CFB Valcartier
Canadian Forces Base Valcartier, now re-designated 2 Canadian Division Support Base Valcartier, is a Canadian Forces base located in the municipality of Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier, 8 nautical miles north northwest of Quebec City, Canada. The 2nd Canadian Division is stationed at the base, comprising the 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group and the 2nd Canadian Division Support Group. CFB Valcartier was erected as a military training camp in August 1914 as part of the mobilization of the Canadian Expeditionary Force at the onset of World War I. Inaugurated by Jean Chrétien Prime Minister of Canada, in 1995, a 10 ft 6 in high bronze figure of a World War I soldier by André Gauthier at the entrance to CFB Valcartier commemorates the training of Canadian Army volunteers for the European battlefields in World War I; the site was used as an internment camp for "enemy aliens" eastern Europeans. The name Valcartier comes from the town of Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier, of which a large section was expropriated in order to create the military training camp.
Due to its proximity to the Port of Quebec, Valcartier became the largest military camp on Canadian soil, including some 32,000 men and 8,000 horses. In 1968, after the unification of the Canadian Armed Forces, the title 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group was assigned to the brigade group established in CFB Valcartier; the base is located in the Quebec City region, of Quebec, Canada. Valcartier is home to 2nd Canadian Division; the division has two formations: 2nd Canadian Division Support Group and 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group. The following units are stationed at Valcartier. Included are affiliated units and other units that are not directly part of 2nd Canadian Division: Units Royal Canadian Horse Artillery 12e Régiment blindé du Canada 5 Combat Engineer Regiment Headquarters and Signals Squadron 1st Battalion, Royal 22nd Regiment 2nd Battalion, Royal 22nd Regiment 3rd Battalion, Royal 22nd Regiment 5 Service Battalion - Affiliated units 5 Field Ambulance 5 Military Police Platoon 430 Tactical Helicopter Squadron 1 Dental Unit Detachment, ValcartierThe base houses 430 Tactical Helicopter Squadron, CI SQFT, in addition to providing training facilities for most Quebec-based reserve units.
The Myriam Bédard Biathlon Training Centre is located on the base. CFB Valcartier is home to a Defence Research and Development Canada location, which conducts military research for the Canadian Armed Forces. ASU Valcartier is the home of the Army Cadet Summer Training Centre Valcartier, which trains Royal Canadian Army Cadets of the Eastern Region / Province of Quebec. In July 1974, an explosives safety training accident involving "D" Company killed six cadets and injured over 50. A coroner's inquiry found the instructor criminally responsible. Colonel Stéphane Boucher is commander, chief warrant officer Dominic Gaudreau is sergeant major. In 2014, CFB Valcartier celebrated its 100th anniversary. David Johnston Governor General of Canada, offered a message about the role the base and its soldiers who have played in the history of Canada. Prime minister Stephen Harper thanked the soldiers. Adsum is a bi-monthly newspaper for CFB Valcartier and the military community in the Quebec eastern area; the newspaper was created in 1972.
It publishes 4,200 copies. The readers of the newspaper are the military and civilians working at CFB Valcartier; the newspaper team publishes the Military Community Guidebook - Quebec Region annually. The Military Ordinariate of Canada integrated a chapel, situated at CFB Valcartier; the chapel is named Saint Jeanne d’Arc Chapel. This service is for all military persons of CFB Valcartier; the Chapel Life Coordinator is Captain Titus Ndala. CFB Valcartier Military Cemetery, opened to serve the camp in 1914, contains the graves of nine Canadian Army personnel, six from World War I and three from World War II, registered and maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. CFB Valcartier's budget is $687.4 million annually. The base employs 7,700 people. There are 9,000 military reserve forces who are related to the base. Annually, the salary costs are $558 million; this sum represents half of the $1.2 billion spent on salaries by the Department of National Defence in Quebec each year. The base spends $131 million locally each year.
