Lac St. Denis, QC

3 Dec 56

Ski Club – A Station Ski Club was formed and held its first meeting. There were 20 members.

Volleyball – A volleyball tournament was won by the Airmen in competition against the Officers and NCO’s Messes.

Hockey – Station Lac St. Denis defeated by Station Rockcliffe at Rockcliffe by a score of 4 to 3.

Hockey – Lac St. Denis 5. St Hubert 3, at Lac St. Denis.

Exercise Chancelight Five – This exercise was one of many which was set up to test the control capability of GCIs against a theoretical preplanned penetration route of a hostile force. Difficulties were experienced due to inadequacy of control frequencies. Recoveries of fighters pointed out the need for having fighters first marshalled into position before handing over to final recovery marshaller.

Hockey – Lac St. Denis – 7, Lachine – 4, at St. Jerome.

Christmas Party – Held in the Rec. Centre and was well received judging by the number in attendance.

Exercise Chancelight Six – The results obtained from this exercise indicated an average rate of success. Difficulties were experienced by controllers due to the takeoff sequence of Ottawa aircraft. There seemed to be no attempt to adhere to a strict takeoff sequence. VHF frequencies again proved inadequate.

Christmas Party – Held for young children of the station and a great success judging by the noise.

Skiing – A Ski tow shack completed and will add much to the enjoyment of skiers.

Promotion – F/L SC Collins, Station COpsO, promoted to S/L rank.

Transfer – S/L Collins transferred to Station Cold Lake as OC Controllers Proficiency School. F/L A Ronnie now COpsO.

Exercise Caveman Two – The faker force appeared to be off track and difficulty was experienced during the final stages of intercepts due to the extreme range of targets from this station. Take off from Ottawa was good. Final results indicated target was intercepted by all fighters assigned to this unit.

Basketball – Lac St. Denis 47, St. Jerome High School 40, at St. Jerome.

Exercise Golden Arrow – This was a SAC overfly with targets using jamming techniques. A total of 13 AI were assigned to this unit but ground aborts cut this down to 10. Final results were good, 7 AI accomplishing MA’s and two out of three converted to Ident runs. Jamming was not effective against this unit.

Badminton – Approximately 30 players from Royal Canadian Army at Montreal paid this unit a visit and had a very successful evening at the expense of Lac St. Denis Badminton Club.

CE Section Maintenance – 33 PMQ furnace failures due to current cold snap.

Exercise Chancelight Seven – Again controllers experienced difficulties due to the haphazard take off of Ottawa aircraft. Aircraft were handed over to 13 AC&W for Tactical action after marshalling by 11 AC&W. Recovery of St. Hubert fighters by 11 AC&W accomplished without incident.

Hockey – Inter-section hockey commenced. League comprised of 4 teams. Townsite drew first blood with a 3 to 2 win over GCI (B) 2.

Conference (C&E) – Mr. Gaulin and Electrical Contractors here regarding additional electrical alterations due to increase in power distribution for construction work now in progress.

Accident – Mr. R Clements a CE employer lost 3 fingers of his right hand while clearing snow from the blower of the Granely Tractor.

Basketball – Station Girl’s Basketball Team lost 40 to 20 to St. John’s at St. John’s.

Volleyball – Lac St. Denis sent two volleyball teams to St. John’s for competition. They were beaten by CMR in the finals.

Broomball – Ste. Agathe visited this unit and defeated the station team by a score of 3 to 2.

Hockey – Station team played St. Agathe during the opening of the St. Agathe Carnival at St. Agathe. The Ice Carnival Team dropped the puck. The score 6 to 4 in favour of St. Agathe.

Accident – Considerable damage to electrical service to townsite caused when contractor engaged in blasting operations inadvertently blew up one of the main hydro poles located near the ME and Supply Sections.

Exercise Caveman Three – The complete exercise report indicated a high rate of successful interceptions. No outstanding difficulties encountered.

Mess Dinner – The Airmen held their first Mess Dinner on this unit.

Basketball – Station Men’s and Girl’s basketball teams travelled to Station Lachine. The Girl’s team was defeated by Lachine 40 to 28 while the men took the honours with a 62 to 40 win.

Visitors – A/C Gilchrist visited the station via Otter aircraft landing on the Station Lake.

Exercise Catnap Echo – A SAC overfly. Cocked Pistol called at 1325Z. 8 tracks carried with one entering our sector. All scopes were manned before first aircraft were scrambled.

Hockey – An Old Timer’s Hockey game at the station against St. Agathe. St. Agathe victors by 8 to 2.

Exercise Chancelight Eight – The exercise involved two fakers and five AI. No difficulty experienced by controlling GCI’s.

Visitors – A group of approximately 40 officers from RCAF Staff College at Toronto paid a visit to the Station Infirmary, Combined Mess, and Tower. Among the visitors were: A/C WA Orr, W/C Mitchell, W/C RV Manning, W/C WY Martin and W/C RG Orpen.

