Clinton News-Record, 1969-03-20, Page 10A look at CFB Clinton .........
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This compact station, located in the rolling countryside of
Huron County about two miles south of thetown of Clinton, has
(for almost 27 years) been occupied with the teaching of certain
skills required by modern military forces. It began existence
officially on the 20th of July, 1941, as No. 31 Royal Air. Force
Radio Direction. Finding (RDF) School. This rather non -committal
title masked the real function of the school which wasthat of
'introducing citizen soldiers into the .mysteries of a new and
"hush-hush" method o`f aircraft detection known as radar.
The background of events which led to the establishment of
the station at Clinton is rather interesting. The importance of radar
in World War 11 and its widespread application required the training
of large numbers of personnel in the maintenance and operation of
the equipment involved.
At the time, the Royal Air Force possessed the only people
who were experienced in this field, but the manpower and training
resources of the United Kingdom were fully committed to the
conduct of the war. Consequently, it was decided that a large
proportion of the radar manning and training requirements would be
provided in Canada by the Royal Canadian Air Force. This
commitment included American training requirements.
The choice of Clinton for the training locale was influenced by
the similarity of the high bluffs of nearby Lake Huron to the British
south coastline, which provided necessary realism to radar training.
In addition, Clinton was fairly well isolated, for security purposes,
but was close enough to large population centres for convenient
communication and leave purposes.
Some idea of the importance and success of training at Clinton
during the period of the war years, 1941 to 1945, can be gained by
this excerpt from an article which appeared in "Time" magazine in
August 1945:
"From tiny Clinton (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 Radar and Communications School. The U.S.
students, most of them university men, thought so highly of the
school that it later became the model for U.S. training centres."
During this period (1943) the station was redesignated as "No.
5 RCAF Radio School" under its first Canadian commanding
officer, Wing Commander K. R. Patrick, who succeeded Wing
Commander Adrian Cocks, RAF, the first commanding officer.
In 1945, the school became a permanent RCAF station and its
functions had expanded to include training in radio technician and
operator trades in addition to radar. Since that time, other schools
have been established on the station, The Air Radio Officers School
and the School of Food Services both operated at RCAF Station,
Clinton, for several years, but have now been relocated at other
bases. October, 1951, saw the establishment of an Examination Unit
on the station, now a detachment of the Training Standards
Establishment within Training Command. The School of
Instructional Technique moved to Clinton from RCAF Station
Trenton in 1962.
With the integration of the armed forces in Canada, RCAF.
Station, Clinton, was re -named "Canadian Forces Base (CFB)
Clinton" on•the 1st of April,1966. The base now includes the Radar
and Communications School, the School of Instructional Technique
and the Training Standard Establishment Detachment.
In 1948 construction of married quarters began in the area
east of the station and now comprises a total of 216 single, duplex
and quadruplex type homes, plus Protestant and Roman Catholic
.today
CLINTON.
THE' HOME
OF RADAR
• IN CANADA
Churenes and a 14 -classroom elementary school. This area is now
known as Adastral Park and is administered by a mayor and town
council.
* * *
By Canadian military standards, CFB Clinton would probably
be classed as a medium-sized establishment. Population over the
years has been extremely variable, depending as it does upon the
continual ebb and flow of military training requirements. At the
present time, there are approximately 700 personnel (staff and
students) stationed at the base.
CFB Clinton is known as a "self -accounting unit", which
means . that services such as financial accounting, medical,
construction, maintenance and transportation, are administered
locally. The .direction of these services, together with the operation
of the training schools, recreational and messing facilities, married
quarters and so forth, represents a complex and challenging task and
it may be of interest from a civilian point of view to describe some
of the responsibilities involved, and the people who are presently
assigned to deal with them.
WHO'S WHO AT CFB CLINTON .1
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The base commander�at CFB Clinton is Colonel E. W. (Pat) Lt. -Col. w0. H. "4(Otto) Hack, CL is t o present CO
Ryan, CD, appointed to this position • in July, 1967. A native of
Kitchener; Ontario, he has had a military career dating back to 1935,
when he joined the pipe band of the Scots Fusiliers of Canada
(Militia) in Kitchener. This career was interrupted between 1946 and
1949 when he attended the University of Western Ontario, emerging
with a degree in mathematics. He was commissioned as a
telecommunications officer in the RCAF and since 1950 has held a
variety of staff positions related to this field at Air Force
Headquarters; Whitehorse, YT; and in Washington, D.C. Between
'1956 and 195$, he attended the University of Michigan where he
attained M. Sc. degrees . in aeronautical and control systems
engineering. During World War II, he was commissioned as a pilot
and served with both the RCAF and the Royal Navy.
The commanding officer of the Radar and Communications
School (R&CS) is Lieutenant Colonel b. E. (Orv) Warner, CD. He is
a native of Aylsham, Sask., and joined the RCAF in 1941 as a radar
technician, serving in this capacity in the United States and then in
England until 1945. After the war, he attended the University of
Western Ontario, where he attained a radio physics degree. He
subsequently rejoined the RCAF arid was commissioned as a
telecommunications officer. Since 1951, he has served on the
officers training staff at Clinton; in various telecommunication staff
positions at AFHQ and (later) CFHQ in Ottawa; and on a two-year
tour of duty with RAF Coastal Command as an exchange officer.
