Detachment Seventeen
Our detachment, along with Detachment #1, 922 AC&W Squadron is located on Cut Throat Island. This island is approximately 140 miles north east of Goose Bay, Labrador and it is about 2 miles by 4 miles in size. The closest civilization is 53 miles across Hamilton Inlet at Cartwright, Labrador. During the summer a Newfoundland fishing group operates an installation on another island 3 miles away for catching and salting Cod fish.
The normal population of the site during the winter months is 25 military and civilian personnel. During the summer due to contractors coming in to do additional work on the site the population increases to a larger number.
Cutthroat is noted for bad weather. We have fog and rain during the summer, that is July, August and September with snow and high winds up to 130 MPH during the rest of the year. The site is serviced by helicopters from Goose Bay. Due to weather conditions chopper services varies from 2-3 a week to a period of 30 days between choppers. Our yearly average on choppers is from 4 to 5 a month.
Recreation at the site is varied. During the summer months softball is played on the chopper pad and the site boat is available for fishing and short site seeing trips. Basketball and volleyball are played in the motor pool section of the main building. The main building houses a motor pool, a heating and power plant, barracks and office space and a dining hall. The dining hall serves many purposes. It acts as a bar, theatre and day room where pool and ping pong are played. Each man at the site has a private room with built in wall lockers and a desk and chair. A small branch of the Goose Bay exchange is located at the site to supply the necessary items for the personnel. Items not stocked may be ordered by special order. A library is also available which contains magazines and pocket books of many varied themes. As most things connected with the site are taken care of in the main building there is little need to go outside when the weather is bad except for choppers and necessary details. The tower housing the radar and radio equipment is connected to the main building by an 80 foot covered corridor so there is little effort required in going from the main building to the tower. As no land lines exist the AN/FRC-39 plays a major role at the site by providing communication with the outside world. TACAN and Air-to-Ground equipment are present at the site and awaiting installation.
Mailing Address:
Name, Rank, AFSN,
Det 17, 1933 AACS Squadron,
c/o Det #1, 922 AC&W Squadron,
APO 677, New York, New York.
17 November 1960
This detail was copied from a handout brochure that was provided by USAF military personnel at Goose Bay Labrador to those who were en route to the Gap Filler site at Cut Throat Island. The brochure was made available to our web site by Jim Heimburger who served at the Cut Throat Island Gap Filler site between May of 1961 and mid September 1961 – when the site at Cut Throat Island was deactivated. Jim then proceeded to the 922nd AC&W Squadron – located at Cartwright, Labrador to complete what ultimately resulted in a combined "one year tour".