1 Radio Detachment - Preston, Nova Scotia

1943 - Daily Diary - National Archives of Canada


DAILY DIARY
1 RADIO DETACHMENT - PRESTON, NOVA SCOTIA
March 1, 1943 to December 31, 1943

1 Mar 43

The strength of the Detachment this Date: Four (4) Officers, Eighty-two (82) Airmen. Preston Basketball Team wond by default a game of basketball in th Dartmouth league. The team played Station Basketball Team at Dartmouth for practice. The score was tided 22 all.

2 Mar 43

Normal Routine.

3 Mar 43

Stake Body Truck was today taken off Inventory and delivered to No. 5 Equipment Depot, Moncton by R71594 Cpl Richardson, EE. A show was held in the Recreation Hall "This Gun for Hire", sponsored by the YMCA.

4 Mar 43

Officer Commanding, F/O OA Smith (C10000) attended a conference at Eastern Air Command. Squadron Leader JC Campbell (C1933) of Dartmouth Station and Wing Commander FE Baker (C776) of Eastern Air Command made an inspection of the Detachment today.

5 Mar 43

A Station Dance was held in the Recreation Hall. WD's were invited from RCAF Station Dartmouth and No. 1 "Y" Depot. Bowling was cancelled due to the dance.

6 Mar 43

An interesting problem re Direction Finding arose when the goniometer on the RDF Receiver was replaced during December, 1942. Using the test instruments provided the new goniometer was correctly aligned but there immediately arose a baffling series of azimuth errors. Aircraft directly on any of the four "lines of Shoot" would D/F properly but otherwise they would be shown in the wrong quadrants and it was not unusual to have the pilots proceeding in the reverse direction to the actual path of the aircraft, a condition which caused the Filter Room, at Eastern Air Command, no little confusion. Extensive tests with the test instruments failed to disclose anything wrong. After considerable pondering, using a combination of both inductive and deductive types of reasoning, it was decided the cure lay in reversing the connections to one of the goniometer stator coils. This was done and the azimuth errors vanished. The answer of course lies in the "Phasing" of the goniometer stator coils. Reversing the connections to one of the goniometer stator coils constitutes a reversal in electrical phase of 180º, with resulting azimuth errors up to 90º and "Ground Track" errors up to 180º. No test instruments yet available have been devised to simulate identically the "echo" of a radio pulse from an aircraft.

7 Mar 43

The regular Protestant Church Service was cancelled today due to bad weather conditions.

8 Mar 43

The Basketball Team played a team from the Marine Section of the RCAF Station, Dartmouth, NS Score - Preston 16, Marine Section 6.

9 Mar 43

Normal Routine

10 Mar 43

Moving picture show held in the Recreation Hall sponsored by the YMCA.

11 - 13 Mar 43

Normal Routine. Nothing of importance occurred during this period.

14 Mar 43

Protestant Church Servie held in the Recreation Hall. Service was conducted by (Hon) Flight Lieutenant McLeod.

15 Mar 43

Preston Basketball Team played Bell Lake, Preston's greatest rivals. Score: Bell Lake 13, Preston 8.

16 Mar 43

Air Vice Marshal AE Dogrey (C66) MC AFC, Squadron Leader DF Manders (C995) and Squadron Leader F Aldridge (C1550) made an inspection of the Detachment. Squadron Leader RH Batty (C940) of Eastern Air Command visited the Detachment to check on available accommodation here.

17 Mar 43

Normal Routine.

18 Mar 43

Motion Picture Show held in the Recreation Hall sponsored by the YMCA

19 Mar 43

Flight Officer HR Neilson (V30106) of Eastern Air Command, Assistant Section Officer FL Bridges (V30294) and Assistant Section Officer GK Tory of RCAF Station, Dartmouth made an inspection of the Messing facilities on the Detachment.

20 Mar 43

Flying Officer GK Cranna (C12602) assumed Temporary Command of No. 1 Radio Detachment in the absence on Temporary Duty of Flying Officer OA Smith (C10000).

21 Mar 43

Protestant Church Servie in the Recreation Hall. Service was conducted by (Hon) Flight Lieutenant M McLeod (C6882).

22 Mar 43

The regular Basketball game played at Dartmouth Station every Monday night was cancelled due to Station Dance at RCAF Station, Dartmouth.

23 Mar 43

Group Captain P Campbell (C55), Captain CC Wise and Flying Officer JC Taylor (C14979) of Eastern Air Command made an inspection of the Detachment today.

24 Mar 43

Moving picture show in the Recreation Hall sponsored by the YMCA. Aircraft showing NIFF were plotted to 90 miles and 85 miles (off Plotting Table). Ranges were then given up to 161 miles and 113 miles respectively.

25 Mar 43

Flyng Officer PF Lee (C21686) WO I Vodden, T.N. (1885) and Sgt. Condon, F (10212) visited the Detachment for the purpose of Trade Testing personnel in their respective trades.

