St. Anthony, NF

1 July - 30 Sept.
1954

The squadron experienced a great metamorphosis as it closed out its freshman year. Warm weather and improved communications brought relief from the old problems of cold weather and isolation, but the new problems of housing visitors, unloading vessels, and keeping the base secure gave strength to the viewpoint that isolation may have had its compensations.

On 30 July 1954 St. Anthony was a scene of tragedy when an SA-16, attempting to take off from St. Anthony Harbor in dense fog, swerved to avoid a fishing vessel and plowed into a frame house, demolishing the house and killing its only occupant. There was only one serious military injury. The plane and the house were completely demolished. The incident put the public relations of the squadron to a strong test, and although some civilian wrath was aroused, the friendship between the USAF and the town of St. Anthony was largely unimpaired.

Morale of the unit during July and August was subject to change and often quite low - largely because of uncertainty as to rotation. The month of September saw great improvement in squadron spirit as replacements began to arrive in large batches. Major Logan, the new commander, arrived on 3 September, and a period of hard work and many changes began. With new, eager personnel, the squadron began to get its second wind after a tiring first year. Confusion and uncertainty notwithstanding, the squadron was entering a new stage in its growth toward an efficient, spirited unit.

Operation "Checkpoint" which took place early in July, proved to be an excellent test of the squadron’s overall capability. Results in general were satisfactory. A few minor difficulties in procedures were encountered and corrected during the test.

On 18 July, Colonel Wallace R Jordan, Director of Operations for the 64^th Air Division, arrived for an extremely short visit.

Two new controllers, AFSC 1641, arrived during the month of July. This eased the burden which had been placed on the one assigned controller, who has now rotated.

The first of two scheduled mass rotations took place without seriously affecting the capability of the section.

July was one of the section’s most active months since the return to operational status. On 6 July the Philco Trainer was obtained from supply and placed in Tower #1. Since no manuals were shipped with the trainer, full utilization of the unit was not realized during the quarter.

The radome suffered a near collapse when a complete power failure occurred. A Le Roi air compressor was taken up to the tower and used to keep up the radome pressure. Fortunately, there were no high winds during the power failure and no damage occurred.

The 15-J-4-a Target Motion Programming unit was completed on 16 July and a training program was initiated for all maintenance personnel.

On 20 July a complete set of spares for the pressurizing system arrived at this station and were turned over to the section.

On 20 August the IFF antenna was installed. This was the result of a continued effort on the part of the Marconi representative to obtain sufficient spare parts for the installation. The IFF was given an operational check on 1 September and performance exceeded expectations.

Rotation accounted for the loss of both Radar Maintenance Officers during the month. Three new maintenance men arrived and were placed on shift with the men they were scheduled to replace. The Philco Technical instructor instituted a full time training schedule in an effort to have the new men fully indoctrinated before the time when they would have to work alone.

The communications section saw a great many changes during the quarter, beginning with the arrival of a new communications officer, Lt. Hughes, on 11 July.

Installation of the LF facility was completed early in July, and several successful tests were run during the months of July and August. However, the LF remained a slumbering giant for the remainder of the quarter, awaiting instructions to begin operation.

Operation on combined HF net 52-53 - our mainstay for administrative and tactical traffic - has been hampered by a lack of usable frequencies.

Two of our best frequencies, stork and flamingo of net 52, were taken away from us during the quarter. This left us with only two usable frequencies - cow and bull - at the end of September. Contact time on the net was 724 hours for July, 754 hours for August, and 670 hours for September. As the aurora Borealis began to put in its appearance, a steady decline in contact time was noted.

Air-ground communications were limited to two frequencies on UHF until the last day of the quarter, when one T-217/GR multi-channel transmitter, newly returned from depot maintenance, was installed. The two remaining multi-channel units were reputed to be on their way from Montreal.

The problem of moisture seeping into the UHF and VHF antennas reduced our air-ground capability. In some cases, moisture had seeped into the antenna, causing a complete short, and had gradually found its way through the "watertight" coax lead all the way into the transmitter building. A Marconi-furnished team of moisture proffers arrived on 25 September and began to rehabilitate the entire UHF-VHF antenna system. Thus, the air-ground pictured brightened up considerably at the end of the quarter.

Rotation resulted in a drain of skill and experience from the section, but communications replacements have shown plenty of intelligence and eagerness.

At the end of the quarter the section was looking forward to many problems and expecting to come out on top.

A new regime took over the Supply section when Captain James E Alexander, whose primary duty is AIO, was given the additional job of supply officer. The old supply officer and two advanced party supply men rotated at that time, leaving the supply section short of help but long on problems. Considerable progress in improving warehouse space and in improving supply records and procedures was made during the quarter. During the last two weeks of July an Area Activities Team from 64^th Air Division gave us a great help by bringing with them the long awaited-for stock record cards, which are essential in establishing location, stock level, reorder point and the all important stock number or part number. A complete inventory was conducted by the supply team, with two of our men assisting to become more familiar with supply procedures.

Late in July we received a Base Supply Memo from Goose Air Base which gave us a clear-cut procedure for requisitioning supplies. Requisitions began to be filled more promptly in the succeeding weeks, although service continued to be poor by stateside standards. Stock numbers and other information were often not available, making incomplete requisitions a necessity at times. Master packing lists for spares were not available for many pieces of C&E equipment, which has made it impossible to have any idea of what spares or how many should be kept on hand.

The shipping season brought about a great influx of supplies and headaches. The arrival of Pole Vault and Drake-Merritt Construction personnel meant a great deal of work in issuing tools and other supplies. Keeping Air Force supplies separate from contractor supplies and trying to keep supplies secure from theft was no easy job. A lack of adequate warehousing space did not help here.

