Saglek, Labrador

1966 – Historical Report – USAF Historical Division


Historical Record
924th AC&W Squadron
Saglek, Labrador
1 July 1966 to 30 September 1966

Section I

REQUIRED DATA

  1. Unit and Location

924th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron

  1. Name and Grade of Commander

Thomas R Singleton, Major

  1. Chain of Command (Superior Echelons)
  2. 37th Air Division
    First Air Force
    Air Defense Command

  • Subordinate Units (Down to and including squadrons)
  • None

  • Mission (Give authority and brief statement of primary mission)
  • The mission of the 924th AC&W Squadron is to conduct Air Defense operations within assigned area of responsibility; support the Melville NORAD Control Center; function as a Surveillance Station with limited control capability in the Air Defense System; operate and maintain the air strip at Saglek Bay, Canada.
    37th Air Division Regulation 23-7

  • Personnel
  •    

    Officers

    Airmen

    Civilians

    Total

     
     

    Authorized

    6

    89

    40

    135

     
     

    Assigned

    6

    78

    34

    118

     
                 
  • Equipment (Give official nomenclature and quantity of mission-type equipment)
  • 1 AN/FPS-93A Radar; 2 AN/UPX-14; 3 AN/GPS-T2/T2A; 1 AN/UPA-35; 2 AN/GRC-27 Radio; 2 AN/GRR-7; 2 AN/GRT-3; 1 GTA-6.

    Section II

    COMMENTARY

    Supply and Services Branch:

    All supplies and equipment were received on Gap-Pine re-supply ships. Total received: 336 tons of general supplies; approximately 65 tons of retrograde was turned in to host base. Total aircraft processed for turn-around by Supply and Services Branch: Three (3) DC-4’s, twenty-one (21) DC03’s and three (3) HU-16’s. Incoming cargo included 31,037 lbs. of general; 13,534 lbs. of produce, 5,834 lbs. of mail and 187 passengers. Outgoing cargo was 20,504 lbs. of general, no produce, 4,655 lbs. of mail and 174 passengers. The POL section shipped 14,445 barrels of contaminated fuel and received 19,893 barrels for this year’s supply.

    Materiel Control – Of 51 priority requested processed 48 are completed. Forty-one were priority five (5), nine were priority two (2), and one (1) NORS item. The majority of 305 routine requests were Minimum Level. Of 14 pieces of test equipment sent to CMC for calibration, six (6) were received. Daily monitoring of bench stock was taken and several new items were added. There were 14 zero balances. Two hundred new items were added to minimum level, placed on order and bin labels prepared. The minimum level items on hand were relocated and refilled to accommodate the new additions. All publications were inventoried and brought up to date. Publications needed were ordered.

    Food Services – The annual resupply of perishable and non-perishable items was unloaded, stored and inventoried. A food service sanitation inspection was conducted by the veterinarians from Goose AB and was rated satisfactory. T/Sgt. Robert V Oeinck replaces T/Sgt. Wiggins as Food Service Supervisor. Also gained were six (6) civilian KP’s and one (1) airman. One airman was also lost.

    Lower Camp – Fifty-four (54) vehicle work orders were completed with 501 manhours expended. Seven hundred and eighty-two (782) manhours were expended on general work orders. Four new vehicles were received during the shipping season: two (2) pickups, one (1) dump truck and one (1) water truck. Five vehicles were shipped out, three (3) to salvage and two (2) to BEMO. One (1) excess power unit was also shipped out. All winter use vehicles are being prepared for operation. S/Sgt. Toombs replaced S/Sgt. Gravely as Lower Camp Commander. Other gains were one S/Sgt and one civilian. One civilian was lost.

