A story of Canadian Military Communications 1903 2013 bgen William J. Patterson omm, cd (Ret’d)

organizations trying to establish themselves at the end of the First World War. The Cana- dian Corps Signal Service, 1914 – 1919, which grew out of the Canadian Signal Corps formed as a part-time militia unit in 1903, was looking for ways to become a viable permanent army signal corps. The Canadian Air Force (CAF) had had a short-lived existence during the First World War and also looked to forming a full- time permanent air force in post-war Canada. A new CAF was formed in 1920 under the aus- pices of the Air Board that was focused on civil- ian operations: forestry fire patrols, surveying, and anti-smuggling patrols. Similarly, a new Permanent Signal Corps was founded in 1920 with just six officers and fourteen NCOs. Both organizations were anxious to assume a promi- nent place in Canada’s Armed Forces and by a confluence of needs and abilities both were drawn to Canada’s North.

The ability of the airplane to open up the Northwest Territories, compared to land and water travel, which was only possible a few months of the year, was the CAF’s greatest strength. A successful trans-Canada flight in 1920 proved that long distance flying, by day or night, was feasible provided that certain communication and navigational aids were available: wireless communication in the

plane, wireless direction finding apparatus on the ground, and weather forecasts. The CAF’s first major role, flying forestry patrols to de- tect and monitor forest fires, was perhaps more prosaic than what the combat veterans of 1918 had in mind but it proved its worth very quickly and contributed towards the awarding of “Royal” status to the CAF in 1924. The CAF, from its beginning, needed to find the means by which to communicate from air- craft to a base that would quickly disseminate its in-flight observations. It turned to the Army’s Permanent Signal Corps with which there was already an area of co-operation. The CAF’s major base was Camp Borden, at the time in a rather isolated rural area west of Bar- rie, Ontario. To maintain communication with Ottawa the CAF used expensive and not totally reliable civilian telephone and tele- graph companies. At the same time, the new Permanent Signal Corps was looking for a place to conduct training, and Camp Borden had space and unused buildings left over from the First World War. In a joint venture, army signallers established a wireless station at the CAF station in Borden in 1921 and proved that its method of communication with Ot- tawa was faster, more reliable, and cheaper. A working relationship between the CAF and the newly-formed Royal Canadian Corps of Sig- nals (RCCS) was born.

In 1922, the RCCS began to train during the summer at Camp Borden and the follow-

ing year established a permanent depot. In the same year, an experimental radio station was built at High River, Alberta to provide communications to CAF planes flying forestry patrols. The northern forests of the Prairie Provinces, at the time and until 1931, were the responsibility of the federal government. The CAF had four planes flying patrols out of High River; the RCCS installed and main- tained the radios in the planes and operated the ground station. During the first summer season the system worked extremely well. The pilots used voice only, although the sets had a capability for key transmissions which were more effective when atmospheric interference was strong. The pilots always gave their loca- tion before sending messages to allow the ground crew to track them in case of an emer- gency. The sets in use at the time had a range of 100 miles, which was improved over time as the sets and aerials built by the Signals Inspec- tion and Test Department (SI&TD) were up- graded. While two-way conversation was possible, the noise factor in the plane mostly restricted the system to pilot to ground. The

efficacy of the system was demon- strated in 1923 when a pilot de- tected a fire 190 miles north of High River and was able to pass its location to the base, which alerted fire-fighting crews hours before they would have received the infor- mation by other means.

Such successes led to the CAF and the RCCS entering into a contract that lasted until 1931, when the Prairie Provinces assumed responsi- bility for monitoring forest fires from the federal government. Dur- ing the nine years, a total of 12 wire- less stations, not counting High River or Winnipeg, which was a major RCAF base, were opened. What began as a minor commitment of 12 signallers in 1922 grew to an RCCS team of 6 officers and 67 men. In addition to their primary task of passing forest fire information, the stations in the Prairie Provinces