The warehousing problem though acute, has been minimized by a complete rearrangement of supplies to provide a maximum storage space. Meanwhile the regular supply paperwork activities continued unabated. A deluge of emergency requisitions poured into supply - for anything from PX ration cards to communications and electronics RNFP’s and RCCP’s. Many of the items were hard to get but the primary reason for so many emergencies has been the low established stock level on most items. Often, a bin was depleted by one withdrawal on items which were in great demand. An example in point is the 12ATU7 tube. Combined consumption by the Communications and Radar Maintenance sections has averaged slightly more than ten per month for the past six months, whereas only ten tubes were authorized for a 90 day stock level.

September rotation hit the supply section hard in terms of again in work and a loss of personnel. Turn in and issue of arctic gear, bedding, and other supplies made for a sizeable addition to the normal workload. Personnel assigned to this section - which is a miniature base supply and MATS terminal in disguise - were lacking in number and experience to all to handle supply functions adequately. In spite of this, the overall supply situation showed great improvement during the quarter.

Project "Native Son Conversion" resulted in thirteen civilian employees who started work on 12 July. The eventual goal is to replace military personnel with corresponding job titles and AFSC’s.

Drake-Merritt Construction Company arrived at this site on 30 July to begin a rehabilitation program. This program consisted of new heated water line, roof repair, new exterior electrical distribution, new heating systems at the TX and RX, new overhead doors for the vehicle storage building and warehouses and a number of minor repairs. Roof "repairs" were not very effective, as the fixers created more new leaks than they stopped. The forecast at the end of the quarter was for indoor rain the following spring.

Project "Polevault" construction started early in August and was about 40% complete at the close of the reporting period.

Rotation hit the installations section hard. Only one replacement arrived on the September "Labrador Special". In answer to a message request to 64^th Air Division for personnel to maintain the powerhouse, three men arrived at the close of the period. A strong OJT program was in effect to counteract the rotation cycle, but new personnel were badly needed in the installations section at the end of September.

The motor vehicle section experienced a routine period as far as operation and maintenance of vehicles and equipment are concerned. There were no major breakdowns or accidents and the status of vehicles during the quarter was good.

On 7 August several vehicles - a jeep, bulldozer, whaleboat and dump truck, were turned over to civilian contractors to help in their rehabilitation and construction work.

Early in September the section experienced a period of vehicle changeover and replacement. One weasel and one snowmobile were shipped to Pepperrell AFB on 7 September to be reconditioned and returned before the close of the shipping season. Several "new" vehicles - some in not-so-good condition - were received on 7 September on the USNS Vela. At the close of the quarter there was no snow removal equipment at the site.

1 - Personnel

Rotation was the number one personnel problem and function during the quarter. Two months of forecasting and planning for rotation kept the personnel section busy, but the real work began with two arrivals - that of the new adjutant, WOJC Shumacker, on 3 September and the arrival of the "Labrador Special" on 19 September. A merry pace was maintained in the orderly room from that time on.

Rotation resulted in a loss in both numbers and experience. During the period the squadron lost 60 airmen and received 44. Of the 60 lost, 42 were airman first class or above. The 44 gained included only 8 men who were airman first class or higher. Five captains and three first lieutenants were replaced by a major, three second lieutenants and a warrant officer.

2 - Medical

The medical section continued fairly placid operations. One officer and six airmen were evacuated to Goose Air Base Hospital. The Grenfell Mission Hospital provided excellent medical care for military personnel injured in the July plane crash. In turn, the medical section helped the hospital several times with blood donations during the quarter.

3 - Special Services

Dances were held fortnightly at the contractor’s construction camp. Music was provided by a high fidelity system owned and run by a Philco tech rep. The piece de resistance of these dances was the "Newfie Stomp", a very energetic local round-dance, which features much sweating and stamping of heavy feet to the accompaniment of a blind accordionist. The girls were partial to the cotillions, as they called them, and would patiently sit through the foxtrots just to get another crack at the Newfie Stomp, which would usually last for an hour a piece, the exact time depending upon the physical condition of their partners.

Other sources of amusement were the movies and the photography club. The photo club, a going concern for the old personnel of the squadron, experienced a slump when nearly all of the members rotated. However, the movies remained a mainstay of special services program through out the summer.

The food services section managed to maintain its high standards in spite of a number of difficulties.

During the month of July the freezer broke down completely. A technician was flown in from Goose Bay to help with repairs less than three hours after an emergency call was submitted, but lack of parts caused a delay of 10 days before the freezer could be repaired. Frozen foods had to be moved to small compartments to prevent spoilage. This proved to be sufficient as a temporary measure but some of the food thawed partially. A recurrence of this would mean that some of the food would have to be salvaged to protect the health of the personnel.

Support was given to the PX snack bar in the form of supplies and baked products. Two ice cream freezers were purchased by the unit fund, these have not worked out as well as we had hoped, since the quality of the ice cream did not proportion to the added work of using the small freezers.

Rotation in September resulted in heavy personnel losses but the section managed to operate with no appreciable reduction in the quality of the food.

The Provost Marshal section experienced a busy quarter. A heavy influx of civilian contractor personnel and military personnel on TDY, most of them un-cleared, increased the problems of safeguarding classified information and guarding against pilferage. On 20 September new PVM clearances were requested for some fifteen or twenty new replacements who had no previous clearances. Local finger-prints forms had to be made up, since FBI fingerprint cards, which had been requisitioned previously, were not available. The local RCMP handled our fingerprinting chores for us, as fingerprinting facilities on requisition were still not available.