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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1962-09-06, Page 4tten Clinton Isaac St.' MAIN CORNER CLINTON' RCAF STATION and CLINTON SEAFORTH BUILDERS' SUPPLIES 'CLINTON In the skies over the Pacific, North America, Atlantit, EUrope and Africa, the RCAF maintains its round- the-clock commitments to NORAD, NATO and the United Nations. in addition domestic reqU,irenients Stith as search and rescue and Wining are being carried Out. See your Air Force In action. (LINTON AIR FORCE DA at RCAF Station Centralia on Saturday, September 8 • , A The Clinton-Merchants Listed Below Request Your Attendance at Clinton Air Force Day at Centralia ANSTETT 'JEWELLERS LTD. Clinton -- Walkerton -- Seaforth PICKETT & CAMPBELL LIMITED MEN'S and BOYS' WEAR Main Corner Clinton K. W. "Danny",COLQUHOUN General Insurance and Real Estate Isaac Street — CLINTON — Phone HU 2-9747 CLAYT. DIXON'S AUTO SUPPLY Phone HU 2-7034 RATTEN'BURY STREET -- CLINTON SRS 5WC6 (71 away KING STREET — CLINTON WELLS AUTO ELECTRIC Expert Repairs To All Makes of Cars King Street -- CLINTON — HU 2-3051 MEN'S and BOYS' FOOTWEAR & CLOTHING AIKEN'S LUGGAGE LEATHER GOODS LORNE BROWN MOTORS LTD. Your Friendly' Chevrolet, Oldsrnobile and Envoy Dealer Visit Our OK Used Car Lot Ontario Street --CLINTON,r. Phone HU 2-9321 These Clinton Business Places Invite You To Visit Clinton Air Force Day at Centralia on Saturday JIM'S BOWLING ALLEY & BILLIARDS SMOKERS' SUPPLIES and GIFTS LADIES' WEAR and DRY GOODS Hensel! - - Clinton - - Exeter CORRIE'S Red & White MARKETS HARDWARE -- HOUSEWARES -- APPLIANCES SUTTER-PERDUE LTD. Phone HU . 2-7023 — Clinton, Ontario SHORTY'S SERVICE STATION VICTORIA STREET (Highway 4) HU 2-7661 OREN 24 HOURS HARMAN'S MEN'S - WEAR HU 2-9531 Clinton BALL-MACAULAY LTD King $t.-,---HU 2-9514 Huron St.---Phone 787 LEE S LADIESio1f s7 witzirs and Across From The Post Off ice Victoria Street Clinton 'BRING YOUR CAMERA RECORD You visit ge,. ‘190. Hinton r Forc Local Radar Station Had Vital 'Role In World War 2 -- And Peaetirriol Nearly a quarter of the circumference of the earth'separated the embattled White Cliffs of Dover from the bluffs on the eastern coast of Lake Huron in the blitz days of 1941, but in that year the' two became linked in a way which was vital to final , victory in the Second World War, to .happier times, both echoed to the peaceful sounds of the. birds and waves. But echoes of a different sort playing along the oliffs were to be the cop- moil denominator which tied the two Places to the success- ful outcome of the war. These edhoes were 'the inaudible re-. fleet:dons of an infant technique known at that time as RDF (radio direction .finding) and later, Radar. In the quest for a place re- mote .frain the actual .battles in. which thousands of men could be safely 'trained in the new science, it was found the cliffs on the Lake Huron :Shore, and their surrounding terrain clos- ely resembled those over which the aerial arma de s fought above South East England. Here; 'then, the 'first radar training establishment in North America 'came into being in the early summer of 1941. This establishment was later to be known as RCAF Station Clin- ton and was destined to bec . one of the largest and m. t important stations in the Can- adian air ,service: In April of that critical year ,of the war, a .team of experts s'ea'rched for a suitable location. Among .the ,requirements were adequate power. facilities, rea- sonable proximity, to good Sour- ces of supply,' transportation and, preferably, a.net-too-prom, inent location. Last but not least, it was essential that it be located near a large body of water to approxiinate condi= "titans in besieged' England. All the requirements were met in a location, two miles south of the town ,of Clinton in Huron County and construction was begun RrotographS show that the press: of.' necessity can surely bring swift accomplishment., For example, one pieture taken May 27, 1941, shOws a gently. rolling area of farmland bisect,' ed by a highway with a con, crete silo prominent' On a farm. By .,tune 30, an Air Force sta." ten has .arisen and only the .silo remains to show where the farm once stood. This silo, in- cidentally, still stands on the edge of the Clinton parade square and is wets-rernembered by" thousandS of personnel who trained at the .station during and after the war. This was the initial No. 31 Raldlo School (RAF) .rand, one of its most outstanding cliarac- beristics was secrecy. As soon as clasSroom buildings were erected, they were surrounded by electrically-charged fencing patrolled by , armed' guards. for, in those days, RDF was one of the most carefully guarded sec- rets of the war. History has proved what a vital secret it was for surely, if the RAF Fighter Command wais Britain's, sword in those .difficult days, radar was the buckler with which the Nazi blows were parried'. Because of RDF warning,' the