Pearkes Discusses the Bomarcs

The following is George Pearkes' interpretation of events as expressed in an interview by Dr. Reginald Roy - April 5, 1967.
(ACC 74-1 Box 5 Interview #61).

P:  I have to confess rather reluctantly we went into the Bomarcs...we had to give something...we had to say there was some defence.  To have been really firm I could have said well, there's not going to be any bomber attack, it's all going to be ICBMs therefore we don't need any defence against any bombers because there's not going to be any.  We won't even spend money on Bomarcs.  But against that, people said well, at the present time they haven't got enough ICBMs to gain a complete decision - the ICBM attack is likely to be followed by a bomber attack, therefore, we should have some defences and the Bomarcs are part of a chain of Bomarcs which can be all across North America.  And that was the original plan - all across the North American Continent.  All from British Columbia, near Seattle, right across...along practically the frontier between Canada and the United States.  And because the frontier swung down a bit round Ontario, and because of the importance of our Montreal and Toronto areas, they were going to have the two Canadian stations in that area to have special protection of Bomarcs across the Continent.  Then for one reason or another, mainly because they were thinking more of ICBMs and also because they were bringing in other things like the Nike Zeus, that equipment was emerging, and they were having launching pads so that they could be put on trains to be moved about, and the gap was beginning to be closed (on paper anyway) and the Americans gave up the Bomarc stations in the west so that there was not this continuous belt, but they kept the Bomarc stations - Bomarc B- in and around the eastern states. R:  Am I correct in thinking that insofar as the Bomarc sites in Ontario-Quebec area are concerned, that these were offered as a gift to Canada.  In other words that the... P:  The Bomarcs were. R:  Canadians didn't buy them or anything of this nature.  This was really a part of the American defence.... P:  It was practically a gift.  We had to put money in - I've forgotten whether we had to prepare the site - but the equipment was a gift, was practically a gift.  We got it for practically nothing.... ... P:  ...As soon as NORAD was approved, then the Americans came forward with a plan for the defence of the North American Continent which included all these different agencies - the fighters, the warning systems, the Bomarcs, and...there was a map which showed where all these stations were going to be. R:  In brief then, the two problems...[were] going along at the same time; the problem of NORAD, the problem of whether or not to continue on the CF-105 and so on. P:  Yes. Well, the NORAD plan came first...the original NORAD plan included the fighter squadrons of the Arrow. They didn't lay down the type of aircraft, but they said Canadian fighter squadrons...Of course, the Arrow never did come into production. There were only three of them and there were a total of seven in various stages which were being built.  They would never have been used as part of squadron equipment - those seven experimental ones....

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