    Civil Engineering Branch:

    The Mobile Maintenance Team, segment #3, arrived 19 July to carry out maintenance and repairs on the roofs, heating systems, and tie down cables. Maintenance on the roofs was completed 23 July. On 22 August the fuel ship arrived delivering 718,827 gallons of diesel fuel and picking up 630,000 gallons of contaminated fuel. On 30 August the re-supply ship came in and off-loaded the yearly supplies for the site. Civil Engineers received construction and maintenance supplies for the contractors and maintenance teams. On 2 September, segment #1 of the Mobile Maintenance Team arrived to carry out maintenance and repairs on the Ric-Wil line, BMEW sewage, Exterior Walls, Radar Tower vents, and the station electrical distribution. Colonial Briard construction crews also arrived this date to repair the storm damage on the Multi-Purpose building which consisted of one complete exterior wall. This involved the installation of metal siding and new asbestos wall board on the inside. This work was completed on 23 September. Lindsy construction crew arrived 12 September to carry out the installation of eaves and corner caps and bottom closers on the outside siding. 1st Lt. Norman H Kale departed this station on 2 September to attend a FUB conference at Goose AB, Labrador. Segment #3 departed this station 2 September. Six (6) work orders were completed by this team. In house personnel completed three (3) work orders including the pickling of one 12,500 bbl fuel tank. Normal preventative maintenance was performed throughout the Upper and Lower Camp. M/Sgt. Liescheski was replaced by S/Sgt. Maliziola as NCOIC, Civil Engineers. One civilian carpenter was gained and one lost. One airman was gained and one lost.

    Operations Branch:

    The Operations Branch participated in six (6) live and five (5) simulated missions. On 19 Sep Communications Branch was converted back to C&E Branch. 1st Lt. Leroy Blondeau, Operations Officer, departed this section 26 Aug. On 20 Sep 1st Lt. Donald W Vaughn arrived and assumed duties as Chief, Operations Branch. Operations Branch participated in the following missions: NNR ORE-13 through 14 Sep; 1st Air Force Tactical Evaluation of 37 AD013 through 14 Sep; ADC ORI-24 Sep. All evaluations received a satisfactory rating.

    Medical Services Branch:

    A total of 189 patients were treated. Two Eskimos were air evacuated via EPA. One was a 19 year old male who was treated on the site for 48 hours with pneumonia and pleurisy prior to evacuation. The other was a 3 month old girl with dehydration. The scheduled aircraft was airborne departing from the site when it was called back to evacuate the infant. One seaman was treated for a head injury and exposure when he fell from the tanker during the annual re-supply. All foods were inspected prior to leaving the supply ship. A preventative medicine staff assistance visit was conducted by personnel from the Goose Veterinarian Office; the overall rating of the site was satisfactory. T/Sgt. George W Thayer, Chief Medical Branch was lost. T/Sgt. Paul R Hogarth replaced him. One airman was gained.

    Information and Recreation Branch:

    One new pool table was received and installed at Lower Camp. New shelves were installed in the library and a medicine ball was added to the gym’s equipment. GEEIA Team arrived for the installation of a closed circuit television station. Tentative on-air time is now 2 Nov , 1966. T/Sgt. Boyd, Branch NCOIC, was replaced by S/Sgt. Dalton. Two airman losses and one gain were recorded.

    Communications and Electronics Branch:

    Supervision – During August this Branch underwent Quality Control Inspection from 37 AD Chief of Maintenance Section. No major discrepancies were found and overall rating was considered Outstanding. During this quarter the 3044 assigned rotated to the ZI and was replaced by Lt. Gabourie. The Communications Operations Section, formerly a part of the Operations Branch, was placed under the operational and supervisory control of the Branch. Once again the C&E Branch operations was an Operations and Maintenance activity. To improve the overall supervision and efficient management of resources, the CEM office was relocated to building S-14 from the Radar Maintenance Work Center, building S-12.

    Materiel Control – Materiel Support has been outstanding. At the end of this period only one (1) item was at zero level on Bench Stock. Priority requests were promptly filled and this section was rated excellent during the QC inspection.

