The Pinetree Line was a series of radar stations located across southern Canada at about the 50th parallel north, along with a number of other stations located on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Run by North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) (after its creation), over half were staffed by United States Air Force personnel with the balance operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force. The line was the first coordinated system for early detection of a Soviet bomber attack on North America. Its radar technology quickly became outdated, and the line was in full operation only for a short time.
History
Plans for what would become the Pinetree Line were underway as early as 1946 within the Permanent Joint Board on Defense (PJBD), a Canadian-U.S. organization. However, the costs of running such a system in the post-war era was too high, and instead Canada concentrated on the areas around Ontario and Quebec, while the United States set up stations in the Midwest and along the eastern seaboard. With the successful test of an atomic bomb in the USSR, plans changed considerably. In 1949 Congress agreed to a $161 million construction program in co-operation with the RCAF, for a continuous line of stations across southern Canada. The USAF's Continental Air Command and the RCAF met in October 1950 to start planning, and in January 1951 the PJBD presented Recommendation 51/1 for the Extension of the Continental Radar Defence System. The USAF later requested an additional set of six (potentially) mobile stations to provide low-level coverage. Later, it was learned the original radar systems performed better than expected, hence a number of the mobile sites were never deployed.
The system was eventually deployed as a series of 33 main stations and 6 smaller "gap fillers". The majority of these ran in a line at about the 53rd parallel in the west (to offer coverage of major Canadian cities) and about the 50th parallel in the east. A second line ran up the eastern seaboard from the southern tip of Nova Scotia to the southern tip of Baffin Island. Of these, 22 of the main stations and all of the gap fillers were paid for by the USAF, leaving 11 to the RCAF. However 16 of the main stations were staffed by RCAF personnel. On 1 January 1955, the system was officially handed over to RCAF command, and over time an additional 10 stations were added. The stations on the east coast used the Pole Vault system for communication.
The Pinetree Line had several technical problems that limited its usefulness almost immediately. For one, the system used a simple pulse radar technique, which made it unable to detect targets close to the ground due to radar clutter as well as being trivially easy to jam using the recently introduced carcinotron tube. Another was that its location near population centres meant it offered only a last minute warning, and as the USSR moved to jet-powered bombers the warning time was reduced. Studies were already underway in 1951 to build a series of Doppler bistatic radar stations somewhat farther north, which would develop into the Mid-Canada Line. By 1957, just over a year after the Mid-Canada Line was operational, a more advanced long-range search radar, mainly in the Canadian north and Alaska were deployed comprising the Distant Early Warning Line.
The Pinetree stations were kept operational during this period, and most underwent modifications as a part of the deployment of the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE). SAGE dramatically reduced the workload at the stations, cutting staff requirements by well over half. By the later 1950s some were being mothballed as newer systems came on line to the north. Nevertheless, many of the Pinetree stations were kept operational into the 1980s, particularly on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
Radar stations
Initial sort is based on longitude from east to west. Site number Name Province Location Unit Service Activated DeactivatedN-22Red Cliff Air StationSt. Johns Air StationNL 642d Aircraft Control and Warning SquadronUSAF19531961N-22BElliston Ridge Air StationNL 642d Aircraft Control and Warning SquadronUSAF19571961N-25CFB GanderNL 226 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19531990N-26BLa Scie Air StationNL 921st Aircraft Control and Warning SquadronUSAF19571961N-26Saint Anthony Air StationNL 921st Aircraft Control and Warning SquadronUSAF19531968N-27CFox Harbour Air StationNL 922d Aircraft Control and Warning SquadronUSAF19571961N-27BSpotted Island Air StationNL 922d Aircraft Control and Warning SquadronUSAF19571961N-27Cartwright Air StationNL 922d Aircraft Control and Warning SquadronUSAF19531968N-27ACut Throat Island Air StationNL 922d Aircraft Control and Warning SquadronUSAF19571961N-23Stephenville Air StationNL 105th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron640th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron USAF19521971N-28ACape Makkovik Air StationNL 923d Aircraft Control and Warning SquadronUSAF19571961C-34CFS SydneyNS 221 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19541991N-28Hopedale Air StationNL 923d Aircraft Control and Warning SquadronUSAF19531968C-24Goose Air Force BaseNL Goose Air Defense Sector21st Air Division26th Air Division37th Air Division59th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron64th Air Division95th Strategic Wing4082d Strategic Wing4732d Air Defense Group6603d Air Base GroupUSAF19531971N-24Melville Air StationNL 107th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron641st Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron641 Aircraft Control and Radar SquadronUSAFRCAF19531988N-29CFS SaglekNL 924th Aircraft Control and Warning SquadronUSAF19531970C-11RCAF BeaverbankNS 22 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) SquadronRCAF19541964N-30CFS Resolution IslandNT 920th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron USAF19511961C-5CFS St. MargaretsNB 21 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19531988C-102CFS BarringtonNS 672d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron23 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) SquadronUSAFRCAF19571990C-33CFS MoisieQC 211 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19531988N-31Frobisher Bay Air BaseNT 926th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron USAF19531961C-6RCAF St. SylvestreQC 13 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19551964C-1CFS Mont ApicaQC 12 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19521990C-2CFS Lac St. DenisQC 11 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19521986C-42CFS ChibougamauQC 10 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19621988C-7RCAF ParentQC 14 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19541964C-8CFS SenneterreQC 34 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19531988C-3CFS FoymountON 32 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19521974C-4CFS EdgarON 31 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19531964C-10CFS RamoreON 912th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron35 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron USAFRCAF19531974C-44CFS MoosoneeON 15 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19611975C-9CFS FalconbridgeON 33 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19521986C-119CFS LowtherON 639th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron36 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron USAFRCAF19571987C-14RCAF Station PagwaON 913th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron37 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron USAFRCAF19521966C-15CFS ArmstrongON 914th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron38 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) SquadronUSAFRCAF19521974C-16CFS Sioux LookoutON 915th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron39 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron USAFRCAF19531987C-17CFS BeausejourMB 916th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron48 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) SquadronUSAFRCAF19531988C-49CFS GypsumvilleMB 47 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19621987C-51CFS YorktonSK 46 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19631986C-52CFS DanaSK 45 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19641987 C-53CFS AlsaskSK 44 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) SquadronRCAF19531986C-36CFB Cold LakeAB 42 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19541991C-54CFS PenholdAB 43 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19641986C-21RCAF Saskatoon MountainCFS BeaverlodgeAB 919th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron57 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) SquadronUSAFRCAF19531988C-153CFS KamloopsBC 825th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron56 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron USAFRCAF19571988C-20CFS Baldy HughesBC 918th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron54 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) SquadronUSAFRCAF19531988C-19RCAF Station Puntzi MountainBC 917th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron55 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron USAFRCAF19521966C-35CFB ComoxBC 51 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron RCAF19541958C-36RCAF TofinoBC 52 Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron RCAF19551957C-18CFS HolbergBC 501 Aircraft Control and Warning (later Radar) Squadron53 Radar Squadron RCAF19541991
See also List of Royal Canadian Air Force stations United States general surveillance radar stations Radar Station, a 1953 short documentary about the Pinetree Line Continental Air Defense Integration North Continental Air Defense Command
References
A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946–1980, by Lloyd H. Cornett and Mildred W. Johnson, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado The Pinetree Line
External links 1997 video documentary by Greg Marshall – Personal stories from Canada's role in the Cold War and NORAD