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- Dismantling the Search radome - May 1987.
The following series of photos show the detail in stages. In this photo, the radome is being prepared to come down.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Dismantling the Search radome - May 1987.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Dismantling the Search radome - May 1987.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Dismantling the Search radome - May 1987.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Dismantling the Search radome - May 1987.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Dismantling the Search radome - May 1987.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Dismantling the Search radome - May 1987.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Dismantling the Search radome - May 1987.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Dismantling the Search radome - May 1987.
The top of the radome is now on the ground.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- The "Search Radar" sail is now in pieces on the ground - May 1987.
The antenna was carefully dismantled - parts marked etc. The plan was that the antenna would be reassembled as a display item at the C&E Museum in Kingston Ontario. I kept looking for "my" antenna to appear on display, but it never did. I discovered later that the parts arrived at Kingston, but all the fastener hardware (the nuts and bolts) did not. If you play a round of golf at the Garrison Club in Kingston and you look under under some of the bridges, you will find that sections of the sail are serving as supports. These are the same colour as in the photo. I was able to verify that they have the same serial number as the parts we took out of Sioux Lookout in 1987. At least they are serving a useful purpose.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Lower floor of the search tower - May 1987.
The air dryer/pressurizer for the waveguide in the process of being dismantled. This unit was maintained by our RM Techs. On the left is what remains of the Sgt's office.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- View across the "hatches" towards the Maintenance office - May 1987.
All equipment in and out of the tower was raised/lowered using a 10 ton hoist mounted on a rail. Smaller items rode in a cargo net.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Lower floor - May 1987.
Look Ma... All gone!
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- In this shot (again of the Maintenance Office across the hatches), there is more detail - May 1987.
On the left you can see a portion of the ladder that went up to the radome. On the post there is a grey box with A&B. This was a locally designed and built alarm to notify us, in the tower, that a channel had dropped off. This was handy as the only alarm previously was in the DMCC - and then the delay while they called up to notify us. Just below the alarm is the winch used to open/close the hatch cover. The hatch was approximately 10x10 feet, and as heavy as all get-up. On the podium (foreground right) was the "hotline" and logbook. All actions were noted, in case questions were asked later.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Lower floor, across the hatches - May 1987.
The visible cabinets were part of the transmitter high voltage side. Here the high power feeds for the klystrons (one floor up) originated. This was the most dangerous area to do inspections. During one maintenance action (everything was shut down and locked out), two of us were changing a relay that required climbing inside the cabinet to unsolder the leads to the relay. Some "bonehead" came along and hit the cabinet with a crescent wrench. The sound was so similar to the main contactor (the mother of all relays) snapping in, that the two of us inside the cabinet found ourselves out of the cabinet and on the other side of the tower, trying to figure out how we got there.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Upper floor, sans equipment - May 1987.
The patches on the floor in the foreground are where the pulse transformers and klystrons had been. In this shot you can see the curved I-beam that the hoist used. If I remember correctly, the hoist could be brought about full-circle on the upper floor.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Upper floor - May 1987.
Some of the last equipment on pallets, prepared for lowering and delivery to the scrap compund. The hoist rail is visible at top.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Lower floor - May 1987.
The heat exchangers (also maintained by the RM Shop) would have been straight ahead. They pumped glycol through the klystrons to prevent them from overheating and breaking down. A rebuilt klystron cost more than a luxury house. The enclosure left rear was the washroom/changeroom.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Upper floor - May 1987.
The Exit door led to a small balcony with an escape ladder that would get you to within 20 feet of the ground. This was better than 100 feet from the ground.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Upper floor looking down through the hatches - May 1987.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Disposal process I - May 1987.
The equipment removed from the tower was dropped into this truck and dropped off at the Scrap Compound.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Disposal process II - May 1987.
The load was wedged in.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Disposal process III - May 1987.
Really wedged in. The driver (Doug Bray) was just a tad perturbed about this (especially when he noticed me shooting photos in the process. In fact, he had to bring the truck back up. and we had to hoist out one of the cabinets so Doug could get the rest of the load to dump.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Remains of the FPS-6B Height Finder tower - May 1987.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Remains of the FPS-6B Height Finder tower - May 1987.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Search Tower prior to removal of equipment - April 1987.
Some equipment had been crated prior to shut down as we were on a deadline to get the stuff out before we were all posted. Most of the Radar Techs were gone by the end of May.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- The basic frequency generators and initial amplifiers, Alpha Transmitter on the left - April 1987.
A side pulse transformer and klystron are on the right-background. (You see a "B" - the A and B transformers were side by side. The "A" isn't visible in this photo.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- I do not recall the function of the cabinet in the center - April 1987.
