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Clinton News-Record, 1959-03-26, Page 4CAR REPAIRS WINTER HOLIOAYS tion for its personnel and this in- cludes a barber shop, beauty par- lour, post office and laundry and dry cleaning services. In Adastral Park there is a grocery store, which was expanded in 1958, a post office and a community hall, all in one building. The newest project being planned by the Sta- tion is the construction of an art- ificial ice skating rink. Adastral Park' has become a community with' the inauguration of an town council headed by a mayor, both elected annually by the residents. The housing units range from two-storey single fam- ily dwellings to bungalows and frOm apartments to duplexes. Here, too, activity is the keynote with a vigorous Women's Auxil- iary in operation, Girl Guide, Brownie, Scout and Cub groups. Recreation for all is operated by the town council. The council also provides liaison between service authorities and personnel living in married quarters, The history of RCAF Station, Clinton, therefore, has been one of continued growth and expansion, directly attributable to the tre- mendous increase in the import- ance of all phases to the RCAF's effort in national defence. This field, which at the start of the last war was confined largely to radio communications, has ex- panded to the point where not only the services, but Canadian civilian industry as well has prof- ited immeasurably from the ac- tivities of Station Clinton. No other electronics training estab- lishment in the country has pro- duced so many trained technicians to fill the vast demands in this vital area of Canada's industry and defence. FIGHT CANCER With a Cheque And a Check-up Send cheque to: Miss Esther Jamieson Irb Secretary CANADIAN CANCER SOCIETY CLINTON, ONT. Intowilmoausmommlnimanginm enAm•amammallf' ' THE SELL TELEPHONE COMPANY OF CANADA WHEN PILED-UP BILLS SAY "GET A LOAN CALL T.C.C. ON THE TELEPHONE run., !ik, IOUSEHOLD IiiLLI SAT.'S, BUSINESS FINANCING 1114;:1;14% lat k4i!. TRANS CANADA CREDIT is4 1,1 • e•-, ,, WI , k,..,,f.,.... It tql 7 e<lti, :( & ...* 4,, 4..A '. ' .t:.4:i:4&.,"..",::,,...s t...:-0.4 kAP4A 11..„ Loans from $150, to $2,500. or. More. Take up to 30 months to repay on a wide selection of loan plans. Prompt, dignified service. 148 THE SQUARE, PHONE 7V GODERICH, ONT. "So we phoned the doctor and...." An accident ...a sudden illness ... One of the first things you do is summon medical help, by telephone. In an emergency your telephone gives you pronipt and priceless aid. Just knowing it is there, ready to serve you day or night, is a comfort in itself. It's hard to put a value on these things. Yet your telephone provides them all—and more—at minimum cost. ENJOY THESE EXTRAS IN THE WEEKEND TELY WEND iVlagazirie, with articles by Gregory Clark, Andy O'Brien and others. TV Weekly, with Ron Poulton's Pre-, views and program listings for a week. 16 Pages of Color Comics, Regular Saturday Tely with extra page* on travel, hobbies, books, religion. WEEKEND 1:ELY ONLY 10c FAGS FOUR C4111T011 N1 W$ 111-11-TRSD .P.Q, 1409. LANCASTER A famous Second World War type which still plays a valuable role in RCAF operations is the Lancaster bomber. Until recently employed in anti-submarine work, the Lan- caster continues to serve on aerial survey work, and on search and rescue when the need arises, Four Packard Mer- lin engines give the "Lane a cruising speed of 200 mph. The "Lanc" was one of the first to carry airborne radar for use in bombing "blind". It was built by AVRO. (National. Defence Photo) •• 1"411'''* .14L11„ -r- SUPERMARINE STRANRAER. Built by Canadian Vickers for the RCAF in 1938, the Supermarine Stranraer was a familiar sight on either Canadian, coast in early wartime, The ,coastal patroller served until 1943, .wherl it was replaced by Cansos, many of which are still in service. The Stranraer carried a crew of six or seven, and was armed with three .303 machine guns and a 1,000-lbs. bomb load.,, Its top speed was 165 mph, and its service ceiling 18,500 feet. (National Defence Photo) AVRO 504 K A wooden-framed trainer which first appeared in 1913, the Avro 504 K was introduced to Canadian service in 1919, when a gift of 62 was received from Great Britain, The 95 mph trainers, which had a ceiling of about 16,000 feet, were last flown by the RCAF in 1928. A distinguish- ing feature of the aircraft was its undercarriage.skid. Comparison with the new Avro Arrow indicates the •great strides air power has made in Canada. (National Defence Photo) History of Station Clinton From 1941 to Present 1959 (Continued from Page One) ober 29th, 1942) who as an Air Commodore became Chief of Tele- communications for the RCAF and ndw holds the rank of Air Vice Marshall. Others are Air Vice- Marshall Robert Leckie (Novem- ber 17th, 1942) later Chief of the Air Staff of the RCAF, Air Mar- shall A. G. R. Garrod of the Unit- ed Kingdom Air Ministry and Mr. H. Edwards, Chaplain-in-Chief of Air Ministry. Station Saved At the close of the Second World War the future of Clinton, as was the case with most war- time RCAF stations, was @inure for a time. RCAF electronics men were convinced that the tremend- ous advances made during the war required a permanent