In 1997, a cancer-causing chemical, trichloroethylene, was found in the water supply of CFB Valcartier and the nearby town of Shannon, Quebec. Trichloroethylene, linked to liver cancer, was used for degreasing metal parts at the base for decades; the Shannon Citizens Committee has launched a class-action lawsuit against the Department of National Defence in 2003. Media related to CFB Valcartier at Wikimedia Commons Canada government CFB Valcartier Official siteCFB Valcartier Adsum, official newspaper — CFB Valcartier
No. 434 Squadron RCAF
No. 434 Squadron is a Royal Canadian Air Force bomber squadron that flew bombing operations over Europe during World War II and was a post-war fighter and combat support unit. It was disbanded in 2000; the squadron was reactivated in May 2018 as Evaluation. The unit was first formed at RAF Tholthorpe, United Kingdom on 13 June 1943, flying the Handley Page Halifax Mk V. On 13 August 1943 it flew its first operational sortie, a bombing raid across the Alps to Milan, Italy. In May 1944 the unit received Halifax Mk IIIs to replace its Mk Vs; the squadron was adopted by the Rotary Club of Halifax, Nova Scotia and to show its connection to the city adopted the nickname "Bluenose Squadron", the common nickname for people from Nova Scotia and a tribute to the schooner Bluenose. The squadron moved to RAF Croft in December 1943 and re-equipped with Avro Lancaster Mk Is and Mk Xs in December 1944. After VE Day the squadron was earmarked for Tiger Force to carry on the war against Japan, but was never deployed to the Far East.
The unit was disbanded at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia on 5 September 1945. During World War II the unit flew 198 missions, including 179 bombing, 17 mine laying, one diversionary and one sea search; this was made up of a total of 2582 individual aircraft sorties, including 45 prisoner of war airlift sorties. It flew 14,622 operational flying hours and dropped 10,358 tons of bombs plus 225 mines; the squadron accounted for seven enemy aircraft destroyed along with four damaged. 434 Squadron suffered 75 aircraft lost, 484 aircrew operational casualties, including 34 killed, 313 presumed dead, 121 made prisoners and 16 who evaded capture and escaped. The non-operational casualty total was one member who died of natural causes. Unit personnel received six bars to the Distinguished Flying Cross, 108 DFCs, six Distinguished Flying Medals, one British Empire Medal and seven Mentions in Despatches; the squadron was reformed flying the Canadair Sabre and stationed as part of 3 Wing at RCAF Station Zweibrücken, West Germany on 7 March 1953, but was stood down on 16 June 1962.
It was re-activated on 8 April 1963 as a Canadair CF-104 Starfighter unit in the strike/attack role and disbanded again on 1 March 1967.434 Operational Training Squadron formed at CFB Cold Lake as the Canadair CF-5 operational training unit on 15 February 1968. The squadron gave up OTU duties to 419 Squadron and became an operational squadron, moving to CFB Bagotville on 15 July 1982 moving to CFB Chatham in July 1985; the unit became 434 Composite Squadron and reformed at CFB Shearwater on 4 July 1992. The name was changed to 434 Combat Support Squadron and the unit moved to CFB Greenwood in mid-1995, flying the CC-144 Challenger and Canadair CT-133 Silver Star in the electronic warfare role; the squadron was disbanded there in May 2000. The squadron was reactivated in May 2018 at CFB Trenton as a evaluation unit. Handley Page Halifax Avro Lancaster Canadair Sabre Canadair CF-104 Starfighter Canadair CF-5 Freedom Fighter Canadair CT-133 Silver Star Canadair Challenger 434 Combat Support Squadron
CFB Borden
Canadian Forces Base Borden RCAF Station Borden, is a Canadian Forces base located in Ontario. The historic birthplace of the Royal Canadian Air Force, CFB Borden is home to the largest training wing in the Canadian Armed Forces; the base is run by Canadian Forces Support Training Group and reports to the Canadian Defence Academy in Kingston. At the height of the First World War, the Borden Military Camp opened at a location on a glacial moraine west of Barrie in 1916 to train units for the Canadian Expeditionary Force, it was named for former Minister of Militia. In May 1916, the Barrie and Collingwood companies of the 157th Battalion, CEF, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel D. H. MacLaren, began construction of the camp. Camp Borden was selected in 1917 for a military aerodrome, becoming the first flying station of the Royal Flying Corps Canada. During the inter-war period, the aerodrome was used as the training location for the nascent Royal Canadian Air Force and was renamed RCAF Station Borden.
