Comox, BC

1955 – Memories of Comox – Brian Turner


The 51 AC&W Squadron Operations site was not inside the boundary of RCAF Station Comox when it was operational between 1954 and 1958. As to the location of the site – it was outside the station’s fence, in its own enclosure – near the far northwest corner of RCAF Station Comox. You went out the main gate, turner right and followed Little River Road and then right on Kilmorley Road, in area known as "Little River" by the locals. The site was at the end of Kilmorley Road. Each crew had a Duty Driver on afternoon or graveyard shifts. Amazingly, I only recall one accident. Single personnel could catch the vehicle at the Mess Hall or the Main Gate. Anyone that pulled guard duty during infiltration exercises will remember there was a white-tail deer bedding ground just outside the south perimeter fence, in a large meadow area that separated our compound from the main base. It wasn't till the mid-sixties, when the site was no longer a GCI, that access was through the base, which was enlarged at that time.

The photo captioned "Beauty of Miracle beach" (#8 – 1983) is actually what we once called "51 Beach" and is now Kin Beach. It is the north end of Kye Bay. I was stationed at Comox again in the 1960s, and at that time it was called "Air Force Beach." Now it is a civilian area known as Miracle Beach – not nearly as beautiful and located some 25 km north of Courtenay at Miracle Beach Provincial Park! You would not be able to see the radomes from that far. I was stationed at Comox from 1955 to 1957 and again from 1964 to 1969.

 I was first posted to 51 AC&W Squadron, Comox, in the summer of 1955. The name of the first OC was S/L Nichols. The next OC was S/L EA Alliston, who I think took over early in 1956. The Senior Controller (COpsO) was F/L Huston. The NCO i/c was Sgt. Fred Zawala (or Sawala), followed later by Sgt. Pete Foisy. The Controllers I can remember are F/Os Ned Page, Fleming, Tate and "Moe" Morrison. Page, Tate and Morrison were later promoted to F/L. The Crew Chiefs were Cpls. Joyce Schmidt, Fran Dumoulin, Gord Scruton, Joe Fahey and, I think, Pat (?) later Scruton. There were five crews.

The FCOs I remember are: AWs; Rita St Jacques (Turner), Cec (? later Kleinscroth), Faye Herron, Helen Montgomery, Toni Brin, Carmen Winslow, Bev Ducknow, Joanne (later Fahey) Alice (later Walkey). ACs; B Turner, Gord Stokes, Murray Glanville, Gerry Anderson, Russ Wright, Mel Killam, Jene Kleinscroth, Fern Giroux, "Moe" Grezell, Bud Budinski, Pick Pickering, Howie Martin, Bob Clayton, Art Smith, Dave Bevan, Jim Mercer, Ken Grady, Don Wenzel, Bill Wooten, Keith Deiter, (?) Sparrow, (?) Shymko, (Jack?? – big tall guy!).

The Techs I remember were: Jack Mercer, Lorne Walkey, Pat Grenier, Dave Galloway (or Garroway?) Steve Fillion, Lee (something). I seem to recall that Doug Attenborough was there, but am not sure.

Although we were a "Lodger Unit" at Station Comox, we had a UWO – Unit Warrant Officer – can’t recall his name, but I think he was a F/S (?). The CO of Station Comox was G/C Weston. There is a wealth of names from 1957 in the copy of the Squadron magazine, "The Site," which I just mailed to Ren. There was a big influx of FCOs from stations in Eastern Canada that summer – most of us were on our second operational posting. There were also a few fresh in from Clinton.

In the early days of 51 AC&W there was some animosity between 51 AC&W Squadron and 407 Maritime Squadron at the airman level. It's my belief that it had to with the way we partied and that we had the girls. It later turned into more of a good-natured rivalry. I left there in 1957.

"51" handled the identification function for all the units in the Sector (5 Air Division). Tracks were "forward told" into Comox from Tofino, Holberg, Puntzi Mountain (USAF), Baldy Hughes (USAF), etc. At busy times we had as many as five people crammed behind the vertical plotting board! We also got some traffic from US picket ships and AWACs over the Pacific. The air traffic in the sector was very heavy – in those days of mostly prop-driven aircraft there were many more flights. We had all the East-West flights into and out of Vancouver and Seattle, North-South in and out of Seattle-Tacoma-San Francisco to and from Alaska, trans Pacific flights, as well as a lot of military and local stuff. Our Ident dais could get pretty hairy. Until a time in 1956, there was no "TD" or "TA" option – if it was Unknown, we scrambled! Usually a pair of CF-100s from 409 Squadron at Comox. Our Controllers also occasionally handled USAF interceptors during exercises and alerts – F-89s and F-86s.

There was a lot to do in the area – though Easterners usually sat around and griped for their first six months! Old timers will remember the dances at Union Bay, which some wag dubbed "Onion Bay." There was a beach just below the Ops Site, which we called "51 Beach" (now Kin Beach) where many a crew party was held. We would build a fire, sit around it, and drink "Lucky Lager" and/or liquor pre-mixed in ginger ale bottles. A favorite hangout for the FCOs was the Arbutus Hotel lounge in Courtenay. (Sad to report, fellas, the tree that "grew" up through our favorite table is long gone)

I am sure you have already collected a lot of info on 51 – but I hope this will supplement what you have. Good luck and best wishes – Waterfall Out.