RCAF training establishment. It was something of a shock, therefore, when a message was received from Air Force Headquarters on Sept- ember 4th, 1945, ordering the sta- tion to prepare to disband, The reaction, led by Wing Command- er Patrick, was swift and hurried conferences were held through Air Force echelons and finally in the DefenCe Committee of the Cabin- et. As a result, a second message was received on. September 20 which stated that an RCAF sig- nals school would form on a peace- time basis at Clinton. Since that -time, the Clinton station has pro- gresSed continuously . until it now holds securely to its position as one of the two or three biggest stations in the RCAF from the point of view of manpower stren- gth. • Post War CO's Shortly after its establishment as a regular peacetime station, the training phases were again redesignated and No. 1 Radar and Communications School came into being, This designation still exists on the principal unit at RCAF Station Clinton. The first post- war Commanding Officer of RCAF Station Clinton was Group Capt- ain E, A. McGowan who served in this capacity until 1947. Subse- quent Commanding, Officers have been Group Captain A. C. Hull, DFC, CD (1947-1950); Wing Co- mmander R. F. Miller AFC, CD (1950-1951); Group Captain E, A, D. Hutton, CBE (1951-1953); Gr- oup Captain H, C. Ashdown, MBE, CD, (1953-1956) and Group Capt- ain K. C. Cameron, MBE, CD, the present CO. In the period since the second World War, Officers Commanding No. 1 R&CS have been Wing Com- mander R: D. Carter, CD (1946) ;, Group Captain S. R. Burbank, MBE, CD (1947-1951), Wing Com- mander B. G. Miller, CD (1951- 1954) and Wing Commander R. R. B. Hoodspith, MBE, CD, the present OC. In the spring of 1946, recruit- ing for the RCAF was resumed and several senior NCO's were sent to Clinton for a course in pedagogy prior to re-activating the, facilities 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 technicians and a course of radio operators began training. These first courses were of one year duration and were graduated in September 1947. Expanded Training Training in the electronics field has expanded continuously since that time until at present courses are given to radar •technicians air and ground, telegraph technicians, fighter control operators, radio operators, teletype operators, co- mmunications technicians, air and ground, communications operat- ors and, in addition, electronic theory courses are given to arm- ament systems technicians, elect- rical technicians air and instrum- ent technicians. Officer Training is represented with complete cour- ses to Technical Telecommunica- tions Officers and electronic the- ory training to Technical Arma- ment Officers. Technical Aero- nautical Engineering Officers are given specialized training in math- ematics and physics as applied to electronics. Since the war, eight- een courses of "TechTel" officers have graduated. In 1947, RCAF Station Clinton opened its gates to the public for the first time. This was in conjunction with the nation-wide inauguration of Air Force Day. This marked the first occasion up- on which the people of the Clinton district were able to discover for themselves the inner workings of the station which and been so close to them for six years but about which such a veil of secrecy had been drawn. AROS Begun With the resumption of aircrew training by the RCAF in 1947, the first peacetime Air Radio Of- ficers course was begun in the R&CS. This type of training was an integral part of the school until in 1951 when it was separ- ated to form the Air Radio Of- ficers School as a distinct unit at Station Clinton. Also in 1951, it was decided, that an organization was required to maintain quality control on the student output of 1 R&CS and to compile examina- tions for the entire RCAF in the fields of radar and telecommuni- cations. This resulted in the for- mation of No. 12 Examination Unit which has carried on its es- sential function to the present day. This unit was formed on the foundation established by the R&CS Examination Board which it replaced. The unit devises and maintains banks of thousands of questions utilized in setting trade examinations for the many relat- ed electronics career fields. These are constantly being revised and added to as .new equipment comes into use in the RCAF. In addi- tion, it evaluates examination re- sults and effectiveness in its Stat- istical Section as well as main- taining a constant search for more effective methods and, procedures through investigations into the scientific advances - in the fields of testing and education. The first Officer Commanding "12ExU" was. Flight Lieutenant D. V. Kyle, He was succeeded in 1952 by Squadron Leader J. T. "Paddy" Falkner who held the post until 1955 when it was as- sumed by the present OC, Flight Lieutenant G. S. Higgins. "It Just Grew" For some time the expanding requirements of 1 R&CS for class- room and laboratory space took on a Topsy-ish quality with the addition to the station of Quon- set huts and reactivation of war- time buildings. In 1951, however, plans for an adequate building to house the establishment came to fruition and in January 1952, con- struction was begun on a perma- nent home