M and O FM Radio Network Available ln Civil Defense Air Spotter Program

Minneapolis, Minn.-The Minnesota and Ontario Paper Company was complimented recently by Gen. Carl A. (Tooey) Spaatz, civilian head of the Civil Air Patrol and .former Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, for making the company's FM radio network available in the Civil Defense air spotter program.

On a trip to the west coast Gen. Spaatz visited the Minneapolis offices of M and O and reviewed the details of the prograrn with Col. E. B. Miller, Minnesota head of Civil Defense, and J. B. Faegre, president of M and O. The company radio system, comprising 35 stations located near the border in Minnesota and Ontario, has fixed base stations at International Falls, Big Falls, Kettle Falls, Warroad and the Northwest Angle in Minnesota and at Fort Frances, Atikokan and Kenora in Ontario. Additional stations are located in the permanent logging areas. Some of these bush sets are portable and others are at permanent camp locations.

Primarily used for logging communications, the system has been available to the Civil Defense aircraft spotters since early in 1951. Personnel who man the stations, either at the milLs or in the bush, are Civil Defense volunteers on duty around the clock with a sharp eye out for enemy planes. If the spotter spots an unidentified aircraft, he flashes this information over the radio to mill town stations.

fn turn, the information is radioed or telephoned to a filter center at Minneapolis where the flight is tracked. In the event of attack, fighter planes would be dispatched immediately to intercept.

At the same time industrial centers would be told of the oncoming attack. Col. E. B. Miller estimates that such a warning by the M and O spotters would reduce casualties by fifty per cent in bombings on Midwestern cities. Gen. Spaatz praised the .system as one of the best organized of, its kind in the United States and lauded the company's action in making available their radio system to the Civil Defense program as a fine example of civic and community cooperation.

In its day to day operation the FM system is used to provide instant communication between management and woods personnel. Because much of the logging, especially in northwestern Ontario, is done in vast wilderness areas that are almost roadless, FM radio has proved to be one of the most valuable tools in M and O's modern operations. What used to take days to accomplish now takes but a few hours. Supplies and machinery parts are flown to camp sites after an emergency has been reported to the mill town. Injured personnel often owe their life to the FM radio. An injury report to a mill town station sends a do,ctor fllying to the injured man. Meanwhile, the mill town hospital is alerted and ready to treat the injured logger when he is flown out of the bush. Before the advent of FM radio, an injured man may have had to wait ,several days before he received medical attention.