Camp Borden's training grounds were expanded in 1938 to house the Canadian Tank School. The Siskins were a RCAF aerobatic flying team, established in 1929 at Camp Borden. During the Second World War, both Camp Borden and RCAF Station Borden became the most important training facility in Canada, housing both army training and flight training, the latter under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan; the BCATP's No. 1 Service Flying Training School was located here until 1946. Relief landing fields were located at Edenvale. A third landing field, known locally as Leach's Field, was operated by Camp Borden from the 1920s to the 1950s; the L-shaped airstrip was rudimentary. It was used for touch-and-go flying. During the Cold War, Borden's importance as an RCAF facility in Ontario declined in favour of CFB Trenton, CFB Uplands and CFB North Bay. However, its use as an army facility stayed consistent until 1970 when a major reorganization of the combat arms' schools resulted in the transfer of the Infantry School and Armoured School to CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick.
On the other hand, numerous "purple" schools were established or expanded from existing service training establishments, including the Canadian Forces School of Administration and Logistics, the School of Aerospace Ordnance Engineering and the Canadian Forces Health Service Training Centre. The February 1, 1968 unification of the RCAF with the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Army resulted in the creation of the Canadian Forces; the military facilities consisting of Camp Borden and RCAF Station Borden were grouped under a new name, Canadian Forces Base Borden. The aerodrome was closed in 1970 and the base saw use as a regular and reserve training facility for Canadian Forces Land Force Command, as well as hosting various land-based training courses for Canadian Forces Air Command. In a 1990s reorganization of the Canadian Forces following the end of the Cold War, CFB Borden's air force training facilities were grouped under the name 16 Wing Borden; the eight surviving Royal Flying Corps hangars at the base have been designated a National Historic Site of Canada.
The Ontario Heritage Foundation, Ministry of Culture and Recreation erected a plaque in 1976. Camp Borden was established during the First World War as a major training centre of Canadian Expeditionary Force battalions; the Camp was opened by Sir Sam Hughes, Minister of Militia and Defence, on July 11, 1916, after two months of intensive building. This military reserve, comprising over twenty square miles, was soon occupied by some 32,000 troops. Training facilities were expanded in 1917 with the institution of an air training programme under the Royal Flying Corps and the construction of the first Canadian military aerodrome, regarded as the finest military aviation camp in North America. Following the armistice Camp Borden continued as an important army and air force centre and became one of the largest armed forces bases in Canada. Although an air force training base, CFB Borden is now a training base for several elements of the Canadian Forces: 2 Canadian Air Division's primary lodger unit, 16 Wing referred to as 16 Wing Borden, consists of 16 Wing Headquarters and three schools: Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Technology and Engineering and Air Command Academy.