Visitor – AVM LE Wray, AOC Air Defence Command, the Commander in Chief of the West German Air Force, Lieutenant General Joseph Kammhuber, and members of his Staff toured the unit and were impressed with samples of 90 degree intercepts.

Exercise High Noon – A SAC overfly of 16 B-47’s. 11 AC&W assigned 6 pair of AI. Three targets tracked and intercepted were not using IFF.

Winter Carnival – A successful event and an entertaining day for those able to attend. There were skiing, broomball and hockey competitions for the adults and children with an additional attraction featuring dog sled races for the younger set. A dance was held at the Rec. Centre in the evening.

Arts and Craft Display – A hobby display was put on at the station Rec. Centre and was enjoyed by a large number of personnel.

Hockey – Station team 8, St. Hubert 4, at St. Jerome.

Exercise Caveman D2 – Fighters appeared to be scrambled too early and had to be held in a hold pattern. Plotting, cross telling, and recovery action were good.

Basketball – Lac St. Denis 56, Lachute High School 50 at Lachute.

Hockey and Basketball – Lac St. Denis defeated visiting Station Lachine team 7 to 3 and 38 to 29 respectively.

Hockey – 438 Squadron 2, Lac St. Denis 8, at St. Jerome.

438 Squadron 5, Lac St. Denis 4, at St. Jerome.

Volleyball – Intersection championship. Station Lachine beaten by Lac St. Denis.

Visitors – Air Marshal Pike, KCB, CBE, DFC, Commander in Chief of RAF Fighter Command and party visited unit installations.

Exercise Chancelight Nine – Scramble and takeoff of Ottawa fighters was good. Target aircraft picked up at 151 miles and carried to within 35 miles of 11 AC&W where due to an error in tilt target was lost for approximately 15 miles and then picked up again. Plotting and telling from all stations was excellent.

Hockey – GCI defeated Telecom in the inter-section finals by a score of 5 to 0.

Variety Show – An excellent show was put on for the benefit of station personnel by Canadair and was enjoyed by all.

Visitors – S/L L McKergow, SOFS, ADCHQ, inspected the Combined Mess.

Exercise Caveman D2-R1 – The Exercise did not go quite according to plan. Three pair of aircraft were under 11 AC&W control in lieu of six as planned. Scramble was early and fighters had to be orbited so that targets could come within range. Targets were eventually picked up at 120 miles. Results were poor due to assumption that first target painted was the lead whereas he was actually the second and flying at 10,000 feet higher than anticipated. Height finding equipment was unable to correlate.

Dance – An all-ranks dance was held in the Station Rec. Centre.

Construction – Construction work started on station swimming pool during the month of March.

Visitors – W/C Labelle SOSup, ADCHQ, visited the Supply Section.

Visitors – A group of NATO Staff Officers accompanied by Gen. Charles Foulkes, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other senior Canadian Armed Forces officers toured the unit. They arrived by RCAF helicopter, landing on the Tower parking lot.

Visitor – An official visit by F/L Craig of ADCHQ to the Radar section.

Visitor – S/L WJ Wills Acting SOMS ADC, discussed policy matters with SMO.

Transfer – The CEO, F/O EA Fritsch, transferred to AMTS. F/O AF MacRury of Station Parent the incoming CEO.

Exercise Chancelight Ten – Difficulty during recovery of fakers and fighters at St. Hubert due to improper handover from 13 AC&W and lack of communications. The lack of communications further complicated the surveillance picture.

Exercise Caveman Ten – A Three Sector Exercise evaluating control tactics against probable penetration route of hostile force. 11 AC&W controlled three sections of two fighters and one single with the final results of three MA’s. Fighters were scrambled too early necessitating time wasting tactics by Controllers. Several VHF failures complicated recovery of fighters into St. Hubert.

Equipment – Annual peaking of radar equipment by CGE and RCAF personnel.

Exercise Harlequin Three – The evaluation of multiple fighter tactics against ECM aircraft commenced and was scheduled for approximately six weeks.

Sports – Fishing Derby held at Sixteen Islands attended by 15 station members of the Fishing Club.

Construction – Barrack Block #3 completed.

Exercise Chancelight Eleven – No control difficulties experienced during letdown of fighters except for communications difficulties. A direct line between this unit’s recovery marshaller and St. Hubert tower proved inadequate due to it being constantly cut off at PBX positions. This proved the need for direct communication between St. Hubert tower and recovery marshaller and a drop off from the telescramble will be installed connecting the parties concerned in direct recovery of fighters.

Trophy Presentation – A Trophy Presentation Dance. Guests included W/C Jackson, S/L and Mrs. Larcombe. The W/C Jackson Trophy was presented to Sgt. FH Thompson for the most outstanding athlete of the previous year.

Equipment – Movement of the TH-41A transmitter from this unit to CAEL Montreal for shipment to Churchill, Manitoba, was completed in May.

Modulation checks on the 502 transmitter carried out by FS Dawson of ADCHQ during the month.

Training – Training started for FCO’s on the GNH-501 tape recorders to ease the burden of the monitor section