Beausejour, MB

1958 – Historical Report – USAF Historical Division


Historical Report
916th AC&W Squadron
1 October 1958 to 31 December 1958

Section I

REQUIRED DATA

  1. Unit and Location

916th Squadron (Beausejour Air Station)
18 miles NE of Beausejour, Man., Canada

  1. Name and Grade of Commander

AJ Rantal, Major

  1. Chain of Command (Superior Echelons)
  2. The 916th Squadron is operationally responsible to the 31st Air Division, Fort Snelling, Minnesota. It is logistically responsible to Detachment #1, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (ADCR 24-10)

  • Subordinate Units (Down to and including squadrons)
  • N/A

  • Mission (Give authority and brief statement of primary mission)
  • (Attachment 12 to 31st CONAD Regulation 24-1). The 916th Squadron will operate and maintain a Direction Center, (except when reported as a surveillance station under CADF 55-24), part of the integrated air defense system of the 31st Air Division (Defense) for the purpose of conducting air defense operations within the area of responsibility assigned, and to conduct training required for the effective accomplishment of this mission.

  • Personnel
  •    

    Officers

    Airmen

    Civilians

    Total

     
     

    Assigned

    11

    146

    18

    175

     
     

    Attached

    0

    0

    0

    0

     
                 
  • Equipment (Give official nomenclature and quantity of mission-type equipment)
  • AN/FPS-3C (1); AN/FPS-502 (1); AN/TPS-502 (1); AN/GPS-T2 (1); AN/UPS-T5 (1).

    Section II

    COMMENTARY

     

    Operations:

    Operations activities during this period were normal. There were several division wide exercises conducted at evenly spaced intervals during these last three months. ECM was prevalent during nearly all of these exercises with mechanical jamming the predominant source.

    Intercept training for this period increased and the directors were able to attain a much larger portion of their director intercept requirements. Although an improvement over the previous reporting period, the intercept activity is still insufficient to insure overall director proficiency.

    The movements and identification section, activated on a training status during August 1958, was integrated on a full time basis. The prime difficulty being encountered at present is the location of the movements and identification section on the left side of the middle dias. This area is too small to utilize the specified CADF correlation table and a substitute correlation table is being used. A request for authorization to relocate the movements and identification section on the right side of the middle dias was initiated to our support headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario.

    A new vertical plotting board was installed during December 1958. The new board permits plotting our full radar coverage as well as a plentiful portion of adjacent sub-sectors.

    Personnel:

    Assignment of new personnel and rotations were fairly stable during October, November and December. There were 27 new airmen assigned; with 2 officers and 17 airmen reassigned to stateside bases.

    Our airman reenlistments reached the 100% mark with 5 airmen reenlistments constituting this 100% figure.

    The 31st Air Division "Ship-Shape" Inspection was conducted here on the 17th of November. The inspection team was led by Brigadier General Frank W Gillespie, 31st Division Commander and members of his staff. Our squadron placed 4th in the division for this inspection and received 3rd place in the 1958 "Ship-Shape" rating on a Division wide basis.

    Equipment Performance:

    Equipment performance during this period was normal with very limited outages and breakdowns.

    Facilities:

    During this reporting period the following base projects were completed: (a) 30 storm shelters, 6x8 feet, covered with aluminum siding and rubber covered flooring were constructed for the trailers located in our two base trailer courts. (b) Three poles and street lights were installed in the base dependant housing area. Base street lighting is now automatically turned on and off through the use of a photoelectric cell system. (c) New kitchen cupboards, work counters, sinks and exhaust hoods and fans were installed in the eight dependant houses. (d)A new fire alarm system was installed in the curling rink, supply building and the pump house. (e) The wash house for the lower trailer court was completed. This wash house has three washing machines and dryers with laundry tubs, work counters and a drying room.

    The officers club underwent a remodelling, with new wall panels installed and considerable repainting.

    Supply:

    Supply activity during this period has been extremely normal without any major incident nor with any reportable changes or important happenings.

    Community Relations:

    Our relations with the surrounding civilian and military populace continues to improve and during this period was normal.

    Social activities still prove to be our best method of meeting new people and increasing our friendship with the surrounding civilian populace.

    Morale:

    Morale here in the squadron appears to be on the bright side. The sports activities; bowling, curling, and ice skating along with a fairly prosperous hunting season offered off duty diversions for our personnel.

    Discipline, squadron wise, seems to have generally improved during this reporting period. This was indicated by the exceptional effort and desire on everyone’s part, prior to, and during the 17 November 1958 "Ship-Shape" Inspection to present this as the outstanding squadron in the division.

    Awards:

    The 916th Squadron newspaper the "Site Seer" won the initial 31st Air Division quarterly newspaper award for the period October through November 1958.

    The award presentation was presented to Major AJ Rantal, 916th Squadron Commander, by Brigadier General Frank W Gillespie, 31st Air Division Commander.

    Typed Name and Grade of Commander

    AJ Rantal, Major

    Signature