Air Traffic Control

Comments by Kenneth "KD" Macdonald - 1950-1951

The control tower was on the left side of #1 hangar when I arrived in 1950. I have no knowledge of it being on the right side, but I would not dispute the situation as it may have existed two years before my arrival. The one thing that I remember vividly (for a B-Stand) was the teletype that was at the "B" position and we had to type all the flight plans and the addresses of all agencies concerned to Base Ops for onward transmission. You can imagine the concerned agencies on a flight from Goose Bay to Albuquerque New Mexico!

Comments by Vic Gray: 1952-1954

The photo depicted above was taken ca 1953 - and was very definitely before the arrival of the RAF. The overseas airlines would divert to Goose Bay whenever Gander or Montreal were closed due to inclement weather. The ramp side of the bottom floor of the Hangar was the airline terminal for Goose at the time. Bear in mind that the RCAF side ran parallel to Runway 17/35. This was definitely Hangar One, and the picture was taken from the ramp.

Comments by Kenneth "KD" Macdonald - 1962-1965

The Letter of Agreement with the Americans stated that the Canadian Military would provide IFR (including radar) service as long as the USAF operated at Goose Bay. As a result, when the Canadian Government decided to close RCAF Station Goose Bay, we were held to abide with the letter of Agreement - and a small number of RCAF personnel remined on the Station. When I left (summer 65) we were still in control of the aerodrome and the USAF were full tilt on the other side. The SAC tanker force of 26 KC97's had been replaced with 8 KC135's (I'm not completely sure of the numbers, but think I'm right). The 59th Fighter were still there with approx 30 F102's. The 54th Air Rescue was still there, and we still had the Dakota and a couple of Otters. The MOT ran the Centre (the north sector of Moncton) out in RATCON, and otherwise had no say in the operation.

Comments by Ren L'Ecuyer - 1968-1971

There were only about 50 Canadian military personnel at Goose Bay when I arrived in September 1968. About 40 of these were ATC personnel. We operated and maintained the control tower as well as the RAPCON unit on the station. We did not have our own Messes and Clubs, but we maintained membership in the RAF and USAF facilities.

Comments by Kenneth "KD" Macdonald - 1976-1978

When I returned in 1976, we took over control of the PAR and the entire radar maintenance. The MOT took control of the aerodrome (maintenance, snow removal etc.) The GCI facility on the hill was operated by Canada (Northern NORAD). As a little aside, the idiots (MOT) decided to save money with the snow removal, and narrowed Runway 09/27 from 300' to 200' and shortened 17/35 from 9700' to 6000. This brilliant move took Goose out as an alternate for trans-oceanic flights when we had a north-south wind blowing. Total stupidity and it really pissed the Brits off. We still had enough people for an Oficers Mess, a Sr NCO Mess and the Cpls Club. We still maintained an MIR, so I'm guessing we had between 150-175 military at that time. When the USAF pulled out in 1976, they left a small detachment of MAC there to handle the odd USAF aircraft (including SR71's). They were still there when I left in 1978 and we were still providing the IFR service. I assume that CIRCO took over from MOT for the VFR portion, but I really lost track of the IFR portion. The MOT were really having difficulty recruiting controllers to go to Goose. I know that the first ones there were all washed out IFR controllers - and that caused some initial friction.

Comments by Mike Mealey - 1971-1980 and 1991-1994

When I arrived here the first time (April 9/1977) there were about 250 personnel here including the troops from Melville Radar. We use to have a "Gathering of the 13"; 13% of the complement were Officers with about 7 from the Hill and 30 from the Station (we were a CFS then). Out of that, there were 17 ATC types. We literally owned the mess and had most of the secondary duties. I think I was on the ground as a new Lt. for about 4 days and had already amassed the Section Deputy-Entertainment, BDF Commander, Airshow deputy-coordinator and Bar Officer.

The MOT enroute controllers left in the early 80s and went back to Moncton Centre.

Having been posted here 3 times and done 5 TDs for Arctic Express, I went through 9 BATCOs from KD MacDonald to Pete Dion. I worked in the old Tower on the Canadian side and helped to check out the MOT controllers who eventually moved into the new Tower across the street from what might have been the SAC Command Post (S110) next to the Firehall.

In the time from my first posting here in 1977, ATC went from about 32 all-ranks to almost 60 in 1997 when I came back here for my 3rd (last) posting. With ASD in 1998, Serco Facilities Management Inc won the contract to provide most of the services that the military used to provide for the CAF and the Allies. The mass exodus of '98 left only 3 ex-military (Capts. Arnold Kelly and Mike Mealey and Cpl Mark Simpson) from a complement of 58 ATC. Capt Garry Naylor and Sgt Claude Ross were the last military Controllers to log off in the Terminal while Capt Greg Miller was the last to log off in Tower at 2359 Local (0259Z) on 31 July 1998. Serco took over ATC Tower and Terminal duties at 0000 Local 1 Aug 98. The initial cadre was 8 qualified Terminal controllers providing 16/6 service and 9 Tower controllers for 24/7 service. I retired from the CF with 25 years in and immediately went to work for Serco. And the rest, as they say, is history.