CFS Lowther Radar Old Site

This former military site was originally built by the US military. In 1957, the place was opened as the Lowther Air Station of the United States Air Force.

Later, in March 1963, the facilities were linked to a network of strategic infrastructure and surveillance that included long-range radar.

In July 1963, the US Squadron withdrew and the station was transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). The site was renamed RCAF Lowther Station when RCAF No. 36 Squadron took place there that same year.

On April 1, 1966, Station Lowther began transmitting data as a participant in the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) program. This American-Canadian organization's mission is the surveillance and defense of North American airspace.

After the RCAF, Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Army were amalgamated to create the Canadian Forces in 1968, the location was renamed CFS Lowther.
The Lowter Station operated until it was decommissioned in 1987.

As a memorial an AN/FPS-26 Height Finder antenna was relocated to the main throughway in Kapuskasing, at the corner of the main road and McPherson Street, close from Ron-Morel Museum.

Avco Corporation built this height-finder radar that operated at a frequency of 5400 to 5900 MHz. This radar, which was deployed in the 1960s, was operated on the C-band and was used in SAGE operations at a number of Pinetree Line radar stations.

Lowther's powerful radar was providing some of the airspace surveillance over the Pinetree area that you see on this map.

The Pinetree Line radar station network was established from the early 1950s.

It consisted of 44 stations along the 50th parallel, including Lowther's. It is the first coordinated Soviet attack detection system in North America.

In the late 1950s, some stations became inactive as new systems were put in place in the North. The detection system became obsolete, while some radar stations in the Pinetree network continued to operate until the 1980s.

The site opened in 1957 as Lowther Air Station of the United States Air Force, with the radar functions being run by No. 639 Aircraft Control & Warning Squadron (AC&WS). In March 1963, Lowther AS was connected to the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system and the station became a long-range radar site. In July 1963 the 639th AC&WS was inactivated and the station was turned over to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), the final Pinetree Line site to be transferred. 

Under RCAF jurisdiction, the station was renamed RCAF Station Lowther, with No. 36 Radar Squadron as the operating unit. This was part of an arrangement with the United States that came as a result of the cancellation of the Avro Arrow.

On 1 April 1966, Lowther began feeding SAGE data to what was then known as the 29th NORAD Region at Duluth, Minnesota. With the unification of the RCAF, Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Army into the Canadian Forces, the station was re-designated simply CFS Lowther in 1968.

Beginning in 1983, the station began reporting to Canada East ROCC until its eventual decommissioning in 1987. 

The Lowther site consisted of the radar station, a ground-air transmitter receiver (GATR) site and living facilities. Staff not only worked at the station but were also provided with a number of onsite activities and recreational opportunities.  Available amenities included a bowling alley, curling rink, softball diamond, rifle range and cross-country ski trails. 

By 1988, CFS Lowther had become somewhat forsaken. Though there were still buildings and radar towers present, only three commissionaires remained to guard the once vibrant station. By 1992, everything was gone including the guards. The old gymnasium had been moved into the nearby town of Opasatika, where it was turned into a mushroom growing facility, and the remote radio site was taken over by Hyundai for use as a winter test facility.

All that remains of CFS Lowther today are the abandoned roadways and building foundations.