During 1957 and 1958, he attended M.I.T. in Boston where he
received a M, Sc.,degree in electrical engineering.
As commanding officer of the Radar and Communications
School, Lt. -Col. Warner is responsible to the base commander for
the administration of training policy, maintenance of training
standards and direction of, work activities in the four school divisions
— Officer, Applied, and Basic Training, plus Training Management.
No. 31 RCAF RDF School
of the Canadian Forces School of Instructional Technique (CFSIT)
at Clinton. He comes from Wembley, Alberta and served in the
Canadian Army during World War I1 He subsequently attended the
University of British Columbia, graduating in 1'948 with a BA
degree. After a year of high school teaching, he `enrolled in the
RCAF and was commissioned as an education officer in 1949. Since
that time, he has served tours of duty as an education officer and
subsequently as a training staff officer both in Canada and at 1 Air
Division Headquarters, Europe:
In his capacity of commanding officer of• the School of
Instructional Technique, Lt. -Col. Hack is responsible to the base
commander for maintaining instructor training standards and for
directing work activities of the school staff.
' The present base administration officer is Major F. A. (Frank)
Golding, CD. He was born in Seaforth, Ontario, the son of the late
Senator and Mrs. W. H. Golding. He joined the RCAF in 1941 and
has served continuously since that time. He received a commission as
an administrative officer in 1955 from the rank of flight sergeant.
Since that time, he has 'held administrative positions at Lachine,
Quebec; Chatham N.B.; and St. Hubert, Quebec. Prior to his transfer
to Clinton in 1967, Major Golding was employed as a staff officer in
the Personnel " Administration Branch of Air Transport Command
Headquarters, Trenton, Ontario.
Major Golding's title is quite descriptive — he administers, at
the base commander's direction, the myriad services that are
required' to keep CFB Clinton going as an efficiently functioning
base.
Major H. (Harry) Wach, CD, now holds the position of base
comptroller at Clinton. He is responsible for the control and
accounting of all finances and funds administered on the base. He is
, native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and joined the RCAF as a bandsman
in 1940. He later remustered to Aircrew and served as a pilot from
1943 to 1945. On his release from the RCAF, he attended
university, graduating in 1950 with an honours degrees in
Commeree. He then joined the Civil Service, Ottawa, in the
Department of Labour. In 1951, he rejoined the RCAF and was
commissioned as an accounting officer. Since then, he has served in
that capacity at various bases in Canada, the United States and
Europe, prior to his posting to 'Clinton in 1968,
Captain R. S. (Spence) Cornmings, DFC, Cb, holds the
position of base technical services officer at Clinton. He was born in
Calgary, but grew up in Ottawa. In 1942, he joined the RCAF, was
trained as aircrew and served overseas with 431 RCAF (Iroquois)
Squadron in No. 6 Bomber.Group. On his release in 1945, he
attended Toronto University where he received a BA degree. In
1950, he joined the staff of Canadian Commercial Corporation and
remained with that firth until he re-enlisted in the RCAF` in 1953 as
a•supply officer, Since that time, Captain Cummings has worked in
this capacity at several bases across Canada and Served a tour of duty
in England and France prior to his Clinton posting. As base technical
services officer, he IS responsible for the operation of the base supply
section, the construction and engineering section, the base heating
and sewage plants, the fire hall, and for inspection services,
Captain ft, A. (Alec) Smith is the present detachment
commander of the Training g Standards tistabiishment (TSB)
Detachment of Clinton and comes from New Glasgow, N.S7 I•le
served id the Royal Canadian Navy from 1947 to 1955 and joined'
the RCAF in 1958 as ah officer cadet, Ile was Commissioned as an
education officer in 19.59 and since that time has been stationed at
Camp Borden, Ontario, and Cold Lake, Alberta as education officer,
prior to his posting to his present position. He holds a B.Se. degree
froni St. Francis Xavier University and a Nova Scotia teachers
diplons. As PSE detachment comrnandet, he is responsible rot the
production of field ekaminations; fol' efectrnnles and
communication§ operator trades' in the Sir elernencof the Canadian
Armed Forces, and also for preparing examinations tor basic training
courses at the Clinton Radar and Communications School.
4> a.
The organization chart shown below gives a concise picture of
how chain of command and administration of policy 'reaches from
Canadian Forces Headquarters in Ottawa down to the working
executive levels at CFB Clinton. It will be seen. that the base
commander bears the full authority and responsibility for the
operation of the base, but must necessarily delegate some of his
authority to his executive staff, who then become responsible to the
base commander for the effective and efficient operation of the
activities under their control.
CHAIN OF COMMAND
CANADIAN FORCES HEADQUARTERS, OTTAWA
1
TRAINING COMMAND HEADQUARTERS, WINNIPEG
COL, E.W. RYAN
BASE COMMANDER
CFB CLINTON
LT. COL. O.H. HACK
Commanding Officer, School
of Instructions! Technique
MAJOR F.A. GOLbINC
Efate Adrhiriistratioh officer
1
h :
CAPT. R,A: SMITH
CO, Training Standards
Establishment Detachment
LT. COL O.E. WARNER
Commanding Officer, Radar
and Communications School
CAPT. R.S. CUMMi1 G&
Technical Servide officer
MAJOR H WACH
Bate Comptroller