Myles, Donald H.: my Air Force recollections (November 15, 2006)

Rank: Lieutenant-Colonel.

ABSTRACT: Lieutenant-Colonel Donald Myles 1980 - 25th NORAD region McCord air force base. No dividing line between Canadians and Americans at McCord air base. Co-Located. They responded to information provided from Colorado Springs. Russians still floating over bombers to test surveillance. Don dealt with BC, Washington, and W. Montana to activate fighter force to investigate what was coming in. SLBMs, they were the worst you could get on west coast. Dealt with BEARS. He dealt with the deployment of the F-101s. US attachment at Comox to deal with arming nukes on Canadian fighters. He only dealt with area concerned with 25th division. Defense capabilities adequate with threat in the 25th division. Didn't matter if it was US or Canadian general whoever was in charge that day called the shots. Don assisted in overseeing the interceptor forces and monitored information being transmitted to their base. Dealt with lots of unknowns. Missiles were going to be first attack. Primary concern that all the radar personnel and fighter squadrons all well trained and knew what they had to do. Colorado Springs Oversaw the Back up facility with a 6 man crew. They were to take over if mountain went down. BUF limited capabilities. Getting information from same sources but not display capabilities as normal command center. Direction of fighters would be left to someone else, but they would oversee the monitoring. Multiple hats only way it could be done to respond. He witnessed Space Command coming into station. CINCNORAD, CINCSpace Command, and CINC USAF. US Space same information as NORAD received. He wasn't sure on what all satellites did, less people knew about it the better. DCINC must have known about all the satellites, had access to all information. Crews were mixed Canadian/US. SDI-"Politicians get excited about something they don't understand." Politicians could have found out the position of NORAD and how SDI fit in but they did not take the time to figure research into it. Politicians will believe what they want to believe. Not familiar with NWS he regarded it as updated DEW line. The shutting down of radar stations, left the interior of continent became a big black whole. US putting in the OTHBs, but if something got inside hard to track something. Always had a perimeter system. Story of working on E-3, he found them to be a good system. Once again, there was a US & Canadian overseers of US & Canadian crews working. Very boring. Another day at the office, great training for the crews. Threat had been the same for him during his years. In 1986 when Space Command came in was biggest change he witnessed. They were to take over BUF. No Canadians in Space Command. Space Command does not know much about NORAD. Canadian contributions went down, with Canadian fighters and radar stations. Lot different than having the squadrons sitting in Comox. Canadian military role diminished in NORAD was due to money i.e. politicians. 12 squadrons down to 3 all through Trudoue. Space Command does not diminish Canada's role in NORAD, they were only concerned with space. NORAD provided Canada Air Defense. A separate system would have been effective. Canada would have never been able to provide it itself. NORAD very interesting particularly in McCord and BUF in Colorado Springs. Never had the opportunity to do that in Canada.

Interviewer: Mooney, John

Interviewee: Myles, Donald H.

An interview/narrative of Lieutenant-Colonel Donald Myles's experiences with the North American Aerospace Defense Command. Interview took place on November 15, 2006.

In Collection:

• Canadian Military Oral Histories

Contributor

• Mooney, John
• Myles, Donald H.

Subject

• Military history
• Personal narratives--Canadian
• North American Aerospace Defense Command

Language

• eng

Date created

• November 15, 2006

Relation

• Part of the Military Oral History Class collection of interviews.

Resource type

• Sound

Rights statement

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Extent

• 2 sound recordings (MP3)

Geographic coverage

• Colorado--Colorado Springs

Coordinates

• 38.83388, -104.82136

Additional physical characteristics

• Two original audio cassettes in Special Collections.

Physical repository

• University of Victoria (B.C.). Library

Collection

• Canadian Military Oral History Collection

Provider

• University of Victoria (B.C.). Library

Genre

• sound recordings
• reminiscences
• interviews
• oral histories (literary genre)

Archival item identifier

• MDH_492

Fonds title

• Military oral history collection

Fonds identifier

• SC141

Is referenced by

• Special Collections Finding Aid: https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/military-oral-history-collection

Date digitized

• January 23, 2013

Technical note

• Digital sound recording in .wav format at 16 bits and 44 kHz. In .mp3 format at 56 kbps and 24 kHz. Digitized by JF, technical and cataloguing metadata provided by JF and JP. Interview migrated to digital format for UVic Special Collections in 2013. Migration metadata by KD and MT.

Rights

• This interview has been posted with the understanding that it may be used for research purposes only. Should the interviewee or their heirs have any objections to this interview being accessible on the Internet, it will be removed promptly. Contact UVic Special Collections for permission if using for other than research purposes: speccoll@uvic.ca

DOI

•  https://doi.org/10.58066/y0aq-ar37

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