Baldy Hughes Air Station
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Baldy Hughes Air Station (1953-1988) - A Cold War U.S. Air Force Radar Station first established in 1953 during the Korean War near Prince George, British Columbia. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of C-20, later a Sage ID of C-20 and then a JSS ID of R-34. The site was transitioned to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) on 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.
HistoryPart of the Pinetree Line radar chain and one of 21 USAF radar stations designated to be turned over to the Government of Canada.  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. SAGE System TransitionThe 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. ClosureCFS Baldy Hughes was deactivated in 1988 as the need for the SAGE system itself was reduced. Physical PlantThe physical plant of the site was divided into an upper main operations site, a lower 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 and other support buildings. Apart from the cantonment area were two trailer courts for married personnel. A separate radio site housed the radio equipment for directing aircraft intercepts. Like most early radar stations, Puntzi Mountain originally had a radio transmitter site and a separate radio receiver site used by local controllers for voice direction of fighter interceptors to their targets. With the SAGE System, the SAGE Direction centers had the primary task of directing intercepts and the local radio sites were reconfigured, usually into a single site that was known as the Ground to Air Transmitter Receiver (GATR) site. The GATR site communicated with the interceptors from either the local site or the SAGE direction center via voice commands and/or a digital data link.
Current StatusRepurposed near Prince George, British Columbia.
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Visited: 22 Jun 2014
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