Memories of Saglek
I was one of the lucky ones. I actually managed to complete a tour at Saglek which resulted in spending less than a year at this location – 8 months to be exact.
It all started in 1969. I was a S/Sgt. Radar Technician working at Charleston AFS when I was advised that I had been volunteered for a tour of duty with the 924th AC&W Squadron which was located at Saglek, Labrador, in Canada.
Like so many before me, I flew the MAC charter flight out of McGuire AFB to Goose Bay, and then onwards to Saglek – compliments of an Eastern Provincial Airways DC-4. I arrived at Saglek in January 1970, fully expecting, and prepared to spend the next 12 months of my life at this location.
As a radar technician, I was an integral part of the 924th AC&W Squadron. Generally, we worked two day shifts, two swing shifts and then two days off, so there was some off duty time available to the personnel.
There were a small number of recreational facilities available such as movies, bowling, a gymnasium, a library and a photo lab. I spent a great deal of my spare time in the photo lab, although after a while the rocks and snow pretty well all looked the same. The movies came in twice a week – if we were lucky. It was cheap entertainment even if most of the films were old. We did have a kind of TV set-up, but mostly that was just movies broadcast from the on site studio. There was no TV reception from the outside world.
I seem to recall that we had about 55 USAF military and 30 civilian personnel during my tour at Saglek. We endured a couple of bad storms, but none were really severe. I guess we were lucky as the history of this area is known for severe storms and high wind situations.
Mail appeared to be available on every plane that made it to Saglek. The schedule was two times a week, but as can be expected, that depended on the weather and the availability of aircraft. Usually, the plane was a DC-3 which was fairly reliable. The problem was that sometimes the weather at the site was fine when the plane left Goose Bay, but we would be weathered in by the time it got to the site. Of course, everything was VFR (Visual Flight Rules) as there was no instrumentation available for landing.
Looking back on my memories (wasn’t that a song?) I would have to say that drinking was a problem. At least for most folks, we did a lot of it. The beer and booze was very cheap even by the standards of that time.
When I was there, most of the USAF personnel took a mid-tour leave. I was able to take leave and I got to the States on one occasion.
Looking back – I must have been quite fortunate as Saglek was deactivated during my tour. I eventually left Labrador in August 1970, having completed an eight month tour at this location – only to find myself returning to my previous unit at Charleston AFB in Maine.
This detail was provided by Rick Brown who completed a tour at Saglek AFS between January 1970 and August 1970.