History of Alsask AS, SK, CN
The radar station (site C-53) was located at the junction of provincial highways 7 and 44, on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan, hence its name. The nearest community was the village of Alsask, which bordered the southern boundary of the 418 acre military facility. Saskatoon was 184 miles to the east, while 225 miles away to the west was Calgary. The area had typical glacial moraine with gentle rolling hills, and was notorious for dust storms, high winds, electric storms and fierce blizzards.
RCAF Station Alsask was conceived in 1959 as part of the CADIN/Pinetree Project. Initial clearing and grading of the land began in the summer of 1961. Construction commenced soon after and was completed in December 1962. On 1 November 1962, RCAF Station Alsask was officially established. The long range radar unit, 44 Radar Squadron, was operational and took over the newly constructed station in early 1963. Equipment at the station included the FPS-7C Search and the FPS-507 and FPS-206 Height Finder radars. The site was declared SAGE-Operational in May 1963 at which time the entire station was declared operational within the 24th NORAD Region.
The station was later known as a Canadian Forces Station in May 1967. In the fall of 1983, the ROCC concept was introduced to replace SAGE. In August 1984, both ROCCs Canada East and Canada West (Alsask came under Canada West) were declared operational.
Alsask carried on with their assigned duties until they were disbanded on 1 August 1987.
The NBC Group - Don Nicks, John Bradley, Chris Charland
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