Craig's Radar Story

Olaf Craig Knudsen (5 October 1919 – 5 October 2005) — Eric's grandfather, eldest son of Olaf and Grace Knudsen.

Early life and radio. Craig was born on the farm near Vittoria, in sight of Lake Erie. He was 5 when his father bought the farm north of Woodstock. He finished public school in 1933 at age 13. He rode a horse 7 miles by himself to Tavistock to write the high school entrance exam and passed, but did not go to high school. His father needed him on the farm during the Depression. The family got a Philco battery radio about 1934. Craig bought radio magazines for 25 cents each and took a $35 electrical and radio correspondence course, paid for with money earned shoveling snow at 25 cents an hour.

Enlistment and training, 1940–1941. In early November 1940, after plowing all day, Craig found a letter from the Department of National Defence stating that people with radio knowledge were needed for radio work in England. On 6 November 1940 he reported to the RCAF Recruiting Centre in London, Ontario, was tested and sworn in the same day, and went to the RCAF Manning Depot in Toronto with about 165 others as Wireless Electrical Mechanics. On 2 January 1941 he travelled by train to St. John's, New Brunswick, and sailed on the Leopoldville. The crossing had no convoy. He arrived in Liverpool on 17 January 1941. At No. 1 Wireless Electrical School, Yatesbury, he took a two-week electronics course, was sworn to secrecy, and was shown radar equipment, then called RDF — Radio Direction Finding. The radar course at Yatesbury lasted about 3 months.

School Hill, Scotland, 1941–1942. In mid-April 1941 Craig was posted to the School Hill radar station near Aberdeen with Bill Ducase and Don Eddy. It was a Chain Home (CH) station completed in 1940. The transmitter was a T3026: 35,000 volts, 750,000 watts output, later increased to 1 megawatt; pulse length 6–20 microseconds; receiver tower 250 ft, transmitter tower 360 ft. On night shift in the operations room he guided a Spitfire, through a WAAF sergeant, onto a hostile aircraft over the North Sea. The pilot reported: "Made my kill, I'm coming back." On 27 February 1942 the station was put on alert for the Bruneval raid, in which Flight Sergeant Bill Cox dropped with commandos to take German radar parts. The station was later attacked by a JU88; two bombs fell 40–50 feet from the bomb shelter and did not explode. Craig also recorded that a large rat walking over the shutdown relays kept tripping the transmitter off the air, until Desmond O'Callaghan speared it with a fixed bayonet.

Faroe Islands, 1942–1943. In May 1942 Craig was posted for Burma and trained at RAF Kidbrooke, London, on ASV (Air to Surface Vessel) radar. After Japan captured Burma, the posting was changed. He boarded the Lady of Mann at Invergordon, Scotland, and landed in the Faroe Islands about 12 June 1942, on the island of Vagar. About 15 men were sent by fishing boat to the island of Sand (Sandoy), landing at Skopun. They built the radar operations building, barracks, and mess hall. The station range was about 50–60 miles for aircraft. Craig also helped build the Eidi (Eiði) station on Eysturoy, on top of a 1,200-foot mountain. There he was shown the magnetron and worked with 273S naval radar (10 cm, aerial 10 feet across, 15 feet high, in an octagonal tower). The station received coded congratulations from Whitehall for the longest naval-vessel radar track. In December 1943 he was ordered to bring the radar in from the mountain.

Return to England and discharge. Craig travelled by boat to Scotland, spent Christmas night 1943 in the Hebrides delayed by a storm, then reached Greenock. After two weeks in Bournemouth he was posted to Downderry, Cornwall, 15 miles from Plymouth — a CH station with an MB2 transmitter and RF7 receiver. Coming off midnight watch there, he saw the horizon lined with ships ready for the D-Day landing. After nearly a year at Downderry he was told he had done four years overseas, was posted back to Canada, and was discharged.

After the war. Craig had met Maria, of Eiði, while he was posted in the Faroe Islands. After he was posted back to Canada, he made inquiries about her, learned she was single, and returned to the Faroe Islands. They married on 18 March 1948, held a reception in London, and sailed on the Queen Mary to Canada. In 1998, for their 50th anniversary, he returned to the Faroes with their youngest son, his wife, and three children.

Death and burial. Craig died on 5 October 2005, aged 86 — his 86th birthday. He is buried at York Cemetery, Toronto, Section B, Lot 2054. The inscription on the memorial reads "RCAF - RADAR WWII", and the memorial marks him as a veteran. Source: Find a Grave memorial 166985890.

THE ORIGINAL MEMOIR — SCANNED PAGES

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Source: Olaf Craig Knudsen, "Copy Radar Story," 12-page typed memoir signed "Craig Knudsen." Family document, scanned 31 October 2026. Condensed here from the full text; names, dates, and figures are as Craig wrote them.

Maria Knudsen

Maria Malfrid Knudsen, née Poulsen (17 January 1926 – 17 March 2026) — Eric's grandmother, wife of Olaf Craig Knudsen. Her maiden name, Poulsen, is recorded on Craig's Find a Grave memorial, which gives her name as Maria Malfrid Poulsen Knudsen; it is not given in her obituary.

Faroe Islands. Maria was born in Eiði, Faroe Islands, on 17 January 1926. Her siblings were Esther and Carlton. During the Second World War she met Craig Knudsen, an RCAF radar operator posted to the Faroe Islands. After Craig was posted back to Canada, he made inquiries about her, learned she was single, and returned to the Faroe Islands.

Marriage and Canada. Maria and Craig married on 18 March 1948. They held a reception in London, then sailed on the Queen Mary to Canada. They had three children — Mary, Paul, and Robert — raised through the 1950s and 1960s.

Work. Maria worked as a bookkeeper at the Canadian Tire head office for 25 years. She was among the first employees there to work with computers. She bowled in the Canadian Tire league and won several trophies.

Later life and death. Maria had eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She marked her 100th birthday in January 2026; her obituary records that she was the oldest living person from Eiði. She died in Toronto on 17 March 2026, aged 100. Craig predeceased her. Her funeral was held on 23 March 2026, with committal at York Cemetery, Toronto.

Source: Maria Knudsen obituary, Dignity Memorial, Toronto; also published by Echovita. Craig's own obituary was not found online (searched 31 October 2026).