Canadian Forces Station Baldy Hughes (ADC ID: C-20) is a closed General Surveillance Radar station. It is located south-southwest of

Prince George, British Columbia Prince George is the largest city in northern British Columbia, Canada, with a population of 74,004 in the metropolitan area. It is often called the province's "northern capital" or sometimes the "spruce capital" because it is the hub city for ...

. It was closed in 1988. It was operated as part of the

Pinetree Line The Pinetree Line was a series of radar stations located across the northern United States and southern Canada at about the 50th parallel north, along with a number of other stations located on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Run by North Ame ...

network controlled by

NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection ...

History

As a result of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

and with the expansion of a North American continental air defence system, The site at Baldy Hughes was selected as a site for a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

(USAF) radar station, one of the many that would make up the Pinetree Line of Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) radar sites. Construction on the base began in 1952 and was completed in 1953. The base was manned by members of the USAF's

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was established in 1946, briefly inac ...

(ADC) 918th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, being known as Baldy Hughes Air Station. In June 1953, operations began at the unit's permanent home. The station was equipped with

AN/FPS-3 The AN/FPS-20 was a widely used L band early warning and ground-controlled interception radar system employed by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command, the NORAD Pinetree Line in Canada, the USAF CONAD in the continental United States ...

C, AN/FPS-502,

AN/FPS-20 The AN/FPS-20 was a widely used L band early warning and ground-controlled interception radar system employed by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command, the NORAD Pinetree Line in Canada, the USAF CONAD in the continental United States, a ...

A; AN/TPS-502, and

AN/FPS-6 The AN/FPS-6 Radar was a long-range height finding radar used by the United States Air Force's Air Defense Command. The AN/FPS-6 radar was introduced into service in the late 1950s and served as the principal height-finder radar for the United Stat ...

B radars. As a GCI base, the 918th's role was to guide interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit's radar scopes. These interceptors were based at the

25th Air Division The 25th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force intermediate echelon command and control organization. It was last assigned to First Air Force, Tactical Air Command (ADTAC). It was inactivated on 30 September 1990 at McChord A ...

McChord Air Force Base McChord Field is a United States Air Force base in the northwest United States, in Pierce County, Washington. South of Tacoma, McChord Field is the home of the 62d Airlift Wing, Air Mobility Command, the field's primary mission being worldw ...

in Washington. In the early 1960s, the USAF relinquished control of the base to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). This was part of an arrangement with the United States that came as a result of the cancellation of the

Avro Arrow The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was a delta-winged interceptor aircraft designed and built by Avro Canada. The CF-105 held the promise of Mach 2 speeds at altitudes exceeding and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) p ...

. Canada would lease 66

F-101 Voodoo The McDonnell F-101 Voodoo is a supersonic jet fighter which served the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Initially designed by McDonnell Aircraft Corporation as a long-range bomber escort (known as a ...

fighters and take over operation of 12 Pinetree radar bases. Upon hand-over on 1 March 1963, the operating unit Became No. 54 Aircraft Control & Warning Squadron and the base became RCAF Station Baldy Hughes. Radar operations at 54 Squadron were automated on 1 June 1966 by the

Semi Automatic Ground Environment The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) was a system of large computers and associated networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image of the airspace over a wide area. SA ...

(SAGE) system, 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 Seattle Air Defense Sector SAGE DC-12 Direction Center of the 25th NORAD Region at McChord AFB, Washington. Radars at the station were also upgraded to the following equipment: * Search Radars:

B * Height Radars: AN/FPS-502,

AN/FPS-27 The AN/FPS-27 Radar was a Long Range search radar used by the United States Air Force Air Defense Command. Westinghouse built a Frequency Diverse (FD) search radar designed to operate in the S-band from 2322 to 2670 MHz. The radar was design ...

AN/FPS-26 The Avco AN/FPS-26 Radar was an Air Defense Command height finder radar developed in the Frequency Diversity Program with a tunable 3-cavity power klystron for electronic counter-countermeasures (e.g. to counter jamming). Accepted by the Rome Ai ...

As a result of the

unification of the Canadian Forces The unification of the Canadian Armed Forces took place on 1 February 1968, when the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force were merged to form the Canadian Armed Forces. History A white paper was tabled in the Par ...

in 1968, the new

Canadian Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...

organization absorbed the RCAF, RCN and the Canadian Army. 48 Radar Squadron, RCAF Station Baldy Hughes, became simply Canadian Forces Station (CFS) Baldy Hughes in 1967. The station began reporting to the Canada West ROCC in 1983. It was closed in 1988. Today the former station is The Baldy Hughes Addiction Treatment Centre.

References

* Cornett, Lloyd H. and Johnson, Mildred W., ''A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980''

Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson AFB, CO (1980). * Winkler, David F. & Webster, Julie L., ''Searching the Skies'', The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program

US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL (1997).
Information for Baldy Hughes AS, BC
{{Aerospace Defense Command, state=collapsed Royal Canadian Air Force stations, Baldy Hughes Radar stations of the United States Air Force Installations of the United States Air Force in Canada Military installations closed in 1988 Military installations established in 1953 1953 establishments in British Columbia 1988 disestablishments in British Columbia

History

See also

References