St. Bride's Radar Station was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

General Surveillance Ground Radar

Early Warning An early warning system is a warning system that can be implemented as a Poset, chain of information communication systems and comprises sensors, Detection theory, event detection and decision support system, decision subsystems for early identi ...

Station in the

Dominion of Newfoundland Newfoundland was a British dominion in eastern North America, today the modern Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It included the island of Newfoundland, and Labrador on the continental mainland. Newfoundland was one of the orig ...

. It was built during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and responsible for monitoring air traffic from

Naval Station Argentia Naval Station Argentia is a former base of the United States Navy that operated from 1941 to 1994. It was established in the community of Argentia in the Dominion of Newfoundland, which later became the tenth Canadian province, Newfoundland and ...

to RCAF Torbay and into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. It was located in St. Bride's, southwest of St. John's. It was closed in 1945.

History

The site was established in 1942 as a United States Ground Radar Early Warning Station, funded by the

, which stationed the 685th Air Warning Squadron on the site under operational control of

Newfoundland Base Command Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland and the continent ...

Pepperrell Air Force Base Pepperrell Air Force Base, previously known as Fort Pepperrell, is a decommissioned United States military base located in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Newfoundland, Canada which operated from 1 ...

. Fifty-two members (three officers and 49 enlisted men) of the 685th were assigned to St Bride's. It operated an SCR-271 manned

early-warning radar An early-warning radar is any radar system used primarily for the long-range detection of its targets, i.e., allowing defences to be alerted as ''early'' as possible before the intruder reaches its target, giving the air defences the maximum tim ...

with information sent by radio to a plotting center at Pepperrell AFB to track aircraft. St Bride's was the third of a chain of four stations around the Newfoundland coast and was accordingly given the radio code name of "Trio".Cardoulis (1990) p. 134 The station was assigned to

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) 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 environmental commands within the unified Can ...

on 1 November 1944, and was given designation "No 41 RU". The RCAF operated the station until 7 October 1945.

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
units and assignments

Units: * 685th Air Warning Company, 1943 : Inactivated November 1944 Assignments: *

, Winter 1943

References

* Cornett, Lloyd H. and Johnson, Mildred W., ''A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980'

Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson AFB, CO (1980) {{NLMilitary, state=collapsed Radar stations of the United States Air Force Foreign military bases in Canada Military installations closed in 1945 Military installations in Newfoundland and Labrador Military installations established in 1943 1940s establishments in Newfoundland 1943 establishments in North America 1943 establishments in the British Empire 1945 disestablishments in the British Empire 1945 disestablishments in North America 1940s disestablishments in Newfoundland

History

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ... units and assignments

References

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
units and assignments