were able to handle a large amount of com- mercial traffic in the areas being opened up in the northern parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. This part of their role became so important that the major stations of Win- nipeg and Edmonton began to stay open all year because they could pass messages to the commercial nationwide telegraph companies. Beginning in 1925, RCCS operators were trained in meteorology and were able to send twice-daily weather reports from the Northwest Territories and Yukon (NWT&Y) Radio System as well as to the fire patrol stations that were of great importance to the RCAF. At the same time, the SI&TD was able to make improve- ments to RCAF aircraft communication sys- tems. Cockpit conversations were not well-served by the old speaking tube or by hand signals, especially on aerial photographic flights. When short range flights were required the standard RCCS 500 watt station was much too powerful, so a smaller 100 watt set was pro- duced by the SI&TD. A new CT21 transmitter, which was superior to the wartime RAF T21 set, was installed in the new DH “Moth” aircraft.
The Canadian set was much smaller and by being mounted on coil springs was less likely to go off frequency during a rough flight. In addition to supplying wireless operators, the RCCS set up a wireless school in Jericho Beach, Vancouver to train RCAF personnel in wireless procedure.

A good example of the use of aircraft and ground control stations was the 1928 Hudson Bay Expedition, which was to study weather and ice conditions prior to opening Fort Churchill as a port. Three ground stations were established by the RCCS in 1927 and were manned in 1928 by Department of Ma- rine operators. Six RCAF Fokker aircraft were equipped by the RCCS with transmitters capa- ble of being modulated to transmit Morse Code. There were only three communication failures during 175 flights, clearly demonstrat- ing the success of the project.

In 1928, the RCAF instituted, in conjunction with the Post Office, an airmail system along the St Lawrence River from east of Quebec City to Windsor. To assist with this system the RCCS opened up a major radio beacon station at St Hubert, QC, just south of Montreal. In addition to providing navigational support it gathered weather reports from a US weather station at Arlington, Virginia and rebroadcast them to RCAF stations and to aircraft in flight. The next year sub-stations were opened in London and Windsor to enhance the Beacon System; be- cause of this success, plans were made to set up a similar chain of beacon stations in Western Canada. Although the forestry patrolling sys- tem ended in 1931 and the 12 minor stations were closed, the steadily increasing number of RCCS stations in the Northwest Territories meant that weather reports and ground-to-air communications continued.

In 1933, the RCAF introduced wireless training as part of its regular training. RC Sigs personnel at Camp Borden installed the British Air Ministry R 1082/T 1083 radio equipment in the station’s Avro Tudor air- craft. The sets allowed for two-way telephony and Morse code telegraphy for artillery recon- naissance. Orders were placed with the RAF for new equipment that was being produced

in 1934 and the RCAF concluded that it was time to have its own signalling expertise. A small RCAF telecommunications group was formed in 1934 consisting of just seven men: four RCCS personnel who transferred to the RCAF: SSgt J.G.L. “Buck” Foster, Sgt P.E. “Mickey” McGuire, LCpl W.L. “Jock” Duncan, and Sigmn O.C. “Louie” Lumb; and from the RCAF: mechanic “Nibby” Baker, battery man and switchboard operator “Bud” Lacey, and electrician “Harry” Keane. This small group was attached to the School of Army Co-opera- tion at Camp Borden commanded by Squadron Leader (S/L) C.M. “Black Mike” McEwan. There was also a Meteorology School commanded by Flight Lieutenant (F/L) C.R. “Roy” Slemon, which received weather forecasts from Arlington, Virginia. The first installation of the new RAF T21C transmitter, Morse code only, was in a Vickers Flying Boat at Vancouver and the second in- stallation in a Fairchild float plane on RCMP narcotics patrols in British Columbia.

The development of a wireless capability in the RCAF proceeded rapidly. In 1934, an RAF officer, F/L W.G.B. Pretty attached to the RCAF formed a Signal Section. A recruiting program in Ottawa screened potential sig- nallers. The criterion for acceptance was ei- ther wireless experience and senior matriculation or recent graduation from high school. Twenty-one candidates were selected for two Wireless Electrical Mechanic courses, WEM “A” and WEM “B”, which began at Camp Borden on 11 October 1934. The sixth month “A” course was for those with a wireless background; the eleven month “B” course was designed for those with little or no technical training. The course leader was F/L H.B. God- win, who was assisted by the “original seven.” The RCAF followed this small beginning with the formation, on 1 July 1935, of a Signals Branch in the Air Staff Division at Air Force Headquarters (AFHQ) in Ottawa. Another RAF officer, F/L J.G.W. Weston, who had the specialist “S”qualification, was appointed as Air Signals Advisor; the RCAF followed the lead of the RAF. To increase its knowledge of RAF Signals, F/L R.E. McBurney (RCAF No. C

W.A. Orr, M.M. Hendrick, and D.G. Williams. In 1935, two officers were sent on a two month tour of RAF signal facilities; this short signals training for two officers was repeated each year until the outbreak of the Second World War.

