Baldy Hughes Air Station (1953-1988) - A Cold War U.S. Air Force Radar Station first established in 1953 near Prince George, British Columbia. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of C-20 and later a Sage ID of C-20. The site was transitioned to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) 1 Mar 1963 first as RCAF Baldy Hughes and later designated CFS Baldy Hughes. Named after the original homestead the site was built on. Closed in 1988.
Radar Bubble at Baldy Hughes (probably weather radar)
Baldy Hughes Repurposed Barracks
Repurposed Baldy Hughes Lower Site
History
Part of the Pinetree Line radar chain and one of 21 USAF radar stations designated to be turned over to the Government of Canada.
Gated Road to the Baldy Hughes Upper Site
Established in 1953 with the relocation of the 918th AC&W Squadron to the newly constructed radar station. Initial equipment included the FPS-3C search radar and a TPS-502 height finder radar. The radar equipment evolved over time into an FPS-27 search radar with one FPS-6 and one FPS-26 height finder radar.
The transition to the automated SAGE system began with instation of the FST-2 installation 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 site had began operation as a SAGE site on in March 1960 initially feeding manual data to the McChord SAGE Direction Center DC-12. Automatic operation with DC-12 began on 1 July 63. The search radar was then upgraded to an FPS-27. An FPS-26 height finder radar was installed to replace one of the FPS-6 height finders. In 1966, Baldy Hughes was connected to the North Bay SAGE Direction Center DC-31, the underground Canadian direction center at North Bay. In 1971 the obsolete FST-2 was replaced with an FYQ-47 data processor. In 1983 the station was connected to the Canada West ROCC.
Closure
CFS Baldy Hughes was deactivated in 1988 as the need for the SAGE system itself was reduced.
Physical Plant
The physical plant of the site was divided into a main site, a cantonment area and two radio sites. The main site housed the operations building, the radar towers, the backup generators and later the SAGE Annex. The cantonment area housed the enlisted barracks, the bachelor officer's quarters, the orderly room, the chow hall, the motor pool. Apart from the main site was a small housing area for critical married personnel. Two separate radio sites housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts (transmitter site and receiver site).
