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Clinton News-Record, 1983-11-09, Page 21PAGE 2A—CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1983 ir Clinton's monument to the military base, now Vanastra, is a huge radar antenna. It commemorates the establishment of the first radar training school fn North America. This long range surveillance FPS 20 was formerly in operation across Canada as part of the North America Air Defence System. ( Shelley McPhee photo) • from page IA we could never have won the Battle of Britain. Our "magic eye" saw the German bombers as they flew out from France and the RAF fighter controllers were able to put their meagre squadrons of Spitfires and Hurricanes in the right place for in- terception without waste of effort. "Three years later greatly improved radar devices enabled Bomber Command and the U.S. 8th Air Force to keep ham- mering at the German effort in the worst kinds of weather without giving the enemy any chance to rebuild his shattered fac- tories. D -Day aid "Gee," was a navigational system which told our bombers where they were at any moment on their way to Germany and made possible the concentrated bombing of the 1,000 plane raids. It was used extensively on D -Day by aircraft and assault landing craft. Bomber Command use radar in attack. Its uses in other RAF Commands by the Royal Nancy and by the army's anit-aircraft gunners was no less striking. The Daily Mall article noted,"Radar helped the Navy sink the Bismarck and the Scharnhorst. It brought victory in the Battle of Matapan. Uncannily searching out the lurking U-boat, it enabled sea and air power to defeat the submarine menace. Victory in the Battle of the Bay of Biscay might not have been achieved without radar." Radar, "meaning radio detection and ranging," made it possible our ack ack gunners to shoot down most of the flying bombs. It was even able to track the course of the 3,000 mph V2. Carrot tale The legend of "Cat's Eye" pilots, fed on carrots and special pills to improve their night vision was deliberately fostered to Brigadier Clift devoted his career to peace Brigadier General Fred Clift DSO, ED, CD, C de Guerre, MID saw a great deal of active service in World War II and in other internation confrontations. Today he lives a more relaxed but busy life in Bayfield. By Helen Owen Friday, November 11 is Remembrance Day, and Brigadier Fred Clift of Bayfield sums up his experiences as a military man who has been confronted with the hard facts of warfare in modern times by saying that free nations should look to their defences in the uncertain climate of today. Now retired, Brig. Clift is able to review his career in retrospect but talking to him there is no doubt that having abandoned his teaching career for a service life, he has no regrets. Prior to WW II he joined the Militia and at the outbreak of war he had no hesita- tion in transferring to active service. Pro- moted to Lieutenant he was among the first Canadian contingent to be sent overseas in December 1939, but prior to that he was in- volved in recruitment and training. Describ- ing this period he recalls the general shor- tages of everything - except men! the 10 years of depression had resulted in unemployment on an unprecedented scale. Then in Brig. Clift's own words, "Under the threat of war government purse strings were unloosened. There was something for every fit person to do, the possibility of travel and adventure - the young rarely con- sider the risk of death or maiming." Describing the sentiments of his militia comrades Brig. Clift says they felt they had to save the world for democracy, they believed this, and subsequent events have proved them to be right. The journey to England on one of the most commodious Cunard ships, still offering first class ser- vice, contrasted strangely with the ever pre- sent convoy and risk of encounters with enemy submarines and heavy seas. On arrival the men travelled by train to the large military base at Aldershot where training continued to prepare troops to join the British Expeditionary Force in France the following spring. Brig. Clift recalls that the barrack accommodation was over- crowded, they encountered one of the worst winters in living memory in the U.K. and had to adapt themselves to food rationing, service life, the inaequacies of their quarters and the unrelenting measures to ensure their training in mobility. The realities of the situation with regard to the possibility of invasion were only too ap- parent in the extensive preparations for defence. The breaching of the Maginot Line by the Germans in the late spring of 1940 meant withdrawals and the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force, an heroic and heart -breaking story. The Canadians who had expected to leave for France had their orders cancelled - the Germans had taken it over! At that time, Brig. Clift recalls the 1st Canadian division was the only one in Bri- tain fully equipped and mobile and now all their efforts were concentrated on counter invasion exercises. Air attacks were inten- sified and Brig. Clift, now a Captain, was stationed south of London. On September 15 the RAF was responsible for the shooting down of some 100 enemy aircraft. Apart