I found myself on a bus heading from Comox to Port Alberni in April 1957. Once at Port Alberni we boarded the Motor Vessel Uchuck II for Ucluelet. Upon arrival in Ucluelet, we were met by Don Miller who told us it was standard procedure to stop for a few beer before proceeding to the RCAF Station. We naturally followed proper procedure, thus arriving too late to check in, and becoming entries in the Orderly Room’s "bad book".
Tofino was a splendid place to spend time as far as I was concerned. Although no gains were had in technical areas (I had just finished a tour at 51 AC&W Squadron in Comox) the scenery and sheer wilderness of the area was superlative. I enjoyed the outdoors tremendously and the work was certainly not difficult.
Like many others, I took the short trip into the bush to visit the remains of the Canso that had crashed nearby in 1945. I also participated in many other hikes in the area. There were many bears, however, and cougars were shot on a fairly regular basis by a local bounty hunter.
Shut down at Tofino came too soon though (November 1957), so it was a case of "pack the bags" again for a move to Sea Island where I took on the duties of Technical Support for the 2442 AC&W Reserve Squadron.
--John Jones was a Radar Technician who was stationed at RCAF Station Tofino between April 1957 and November 1957.