''Radar Station'' is a 1953 Canadian

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

documentary film produced by the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

(NFB) as part of the '' On The Spot'' series made specifically for television.Allan, Blaine
"=CBC Television Series, 1952–1982."
''Queen's Film and Media'' ( Queen's University). Retrieved: January 20, 2016. The documentary involved an account of a visit to a

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

station while it is involved in a simulated air attack, and is based on first-person interviews of the staff at the radar station.

Synopsis

In 1953, during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

RCAF The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environme ...

Squadron Leader Bill Lee visits RCAF Station Lac St. Denis in the

Pinetree Line The Pinetree Line was a series of radar stations located across the northern United States and southern Canada at about the 50th parallel north, along with a number of other stations located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic and Pacific coasts. ...

of radar stations. Typical of the many

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

radar stations that provide air defence over Canada and the United States, the base is involved with identifying and plotting air operations in Canada's Arctic. S/L John Mahoney, the Senior Controller shows how the standard multi-level operations complex works. The search and height finder equipment and operations are located on the third floor where the Surveillance Controller Supervisor are found. The Senior Controller and other appropriate staff are on the second floor with the Identification Officer and the "cross-tellers", horizontal plotting boards and tote boards on the main floor. While FtrCops staff are in the canteen, the large search antenna sweeping the skies has detected "unknowns" at 25,000 ft., and the Identification Officer has issued an "alert" through the station PA system. As Airwomen plot the four aircraft on their radar scopes, the Senior Controller issues a command to the Aerospace Control and Warning Squadron (AC&W Sqn), who are constantly on operational readiness. The nearby RCAF base "scrambles" a flight of

Canadair Sabre The Canadair Sabre is a jet fighter aircraft built by Canadair under licence from North American Aviation. A variant of the North American F-86 Sabre, it was produced until 1958 and used primarily by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) until ...

fighter aircraft to intercept the approaching aircraft. The aircraft turn out to be

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirlin ...

bombers that are part of an exercise, showing that the radar station can adequately protect Canada's northern frontiers from the Soviet threat of nuclear attack on North America.

Cast

* Squadron Leader Bill Lee, reporter * Squadron Leader John Mahoney, Senior Controller

Production

''Radar Station'' relied heavily on military assistance in obtaining footage. The film incorporated footage shot in 1953 at RCAF bases where the radar station operated. The ''On The Spot'' series segments were produced with a three-person crew: a director, cameraman and on-screen host, usually Fred Davis, but in this case, RCAF Squadron Leader (later Group Captain) William "Bill" Lee acted as the interviewer and narrator."Radar Station."
''

National Film Board The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary fi ...

''. Retrieved: January 20, 2016. The ''On The Spot'' series debuted in 1953, with 39 episodes, initially 15 minutes in length. For the second season, NFB produced 30-minute episodes.Ohayon, Albert
"On the Spot: The NFB in the early days of television."
''

'', April 14, 2010. Retrieved: January 20, 2016.

Reception

''Radar Station'' was shown on NFB's ''On the Spot'' series, the first series made specifically for television by the National Film Board of Canada. The series aired on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

for two seasons from 1953 to 1954. Drawing on the experiences of the earlier wartime ''

Canada Carries On ''Canada Carries On'' (French: ''En avant Canada'') was a series of short films by the National Film Board of Canada which ran from 1940 to 1959. The series was initially created as morale-boosting propaganda films during the Second World War. Wit ...

'' and concurrent ''

The World in Action ''The World in Action'' (aka ''World in Action'') was a monthly series of propaganda films from the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), created to boost morale and show the Allied war effort during the Second World War. The series was inspired ...

'' documentary series, each ''On the Spot'' episode reported on a different aspect of life in Canada. The episodes were often "editorials", a form of "social documentary". The series was originated by

Bernard Devlin Bernard Devlin, (December 15, 1824 – February 7, 1880) was an Irish-born lawyer, counsel to the Abraham Lincoln administration of the United States Government during the most northerly engagement of the United States Civil War, Quebec-b ...

. The series underwent a number of challenges with time slots frequently changed, episodes playing as late as 11:45 pm on Monday nights before going to Sundays at 4:30 pm. The second season aired on Sundays at 10 pm. Cancelled after the 26 episodes of the second season, ''On the Spot'' was replaced by the ''Perspective'' television series, also produced by the NFB,Lerner 1997. p. 363. ''Perspective'' featured 30-minute episodes that mixed documentary reports and dramatizations on contemporary Canadian issues.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Khouri, Malek. ''Filming Politics: Communism and the Portrayal of the Working Class at the National Film Board of Canada, 1939–46.'' Calgary, Alberta, Canada: University of Calgary Press, 2007. . * Lerner, Loren. ''Canadian Film and Video: A Bibliography and Guide to the Literature''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997. .

External links

Complete list of ''On the Spot'' episodes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radar Station 1953 films 1953 documentary films Canadian aviation films Canadian short documentary films Documentary films about military aviation English-language Canadian films National Film Board of Canada documentaries Documentary films about Canada Documentary films about the Cold War Films shot in Quebec Cold War history of Canada 1950s short documentary films Canadian black-and-white films 1950s English-language films 1950s Canadian films