Editing Distant Early Warning Line (section)

=== Construction process ===
[[File:Former DEW Line Radar station.jpg|thumb|POW-2, now [[Oliktok Long Range Radar Site]] ]]
From a standing start in December 1954, many thousands of skilled workers were recruited, transported to the polar regions, housed, fed, and supplied with tools, machines, and materials to construct physical facilities – buildings, roads, tanks, towers, antennas, airfields, and hangars – in some of the most hostile and isolated environments in North America. The construction project employed about 25,000 people.<ref name="dew2"/>

Western Electric and Alaska Freightlines, with the help of the [[United States Army]] Transportation Research and Development Command (TRADCOM), contracted to have a pair of off-road [[overland train]]s, the TC-264 Sno-Buggy, designed specifically for Arctic conditions, to be built by [[LeTourneau Technologies]], owned by [[R. G. LeTourneau]]. The TC-264 Sno-Buggy was the longest off-road vehicle ever built at the time, with its six cars (including the locomotive) measuring a total of {{convert|274|ft|abbr=on}}. Each car was driven by four {{convert|7.3|ft|abbr=on}} tall wheels and tires. The 24-wheel-drive was powered by two 400 horsepower [[Cummins]] diesel engines connected to a hub motor. It had a payload capacity of {{convert|150|ST|t LT}}, and could traverse nearly any terrain. It had a very successful first season hauling freight to the DEW Line.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Holderith |first1=Peter |title=The Incredible Story of the US Army's Earth-Shaking, Off-Road Land Trains |url=https://www.thedrive.com/news/33645/the-incredible-story-of-the-us-armys-earth-shaking-off-road-land-trains |website=the drive.com |date=25 May 2020 |access-date=30 May 2020}}</ref> Later, military and civilian airlifts, huge [[sealift]]s during the short summers, barges contributed to the distribution of vast cargoes along the length of the Line to build the permanent settlements needed at each site. Much of the job of carrying mountains of supplies to the northern sites fell to military and naval units. More than 3,000 United States Army [[Transportation Corps]] soldiers were given special training to prepare them for the job of unloading ships in the [[Arctic]]. They went with the convoys of [[United States Navy]] ships and they raced time during the few weeks the ice was open to land supplies at dozens of spots on the shores of the [[Arctic Ocean]] during the summers of 1955, 1956, and 1957.<ref name="dew4"/>
[[File:LeTourneau Snow Train.jpg|thumb|The LeTourneau snow train in Alaska]]
Scores of military and commercial pilots, flying everything from small [[bush plane]]s to four-engined [[turboprop]]s, were the backbone of the operation. The [[Lockheed LC-130]], a ski-equipped version of the [[Lockheed C-130 Hercules|C-130 Hercules]], owned by the United States Air Force and operated by the [[139th Airlift Squadron]], provided a significant amount of airlift to sites that were out on [[ice cap]]s such as [[Dye 3]] in Greenland. [[Cargo aircraft|Transport planes]] such as the [[Douglas C-124 Globemaster II|C-124 Globemaster]] and the [[Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar|C-119 Flying Boxcar]] also supported the project. Together, these provided the only means of access to many of the stations during the wintertime. In all, {{convert|460,000|ST|t LT}} of materials were moved from the United States and southern Canada to the Arctic by air, land, and sea.<ref name="dew4"/>

As the stacks of materials at the station sites mounted, construction went ahead rapidly. Subcontractors with a flair for tackling difficult construction projects handled the bulk of this work under the direction of Western Electric engineers. Huge quantities of gravel were produced and moved. The construction work needed to build housing, airstrips, aircraft [[hangar]]s, outdoor and covered [[Antenna (radio)|antennas]], and antenna towers was done by subcontractors. In all, over 7,000 [[bulldozer]] operators, carpenters, masons, plumbers, welders, electricians, and other tradesmen from the United States and southern Canada worked on the project. Concrete was poured in the middle of Arctic winters, buildings were constructed, electrical service, heating, and fresh water were provided, huge steel antenna towers were erected, airstrips and hangars were built, putting it all together in darkness, blizzards, and subzero temperatures.<ref name="dew1"/>

After the buildings came the installation of radar and communications equipment, then the thorough and time-consuming testing of each unit individually and of the system as an integrated whole. Finally all was ready, and on 15 April 1957 – just two years and eight months after the decision to build the Distant Early Warning Line was made – Western Electric turned over to the Air Force on schedule a complete, operating radar system across the top of North America, with its own communications network. Later, the system coverage was expanded even further: see [[List of White Alice Communications System sites#Project Stretchout sites|Project Stretchout]] and [[List of White Alice Communications System sites#Project Bluegrass sites|Project Bluegrass]].

The majority of Canadian DEW Line stations were the joint responsibility of the Royal Canadian Air Force (the [[Canadian Armed Forces]]) and the United States Air Force.<ref name="dew4"/> The USAF component was the [[64th Air Division]], [[Aerospace Defense Command|Air Defense Command]]. The 4601st Support Squadron, based in [[Paramus, New Jersey]], was activated by ADC to provide logistical and contractual support for DEW Line operations. In 1958, the line became a cornerstone of the new North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) organization of joint continental [[Anti-aircraft warfare|air defence]].<ref name="dew3"/><ref name="dew4"/>

USAF personnel were limited to the main stations for each sector and they performed annual inspections of auxiliary and intermediate stations as part of the contract administration. Most operations were performed by Canadian and United States civilian personnel, and the operations were automated as much as was possible at the time. All of the installations flew both the Canadian and United States flags until they were deactivated as DEW sites and sole jurisdiction was given to the [[Government of Canada]] as part of the [[North Warning System]] in the late 1980s and early 1990s.