from manning anti-aircraft defences, mobilized patrols were engaged in rounding up downed machines. That same day four German pilots were captured in the area where Brig. Clift was serving. By 1942 Brig. Clift had been promoted to Lt. Col., and then in June of 1944 he was sent to Normandy as Lt. Col. commanding the South Saskatchewan Regiment. During this time he was twice wounded in action. The first time the damage was such that he was able to return to his unit. The Normandy campaign involved numerous and bloody battles, heavy casualties and relentless pur- suit of the enemy. Brig. Clift particularly remembers the break through battle of Bar- quebus Ridge. En route the moving head- quarters group was hit by a mortar bomb, and the signaller beside Brig. Clift was kill- ed outright. The pursuit continued with no sleep and little food. Casualties were high, practically all of "B" company being lost in one engage- ment. A remarkable adventure occurred during the taking of the village of Brionne. A Turn top ., a 6A • i es conceal the secret use of airborne radar. Strangest of all radar devices was that quaintly styled"Rebecca Eureka," used by airborne forces on D -Day at Arnhem and for the Rhine crossing. In those operations special equipment was dropped by rachute with the first men down. These men hastily assembled it to form a radar beacon for guiding later arrivals to their dropping zones. The Daily Mail proudly stated, "The development of radar ranks in military science with the discovery of gunpowder and the invention of the airplane. It revolutionized the whole practice of naval gunnery and brought about the biggest changes in naval tactics since the switch from sail to steam. It all began when the Air Ministry, per- turbed by the weakness of Britain's defences against air attack, set up in 1934, a committee for the scientific survey of air defence. One of its officials went to the National Physical Laboratory and asked, "Can you produce a death ray for us?" He was told there was no early hope of a death ray but that the approach of aircraft could be detected by radio waves. By September 1938, aircraft could be picked up on radar screens 150 miles from the English coast. A 24-hour radar watch began along the whole coastline from Scapa Flow to Portsmouth when the Germans marched into Prague on Good Friday, 1939. By September the chain was complete. Jointly used The enemy powers all used radar, but all lagged behind the Allies. Following brilliant pioneer work by British scientists, who gave all their radar secrets to the U.S. even before they enetered the war, radar was jointly developed by Britain and the U.S. with valuable held from Australia, South Africa and Canadian Forces Bases like the Radar School at Clinton. The first radar equipment arrived in Clinton in mid-July 1941 from England. The staff was predominately RAF, but during the intial days of the Battle of Britain, when the United Kingdom's need for trained technicians in the field was so great, oddly enough, the first trainees were men from the United States Navy and Marine Corps. In August, 1945 Time magazine reported, "From Clinton, Ontario, (pop. 2,000) came a significant story of international co- operation. In four years 2,325 Americans and 6,500 Canadians have graduated from Clinton's Royal Canadian Air Force Radar and Communications School. The United States students, most of them university men, thought so highly' of the school that it later became the model for U.S. training centres." Base changes In 1944 the station was renamed No. 1 Radar and Communications School and came under the RCAF for all purposes. In 1951 it was re -organized and was known as RCAF, dile to the formation of the No. 1 Radar and Communications School and No. 1 Air Radio Offivers School as separate units within station establishments. In the 1950s, the station became home of the School of Examination Unit and the School of Food Services; in the 1960s, the School off Instructional Technique; in 1968 a Warrent Officers' School. By this time, the name of the station was changed to CFB. Early in the 1970s another major change took place when the military base closed and the 258 acres and 217 housing units were sold to an investment company. Many Clintonians still remember the thousands of men and women who received their training at the base and went on to serve in all parts of the world both during war and peace times. A lasting reminder of the base is also situtated in the heart of Clinton where a huge radar antenna has been left as a souvenir. Embedded in a concrete base, the giant black antenna commemorates the establishment at Clinton of the first radar training school in North America. yester t weight. . Choi,;.. ending acustoa=.. From now until December 10, we'll give you a beautiful Esmond Monterey blanket absolutely free, when you open either a high interest* savings-chequing account or a daily interest passbook account at our new branch in Goderich. For Savings-chequing... $100. or more will qualify as "savings-chequing" and interest at 7% will be calculated on the minimum monthly balance and will be credited to your account twice a year...June 30 and Dec. 31. 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