RCAF Radar Personnel in WWII -North Atlantic Region-

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1RUWK $WODQWL 5HJLRQ What follows is a summary of the role played by radar in support of Allied sea and air forces based on the Orkneys, Shetlands, Faroes and Iceland, with special note of the part played by Canadian radar personnel serving on RAF ground radar stations and on RCAF and RAF squadrons. Orkneys: The Royal Navy’s base at Scapa Flow ensured that the Orkneys had high priority when it came to ground radar coverage and, as early as the second week of July 1940, a CHL radar was operational at Gaitnip, complementary to a CH at Sandoy. *A.M. “Signals” Vol. IV, Chapter 11, page 153 ,9 British Air Ministry records* reveal that “...... to increase the range of radar cover over the North Atlantic sea routes, radar sites were selected by radar reconnaissance parties during Dec. 1941 (sic. actually 1940) in the Faroe Islands and in Iceland . . .”
1RUWK $WODQWL 5HJLRQ These events predated the arrival in the UK of RCAF radar personnel, and the writer has seen no evidence that Canadians ever served on these Orkney stations. Nor is there any record of additional ground radars being established in the Orkneys; emphasis was quite rightly placed on potential sites to the North and North-East, i.e., in the Faroes and Shetlands. Faroes: In 1942 an RAF radar siting party selected five sites in the Faroes with primary areas of coverage as indicated : Eide (N), Nolsoy (E), Suduroy (S), Sandoy (W). Each site was to have ASV (Air to Surface Vessels) radar gear coupled to a rotatable Yagi aerial array, to provide early warning (no heights) on aircraft out to medium ranges, and on ships or surfaced submarines out to short ranges. Eide, having a site on an 800 foot promontory, would also have a Navy radar capable of providing accurate plots on ships/surfaced subs at ‘long’ ranges. All six radars were to pass their plots to an RAF/ RN Control Centre in Torshavn, a major town located on the southeast end of Streymoy Island; most, if not all of these six radars became operational by mid-1942. At least six RCAF radar men served on Faroe ground radars at one time or another. Two officers, Hal Cairns of Penticton and Rus Robinson of London, Ont. arrived in Feb. 1943, and initially shared the task of providing technical supervision and administrative support for the five units named above. Robinson left in June of 1943 on assignment to TRE Malvern; Cairns stayed on as ‘O.C. Radar in the Faroes’ until mid Feb. 1944 when the last two units were closed; (ironically, some units were receiving orders to close at the same time as others were being up-graded with new gear!) Some of the NCO’s in charge of the Faroe radar units were Canadians. In early 1942, Sgt. Clarence MacDonald, RCAF, found himself in Torshavn in charge of a 16-man crew comprised of Radar Mechanics and Operators, Cooks, and other admin. support personnel. He and his crew moved by small boat to the Island of Sandoy where they set up an “ASV plus Yagi” at the previously chosen site. Promoted to W01 in 1943, MacDonald remained with the unit, as NCO i/c , until it closed in late 1943. Earl Moore, RCAF, of St Thomas, Ont., has written an account of his service in the Faroes, opening with a graphic description of the ferocious winds encountered in Nov. 1942, enroute from Aberdeen to Torshavn - winds that led to his using the term ‘Radar Dome” in the title of his account. Earl and the 13 other men comprising the crew of his unit traveled from Torshavn to Nolsoy Island over seas so rough that their small boat could not tie up to Nolsoy’s small dock, forcing the luckless passengers to splash ashore and climb, laden with kit, up a steep 20-30 foot cliff, only to find that ,9
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RCAF Radar Personnel in WWII -North Atlantic Region-

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