Puntzi Mountain, BC

917th AC&W Squadron,
Puntzi Mountain, BC

Lawrence R Finn, Major

AN/FPS-3, AN/FPS-502, AN/TPS-502

Historical Record
917^th AC&W Squadron
1 June through 30 September 1958

Operational Improvements and Changes –

A new plotting board arrived at this station and has been installed. The board is presently being painted with the appropriate GEOREF scale and when completed should greatly improve the accurate and timely presentation of surveillance information.

Plans have been completed and forwarded to the Installations Section for the construction of an Air Surveillance dias and a Movements Identification dias. The programmed date for completion of this project is 1 November 1958.

A triangulation board has been constructed and communications are being installed for the triangulation position in accordance with instruction received from 5 Air Division. This station will be the center of the Triangulation Net and will plot information received from 53 and 918 Squadrons to determine the location of aircraft employing ECM.

Movements Identification Training – A complete training program has been established to train personnel that will be working in the Movements Identification Section. Personnel with previous MI experience will form the nucleus of this section and will in turn train additional personnel. This station will assume the identification function in November when communications are installed.

Systems Training Program – Authority was received from 5 Air Division to send personnel to the RAND Corporation for indoctrination to STP. In preparation for this program personnel are being trained in the use of the 15-J-1C simulators and STP materials. The initial Station oriented STP problem is programmed for January 1959.

Missions – (1 ) This Squadron participated in four 5 Air Division exercises during this reporting period. A total of 44 sorties were controlled by directors of this Squadron, obtaining 26 MA’s for a 59% average. (2) This Squadron assisted in the Operational Readiness Inspection of Detachment 2, Headquarters 25^th Air Division. A total of 36 sorties were controlled and 36 MA’s were obtained. The F-89J was the only type of interceptor controlled during this exercise. A letter of appreciation was received from the Commander of Detachment 2 which is attached as an enclosure to this report.

Letter of Appreciation

Maintenance -

Preventative maintenance performed on the FPS-3 during the month of July totalled 48 hours 14 minutes. "Red Time" during the month was high compared to previous months due to six failures of the FPS-3. Three of the failures were associated with the lower beam magnetron. The other failures were a diesel power loss, defective TR tube and a high voltage kick-off. During all failures the FPS-502 backup was operational.

Preventative maintenance performed on the FPS-3 during the month of August was 33 hours 44 minutes. Total red time on the FPS-3 was 1 hour 59 minutes. Causes for unscheduled maintenance were a shorted LF video cable, transmitter power failure on the GPX-7 (IFF) and alignment of the PPI’s. The TPS-502 Height Finder was overhauled by the Technical Assistance Team during the period from 29 July through 6 August. The FPS-3 was off the air for scheduled IRAN from 23 August through 29 August. Work completed by the IRAN team was considered satisfactory and station performance has improved considerably as a direct result of the overhauls. Several spare component parts were shipped back to CAE depot for repair.

Preventative maintenance on the FPS-3 during the month of September was 49 hours 27 minutes. "Red Time" on the TPS-502 amounting to 3 hours 55 minutes occurred due to a short in the filament voltage of the V-1406.

Supply -

An inventory of tool kits assigned to section personnel revealed that a shortage in the authorized number existed. Additional tool kits have been requisitioned through supply and will be obtained from Canadian Depot sources.

Changes and Improvements -

Four AN/FRT VHF radio sets were received at this station in July on a loan basis from the RCAF. The equipment was installed and with the receipt of crystals has increased the operational communications capability to nine VHF channels. Eight channels are presently being utilized with one reserved as backup.

An additional (50) pair cable was installed between the operations area and the containment area by personnel of the British Columbia Telephone Company. The new cable has three pair appearing at various poles along the access road. One pair has been connected to the emergency line jacks at the bottom of the poles.

A five line key unit was installed at the triangulation position in operations. All terminations were completed by 30 September.

Equipment Requests – A study of communications facilities conducted jointly by Operations and Communications sections has determined that the existing NE-612 communications plant is incompatible with the mission to be performed. The increasing communications load placed on the Squadron by the additional role it has assumed in Air Defense operations is far in excess of the capabilities of the NE-612 equipment. A request has been forwarded to 5 Air Division for installation of a GTA 612 telephone plant. Justification for 40 ten key units was included in the report.

Improvements -

A Oshkosh snow plow was received at the rail head in Williams Lake, Canada and found to be overweight for the Sheep Creek Bridge between Williams Lake and the station location. An alternate route was found via Quesnel, BC which consisted of a 110 mile drive over a backwoods trail. The Vehicle is presently on hand to assist in winter snow removal operations.

A new hanger was completed to house the station L-20 aircraft.

The covered walkways in the operations area were modified by the addition of ribbed aluminum siding. The purpose of this was to keep drifting snow out of the walkways.

Under the provisions of project "Shape-Up" this section has determined a list of deficiencies and work orders have been submitted to bring deficient facilities up to acceptable standards.

An inventory of organizational equipment was completed in July pursuant to the transfer of accountability between supply officers. All property was satisfactorily accounted for and the necessary adjusting documents were prepared and filed.

In this reporting period approximately 200 line items of equipment in use were found to be not authorized, while another 100 items authorized were found to be neither on hand or required. Change requests and a letter of special authorization were submitted to align UAL and CAN/MEAL with equipment requirements.

A new system of maintaining local purchase records has been established. A single filing system has replaced the three systems previously in existence. Under the new system all information pertinent to a request can be found in a single location.

In this reporting period UMD change request were submitted to bring the number of personnel authorized to a level compatible with the mission to be performed. A factor effecting manpower authorization is the limited facilities available for quartering personnel. A new 52 man barracks is programmed for construction in this fiscal year and when completed will allow facilities for sufficient personnel to man up to authorized strength.

Relations between this station and the surrounding communities remained excellent during this reporting period. On two occasions the Squadron L-20 was used to evacuate seriously injured and ill civilians from remote areas.

The Squadrons Sabotage Alert Plan, Base Defense Plan, and Disaster Control Plan were exercised frequently during this reporting period. The physical separation of the three category one areas of this station add to the problem of maintaining adequate security. A security education program is being conducted by the Provost Marshal with the co-operation of all sections. It is believed that by making all personnel assigned extremely security conscious the security of the installation can be maintained.

All phases of training are being emphasized and a satisfactory General Military Training Program has been implemented. Weapons training of all personnel was initiated during this period and should be completed by 1 November.

Lawrence R Finn, Major