In addition to the wireless electrical me- chanics course, a 40 week wireless telegraphy (W/T) course was conducted at Camp Borden in 1935. The first two courses successfully graduated 28 students. In 1936, the Wireless School moved from Camp Borden to Trenton,

the site of a new training facility. Graduates of the School were entitled to a qualification

Jones; and Leading Air Craftmen (LAC)s E.J. Gauthier* and G. Simoneau. The training of signallers was hampered by the shortage of up- to-date equipment of RAF design, therefore, commercial type transmitters and receivers were used. In 1937, a survey of RCAF officers revealed that of those who had qualified in one or more of the ten skills courses available only ten had qualified in signals, the lowest number for any of the courses. The growth of RCAF Sig- nals was painfully slow. It was 1938 before the Wireless School was recognized as a separate entity in the RCAF Officers’ List with S/L W.A. Orr, F/L M.M. Hendrick, and F/O E.L. Miners as instructors; the Warrant Officer was J.G.L. Foster. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the RCAF Signals Branch had a total of 24 officers: S/Ls R.E. McBurney, H.B. Godwin, and W.A. Orr; F/L M.M. Hendrick,; 4 F/Os and 16 P/Os. Only 58 airmen had graduated from the Trenton Wireless School with an- other 60 still on course.

Cpl S.C. Jones, an instructor on the first

G.M. Croil became the first Chief of the Air Staff. In September 1939, RCAF communica- tions were limited. The first priority of the newly appointed Directorate of Air Signals was to link the defence installations on the East and West Coasts of Canada and Newfoundland

with their respective Command headquarters and with Air Force Headquarters (AFHQ) in Ottawa. Work began on the East Coast to es- tablish Goose Bay, Labrador as a base for North Atlantic submarine patrol aircraft and as a staging station for aircraft flying over the Atlantic to Great Britain. Goose Bay had no land line communications; it was dependent solely on radio communications. Through the combined efforts of the RCAF, the RAF, the Canadian Army, and later the US Army Air Force (USAAF), Goose Bay became a large air- base and navigation aids facility. On the West Coast, the rapid increase in defence installa- tions, especially after Japan entered the war, re- quired the efforts of all three Services to build reliable land line and radio communications. The second priority was to build facilities to supply radio detection finding (RDF) equip- ment and to teach personnel how to use it. Later called RADAR, an acronym for “radio de- tection and ranging,”it was a technique that used radio waves to detect objects at a distance by bouncing radio waves off the object. Some of the waves would return to the source as an echo, which could be used to calculate the dis- tance to the object and to track it.^# In 1939, F/O W.A. Orr went to RAF Cranwell to take the RDF Course, where he joined F/O D.G. Williams who was on the Signal Officers’ Course. When they returned to Canada in the early 1940s, they brought with them several hundreds of pounds of blue prints to have

RDF equipment made here.

The supply of radio and radar equipment was a serious problem at the beginning of the Second World War. Previously, equipment had been purchased from Great Britain but with restricted funding, a result of the Great De- pression, there was little money to buy new
^# The system was made workable by a British scientist, Dr Robert Watson-Watt in the 1930s. By 1936, four long-range, skyward-looking, radio towers had been erected along the east coast of England, where exper- iments were carried out over the next three years that showed that it was possible to track the position, speed, and direction of a flight of aircraft. This work was of the greatest importance to the security of British air space from hostile aircraft approaching from the European Continent.

