Mid-Canada Line Site 070 Kempis | |
---|---|
Part of Mid-Canada Line | |
Mount Kempis, Ontario, Canada | |
Coordinates | 48°22′36″N80°16′05″W / 48.37658°N 80.26809°W |
Site information | |
Controlled by | Royal Canadian Air Force |
Condition | Remediated |
Site history | |
Built by | Royal Canadian Air Force |
In use | - 1965 |
Demolished | 2009 |
Mid-Canada Line Site 070 Kempis was a part of the Mid-Canada Line air defence network. During the late 1950s, the Mid-Canada Line (MCL) was developed to supplement the Pinetree Line, providing earlier warning of incoming Soviet bombers. This consisted of approximately 90 unmanned sites and eight Sector Control Stations located along the 55th parallel. Each site sent out a radio beam to its neighbouring site. If an aircraft interrupted the beam, an intruder alarm would sound.
Mount Kempis (near CFS Ramore) was chosen as a relay station for signals coming in from the Sector Control Site at RCAF Station Winisk. The signals would be sent to Mount Kempis via a Tropospheric scatter system and then they would forward the signals via a land-line to the RCC at RCAF North Bay. This required the installation of a large parabolic antenna to receive the signals.
MCL Site 070 ceased operations as a troposcatter repeater in April 1965 when the Mid-Canada Line was no longer economically feasible or required due to improvements in technology.
The site was remediated in 2009 [1] [2] and any evidence that the site ever existed has been removed. Only a plaque commemorating the team who cleaned up the site remains.
Canadian Forces Base North Bay, also CFB North Bay, is an air force base located at the City of North Bay, Ontario about 350 km (220 mi) north of Toronto. The base is subordinate to 1 Canadian Air Division, Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is the centre for North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) operations in Canada, under the Canadian NORAD Region Headquarters, also in Winnipeg. It is also home to the 1 Air Force, Detachment 2 of the United States Air Force.
The Mid-Canada Line (MCL), also known as the McGill Fence, was a line of radar stations running east–west across the middle of Canada, used to provide early warning of a Soviet bomber attack on North America. It was built to supplement the Pinetree Line, which was located farther south. The majority of Mid-Canada Line stations were used only briefly from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, as the attack threat changed from bombers to ICBMs. As the MCL was closed down, the early warning role passed almost entirely to the newer and more capable DEW Line farther north.
Vanastra is a dispersed rural community and unincorporated place in the municipality of Huron East, Huron County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) southeast of the community of Clinton. It is located on the former property of a top secret Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) station used to train and supply over 7,000 radar technicians and support staff for American, British and Canadian forces during World War II.
Royal Canadian Air Force Station Winisk was a military installation located in Winisk, Ontario.
Royal Canadian Air Force Station Cranberry Portage was a military installation located in Cranberry Portage, Manitoba.
No. 428 Squadron RCAF, also known as 428 Bomber Squadron, and 428 Ghost Squadron, was first a night bomber squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force engaged in strategic bombing during World War II, based in Yorkshire. At the end of the war the squadron moved to Nova Scotia before being disbanded in September 1945. In 1954 the squadron was reformed as 428 All-Weather (Fighter) Squadron, before being again disbanded in 1961.
Canadian Forces Station Lac St. Denis is a former Canadian Forces Station that was located by Lac St. Denis, 60 miles north of Montreal in the Laurentian Mountains.
Canadian Forces Station Sydney, also known as CFS Sydney, is a former Canadian Forces Station located in the community of Lingan Road, Nova Scotia.
RCAF Station St. Margarets is a former Royal Canadian Air Force station and later a Canadian Forces detachment located in the community of St. Margarets, New Brunswick.
Canadian Forces Station Ramore is a closed General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Ramore, Ontario. It was closed in 1974. It was operated as part of the Pinetree Line network controlled by NORAD. It has since been sold and is now private property.
Canadian Forces Station Beaverlodge is a closed General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 4.9 miles (7.9 km) east-northeast of Beaverlodge, Alberta. It was closed in 1988.
Canadian Forces Station Beausejour is a closed General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 45.1 miles (72.6 km) east-northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was closed in 1986.
Canadian Forces Station Baldy Hughes is a closed General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 22.3 miles (35.9 km) south-southwest of Prince George, British Columbia. It was closed in 1988.
Canadian Forces Station Kamloops is a closed General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 12.8 miles (20.6 km) northeast of Kamloops, British Columbia on the peak of Mount Lolo. It was closed in 1988 due to advances in military technology which made it obsolete.
The Motorola AN/FPS-23 was a short-range early warning radar deployed on the Distant Early Warning Line. It was used as a "gap filler", looking for aircraft attempting to sneak by the DEW line by flying between the main AN/FPS-19 stations at low altitude. It could detect aircraft flying at 200 feet over land or 50 feet over water. The system was known as Fluttar during its development at the Lincoln Laboratory, and this name was widely used for the production units as well. It was also sometimes known as "Type F". The system went into operation in 1957.
The RCAF Station Ramore GATR Site was a Ground To Air Transmit and Receive (GATR) Site near Ramore, Ontario, Canada. It was built remotely from the nearby RCAF Station Ramore in order to utilise high output transmitters which would otherwise interfere with the RCAF Station Ramore radar. While connected by land-line to the station, and remotely operated, it was maintained by a dedicated on-site team of personnel on a 24/7 rotation.
Mid-Canada Line Site 060 Relay was a part of the Mid-Canada Line air defence network. During the late 1950s, the Mid-Canada Line (MCL) was developed as a secondary line of detection in case enemy aircraft penetrated the Distant Early Warning Line. This consisted of approximately 90 unmanned sites and eight Sector Control Stations located along the 55th parallel. Each site sent out a radio beam to its neighbouring site. If an aircraft interrupted the beam, an intruder alarm would sound.
Mid-Canada Line Site 050 Fort Albany was a part of the Mid-Canada Line air defence network. During the late 1950s, the Mid-Canada Line (MCL) was developed as a secondary line of detection in case enemy aircraft penetrated the Distant Early Warning Line. This consisted of approximately 90 unmanned sites and eight Sector Control Stations located along the 55th parallel. Each site sent out a radio beam to its neighbouring site. If an aircraft interrupted the beam, an intruder alarm would sound.
Air Defence Command was a command of the Royal Canadian Air Force and later the Canadian Armed Forces, active from 1951 to 1975.
Pole Vault was the first operational tropospheric scatter communications system. It linked radar sites and military airfields in Greenland and eastern Canada by telephone to send aircraft tracking and warning information across North America. The line stretched from Thule Air Force Base in northern Greenland, to Baffin Island and then along the eastern coast of Labrador and Newfoundland to St. John's for connection into existing commercial telecommunications networks.