As a result of the Cold War and with the expansion of a North American continental air defense system, Resolution Island was selected as a site for a United States Air Force (USAF) radar station, one of the many that would make up the Pinetree Line of Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) radar sites.
The United States Air ForceNortheast Air Command (NEAC) established a general surveillance radar station on Resolution Island in 1953, designating the site as "Resolution Island Air Station", with Site-ID of N-30. The 920th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was assigned to the site on 19 January 1952. It was equipped with the following radars:
As a GCI base, the 920th's role was to guide interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit's radar scopes. These interceptors were assigned to the 64th Air DivisionatGoose AFB, Labrador. In 1957, with the inactivation of NEAC, the station came under the jurisdiction of Air Defense Command.
Routine operations from the station were performed until 1 November 1961, when the station was inactivated and turned over to the Royal Canadian Air Force, which closed the facility.
The Canadian Coast Guard operated a radio station from 1929(?) until 1975 under the call sign VAW. The station (MF Marine) was then moved to Killinek (NWT/Nunavut), on the south shore of the Hudson Strait.
Cornett, Lloyd H. and Johnson, Mildred W., A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980, [1]Archived 2016-02-13 at the Wayback Machine Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson AFB, CO (1980).
Winkler, David F. & Webster, Julie L., Searching the Skies, The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program, [2][dead link] US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories, Champaign, IL (1997).
Royal Canadian Air Force
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
