Radar Stations on the East Coast

Detail Pertaining to the Installation
of Coastal Defences - Assorted Sources

Extract from 14 RD St. John's

25 Nov 43

Weather - Cloudy, cold. Little activity, twenty five aircraft tracks plotted during the day. At 1400 hours received a message from the Torbay Station DAPM "A limited number of enemy are supposed to have landed in Trinity Bay. Supposed to be wearing service uniforms. Observe necessary precaution." Double guards were posted at the Detachment. This duty being handled by the radar mechanics and operators. All the sten guns and rifles were fired to see that they were in good operating condition. Every man carried his gun beside him where he was working. Nothing of a suspicious nature occurred.

[18 pounder field gun]

Example of an 18 pounder field gun

[Lewis Machine Gun]

Example of a Lewis Machine Gun

The Lewis Gun was a pre-WWI era British machine gun that continued to see service all the way through WWII. It is visually distinctive for its very wide diameter cooling shroud around the barrel, and for its top mounted drum magazines, which came in 50 and 90 round sizes. It was invented by an American army officer in 1911 but was never adopted by that country. It was designed with an aluminium barrel casing to use the muzzle blast to draw air into the gun and cool down the internal mechanism. It could fire 550 .303 rounds per minute. The gun weighed only about half as much as the monumental Vickers machine gun and was primarily chosen because it could be carried and used by a single soldier.


Click on the description text to view the photograph.
  1. Memorandum Regarding Gun Defences - 8 October 1943.
    Courtesy National Archives of Canada.

  2. Letter Regarding Security - 30 September 1943.
    Courtesy National Archives of Canada.

  3. One of the 30 calibre machine guns strategically located around #44 RU Fargo Island - 1943.
    There were seven machine guns placed in sandbag enclosures which were used to protect the station against enemy attack.
    Courtesy Frank Burke.

  4. Unidentified men in Sandy Cove loading sandbags for the gun turrets at #43 RU Elliston Ridge - 1943.
    Courtesy Albert Noseworthy.

  5. Loading sandbags for the gun turrets at #43 RU Elliston Ridge - 1943.
    Eugene Nickolas, Earl Flack and others loading sandbags for the gun turrets at the Mark's Path base.
    Courtesy Albert Noseworthy.

  6. Memorandum Regarding Security Measures - 29 October 1942.
    Courtesy National Archives of Canada.

  7. Ground Defence for RDF Stations - 23 July 1942.
    Courtesy National Archives of Canada.


Photographic Credits

All photos are used with permission.

Return to the Details Page
E-mail
Return to Top of Page

About This Page

This page is located at

http://www.pinetreeline.org/rds/detail/rds11-2b.html

Updated: July 2, 2004