    Radar Maintenance – TCTO 31P6-2FPS20-583, started during this month of June 1966 and was completed 7 July. No major difficulties were encountered during installation or check-out. TCTO 31P6-2FPS20-613 completed 15 Aug relocated new plates for nomenclature and serial number of the radar system. These TCTO’s changed the AN nomenclature of the old FPS-87A to AN/FPS-93A. TCTO 31P6-2FPS3-544 was completed 22 Aug on all OA-175 PPI scopes to provide additional video inputs. A DLM Team from Canadian Marconi arrived on site 2 Aug to complete repair of FPS-93A radome. Job 16 Aug. The DLM Team recommended a replacement radome be requisitioned due to cracks and weakened condition of installed one. Assistance has been requested from 37 AD for its replacement. This section received an Outstanding rating during the QC inspection. The HY-119’s and one TD-94 with mounting racks were turned in 16 Aug as excess equipment to this sites requirements. A radar evaluation, conducted by the 4754 Radar Evaluation Squadron, Hill AFB, Utah, was completed 30 Sep. Overall rating of equipment capabilities was Outstanding. Several difficulties were encountered due to malfunction or inadequacy of test equipment on hand. This situation is created due to span of time spent waiting for return of PME sent to CMC’s calibration laboratories at St. John’s, Newfoundland. Overall operation of the AN/FPS-93A system and ancillary equipment has been outstanding as verified by operational results, daily performance checks and the radar evaluation. One 30372 and two 30352’s were lost. Overall manning for this section is 100%, however lack of skilled technicians is becoming critical. Most of the skilled losses are being replaced with 3 levels assigned directly from tech school, without any field experience.

    Radio Maintenance – Mobile radios were removed from inactive Trackmasters and remounted on newly received personnel and cargo trucks. HF antenna was reinstalled after high winds and icy condition broke it during the last quarter. The QC inspection found this section accomplishing its mission in a satisfactory manner. One 30454 and one 30434 were gained and one 30454 was lost, leaving the section 75% manned.

    Wire and Telephone Maintenance – Thirty-seven work order requests were accomplished: nine (9) disconnect and removal requests, ten (10) telephone relocations, ten (10) failure corrections, five (5) separate requests for three-way switched and three (3) requests for number changes. During this quarter the QC Inspection rating was Outstanding. No gains or losses.

    Telephone/Crypto Maintenance – No qualified personnel have been assigned to this section since the second quarter of FY 66. One 36330 was assigned in July against a S/Sgt. vacancy. No facilities exist at this squadron for OJT or proficiency training of this airman. Due to skill level, assigned airman is not authorized to work on COMSEC equipment, creating a critical shortage in the Teletype and Crypto equipment maintenance. Fifteen (15) requests to correct equipment failure involving teletype systems were answered during this period.

    Communications Operations – This section has just come under the operational and supervisory control of this Branch. A COMSEC scheme was completed during this period. Main problem during this quarter was condition of existing switchboard patch cords and plugs. These items have been on order for more than 12 months. Kellogs 246 type switchboard is now about 66% out of commission due to faulty cords and plugs. Gains were one (1) 29170, three (3) 29150 and one (1) 29130. Losses were five (5) 29150’s. Section is 100% manned.

    Administrative Branch:

    Administration/Personnel was again routine this quarter. Major Thomas R Singleton assumed command vice Captain William L Maliniski. On 15 July, CM/Sgt. Robert I Garrett received notification that he was officially being cross trained into the 01090 AFSC, and relieved SM/Sgt. Alex O Gardens, AFSC 30390, as Squadron First Sergeant. 1st Lt. Dennis P Gallo, AFSC 7324, assumed the position of Chief, Administrative Services Branch vice 1st Lt. William W Stowe, who departed PCS 22 Aug. In Unit OJT, S/Sgt. Harold L Phillips successfully passed the SKT in his AFSC and has been upgraded. The unit is still experiencing an ever increasing number of personnel on OJT status. Receipt of assignments, flight dates and PCS orders have greatly improved this quarter. Subject items are now received in minimum time. The unit was also credited with the extension of oneA/1C for reenlistment. Promotions were satisfactory this period with the unit receiving one S/Sgt. stripe and six A/1C stripes, one of which was given to A/2C Edward Kozel, AFSC 73250, Personnel Specialist in Administrative Services Branch.

    Typed Name and Grade of Commander

    Thomas R Singleton, Major, USAF

    Signature