Cartwright, Labrador

On 13 August, five Canadian National personnel employed by the Air Force were reported as missing in accordance with AFR 30-11. The men departed on a fishing trip in a private boat at 17:00 hours on 12 August. Two hours after they departed a storm came up with winds gusting to 50 knots. They did not return that night and the organization did not have a boat capable of navigating in severe weather. The next day, sharp eyes aided by powerful glasses spotted a boat drawn upon the beach at Sandy Point. Hope was renewed, but because their safety could not be determined the men were still declared missing. Tuesday morning, 14 August, a fishing boat with the men aboard came chugging into the harbor towing the small boat. They were safe and sound but desirous of a hot meal and clean shave.

The squadron softball team flew to Pepperrell AFB late in July to enter the 64^th Air Division (Defense) Softball Tournament in August. Unfortunately, the team lost the first game and were eliminated from the tournament.

Cameras have been very much in evidence and the squadron is sponsoring a photograph contest from 20 September to 20 October.

The helicopter service during this period has been excellent. There were some delays due to inclement weather but there were no long periods between flights and numerous unscheduled flights were made to bring needed supplies. The construction of the gap filler sites at Cutthroat and Spotted Islands imposed added work load for the helicopters. Numerous trips have been taken by the Commander and other key personnel to the islands to check on the progress of the construction. Percentage of completion at these two sites are estimated at 40% for Cutthroat and 59% for Spotted Island.

The strength of the squadron has increased during the period as indicated by the following:

Promotions during this period were:
To: A/1C - 6
A/2C - 8
A/3C - 1

There were still severe shortages in some sections. With one controller TDY and the world wide rocketry meet in Yuma, and departures not reflected above, the duty officer strength was actually 10.

With the departure of the supply officer and no replacement in sight, the shortage in the supply section is extremely critical. Two 3-level airmen are trying to do the work designed for four airmen and one officer.

Visits to the squadron during this period were made by General Barcus and General Knapp on 9 July. They inspected the heating plant, power plant and supply.

On September 10^th General Knapp again visited the squadron with a photographer for National Geographic Magazine.

The 64^th AD (D) inspection team made the annual inspection in August and left a very lengthy report.

Operations still remain short of experienced directors. The arrival of one 1644 in September replaced one who is on TDY at Yuma, leaving one 1644 and three 1641s against an authorized five 1644s.

Required number of intercepts could not be obtained by the directors due to the target simulator being out of commission almost the entire period. However 315 actual intercepts were made with fighters from the 59^th FIS, bringing each director above the required number of actual intercepts. The summary for the three months is shown by the following:

The squadron participated in three Air Defense Exercises during this period involving four Air Alerts and three Ground Alerts. The exercises were nicknames Dry Run, Dirty Dan and Humming Bird.

The live rocketry firing program which was to have been started early in August finally started late in September with four sorties being flown in the month. There was one firing pass and no hits.

The performance of the primary radar has been excellent with an average of 99% time on the air for the three month period. The height finder was only slightly less with a percentage of 90% for July and August and 85% for September. The IFF averaged 99% time on the air. The Commander’s forecast is slightly below the figure due to the lack of spare tubes and test equipment.

The annual overhaul of the radar gear was completed on July 4^th, 1956. Most of the work was satisfactory although some minor discrepancies existed.

The radome painters visited the site during August and all radomes were refinished and the outside hypalyned and polished. The interior of the two small domes were coated with neoprene, the interior of the large one was not available for painting.

Lack of spare parts continues to be a major problem in the radar maintenance section as is the lack of experienced personnel.

The point to point communications has been 100% effective during the period and the air to ground has been 96% effective. All traffic has been passed by normal means with no back-up being utilized.

Early in June, the Marconi SRE for communications departed with the overhaul team, leaving no SRE until 28 August. The annual overhaul of the communications equipment was completed 3 July.

In September a cable team from the 1^st Communications Squadron arrived to inspect and repair the 51 pair cable between the transmitters and the frame room.

A visual monitor system for air to ground communications has been installed in the Control Tech position in Operations. Cable layout and patching has been rearranged for better service and easier maintenance.

A rigging team overhauled the air to ground antennas during September and lowered the low frequency antennas which are not being used. This will alleviate the winter icing problems.

Food service is another section critically undermanned. There is no assigned baker in the squadron. There are five men assigned against an authorized nine.

Cold storage supplies arrived during the period, but at the end of the period storage supplies were almost non-existent.

In inspecting the diesel generators the Diesel SRE discovered that one of the camshafts was scored. He immediately inspected all the units and found nine others scored and two defective cam rollers. This condition was immediately reported to the diesel supervisor at Pepperrell AFB, suggesting that the other sites make the same inspection. Later it was reported that the same condition had been found at other sites.