DAILY DIARY
2 RADIO DETACHMENT - BELL LAKE, NOVA SCOTIA
1 Feb 1944 to 14 Nov 1944
1 Feb 44
Strength: 2 Officers, 69 Airmen: Total strength 71.
Overcast with cold wind. F/L JB Cook, C11998, Medical Officer from RCAF Station, Dartmouth, visited the detachment to inspect health and general cleanliness. Combined Bell Lake - Preston hockey team received its third set-back in six games, being defeated by 161 Squadron, Dartmouth, by a score of 8 - 5 in a regular game played at the Navy League Forum, Halifax. Off the air for seven hours, twenty-six minutes for phasing of antenna by R138273 F/L Cummings, of #4 RD, Scoudouc, NB.
2 Feb 44
Continuing cold with high winds. Special cleanup around the station; work parade waxed and polished floors in admin. building and officer's quarters, while kitchen staff began painting tables and benches in mess hall. F/L HS Hartlin, C24081, and F/L ER Woodside, C9099, Protestant chaplains from RCAF, Station Dartmouth, visited in the evening to resume weekly discussion groups. F/O BR Benson, C27098, arrived on posting from #6 Detachment, Louisburg, NS, as supernumerary radar officer, employed as station administrative officer. YMCA War Services presented the show "A Night in New Orleans", starring Preston Foster and Patricia Morrison. Off the air for one hour and twenty-seven minutes for phasing array; this activity being cut short by bitter winds, which made work impossible.
3 Feb 44
Clear with strong north winds. The OC held an inspection of personnel and barracks. The bowling team, in regular evening league match, against Stores (Dartmouth) took three out of a possible four points. F/O RB Robinson, C14952, arrived on temporary duty from # 4 RD, Scoudouc, to install a pre-amplifier in the receiver unit. Off the air one hour and six minutes due to a breakdown in the power supply of the Thyratron unit caused by shorting in condenser, C11.
4 Feb 44
Little operational activity. New thyratron unit from Scoudouc installed in place of troublesome old unit. Pre-amplifier had to be removed, due to shorted REL 36, for which there was no replacement.
5 Feb 44
R150812 LAC Zarsky, O, from #4 RD, arrived on TD to install a modification to the thyratron blower unit. Y movie was "Lady Takes a Chance", starring Jean Arthur and John Wayne.
6 Feb 44
Weather overcast and mild, cancelling proposed sleigh-ride and social. Regular church runs for Protestant and RC personnel to Woodlawn and Dartmouth. Lost a hotly contested hockey game to Stores, Dartmouth. New thyratron unit proved no more satisfactory than old, which was restored.
1 Mar 44
Strength: 2 Officers and 78 Airmen. Total strength: 80.
Weather dull. In retrospect- C12648 F/O Henderson, KO, Administrative Officer of this detachment had been posted at the end of the previous month to a Flying Control Course at RCAF Station Sea Island, BC thus ceasing temporary duty at RCAF Station, Dartmouth, NS. This detachment, in common with many others, thus had a supernumerary Signals-Radar Officer filling the position of Administration Officer. Also posted were three Radar Mechanics, Ground - the first in a long time to be posted from operational duty in WHO to overseas (outside of #1 Group) duty. The Red Cross Drive was opened. An amusing movie, "My Kingdom for a Cook" with Charles Colburn, was shown by YMCA War Services.
2 Mar 44
High winds. The bowling team lost 4 points in one of the regular league games. There was a breakdown in the thyratron unit during the night. The reduction gears and turning motor were removed and examined after an attempt had been made to manually loosen the array. However the gears and motor checked okay and it was decided to have another try at jarring it loose. A task force of 15 men was assembled and after several combined efforts, the array began to move and the thyratron took over from there. To this date no apparent nor definite conclusion has been reached as to the cause of the breakdown, but it is thought that one of the rollers may have broken and a piece of it may have become jammed between the rotary and stationary of the gentry.
3 Mar 44
Clear and cold. A breakdown in the governor of one of the diesel power generators caused the diesel voltage to rise to 400 volts, blowing out all the fuses in the building and causing a short interuption to Radar Operations.
