| Hopedale Air Station | |
|---|---|
Station in the mid 1960s |
|
| Type | Radar Station |
| Built | 1953 |
| In use | 1953-1968 |
Hopedale Air Station (ADC ID: N-23) is a closed General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 147.8 miles (237.9 km) west-northwest of CFB Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It was closed in 1968.
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The site was established in 1953 as a General Surveillance Radar station, funded by the United States Air Force. It was used initially by the Northeast Air Command as part of the Pinetree Line, which stationed the 923d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron at the station on 1 October 1953.
The station was re-assigned to the USAF Air Defense Command on 1 April 1957, and was given designation "N-28". The station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and warning station. As a GCI station, the squadron'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 Division at Goose AFB, Labrador.
It operated the following radars:
In addition to the main facility, Hopedale operated a AN/FPS-14 manned Gap Filler sites:
N-28A was built in 1957 about 50 miles east-southeast of the main station and was closed in 1961. The site is very isolated, and its remains are still visible in aerial images. It was serviced by a small dock where supply ships apparently provided logistical support to the station. The remains of a road, probably gravel, remain which goes to the station, where the tower base remains along with some support buildings, including a barracks. The entire facility appears to have been totally abandoned for 50 years
Personnel stationed at Hopedale lived in the village of Hopedale, about .5 mile south-southeast of the site. A small airstrip on Ribback Island provided air support to the station. The squadron was inactivated on 18 June 1968, and the station was closed on 30 June.
Today the site remains intact, probably due to its isolated location. It apparently has been unused and abandoned since its closure. Since 1992, the Canadian Forces have operated a Short Range Radar facility at a nearby site, a part of the North Warning System.
In 2009, a serious PCB contamination was identified at the former Hopedale station.
Units:
Assignments:
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.