As I recall, it contained a selenium rectifier. We had been told that if we ever saw smoke coming from that area of the tower, we were to vacate instantly as the smoke could be fatal.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- The Receivers - April 1987.
The cabinets on both sides comprised the Receiver Section. The lone black cabinet seen at the center-rear was the Antenna Control Unit.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Reverse view of the previous photo - April 1987.
The left background was one of the many ventilation units. The brown enclosure housed the soldering shop, where cables were manufacture or repaired and circuit boards were repaired.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- The Bravo side Transmitter - April 1987.
The crest on the floor was one that had been proposed for the Station Crest some years in the past. Someone with artistic talent (likely a member of the Search staff) painted it on the floor. The blue wall in the background was the office enclosure, where we filled out paperwork (DI sheets, EMMIS forms, etc) after maintenance and repairs had been completed.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Proposed Station Crest - April 1987.
A detail picture of the crest. There is nothing to indicate that horses were used at the lookout point, but there could have been.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Station Closure Party - April 1987.
This sheet cake was prepared by the kitchen staff, headed by Gene Gale.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Cutting the cake - March 1987.
(L-R) Ivan Warwick (past CO of Sioux Lookout), unknown, George Roberts (last CO of Sioux Lookout).
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- CO Major GW Roberts shutting down power plant on last day - April 1987.
Courtesy Larry Wilson.
- "The End" - 31 March 1987.
At 1750 hours local (2350 hours Zulu). (L-R) Dan Labrecque, Clayton Imeson, George Roberts (CO), Chuck Mills and Carolyn Cunningham wait for the call ordering the shutdown of the radars at Sioux Lookout.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- "The End" - 31 March 1987.
(L-R) Mrs. Roberts, Herman Ledema, Dan Labrecque, Clayton Imeson, George Roberts (CO) Chuck Mills and Dave Chatman listening to the congratulatory messages from ROCC prior to the shutdown order.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- The Operations site - March 1987.
The entrance to the complex is just out of frame on the left in the base of the "tower" on the left which was the home of the SDF unit. On the right is the Search tower containing an AN/FPS107B set. A portion of the "element protective" catwalk or tunnelway is seen connecting to the base of the search tower. There were 97 stairs to the top floor.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- An interior view of the catwalk or tunnelway - March 1987.
After entering the complex, you made your way around through these tunnels. They were quite cool in the winter time. Where you see the galvanized cable tray corner was the side tunnel to the search tower. Continue straight ahead towards the DMCC.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- First stop in the morning - March 1987.
Enroute to DMCC was the lunch/coffee room. Many a game of "full-body-contact" Euchre was played here. The night duty-tech had to start the 100 cup coffee urn by 0545 to have it ready for the arrival of the day crew.
Courtesy Frank Butcher.
- Sgt Wilf Clarke "First I turn off this switch" - 1 January 1987.
Courtesy Wilf Clarke.
- Sgt Wilf Clarke "That damned buzzer bypass is in here somewhere!" - 1 January 1987.
Courtesy Wilf Clarke.
- Sgt Wilf Clarke "Okay guys - where is the *#@& switch?" - 1 January 1987.
Courtesy Wilf Clarke.
- Major George Roberts throws the first switch powering down the AN/FPS-6B - 1 January 1987.
Courtesy Wilf Clarke.
- Officer Cadet (formerly Cpl) Jerrard Marcil-Dallaire throws the second switch to power down the AN/FPS-6B - 1 January 1987.
Courtesy Wilf Clarke.
- MCpl Jim (AKA "Mad man from Borneo") Beaudry throws the third and final switch powering down the AN/FPS-6B - 1 January 1987.
Courtesy Wilf Clarke.
- (L-R) Major George Roberts, unknown, Captain Clayton Immeson, Lt Robert Legendre, Sgt Stan Labreque, MCpl Chuckie Mills, Sgt Wilf Clarke, CWO Bert Nickerson (man in the gray flannel suit)- 1 January 1987.
Courtesy Wilf Clarke.
- Major George Roberts "doing the honours" - 1 January 1987.
Courtesy Wilf Clarke.
- DMCC (when there was still some equipment in place) - 1 January 1987.
Courtesy Wilf Clarke.
- It wasn't often that you would see an Operations desk looking like this - 1 January 1987.
Courtesy Wilf Clarke.
- Staff in DMCC (L-R) Sgt Wilf Clarke, Lt Al Eliason, Major George Roberts, Sgt Dan Labreque, Captain Reg Drew, Captain Hank Vervey, Cpl Keith McLean, MCpl Chuck Mills, CWO Bert Nickerson, Lt Robert Legendre, Captain Clayton Ineson, MCpl Elgin Fulford, Cpl Frank Butcher - 1 January 1987.
Courtesy Wilf Clarke.
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