The AR 2 Receiver was designed and manufactured by the Northern Electric Company.This model was built in 1943 by the RCA Victor Company.

equipment. Once war broke out, Canada had to find its own sources of supply. First, the RCAF turned to the Northern Electric Com- pany to design and manufacture the AT1 transmitter and the AR2 receiver that would incorporate all of the most recent advances in

less School was moved to Montreal to become No. 1 Wireless School; in September 1944, it was moved to Mount Hope, Ontario. No. 2 Wireless School was opened in September 1940 at Calgary, No. 3 in February 1941 at Winnipeg, and No. 4 in June 1941 at Guelph, Ontario. The wireless course was planned as a 24 week course but was changed to 16 weeks for the first course, which proved to be inade- quate. The course was lengthened to 18 weeks and before the year 1940 ended was increased to 20 weeks. In 1941, the course returned to

Radar was the great advantage the RAF had in defeating the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain in September 1940. Britain realized immediately the usefulness of radar and asked Canada to train 5,000 radar technicians as soon as possible. In addition to the several hundred amateur radio mechanics sent over- seas in the fall of 1940, three RCAF officers were despatched to the UK in November 1940 for training. The three, F/Ls G.M. Fawcett and

C.J. Campbell, and F/O G.H.L. Norman, re- turned to Canada in May 1941 and they were of great help in siting ground stations for Canadian radar defences, providing engineer- ing advice to the REL, and fitting airborne equipment. Another officer, F/L C.B. Lim- brick who had been attached to the RAF also helped to train radar operators in Canada. In April 1941, a team of experts after looking for a site that had good power facilities near a large body of water, and with easy proximity to sources of supply and transportation but not too close to a prominent place, chose Clinton, Ontario to be the location for a radar school. On 27 August 1941, No. 31 Radio School (RAF) opened under the command of W/C

H.W.L. Cocks, RAF. The site was surrounded by electrically charged fencing patrolled by armed guards. There was a staff of over 400 that could train 650 students at a time and graduate 250 every month. By early 1943,

Canada had sent over 5,000 radar technicians

Radar School at Cranwell, they were despatched all over the world as radar techni- cians attached to RAF units.

Although there was a great demand for radar mechanics and operators both in the British and Canadian Forces, the first graduates of No. 31 Radio School, renamed No. 31 RDF School in July 1942, were members of the US Navy and Marine Corps. The US kept a count of their graduates and their story was reported in the August 1945 issue of Time Magazine,

From tiny Clinton, Ontario (pop. 2,000) came a significant story of international co-operation. In four years, 2,325 Ameri- can (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.

The Air Force Telecom Association has tracked 5,847 of the 6,120 (the actual num- ber) Canadian graduates who, in addition to service at 40 Canadian radar sites, were em- ployed by the RAF in Britain and all over the world. One possible reason

for so many Canadians serv- ing in RAF radar sites was that the RAF Director of Radar and Director General of Signals, AVM V.H. Tait, was Canadian-born and a graduate of the University of Manitoba. There were

RCAF radar officers and

While the majority of RCAF radar officers and men served overseas a large number served on 40 radar stations in Canada and on sites in Newfoundland and Labrador. Early in the war, there was a fear of long range bomber attacks on vital Canadian targets in eastern Canada. After Japan joined the Axis Powers, there was a fear of carrier borne aircraft raid- ing the West Coast. Ground radar units were installed as early warning for the approach of hostile aircraft and for the control of Cana- dian interceptors. While there were never any hostile incidents, the radar units proved in- valuable in keeping track of Canadian aircraft and helping to locate lost planes. A system was instituted by Air Traffic Control on both the East and West Coasts to monitor Canadian air- craft, especially those on anti-submarine pa- trols. Many lives were saved as a result of locating downed aircraft. By February 1945, there were 29 radar stations on the East Coast and 11 on the West Coast.*

By May 1944, these stations were equipped with Mk III Interrogation Friend or Foe (IFF) equipment that consisted of a transmitter, re- ceiver, display unit with a plan position indi- cator, and a special antenna mounted on a thirty foot tower. The tower sent a coded in- terrogation signal that could only be re- sponded to by an aircraft equipped with a matching code transponder. Maritime air pa- trols had Air-to-Surface Vessel (ASV) radar, air-
* See Appendix 44

RCAF Radar Station at Patricia Bay, South Vancouver Island, 1942. [LAC/NAC]

R.E Mooney, W.S. Kendall, and J.A. Ross served in the Radio Branch. It was 1944 before offi- cers were listed as Radar Officers.