Sault Ste. Marie NORAD Sector Direction Centre for semi-automated operations. In September 1963, with the phase out of the Sault Ste. Marie Sector, the station commenced feeding data to the Duluth NORAD Sector of the 29th NORAD Region. Support services were provided by RCAF Station North Bay and 38 Radar Squadron at RCAF Station Armstrong. Armstrong provided "flying doctor" services with a deHavilland Canada Otter.

The radar squadron was disbanded on 1 October 1966. The last RCAF personnel left the station on 15 December 1966 bringing to a close one of the shortest, in time, RCAF manned sites in the NORAD system.

The airfield at RCAF Station Pagwa which was originally built as a DOT facility had two gravel runways measuring 2,250 feet and 3,000 feet. Today, the airfield is abandoned.

--The NBC Group - Don Nicks, John Bradley, Chris Charland.