The Canadian Army's Regular Force and Primary Reserve army units use a number of training schools and large portions of the base's 22,300 acres training area for manoeuvres. In addition to these specific environmental element commands, CFB Borden houses a variety of other purple trades training facilities and headquarters within the Canadian Forces, including a fire-fighting school, Military Police school, a chaplaincy school, the Canadian Forces Recruiting Group, medical and language schools, supports local cadet and reserve units; the Toronto Police Service's Emergency Task Force trains there occasionally. CFB Borden hosts the Blackdown Cadet Training Centre, a facility established for training army cadets; this facility has hosted air cadets and sea cadets since 2003, when the Borden Air Cadet Summer Training Centre was closed. CFB Borden's residential area houses one regulation-sized golf course. Circled Pine Golf Course opened in 1952; the course is open to
CFB Gander
Canadian Forces Base Gander, is a Canadian Forces base located in Gander and Labrador. It is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force and is home to air/marine search and rescue operations that cover a vast swath of the western North Atlantic and southern Arctic, its primary RCAF lodger unit is 9 Wing referred to as 9 Wing Gander. CFB Gander is co-located at Gander International Airport; the Newfoundland Airport was established by the Dominion of Newfoundland in 1936 and it became a strategically important airfield for piston-engined aircraft in the late 1930s. Shortly after World War II was declared, the Government of Newfoundland turned the operation of the airfield over to the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1940, tasked by the United Kingdom the responsibility to provide aerial defence for the dominion; the No. 10 Bomber and Reconnaissance Squadron began operating from the airfield, flying Douglas Digbys and Liberators with responsibility to protect supply convoys in the North Atlantic from enemy U-boats.
The airfield was renamed RCAF Station Gander in 1941 and it became used by Ferry Command for transporting military aircraft from Canada and the United States to the European theatre. By 1943, Gander was the largest RCAF station in the world and the Canadian Army maintained a strong presence at the airfield, providing anti-aircraft and airfield defense. Several units were based at RCAF Station Gander during the war. No. 10 Squadron remained until August 1945 and was reinforced at times by No. 5 Squadron and No. 116 Squadron flying Cansos for anti-submarine patrols and search and rescue. From 1942 Hurricane fighters of the Royal Air Force No. 126 Squadron, No. 127 Squadron, No. 129 Squadron were based at RCAF Station Gander. Throughout the war the Royal Canadian Navy maintained a communications station at RCAF Station Gander, Its main task was High Frequency Direction Finding and communications monitoring of German U-boat radio transmissions; the United States Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command assigned several squadrons of long-range antisubmarine aircraft to fly killer-hunter flights over the Grand Banks and provide convoy escort overflights from Newfoundland.
After the fall of 1943, these missions were undertaken by the United States Navy. The RCAF handed operation of the airfield back to the Government of Newfoundland in March 1946 and removed its presence at what was promptly renamed Gander Airport, although the RCN's radio monitoring station remained in operation; the airfield was taken over by Canada's federal government under the Department of Transport in 1949 after Newfoundland became Canada's tenth province. Facilities and runways were modified for larger aircraft; when Newfoundland joined Confederation, the RCN formally acquired the property known as the "Old Navy Site" and Naval Radio station Gander, call sign CGV, was born. Naval Radio Station Gander consisted of four sailors and a few civilian personnel. In 1942 the aerodrome was listed as RCAF Aerodrome - Gander, Newfoundland at 48°57′N 54°34′W with a variation of 30 degrees west and elevation of 452 ft; the field was listed as "All hard surfaced" and had four runways listed as follows: In 1952, the United States Air Force constructed a General Surveillance radar station near the airfield as part of the Pinetree Line, designated "N-25".
The new station was reassigned in 1953 to the Royal Canadian Air Force and took up the retired name RCAF Station Gander. The station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept and warning station housing the 226 Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron; as a GCI station, the squadron's role was to guide interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit's radar scopes. It was equipped with the following radars: Search Radar: AN/FPS-3C, AN/FPS-20A, AN/FPS-93A, AN/FPS-117 Height Radar: AN/TPS-502, AN/FPS-6B, AN/FPS-26On 1 July 1990, the site was inactivated and closed. On February 1, 1968, the RCN, RCAF and Canadian Army were unified and reorganized into the Canadian Forces. RCAF Station Gander, operating the Pinetree Line radar station and the Naval Radio Station Gander, was renamed Canadian Forces Station Gander, or CFS Gander. In 1970 a new expanded communications monitoring facility was constructed for Communications Command, replacing Naval Radio Station Gander in 1971. CFS Gander's Pinetree Line radar and its new communications facilities provided support to NORAD fighter-interceptors operating from CFB Chatham and CFB Bagotville with the CF-101 Voodoo.
