RCAF Station Senneterre

RCAF Station Senneterre (1953-1988) - A Cold War Canadian Radar Station first established in 1953 near the town of Senneterre, Quebec. Named Senneterre Air Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of C-8, later a Sage ID of C-8. Abandoned in 1988. Also Known as CFS Senneterre after Canadian forces unification on 10 Aug 1967. History Construction began on 15 Aug 1950 and the radar site began limited operation on 1 Jun 1953 as RCAF Station Senneterre manned by the 34 AC&W Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron. Construction was not complete when operations began and contracts to complete work were let to the Atlas Construction Company. The station initially had both a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and early warning mission. The early warning mission involved tracking and identifying all aircraft entering their airspace while the GCI mission involved guiding Air Force interceptors to any identified enemy aircraft. Controllers at the station vectored fighter aircraft at the correct course and speed to intercept enemy aircraft using voice commands via ground-to-air radio. Operational control of the 34 AC&W Squadron was initially assigned to the Sector Commander, 3 Air Defence Control Centre (ADCC), at RCAF Station Edgar. Initial equipment included the FPS-3 search radar and two ISG-98 height-finder radars. SAGE Transition The transition of the manual GCI system to the automated SAGE system began with the installation of the FST-2 coordinate data transmitter and search radar upgrades. The FST-2 equipment digitized the radar returns and transmitted the digital returns to the SAGE direction center. Under the SAGE System, interceptor aircraft were directed to their targets by the direction center computers and controllers, greatly reducing the need for local controllers and equipment at every radar station. The FST-2 was a very large digital system using vacuum tube technology. Over 6900 vacuum tubes were used in each FST-2 requiring 21 air-conditioned cabinets, 40 tons of air conditioning, 43.5 kva of prime power, and usually a large new addition to the operations building. The FST-2B modification added two more cabinets but with newer solid-state (transistor) technology to process coded responses from aircraft transponders. The site began operation as a SAGE System site in 1963 initially feeding the North Bay SAGE Direction Center DC-31. The search radar was upgraded to an FPS-20 and an FPS-6 height-finder radar was installed. Gap Fillers Senneterre AS was planned to have four remote unattended gap-filler radar sites but the gap-filler program was cancelled before any of them were completed. BUIC System Senneterre AS became a BUIC I GCI site in 1962 and went operational as the first North American BUIC III site on 1 Dec 1968. The Senneterre AS BUIC III system provided a backup for the North Bay SAGE Direction Center DC-31 with the GYK-19 computer system and provided the ability to display sector wide radar data on consoles for local weapons controllers. The system duplicated the functionality of the vacuum tube direction center computers with the more up-to-date GYK-19 computer system and replaced the FST-2 with a more up-to-date coordinate data transmitter, the FYQ-47. As the threat from a soviet bomber fleet lessened, the decision came to mothball the BUIC system in 1973 and the BUIC III system was withdrawn. Senneterre returned to being a long range radar site in 1973 feeding the North Bay SAGE Direction Center DC-31 until that DC was deactivated on 1 Jul 1983. Two Regional Operation Control Centers (ROCCs) (Canada East and Canada West) replaced the North Bay SAGE Direction Center DC-31. Both were located in the same underground facility that had housed the huge vaccumn tube SAGE computers but now the ROCCs used the much smaller and seemingly more capable FYQ-93 (Hughes H511ME) computer systems as a part of the JSS program. Senneterre continued to feed the Canada East ROCC until it closed in 1988. Closure Senneterre AS and the 34 Radar Squadron were deactivated 1 Aug 1988. Physical Plant The physical plant of the site was divided into the main site, a cantonment area, a housing area and a radio site. The main site housed the operations buildings, the radar towers, and the backup generators. The cantonment area housed the enlisted barracks, the bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, the dining hall, the motor pool and other support buildings. Apart from the main site was a small housing area for critical married personnel. A separate Ground to Air Transmitter/Receiver (GATR) radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts. Senneterre Air Station AS Major Equipment List Search Radar HF Radar Data Systems Comm Scopes IFF/SIF FPS-3 FPS-20/FPS-20A FPS-508 ISG-98 TPS-501 FPS-6 FPS-6A FPS-507 FST-2/A/B FYQ-47 GYK-19 GKA-5 UPA-35 UPX-6 UPX 14 GPX-7A Unit Designations 34 Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1953-1963) 34 Radar Squadron (1963-1988) Current Status Some buildings remain under private ownership. Housing area under private ownership. Location: Senneterre in Quebec. Maps & Images Lat: 48.36139 Long: -77.2225 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: .....' GPS Locations: 48.36139, -77.2225 Senneterre Air Station 8.36140, -77.22291 Radar Building (Telebec Cell Tower) 48.36261, -77.22237 Height Finder Building (Demolished) 48.36180, -77.22254 Operations (Demolished) 48.36195, -77.22271 SAGE Annex (Privately owned) 48.36208, -77.22218 Radar building (Privately owned) 48.366578, -77.217193 Housing Area 48.361674, -77.219081 Cantonment Area See Also: SAGE System BUIC System Pinetree Line Permanent System Radar Sites US & Candian Radar Sets US & Candian Radio Sets North Bay SAGE Direction Center DC-31 Sources: C and E Museum - Pinetree Line - Senneterre, PQ C and E Museum - Pinetree Line - Senneterre Photos C and E Museum - Pinetree Line - Senneterre Unit History Links: Wikipedia - Senneterre Air Station Visited: No