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Cartwright Air Station (1953-1968) - A Cold War U.S. Air Force Radar Station established during the Korean War. Located near Cartwright, Labrador. Assigned a Permanent ID of N-27. Closed in 1968.
History
Established and constructed in 1951-1953 by contractors. Became operational in 1953 as Cartwright Air Station manned by the 922nd Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (USAF). This site functioned for most of its life as a ground controlled intercept (GCI) site that identified aircraft entering their coverage and was prepared to guide armed interceptor aircraft to those it could not identify.
Initial equipment included the FPS-3 search radar and a TPS-502 height-finder radars. By 1968 the radars had been updated to a FPS-93A search radar and two height finders, an FPS-6B and an FPS-90. The 922nd also operated three gap filler radar sites as manned detachments complete with operations personnel and a commanding officer between 1957 and 1961.
Closure
Cartwright Air Station and the 922 AC&W Squadron were deactivated on 18 June 1968.
Gap Fillers
Cartwright Air Station was responsible for the operation and maintenance of three manned remote gap filler radar sites. These gap filler sites were placed in locations where the main search radar lacked coverage and they were manned by USAF maintenance and operations crews headed by a commanding officer and operated as a detachment of the 922 AC&W Squadron.
Gap Filler Radar Site manpower
| Number
|
Positions
|
Note
|
| 1 |
Commander |
Captain
|
| 1 |
First Sergeant |
|
| 1 |
Medic |
|
| 4 |
Radio Repairmen |
|
| 2 |
Radar Repairmen |
FPS-14, FST-1
|
| 4 |
Radar Operators |
FPS-14
|
| 2 |
Cooks |
|
| 1 |
Motor Pool Mechanic |
|
| 3 |
Diesel Mechanics |
Contract Civilians
|
| 1 |
Canadian Bell Telephone |
Tech Rep
|
| 1 |
Civil Engineer |
Contract
|
On-site generators furnished electrical power and were usually operated by local or contract civilians. The sites were all equipped with short range FPS-14 search radars and FST-1 Coordinate Data transmitters that could send digitized radar target data to the main radar site but manual operations continued even after the arrival of OA-947 remote displays. Both the FPS-14 radar set and the FST-1 were dual channel to increase site up time.
The Cartwright Air Station gap filler radars were located at Cut Throat, Spotted Island and Fox Harbor, all in Labrador.
Cartwright AFS Gap Filler Radar Sites (edit list)
| ADC
|
NORAD
|
Location
|
State
|
Type
|
From
|
To
|
GPS
|
Notes
|
| N-27A
|
|
Cut Throat
|
NL
|
FPS-14, FST-1
|
Apr 1957
|
28 Jun 1961
|
54.500000,
-57.123611
|
Det 1
|
| N-27B
|
|
Spotted Island
|
NL
|
FPS-14, FST-1
|
Apr 1957
|
28 Jun 1961
|
53.516662,
-55.749258
|
Det 2
|
| N-27C
|
|
Fox Harbor
|
NL
|
FPS-14, FST-1
|
Feb 1957
|
28 June 1961
|
52.370049,
-55.664627
|
Det 3
|
Cartwright AFS Major Equipment List
| Search Radar
|
HF Radar
|
Data Systems
|
Comm
|
Scopes
|
IFF/SIF
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Unit Designations
- 922 Aircraft Control & Warning (AC&W) Squadron (1953-1968)
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922nd AC&W Squadron Assignments
- 26 May 1953 - Activated at Grenier AFB, NH, as the 4707th Defense Wing
- Fall 1953 - Transfer to NEAC.
- 1 Apr 1957 - Reassigned to ADC and 4732nd Air Defense Group.
- 1 Apr 1960 - Transferred to Goose ADS.
- 1 Apr 1966 - Transferred to 37th Air Division.
- 18 Jun 1968 - Discontinued.
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Current Status
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Location: Cartwright in ccccc, Labrador.
Maps & Images
Lat: 53.72444 Long: -56.96417
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- Elevation: yyyyy'
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GPS Locations:
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See Also:
Sources:
- Cornett, Lloyd H. & Johnson, Mildred W., A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization (1946-1980), Office of History ADC, Peterson AFB, Colorado, 31 Dec 1980, 179 pages, Pdf, page 104.
Links:
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