In 1977, Gander saw its first military flying unit return to the area since the war when a detachment of 424 Squadron, flying CH-113 Labrador helicopters moved to CFS Gander to provide search and rescue operations. Having found a permanent home at Gander, the SAR helicopters were no longer a 424 Squadron detachment and a new unit identifier was required. Thus, in May 1977, 103 Search and Rescue Flight was reactivated at Gander. Air Command regained control of CFS Gander from Communications Command in May 1977, although Communications Command continued to operate the radio intercept facility. 103 Squadron was housed in a separate facility constructed some distance from the civilian airfield terminal. By 1984 CFS Gander was the largest Canadian Forces Station in the Canadian Forces; because Gander was such a large establishment and because 103 Rescue Unit had such a high-profile with its ocean rescue mission, t
409 Tactical Fighter Squadron
409 Tactical Fighter Squadron is a unit of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The squadron operates the CF-18 Hornet from CFB Cold Lake in Canada; the cross-bow in front of the dark cloak represents a weapon used under cover of darkness to denote the squadron's original role as a night fighter squadron. The badge was approved in March 1944. No. 409 Nighthawk Squadron was formed at RAF Digby in June 1941 for night operations with Boulton-Paul Defiants, moving in July to RAF Coleby Grange, where, in August, Beaufighter IIf aircraft arrived, allowing detachments to be maintained elsewhere. Two victories were claimed during the early days of the squadron's existence, but in June 1942 Beaufighter Mark VI aircraft were received, a greater degree of success was achieved. In February 1943 a move was made to Acklington, with detachments maintained in at least four other locations. In December a return to Coleby Grange was made, with the various detachments continuing their separate existences. Little was seen during the year, but in March 1944 the squadron moved to Hunsdon, converting to the Mosquito Mk XII and joined No. 85 Group of the Second Tactical Air Force.
Intruder and offensive patrols commenced, much action was seen over the Normandy beachhead in June. After some action against V-1 Flying Bombs, operations over Europe recommenced, late in August the unit moved to Carpiquet in France, the first night fighters to be based on the mainland. By mid-October, the squadron had settled in the Lille area, where it was to remain until April 1945. On 19 April, a move was made to the Rhine in Germany, from here the unit was able to claim six victories in a single night. Shortly after this the war ended with the total victories at 61 1⁄2 claimed; the squadron's code letters during this period were KP. Re-established at RCAF Station Comox on 1 November 1954 providing air defence for Canada's west coast as part of NORAD. Equipped with the Canadian designed Avro CF-100 they converted to the CF-101 Voodoo in 1962; the squadron transferred to CFB Cold Lake in 1984 to convert to the CF-18 and deployed to CFB Baden-Soellingen as part of Canada's NATO commitment.
The squadron was disbanded in 1991 with the withdrawal of Canadian Forces from Europe. The squadron was reformed back at Comox as a Combat Support Squadron but was disbanded again. 409 Tactical Fighter Squadron was re-formed from the consolidation of 416 and 441 Tactical Fighter Squadrons on 6 July 2006 at CFB Cold Lake. Defence of Britain 1941–44 Fortress Europe 1942–44 Normandy 1944 France and Germany 1944–45 Rhine 1945 Boulton Paul Defiant Bristol Beaufighter de Havilland Mosquito Avro CF-100 Canuck Canadair CT-33 Silver Star McDonnell Douglas CF-101 Voodoo McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet Official website
CFB Cold Lake
Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake abbreviated CFB Cold Lake, is a Canadian Forces Base located in the City of Cold Lake, Alberta. It is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force and is one of two bases in the country housing the CF-18 Hornet fighter, the other being CFB Bagotville, its primary RCAF lodger unit is 4 Wing referred to as 4 Wing Cold Lake. Civilian passenger service was available through the Medley passenger terminal on the periphery of the air base; the scheduled air service between Calgary and the civilian terminal was cancelled in June 2011. Unscheduled civilian air traffic is directed to Cold Lake Regional Airport; the facility is named Cold Lake/Group Captain R. W. McNair Airport, it is one of only three military aerodromes in Canada to be named after an individual, Valcartier Heliport and Moose Jaw/Air Vice Marshal C. M. McEwen Airport being the others; the airport is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency.
