Resolution Island, NWT

A
History
of the
920^th Aircraft Control & Warning Squadron
N-30

1 April 1959 to 30 June 1959

Prepared for the Historical Office
64^th Air Division (Defense)

Calvin ST Chun, 1st Lt., USAF, Historical Officer
William R Sickman, Major, USAF, Commander

The primary mission of the 920^th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron is to provide surveillance of assigned area of responsibility.

The secondary mission of the 920^th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron is to provide navigational assistance for friendly aircraft lost or in distress within the squadron’s radar communications coverage.

The three-month reporting period saw the squadron personnel strength gain forty-one (41) persons and lose Thirty-five (35). This gain however does not reflect the true picture of the site manning situation. At the end of the reporting period, eleven (11) airmen allocated for June did not arrive and no orders of assignment were received. Particularly undermanned by this situation were the Food Service, Operations and Administrative Sections. Higher Headquarters were informed of the impending shortage and the necessity for involuntary extension of overseas tour. The rotation of a large number of people at one time continued to be a serious problem at this site. With the initial problem of adverse weather conditions for the particular site support aircraft coupled with its limited load capacity, the problem of timely replacements is greatly multiplied. At the end of May and beginning of June, the backlog of outgoing personnel reached the number of thirty (30) personnel. Many of these returnees had waited for transportation on site even past their tour anniversary date. Station officer strength was quickly changed on 2 June with the departure of the former squadron commander, the Operations Officer, two weapons controllers and the installations engineer. Major William R Sickman replaced Major Jones F Webb as Squadron Commander.

The assigned manning strength of the organization as of the first day of each month is shown in the table below:

The following figures represent the officers and airmen present for duty as of the last day of each month of the reporting period.

The figures above for the airmen strength did not include the attached airmen from Detachment #9, 1876^th Radio Relay Squadron. The attached strength is shown below:

In summation, the squadron had an average of 10.6 officers, 95.3 assigned airmen with 18.6 attached airmen present for duty during this three-month period. The squadron average total was 106.

Due to unusually favorable weather conditions in June, the support aircraft for Resolution Island, a De Havilland Otter, was able to accomplish twenty-three (43) flights and did much toward eliminating the backlog of materiel, cargo, and personnel at Frobisher Bay and this station. April had relatively poor weather and only eleven (11) flights were made during that month. May had particularly poor weather and only eight (8) flights were made during that month.

The following is a summary of the flights made during each of the three months of the reporting period and the payloads carried:

The Administration Section has received most of the forms and official publications to bring its publications and forms program from 25 percent to 95 percent complete and up to date. This had been and will still be a problem in getting normal distribution of necessary publications and forms on time due to transportation delays.

The Operations Section continued on the two-crew system, each crew working a twelve hour shift. The lack of personnel made it impossible for the unit to comply with the 64^th Air Division desire for the three crew system generally utilized by sites participating in System Training Programs.

The loss of the Operations Officer, and two weapons controllers left the section with only two weapons controllers. Notification of the scheduled ORI evaluation to be held on the 10^th through the 29^th of July was received. Preparations for more extensive training especially for newer arrivals were particularly emphasized.

The Systems Training Program was considered fully operational on 9 May 1959, though difficulty had been encountered with the five (5) RPM circuitry in the FPS-3 which had made the T-2 unusable for the 26^th and 27^th of May. The lack of a power supply unit had delayed installation of the equipment prior to having the set operational.

The Operations Section participated in thirty-two (32) division-wide system training missions and one (1) NORAD-wide mission (Desk Top II) throughout this reporting period. No major difficulties have been encountered and valuable training has been received from these missions.

The 15-J-1C was used as a surveillance trainer and to provide intercept directors with necessary control work. Two hundred sixteen (216) single intercepts and one hundred twenty-three (123) multiple intercepts were accumulated by the squadron controllers toward meeting the annual requirements as stated in ADCM 51-2.

ECM training consisted of the following:

During this three-month period the AN/UPS-T-5 was utilized for a total of eighty-six (86) hours of training, and the AN/GPS-T-2 was utilized for a total of forty-four (44) hours of training and the M0-1 trainer was used for a total of sixteen (16) hours of training.

During the month of April, the moving of the A/G equipment from the projection room to a building at the extreme west end of the site was completed. In this new location, a previous blind spot to the north appears to have been eliminated and greater effective range in all directions was achieved.

During this reporting period Mr. Groves from the Marconi Depot completed the re-wiring of radio remote line circuits and other operations circuits, corrected the wire records and brought them up to date.