4 Mar 44
Bright and cold. Seven WD personnel from Filter Room, #3 Group visited Operations for contact training. A mediocre movie, "Harvest Melody", was shown.
5 Mar 44
Bright and cold, with some wind. Regular duty runs were held for RC personnel to Dartmouth, in the morning, and for the Protestants to Woodlawn in the afternoon.
6 Mar 44
Sunny and warmer. C24081 F/L Hartlin, HS conducted a discussion group in the evening; the topic was "Venerial Disease". The regular duty runs to Dartmouth held this night, as every Monday, Thursday and Friday.
19 May 44
Weather - Clear, cool and windy all day.
It was a weary officer and bunch of airmen who dragged their bruised and lame bodies to breakfast this morning (perhaps the softball game of the night before had something to do with it). In any case the mail run was held as usual, and after dinner the weekly Officer Commanding's inspection of airmen and buildings was carried out and all looked very neat and tidy (on the surface at least). F/Lt Hutchison of Eastern Air Command Hqs, Signals (Radar) Section visited the station in the evening. No softball practices or games were held.
20 May 44
Weather - CAVU with a light cool wind.
Mail run to Dartmouth RCAF Station left at 0915 hrs. Following a special check up on the Radar equipment the previous evening, the operators report the equipment to be functioning unusually well. In fact a new record for this Station was established in the longest track recorded without IFF, 893 miles. A softball game took place in the evening between the "Zombies' and the "Draft Dodgers" of the house league, the former team winning. Following the game, a movie "Jack London" was shown in the Recreation Hall.
21 May 44
Weather - Ceiling low and visibility Fair in early morning, becoming clear and windy during the day but cloudy again at night. The RC church parade left, at 0930 hrs., and the show run for Halifax at 1400 hrs. The Protestant church parade left at 1815 hrs. for Dartmouth. Operations hung up a new record this date. A surface vessel track started at 90 miles and was carried out to the end of our scale (150 miles). This may be considered as a freak and one for the pages of radio history.
22 May 44
Weather - Clear in early morning but overcast and windy with good visibility throughout the remainder of the day.
Usual mail run in the morning. In the afternoon another run was made to the RCAF Station in Dartmouth to bring back a stake truck that had just been repaired. The Officer Commanding had his right hand X-rayed and a slight fracture was noted near the top of the thumb, probably resulting from a softball game.
5 Jun 44
Operations records show slightly better than average results, however, some of the outstanding points were the unusually predominant/spurious echoes on the entire trace, particularly 50 miles south west of the station during afternoon and early evening.
6 Jun 44
Clearing toward daybreak, remaining CAVU all day but winds reached 28 MPH velocity. Mail left for Dartmouth at 0930 hrs. News of the invasion has put most of the personnel in a noticeably alert though restless mood. Rations were picked up at RCASC depot prior to noon time. A small work party completed theoutdoor volley-ball court this morning. At 1330 hours, several personnel left on a medical parade held in Dartmouth RCAF hospital for aircrew fitness. High winds necessitated locking the rotating Radar tower from 1820 hours to 2350 hours. Following supper, the softball "House League" swung into operation. Other personnel left for Dartmouth on the evening Duty Run.
7 Jun 44
Weather: - Light rain with fog.
Mail left for Dartmouth at 0930 hours. Aircraft activity very light owing to the weather. A clothing parade went to Dartmouth Station. In the afternoon all living-in personnel, except for the clothing parade, were confined to camp until further notice owing to the dirty condition of their barracks on a surprise check up by the Orderly Sergeant. The movie "Pilot No. 5" which was a very good picture was shown in the evening. Following supper a sort of refresher course on the Radar Equipment was held for the mechanics, by the Officer Commanding. As this was favourably accepted by all, it is intended to have it become a weekly feature.
8 Jun 44
Weather:- Fog and light rain, clearing at night.
Mail run departed at 0920 hours. Work parties were organized during the day to clean up the grounds and also transport coal into the kitchen and furnace bins. The "confinement to camp" restriction was lifted late in the afternoon. An expected visit in the afternoon from the Education Officer and a photographer from Dartmouth Station did not materialize. This visit was intended for gathering material to use in a write-up in the RCAF monthly magazine "Thumbs Up". Later in the afternoon the Officer Commanding went to the WPTB in Halifax to obtain ration cards for casual meals served at this Unit. Another of our famous "House League" softball games was played in the evening.