for the school. A year 'and a half later, on Air Force Day 1953, the new building was officially taken over by the RCAF. The building is of brick and con- crete construction and contains approximately 80 classrooms and laboratories of all types, instruc- ors' studies, offices, theatres, workshops, the necessary power generators to operate the great variety of equipment in use and a supply sub-stores for electronic equipment, It also houses a de- tachment of the Department of Public Printing and Stationery which serves the needs of the sta- tion for duplication of instruction- al material. The tremendous expansion in the role of telecommunications in the RCAF is well represented by the fact that in spite of the faci- lities provided by the new build- about one third of the R&CS is Still housed in wartime build- ings and growth continues, International As will have been noted, Sta- tion Clinton has always worked in fields which place at least a trite service and sometimes internation- al emphasis on its activities, This occurred again when the Air Rad- io Warfare section of the PACS which had been in operation since 1948, became the Joint Services Missile Indoctrination Course in 1951, The function of this organ- ization is to provide initial instruc- tion in the doctrines of Missile employment and operation to of- ficers of all three Canadian Ser- vices and the Defence Research Board, Dere the international eharacter of Station. Clinton is al- so carried on through the rneditut of lecturers of these courses who are often drawn fran the tlS and British services. First Food Services In 1954 two developments oc- curred which made a marked ch- ange in the station. The Air Radio Officers School was moved to Sta- tion Winnipeg where it became a part of the Air Navigation School. The second was the establishment at Clinton of No. 1 School of Food Services, the first organization of its kind in the RCAF, The func- tion of this school was, initially, to carry out basic training of cooks and food service attendants, After it had been in operation for a short time, it was decided to expand the training to.include ad- vanced courses for personnel who had had considerable field exper- ience in the Food Services trades. As a result, instruction is now given to Food Services Supervis- ors, Cooks basic, Cooks advanced, Cook superintendents, Food Serv- ice Officers (URTP and Regular Force) and to Flight Stewards. The standard of food in RCAF messes at the present time is a good indication of the value of the work of this organization. The first Officer Commanding was Flight Lieutenant Isabel Mc- Rae who guided it through its op- ening and original growing pains. She •was succeeded by Squadron Leader Laura Johnson, the pre- sent OC, Since its opening, the school has graduated more than 1,000 trained personnel in the var- ious career fields covered by its course. - Permanent Buildings The first half-decade of the 1950's saw a rapid change in the physical characteristics and app- earance of the station. As has been stated, a new, modern perm- anent building was constructed to house the Radar and Communica- tions School. But also, during this period, the original group of war- time "temporary" buildings was surrounded by new construction of a permanent nature, Many new buildings were added to the sta- tion including four Officer/NCO type quarters, a 1,000-to-2,000-man Other Ranks Mess, a permanent Sergeants' Mess and an identical Officers' Mess, a new chapel, a sewage treatment plant, a Stand- ard RCAF Supply Building, a St- andard RCAF Construction Eng- ineering Building, three new 18- man Airmen's Barrack Blocks and numerous roads and sidewalks. Outside the station fence, a tot- al of 220 housing units were built in the "Permanent Married Quar- ters" area known as Adastral Park, For the families a 10 class- room school was built and plans were announced in 1958 to in- crease this farther by the addi- tion of two more rooms and a li- brary. Public school attendance in 1958 was over 409 and, in fact, two rooms in a station building were taken over to accommodate an overflow of approximately 40 pupila, Station Fund Built The construction business was not confined entirely to govern- ment projects either. During the same period the former Officers' Mess was turned over to the Jun- ior NC0s, as a Corporals Club while the previous Sergeants' Mess became an Airmen's and Airwomen's Social Centre, This last 18 utra-Modern in decor and Is considered to be the finest in the RCAF. It includes a snack bar that has facilities for private functions, a TV room, a card room and a dance floor, The nec- essary Work to bring these plans to fruition, was financed largely from the Station Fund. At the same Unto, a new Olympic Stand- ard swimming pool. was construct- ed beside the recreation hall and the Officers' Mess financed a swimming pool of its own, Other projects have provided a hobby shop and bowling alleys and, in the early spring of 1958, a four sheet curling rink was op- ened on the station, Its artificial ice Plant was provided from the Station Funds and was housed in a steel Butler building provid- ed by the terVide, In the summer of that sonic year a new Service Centre was provided by the sta-