RCAF Station Pagwa

Royal Canadian Air Force Station Pagwa (ADC ID: C-14) is a closed General Surveillance Radar station. It is located west of Pagwa River, Ontario. It was closed in 1966.

It was operated as part of the Pinetree Line network controlled by NORAD.

History

As a result of the Cold War and with the expansion of a North American continental air DeFence system, Pagwa was selected as a site for a United States Air Force (USAF) radar station in 1950, one of the many that would make up the Pinetree Line of Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) radar sites. The United States undertook construction which lasted from 1951 to 1953.

When it was finished the USAF moved into Pagwa Air Station, and it was home to the USAF's Air Defense Command (ADC) 913th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron. It was equipped with AN/FPS-3C, AN/FPS-502, AN/FPS-20A, AN/TPS-502, and AN/FPS-6B radars.

The squadron provided radar services until the USAF handed the station over to the RCAF on 29 May, 1963. This was part of an arrangement with the United States that came as a result of the cancellation of the Avro Arrow. Canada would lease 66 F-101 Voodoo fighters and take over operation of 12 Pinetree radar bases.

37 AC&W Squadron was renamed as 37 Radar Squadron Pagwa on 1 May 1964. It was also upgraded with the following radars:

• Search Radars: AN/FPS-3C, AN/FPS-502, AN/FPS-20A
• Height Radars: AN/TPS-502, AN/FPS-6B

RCAF Pagwa joined the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system in 1963, and the station became a long-range radar site. It would no longer guide interceptors but only look for enemy aircraft, feeding data to the Sault Sainte Marie Air Defense Sector SAGE DC-14 Direction Center of the 30th NORAD Region at K.I. Sawyer AFB, Michigan. Later, the station commenced feeding data to the Duluth Air Defense Sector DC-10 Direction Center of the 29th NORAD Region. Support services were provided by RCAF Station North Bay and 38 Radar Squadron at RCAF Station Armstrong. Armstrong provided "flying doctor" services with a deHavilland Canada Otter.

The radar squadron was disbanded on 1 October 1966. The last RCAF personnel left the station on 15 December 1966 bringing to a close one of the shortest, in time, RCAF manned sites in the NORAD system.

See also

• List of Royal Canadian Air Force stations
• List of USAF Aerospace Defense Command General Surveillance Radar Stations

References

• A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980, by Lloyd H. Cornett and Mildred W. Johnson, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado
• Winkler, David F. (1997), Searching the skies: the legacy of the United States Cold War defense radar program. Prepared for United States Air Force Headquarters Air Combat Command.
• Information for Pagwa AS, ON