The receiving antenna for Net 45 was still considered marginal due to the lack of proper towers or pole facilities to provide the separation required for dual diversity reception. Technical assistance was requested from 64^th Air Division and informal information received was that plans are underway to have poles for these antennas installed during the summer of 1959. With this deficiency corrected, all station radio facilities will be up to acceptable standards.

Difficulty was experienced with the AS/505 UHF antennas. Wind, ice and moisture damage caused excessively high standing wave ratios. Four new UHF AS/505 antennas were installed and the antennas they replaced were taken down and brought inside to dry out. After two weeks of drying, these antennas were checked and found to be perfect. A UR was submitted on this subject and information received from RADC was that a proposed radome-enclosed antenna is being developed with production expected in February 1960. Receipt of this antenna would solve the UR problem.

A total of fifty (50) hours and three (3) minutes of scheduled maintenance was performed on the AN/FPS-3(C) during this reporting period with no unscheduled maintenance required and excellent set performance.

The AN/FPS-502 back-up radar was operational during this reporting period and received a total of seventy-seven (77) hours and twenty (20) minutes of scheduled maintenance. All maintenance was routine.

Numerous difficulties were experienced with the AN/TPS-502 especially during the latter part of this reporting period. A total of eight-nine (89) hours and forty (40) minutes of scheduled maintenance was performed on this set with forty-six (46) hours and thirty (30) minutes of the time for the month of June alone. Included in the difficulties were bad magnetrons and a faulty pulse transformer.

The 400-cycle generator PU-5004, and RNFP item for the AN/TPS-502 was received on 5 May and was installed the same day. However, the set was anticipated to be out of net unless a 4J50 magnetron was received. An RNFP requisition was submitted on 14 May and was still not in receipt at the end of this reporting period.

Installation of the IFF Mark CX (SIF) equipment was completed on 22 June and the set has since operated without interruption.

Throughout this reporting period the Radar Maintenance Section lost one airman and gained two, showing a total of eight (8) assigned against an authorization of eleven (11). Shortage of personnel has necessitated the Section to use the two-crew system, working twelve hours on and twelve hours off, seven days a week.

Access to the controls of the heater station for the Ric-Wil Water System through the snow banks was permitted by the installation of a plywood tunnel. The power transmission line to the Water Pump House was out of service three times due to damaged splices and junction box during this reporting period. The Mobile Maintenance Team this summer should permanently correct this difficulty.

The drive chain on one main water pump broke. One new chain was requested as an emergency replacement. The old chain was reassembled and permitted temporary operation of the pump.

The Installation Engineer, 1^st Lt. Alfred N Stashli rotated to the ZI and he was replaced by 1^st.Lt. Perry G Hector, the new installations engineer. Mr. Kenneth Morris, Resident Inspector, arrived to inspect the summer O&M construction projects.

In preparation for project MOS 310-9, temporary sinks have been installed on the dock adjacent to the dining hall and is expected to be usable when the contractors begin work this summer.

The old Bell Building as well as several other buildings at lower camp were checked for electrical and heating facilities. These buildings were determined to be adequate for housing of contractor personnel.

At the end of the reporting period, the interior painting of the Power Plant was seventy-five (75) percent completed. Two diesel generators were deadlines for injectors and a priority requisition for twelve (12) injectors was submitted.

The Heating Plant was at full authorized strength after a three (3) month shortage in personnel.

No major problems were encountered in maintaining the roads and airstrip during the reporting period. The spring road cleaning was completed and the entire road from the site proper to Yellow Beach, a distance of five (5) miles, was opened. This operation required cutting through snow drifts up to thirty (30) feet in depth and this was accomplished without incident. The winter equipment was being cleaned and repaired prior to storage for the summer months.

The UAL Survey Team accomplished its survey. The AF Forms 1120 have been completely re-accomplished to correspond with the revised UAL.

Progress was suspended on the 16PT-RCAF Conversion Program. The project was eighty (80) percent completed and no difficulty had been encountered.

"Project Clean House" was begun. Serviceable and economically reparable excesses in the total value of $72,576 and weight of 31,145 pounds were shipped at the end of this reporting period. A metal scrap yard was established at Yellow Beach and three hundred (300) empty barrels were removed from the site proper to that area. Several of the large movable items which have been reported to Crown Assets Disposal Corporation were moved to the beach area to facilitate location and shipment. A POL inventory was started to inventory all abandoned drums. The designated POL storage areas are to be marked and readied for the incoming POL.

A D-7 tractor had been requested as a substitute by 64^th Air Division for a D-8 tractor. However, no definite supply action had been received. The D-8 tractor now on hand, scheduled to be retrograded, cannot be economically overhauled. It is imperative that this squadron receive a tractor replacement during SUNEC 1959 to be fully equipped for the next snow removal season.