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ALASCOM. WHITE ALICE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM. BOSWELL BAY STATION. Records; 1955-1985. 54 cu. ft. Box and series list.
The White Alice Communications System (WACS) was developed in the early 1950s as part of a North American over-the-pole defense system. The system was developed because of problems in using the VHF communications with the Aircraft Control and Warning System (AC&W). The Bell System recommended that the Department of Defense construct the forward propagation tropospheric scatter system, as well as less expensive microwave facilities. The Air Force accepted the plan and the Western Electric Company was awarded the contract in 1955. WACS linked the AC&W and the Distant Early Warning System (DEW-line) with Elmendorf and Eielson Air Force Bases (AFB) and also linked the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) at Clear AFB with the North American Defense Command. The systems eventually consisted of seventy-one separate facilities. Of the original thirty-one sites, twenty-two were tropospheric, six were microwave, and three were combined tropospheric/microwave sites. Construction began in the mid-1950s and was completed in 1959. BMEWS construction began in 1960 and was completed by 1962. Twenty-one sites were microwave and five were tropospheric. Project Stretchout facilities were tropospheric and functioned as part of an Aleutian DEW-line system. The Boswell Bay WACS site was a tropospheric station which was begun in 1955 and activated in late 1956. The system was rendered obsolete by the development of new technology. In 1967, Congress provided for the transfer of the facilities to non-government ownership. In 1970, RCA Alaska Communications, Inc. (now Alascom) acquired the system.
This collection contains basic documentation necessary for the construction and operation of a White Alice Communications Site. The collection consists of records housed at the WACS Boswell Bay station. The records include administrative and maintenance records and reports; internal communications; equipment records; performance assessment data; radio logs; supply records; site restoration files, drawings, test and lineup data, drawings and schematics, site maintenance records, specifications, and manuals. The plans and drawings are site, architectural, mechanical, and electrical plans including as-built drawings.
Presented to the archives by Alascom in 1987, on the basis of a Memorandum of Understanding between Alascom and the U.S. Forest Service, the Alaska Historic Preservation Office, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation with the concurrence of the Historic American Building Survey of the National Park Service. Plans, drawings, manuals and reference material may contain information protected by copyright.
HMC-0001