Hopedale, Labrador

923^rd AC&W Squadron,
APO 434, New York, New York.

Thomas C Schiebel, Major, USAF

AN/FPS-3C; AN/TPS-502; AN/FPS-502.

General:

The first quarter of the year 1960 was marked by an important personnel change as Major James R Larkey assumed the duties of Operations Officer on 21 March, 1960, relieving Captain Berryman H Brown who was transferred to the 641^st AC&W Squadron, Goose Bay, Labrador. Major Larkey came to the squadron with an extensive background in AC&W site duties for four years in California and with the added experience of an assignment with the Experimental SAGE Air Defense Wing at Lincoln Laboratories, Mass.

During the week 20-25 March, 1960, the Air Inspector’s team from 64^th Air Division visited the squadron for the purpose of conducting the annual squadron inspection. The inspection report noted the squadron’s outstanding operational capability as evidenced by superior ratings in ADC and 64^th Air Division tactical evaluations culminating in the 64^th Air Division "A" award presented to the squadron in the last quarter of 1959.

Generally, the Air Inspector’s team found all squadron sections operating at a high degree of efficiency with marked improvement shown over the results of the 1959 inspection.

Operations:

Operationally, the squadron functioned at peak level during the first quarter of 1960 as the number of tracks plotted totalled 2,681 with an added 1,566 plotted by the squadron’s detachment #1.

During this quarter, Operations personnel completed 689 intercepts and participated in a total of 78 missions. Unknown aircraft were logged to a total of 45 while navigational aid rendered checked out at 299. No actual emergency assists were recorded.

Communications and Electronics:

In January all site telephone numbers were changed to conform with NORAD Regulation 102-6. In a concurrent move, the communications section published a new telephone directory reflecting all changes. Trouble centers in January concerned the lashing and repairing of cable blown down by high winds and the readjustment of transmitter site frequency antenna, rendered inoperative by severe icing conditions. Strong emphasis was placed during January on training with the accent on review of forms, technical orders, publications, management and supply functions.

In March, another trouble area was encountered in the radar maintenance field as the back-up search was forced off the air for 28 ½ hours for emergency maintenance.

Supply:

As the 1960 first quarter opened, all UAL property was physically inventoried. Plans were made for the beginning of Project Count which commenced February 1, 1960, and continued through March with the adjustment of stock balance and consumption report records.

With continued good weather in March, the civilian Okanagan helicopters transported 34 personnel to the squadron as compared to 32 passengers in February and 29 passengers in January.

Installations and Engineering:

Activities in this section were of a routine nature with one important personnel change as Captain John F Alleman, Installation Engineer, rotated to the ZI for medical reasons. Captain James E Zorn, C&E Officer, assumed the position of Installations Engineer as an additional duty, pending the arrival of a replacement Installations Engineer.

Thomas C Schiebel, Major, USAF