Kamloops, BC

1960 - Historical Record - Anonymous

RCS: AU-D5

HISTORICAL RECORD

of the

825th AC&W Squadron

for the period ending

30 June 1960

Section I

REQUIRED DATA

1 Unit and Location

825th AC&W Squadron, Kamloops, BC, Canada

2 Name and grade of Commander

John H. Farrar, Major

3 Chain of Command (Superior Echelons)

825th AC&W Squadron, Kamloops, BC, Canada
25th Air Division (SAGE), McChord Air Force Base, Washington
Western Air Defense Force, Hamilton Air Force Base, California
Air Defense Command, Ent Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Headquarters, United States Air Force, Washington 25, DC

4 Subordinate Units (Down to and including squadrons)

Not Applicable

5 Mission (Give authority and brief statement of primary mission)

25th Air Division Manual Direction Center with added responsibility of consolidating and forwarding Air Defense information from 917th, 918th and 919th Squadron to 823rd Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron. Authority: Western NORAD Region.

6 Personnel

	Officers	Airmen	Civilians	Total
Assigned	15	142	20	177
Attached	2	4	3	9

7 Equipment (Give official nomenclature and quantity of mission-type equipment)

AN/FPS-3A, AN/FPS-6

Section II

COMMENTARY

The 825th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was inspected by the Inspector General team from the 25th Air Division (SAGE) on the 6th and 7th of June, 1960. This was the first such inspection since this squadron became operational in March 1959. The cover letter to the inspection report and the Commanders reply are attached. The director of Inspection Services stated in a telephone call after receipt of our reply that the one unsatisfactory rating had been changed to excellent.

Operations:

The availability of interceptors for training and proficiency purpose was excellent. A total of 558 intercepts was run during the last period.

This unit participated in five exercises during the period, two being 25th Air Division exercises, and three were Western NORAD Region exercises. A total of 16 fighters was committed by this unit with a breakdown of three withdrawn, 12 MAs, and one MI/AEF. This unit remains in the enviable position of never having missed an exercise intercept due to Director error.

Twenty three (23) STP exercises were conducted during the period, which was sufficient for training purposes. One of these was Desk Top III which proved very successful.

The weekend training of RCAF Reserve Squadrons from Victoria and Sea Island has been extended in scope. RCAF Officers, Airmen, and Airwomen in groups of approximately ten are now coming to this station for their two weeks active duty training in preference to their summer encampment at Cold Lake, Alberta.

Communications and Electronics:

The Communications and Radar Maintenance sections have been combined into the C&E section. Captain TB Pirkle is scheduled to replace Captain Don W Lentz on 1 July 1960 as C&E Officer. At the same time the Maintenance Control Section becomes operational and will be tied in with the Maintenance Control Section at Larson AFB, Washington. The Communications Section continues to have a manpower problem and personnel are being extended to alleviate this situation. Also personnel of other AFSCs are being utilized to fill the shortage. This situation is not good but it is the only alternative at this time. Currently the communications is short of UMD authorization by three people.

The second height finder, an AN/FPS-6B, was due to be installed by 14 March 1960, but difficulties encountered by the installation team from Philco Corporation of Canada has prevented acceptance of this facility.

Supply:

Project Count was completed and was considered quite successful by Supply personnel.

The supply section was expanded by the addition of a small office for the Supply Officer, a change which gained more working space for the supply staff. The new warehouse under construction is expected to be complete in August. This additional space is badly needed to consolidate supplies which are temporarily stored at various locations about the base.