Construction of what would become known as RCAF Station Cold Lake began in 1952 at the height of the Cold War after the site in Alberta's "Lakeland District" was chosen by the RCAF for the country's premier air weapons training base. The chosen location was near the former Town of Grand Centre, was based on factors such as low population density, weather, suitable terrain, available land for air weapons training. Although the location of the range attempted to avoid First Nations reserves, it "encompassed traditional Aboriginal and treaty areas and the First Nations affected by the creation of the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range were compensated."Personnel arrived at Cold Lake on March 31, 1954, with operations at RCAF Station Cold Lake beginning that day. The following year, the federal government signed an agreement with the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta for use of a tract of land measuring 180 km by 65 km covering an area of 11,700 square kilometres; this became known as the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range and is the raison d'être for the location of the base.
CLAWR is the northern equivalent to the United States Air Force's Nellis Air Force Range and provides a different training environment with heavy boreal forest and numerous lakes more resembling European terrain. It hosts over 640 actual targets and 100 realistic target complexes, including 7 simulated aerodromes with runways, aircraft, dispersal areas and buildings, as well as mechanized military equipment such as tanks, simulated radar and missile launching sites, mock industrial sites, command and control centres. Operations in the 1950s and early 1960s centered around training crews destined for the CF-100 Canuck all weather interceptor, in operational use in Canada and Western Europe. From 1962 onwards, the arrival of the CF-104 Starfighter resulted in a change of task, to the training pilots for Canada's NATO commitment in West Germany, which continued up until the arrival of the CF-18 Hornet in 1982. From through the present, the base is the training focal point for this aircraft, in addition to operational squadrons being located here.
On February 1, 1968, the RCAF was merged with the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Army to form the unified Canadian Forces. RCAF Station Cold Lake saw its name changed to CFB Cold Lake and became the responsibility of Air Defence Command. ADC and several other CF commands transformed in 1975 to become Air Command. During the 1980s, CFB Cold Lake was thrust into the international media spotlight when CLAWR was used as the target for testing of the newly developed AGM-86 Tomahawk air-launched cruise missiles by the USAF; these missiles were launched from strategic bombers over the Beaufort Sea and traveled down the Mackenzie River valley following the terrain at elevations of several metres above ground level. The tests caused significant controversy among peace activists and local First Nations on the projected flight paths since the new untested weapons were considered a destabilizing force in the international arms race contributing to instability worldwide; the Federal Court of Canada ruled in favour of allowing the tests to proceed in 1983 and the Canada–United States Test and Evaluation Program or CANUSTEP agreement was subsequently signed between both nations, allowing for the cruise missile tests to use Canadian airspace in the Northwest Territories and Alberta en route to CLAWR.
In 1990, 18 sounding rockets were launched. In 2000/2001, several CFB Cold Lake - 4 Wing buildings were recognized as Federal Heritage buildings on the Register of the Government of Canada Heritage Buildings: Hangars 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and the Senior NCO's Building B-30. In 2007, this was the setting for Jetstream, a TV series depicting eight pilots training under the 410 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron to fly a CF-18. Today, CFB Cold Lake has the following units stationed at the facility: 401 Tactical Fighter Squadron 409 Tactical Fighter Squadron 410 Tactical Fighter Operational Training Squadron 417 Combat Support Squadron 419 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron 1 Air Maintenance Squadron 42 Radar Squadron 10 Field Technical Training SquadronIt hosts a number of Lodger Units, including the Aerospace Engineering Testing Establishment, 4 Construction Engineering Squadron, 1 Military Police Squadron, Real Property Operations Detachment Cold Lake, 22 Health Services Centre. In addition to its use as a training base, CFB Cold Lake's fighter/interceptor aircraft defend the western half of