9 Jun 44
Weather:- CAVU all day
Mail run left for Dartmouth at 0915 hours. In the morning a work parade started white washing stones bordering the station roadways. Other personnel were put on a painting job in the canteen. Just prior to noon, F/Lt. Day (Education Officer at Dartmouth Station) and a Cpl. WD Photographer arrived for taking shots of "Life on "THE" Detachment." It was a regular field day for those off duty and the ball was started rolling by an OC's parade and inspection. This was followed by a brief drill.
26 Oct 44
Weather overcast all day with heavy rain in the evening. Due to the inclement weather operational results were limited to twelve tracks for the period. Another of the centering bearings in the turntable became unserviceable tonight and had to be removed. This is the third bearing that has been removed from the turntable in the past six months and to date although replacements have been demanded and re-demanded these spares have not been received and it becomes increasingly difficult to rotate the array particulary if there is any wind.
27 Oct 44
Weather overcast all day with some fog. Another quiet day as far as the Radar Section is concerned with a total of 19 plots recorded. The maximum aircraft range was 130 miles and the maximum S/V range was 28 miles.
28 Oct 44
Scattered clouds and cool the temperatures being about 40º all day. Reception was a very good today although only 20 tracks were recorded. One A/C track identified as N.108 was plotted to a range of 164 miles. 42 minutes were lost due to a breakdown this afternoon.
29 Oct 44
Weather extremely unfavourable with heavy rain and gales throughout the day. Operational results limited to eleven tracks due to the inclement weather. Since the victory loan campaign opened on the 23rd, 24 applications for a total of 2400 dollars have been made by our personnel. This figure is approximately 83% of our objective.
30 Oct 44
The weather today is somewhat improved although still cloudy and quite cool. 32 tracks were recorded for this period. Bell Lake is over the top in the Seventh Victory Loan drive today. We have reached 110% of our objective and have a total of 32 applications.31 Oct 44
The weather was dull and gloomy the temperature ranged from 30 to 37º. Today a bombshell was dropped in our midst when advice was received from EAC Hqs. that in accordance with amendment 4 to Secret Organization Order No 215 this Unit is disbanded effective today. Accordingly at 2359 hours the Radar equipment was shut down and Operations ceased.
(JC HOUSTON) F/L,
Commanding Officer,
No 2 Radio Unit, RCAF,
Bell Lake, NS
1 - 6 Nov 44
NIL
7 Nov 44
This afternoon the Commanding Officer received a telephone call from S/L Robinson at Eastern Air Command to say that this Unit may be going back on the air. This apparently is not definite and Eastern Air Command is awaiting confirmation from AFHQ
Fortunately none of the Radar gear has been dismantled, and we will have little trouble resuming operations again. However the W/T equipment has been dismantled and was crated for shipment to No. #22 R Unit, Port Dufferin, NS Shipping of this equipment is being delayed pending definite word from Eastern Air Command.
Twenty five of our personnel have been posted to other Radar Units on the coast, reporting November 8th. As none of these men have actually departed from the Unit, they were instructed by the Commanding Officer to remain here until further notice. Later a message was received from Eastern Air Command cancelling the postings.
7 - 13 Nov 44
NIL
14 Nov 44
By amendment #5 to Secret Organization Order #215 the disbandment of this Unit is cancelled. Advice to this effect was received today from Eastern Air Command. So we are re-born as it were. The CO and Senior Mechanic spent the latter part of the afternoon and early evening setting up the Radar Equipment and at 2305 hrs local time this evening #2 Radio Unit reported back on air. Considerable trouble was experienced in getting the equipment set up and it was necessary to install a new pair of Type V oscillators.
During the past week, apart from the Radar Section, business has been pretty much "as usual". To keep the men busy a parade was held each morning at 0900 hours. Personnel were detailed to duty and to fatigues. At 1030 hrs. each day there was an hour PT period.
A movie was shown at 2000 hrs. in the Recreation Hall. The show, "The Eve of St Mark" was very good and was well attended.
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