bard- pressed fighter pilots of the RAF and the allied Common Wealth, Air Forces were able to conserve their striking power for the critical moments in the struggle rather than to waste their effort in.:constant patrol- ling or to arrive at the battle scene too . late. It was against this team of pilot and, technic- ian that the• Luftwaffe shat- tered itself in the late summer and early autumn of 1941.. During the initial days of the Battle of Britain, on July 20, 1941, Wing Commander H. W. J. Cocks' (RAF) became the first Commanding Officer of No. 31 .Royal Air Force Radio School. at Clinton. Oddly en- ough, although Britain's need for trained technicians in this field was so great, the first trainees to be put on course were men of the 'United States Navy and Marine Corps. Thus the Tole in the outcome of the War -of graduates of radar train- ing at Clinton was played on a traily world-wide stage. A+1- though complete historical in- formation is not on hand with regard' 'to U.S. forces, it is 'al- most certain that graduates of Clinton took part in every maj- or campaign of the Second World War after 1941, from the South West Pacific to the North Eastern. Arctic, Soon after its inauguration, a steady flow of trained radar technicians were being grad- uated by the school, most of whom were Canadians who sub- sequently served with the RAF in all theatres. Because of the secrecy .attached to the base and Its work, it was after the end of the war before most people knew just how import- oat the station was or its ac- complishments, But after ;the war the plaudits came thick and fast. In a release from the United Kingdom Air Ministry in 1945, Air Commodore C. P. Brawn, Director of Radar, re- vealed just how desperate Brit- ain's need had been and how ably the new station had filled it. He disclosed 'that early in 1941, when the station was beL. gun, Britain had sent an urgent message to Canada stating that recruiting of .RDF mechanics in England had practically ceased and that by the end of 1941 a thousand would' , required from Canada, From. that time on Canadian 'and Canadian- trained radar men provided the backbone of the RAF's radar system. From .the time the first contingent of RAF men •arrived at Clinton on July 20, 1941, until' the end of the :war, nearly 9,000 radar technicians were turned out by the school. In another news release !after the war, Air Commodore Brown stated, "It would not have been posSible to meet the vital and increasing demands of radar in the latter part of 1940 and the following years without the knowledge that Canada was undertaking the recruiting of men to help us handle this im- mense weapon. The exact na- ture of the duties could: nevi' be made known publicly in Can, B.O. at the time, of course, :But so enthusiastic have RCAF per, sonnet been 'since the earliest days that their role in the un •aeen straggle throughout the years of the war is• one That Britain will never forget," The ,influential United Stat- es news magazine "Time" re, ported' in. AugusIt 1945; "From tiny ,Clititon,- Ontario, (pop, 2,000) came a significant story of international co-operation, In four years, 2,325 Americans (and 6,500 Canadians) have been graduated' from. 'Clinton's Royal 'Canadian Air Force Rad- ar and Communications School. The -U,S. students, most of them university men, thought so high" ly Hof .the school that it later became the model for U.S. training centres." Often Canadians formed as mudh as half of the 'technician strength of the mobile radar 'units Which were doing field training in England before em- barking for abroad, Wingate's Chindits in-Burma • and the RAF Wing in Ritstia were just two of the spots embracirn the Whole world in which Clinton graduates saw service. Others played a distinguished role in radar research at, Malvern. Worcestershire, in Ein g la nd Where development work was done an equipment such as "H2S" which later permitted Commonwealth aircrews to bomb unseen targets at night and through cloud.- From , the time of its opening until 1943, Clinton was under RAF direction,, but at that time it was decided that it would be taken over completely by the RCAF. In the process; the sta- tion was redesignated No, 5 RCAF Radio Scholl with Wing Commander (later Group Cap- tain!) K. R, Patrick as its first Canadian commander. Wing Commander Patrick, known af- fectionately to 'the airmen and airwomen on the station as "Peppy Pat", 'served 'out the war guiding the destiny of ,the Clinton establishment. That this service was highly regarded is amply testified by the award to him in 1945 of the Order of th.e British Empire and the United States Legion of Merit. An interesting souvenir of those presSing days is the orig- inal guest book from the Of-- ficert Mess: It contains -Signa- tures which are now bywords in the •fields of radar and elect- ronics. First among these is that of Sir Robert Watson, Watt,. credited with the inven- tion of • radar, who visited Clin- ton, February 2, 1942. Others include Wing Commander M. M. Hendrick (October 29, 1942) who as an Air Commodore be- came :Chief of Telecommunica- tions 'for the RCAF and now holds the monk of Air Vice Marshall. Others are -Air Vice Marshall Robert Leckie (No- vember 17, 1942) later Chief of the Air Sfaff of the RCAF, Air Marshall A. G. R. G'arrod of the United Kingdom Air Ministry and Mr. H, Edwardls, Chaplain- In-Chief of Air Ministry. At the close of the Second World War the future of Chu, ton, as was the case with most wartime RCAF stations, was obscure for a time. RCAF elect- ronics men were convinced that the tremendous advances: made during the war required a per- manent RCAF training estab- lishment. It was samething of a shock, therefore, When a message was received from Air Force Head- quarters. .on September 4, 1945, ordering the station to prepare to disband. The reaction, led by Wing Commander Patrick was swift, and hurried' confer- ences were held through Air Force echelons and finally, in the Defence 'Committee of the Cabinet. As a 'result, a second message was received on Sep- tember 20 which stated that an RCAF signals school would form on a peacetime basis at Clinton. Since that time, the Clinton station has progressed contin- uality until it now holds secur- ely to its 'position as one of the two or three biggest stations in the RCAF from the point of view of manpower Strength. Shortly after its establish- Ment as a regular peacetime station, the training phases were again redisignated and No. 1 Radar , and Communicaions School came into being. In the springy', of 1946, recruit- ing for. the RCAF. was resumed and several senior NCOs were tent to Clinton ,for a„ course in pedagogy prior to re-activating the ilacklities of the Radar and. Communications School. The first post-war course consisted of Royal Canadian Navy radio technicians and within a month a course of RCAF radio tech- nicians •andds a course of radio operators began training. These first courses were of one year duration and were graduated in September 1947. Training in the electronics field has expanded continuously since that time until at present' courses are given in basic elect- ronics, basic radar, basic com- munications techs, Radar TeCh- nicians Course, Radar Techs Niav Aid, Communication Tedhs Ground, Communications Oper- ators, Telegraph Techs, Crypto- Operators!, Digital Techniques (Continued on Page Five) The History .0f Air force Day$ ForPe, Day Was first in- stitntea. in 1947 to acquaint the Canadian public with the tine” tin and. activities of the RCAF. and its, personnel, Flying dis- playsF highlight activities - While displays in hangars are open to 'public .inspection. - The first Air Force Day was held on June 14, 194.7, as a real* of a successful trans- Canada display that took place in latp, 1945. At that time, 10 Lancaster'.Beinb.er squadrons had just returned from opera- tions with. No, '6 Bomber Group twerSeas form ' the "Tiger Force" which was slated for duties in the Pacific. However, with the cessation of hostilities, the Tiger Force was no longer needed; Instead, the Lancaster aircraft and their crews "-em- barked on a trans-Canada tour to show the Canadian.. people what their fighting force was like, Plans for an Air Force Day reached fruition in 1947, when RCAF stations across the coun- try opened their doors to the Canadian ptiblic, most of whom .had an opportunity to see for the first time the activities, operations and equipment of the RCAF. During subsequent Air. Force Days, (usually held on the first Saturday of June each year) flying and ground displays did much to foster public aware" ness of. the continuing• advances made • in the field • Of aviation and air defence. • Ground- dis- plays portrayed peacetime roles as air transport, communica- tions. photographic air survey, search and rescue, research and development. One of the major attractions to be introduced into Air Force Day activities came in 1959 dur- ing the RCAF's 35th anniver- sary celebrations and the Gol- den Anniversary of Powered Flight in Canada. To commem- orate these anniversaries and to highlight most Air Force Day festivities, the RCAF form- ed the famed "Golden Hawks" aerobatic team, which made its first • appearance on May 11, 1959. The great demand for the Golden Hawks across the coun- try necessitated a new policy of "staggering" Air Force Days in Canada, to 'allow as many people .as possible to see their impressive • perforrna.nce of pre- cision flying. Station Clinton History Reveals . Interest For Everybody on Air Force Day Airplanes old and new, large and small, hold an interest for young and old alike as visitors to Air Force Days 'across Canada make the most of their day by seeing the aircraft inside and out It's also an ideal opportunity for potential air force mechanics to examine the mobile cranes and large pieces of snow removal equipment. L • • •