26 Mar 43

Bowling team from Preston lost to a team from RCAF Station, Dartmouth.

27 Mar 43

P/O AW Macdonald (C13654) assumed Temporary Command of No. 1 Radio Detachment, Preston, on posting of F/O GK Cranna (C12602) to No. 2 Radio Detachment, Bell Lake.

28 Mar 43

Protestant Church Service held in the Recreation Hall. Service conducted by (Hon) Flight Lieutenant DTA Havilland (C13377) assisted by (Hon) Flight Lieutenant W Rodgers (C11521) of Eastern Air Command.

29 Mar 43

A parade was held for all personnel of the Detachment for the purpose of reading Sections 4 to 44 of the Air Force Act. P/O AW Macdonald (C13654) relinguished Command on return from Temp. Duty of F/O OA Smith (C10000).

30 Mar 43

A Station Dance was held in the Recreation Hall. WD's were invited from No. 1 "Y" Depot, Halifax. Married personnel brought their wives. A good time was enjoyed by all.

31 Mar 43

Preston Basketball team played a team from No. 10 BR Squadron, Dartmouth. Score: Dartmouth 29, Preston 27. A show was held in the Recreation Hall sponsored by the YMCA. The Strength of the Detachment this date (3) Officers, (88) Airmen. There has been no outbreak of sickness and consequently no loss of time.

(O.A. Smith) F/O
OC No. 1 RD
PRESTON, NS


20 Nov 43

Sports run to Dartmouth in the morning. YMCA film "Johnnie Come Lately" was shown in the evening.

21 Nov 43

In the afternoon Mr. MJ Galloway spent the afternoon with fourteen of the airmen in a "Music Appreciation" concert in the reading room. Mr. Galloway brought along several symphonies and endeavoured to interpret the various movments to the airmen. Heavy rain and thunder storms.

22 Nov 43

New air raid siren installed by W&B Dartmouth. The new warning is quite adequate for this Detachment. The first educational classes were held tonight with thirty airmen present. An excellent showing considering the number of available. Morse, Mathematics, Physics and English all received one half hour attention and the response to the instructors was very gratifying. Afterwards bridge and cribbage tournaments took place.

23 Nov 43

Educational classes from 1800 hours to 2000 hours. Two station bowling teams went into Dartmouth for the Dartmouth Station League. Cloudy with rain.

24 Nov 43

Pilot Officer EL Fearman C26430 (Rad) of No. 16 Detachment paid visit to the station. YMCA film "Oklahoma Kid" was shown in the mess hall.

25 Nov 43

Preston House League went into Dartmouth for an afternoon of bowling.

26 Nov 43

Monthly dance held in Canteen. Several WD's from Dartmouth Station, also Jack Lunn, the YMCA representative.

27 Nov 43

The YMCA film "Night of January 16th" shown in the canteen was well attended. Cloudy with light showers.

28 Nov 43

Quiet day on the station. Cloudy and foggy day.

29 Nov 43

Station team won from Dartmouth Marine Section 22-12 in regular weekly basketball feature. Educational classes held from 1800 hours to 2000 hours with an attendance of eighteen. Bridge and Cribbage tournaments held after the classes with about thirty officers and airmen participating.

30 Nov 43

First heavy snowfall of the year. Two station teams went into Dartmouth for weekly bowling in the Dartmouth Station League. The strength of this Detachment this date is three (3) officers and seventy-three airmen. No serious outbreaks of illness to report. Three (3) airmen S.O.S. and one airman T.O.S. during the month. Operations continued in a higly satisfactory manner. Time off air due to failures was only twenty-eight minutes. A total of over 1100 tracks were plotted and on two occasion assistance was given to distressed aircraft caught in a snow storm. One plane, a Tiger Moth (L.106), piloted by a studnt on his first solo was plotted until it made a forced landing at UR 6550. The second, a Hurricane fighter (L.146) was directed to a landing at Stanley, N.S. Maximum range for the month was 107 miles with a continuou track of 173 miles.

31 Dec 43

Preparations are being made for the New Years Eve dance in the evening. About 25 WRCNS were the guests of the airmen for the evening. A good time was had by all. Fine day with snow and wind at night. The strength of this Detachment this date is two (2) officers and seventy-six (76) airmen. No serious outbreaks of illness to report. Six (6) airmen were TOS, one (1) officer and five (5) airmen were SOS.

Radar equipment performed very well during the month. A total time of only one hour and thirty-eight (38) minutes was required in the form of abnormal maintenance and breakdowns. Maximum range for December was one hundred and sixteen (116) miles without IFF, while our longest continuous track was one hundred and seventy-one (171) miles. On December 10 and 14, Calibration Flights held particularly for No. 2 Detachment, Bell Lake, NS, were followed by this unit also. Satisfactory results were obtained. W/T stand-by communications have been available one hundred per cent.

(R.Turner) F/O
OC No. 1 RD.
PRESTON, NS


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