My military career as an Air Traffic Controller really got off the ground with my first transfer in 1948 to RCAF Detachment Fort St. John, BC. I needed a map because I had never been out of Ontario and had absolutely no idea where I was going aside from the fact that it was a 5-day trip on a train to Edmonton and then a flight to Fort St. John. The train trip in those days was without benefit of Dome Cars etc and the locomotives were the old sooty steamers - not diesel. You had to improvise to make the trip enjoyable, so one of the first orders of business was to jump off the train at Sudbury, during a 30-minute stop and secure a case of beer from the local pub. The trip was then tolerable to at least Winnipeg. Eventually we arrived at Edmonton and reported to North West Air Command HQ located at what is today Edmonton Municipal Airport. After processing in the Orderly Room, we were booked on a Sked Flight (C-47) to Fort St. John.
In those days, Fort St. John was a military detachment of RCAF Station Fort Nelson and both were part of a network of facilities and bases that comprised what was known as the "North West Staging Route" which started at Edmonton, and continued to include Grande Prairie, Dawson Creek, Fort St. John, Beaton River, Fort Nelson, Smith River, Watson Lake, Teslin, Witehorse and then onward to Fairbanks Alaska. The airway servicing the route was Amber 2. The airway and the Alaska Highway were pretty well co-located for safety sake in the event of forced landings.
Fort St. John had all the normal sections and facilities that one would expect at an RCAF base in those years; A good sized hangar, barracks, Wet Canteen, Messes, combined Mess Hall etc, only at a reduced scale. No luxury items such as theatres, swimming pools etc, however we did have bears on the airfield from time to time which put a different meaning to the phrase "Pest Control". Detachment strength was approximately 320 which included a small group of Army Service Corps types that drove the ration trucks from Dawson Creek (which was the end of the rail line) to the various bases up the highway as far as Whitehorse. We were responsible for the Airport (snow removal, lighting and repairs) as well as Flying Control services. We had an MOT Met section, along with a Radio Range Station all co-located in the Tower/Ops Building. The runways were in an X configuration each runway being 6700’, which was a long runway in those days. The Radio Range was located approximately half a mile from the base and provided us with our IFR letdown.
The Flying Control staff consisted of four Officers (aircrew doing a 2 year ground tour) and five airmen. With this stalwart group, we provided 24/7/365 service. Canadian Pacific Airlines, flying DC-3’s operated three flights per day through Fort St. John. One from Edmonton, one from Whitehorse and one from Vancouver. When the airlines were scheduled, the Officers worked; the airmen covered the other shifts. We were strictly VFR controllers with the IFR control being done by Edmonton ACC via landline (Sked F). There was a fair amount of traffic in those days as the USAF was re-equipping their fighters in Alaska. F-51 Mustangs were being replaced with F-80 Shooting Stars, and the F-61 Black Widow night fighters were being replaced with F-82 twin Mustangs, and all this staged over or through Fort St. John. We also had to contend with the Trans Pacific traffic enroute to the Asian destinations. This was mostly Northwest Airlines and Canadian Pacific. We took the Position Reports and relayed them on to Edmonton ACC and Fairbanks ACC. Just enough distractions to keep you awake. Radio frequencies were rather spartan for us in those days. VHF had just come on scene, so we had 126.18 for control of the USAF traffic along with 121.5 and for the other traffic we used 3105kcs during the day and 6210kcs at night. A smile must have just crossed your face.
During the winter months, we were blessed with the WEE (Winter Experimental and Examining) Flight which would stage through for their winter trials held annually at Watson Lake. This outfit had all the "hot" aircraft of the day and their arrival always generated a lot of interest. Some of the aircraft included Meteors, Vampires, Sea Hornets, Sea Furies, Fireflies, Mustangs, Seafires, and Lincoln’s, Valletta’s, Hastings etc accompanied them. We were always successful in getting flypasts coming and going.
Our tour at Fort St. John was the normal for isolation - 1 year single; 2 years accompanied. They had an adequate number of PMQ/TMQ’s and accomodation down town was available. None of the single types and very few of the married types had cars in those days, so we got around by base bus service locally, and, provided you had an ME6 (military drivers license), you could sign out a vehicle from the ME section for the weekend (hunting and fishing trips) provided your group consisted of at least four guys.
We had some notable personalities at Fort St. John during my tour. On arrival, the Base Commander was S/L Jack Showler of McKee Trophy fame, and one of the tower Controllers was F/O Percy Pigeon who survived the Dam Buster raid.
My tour at Fort St. John was from March 1948 to June 1949. In hindsight I feel that the amount of time, for a rookie, being left on my own probably did more to instill confidence than any other transfer in my military career. I look back on this transfer with fond memories. Not too many of this group still around. Duke Schiller (currently battling cancer) and Tex Lanyon (living in the UK). Blake Muloin worked at Whitehorse and Keith Cameron did some time at Fort Nelson. They too probably have interesting tales for the archives.
Courtesy KD Macdonald - 19 December 2004.Updated: December 19, 2004