440 Transport Squadron
440 Transport Squadron is a unit of the Canadian Forces under the Royal Canadian Air Force. It is part of 8 Wing and works with Joint Task Force located in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Based at Yellowknife Airport and operating throughout Northern Canada, the unit's primary role is to provide support to the Canadian Forces, including the Canadian Rangers and the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, with search and rescue as a secondary role; the squadron operates four CC-138 DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft that can flown on tundra tires, skis or floats, the float program was abandoned in 1999 when it was determined that there was not enough call for that capability in the CF. The squadron was founded in the 1930s as an army cooperation squadron, it was for a time an air defence squadron from the start of the Second World War before moving to the United Kingdom. There it equipped as a fighter-bomber squadron under Royal Air Force operational control, it supported the ground campaign through Northwest Europe until the end of the war.
No. 440 Squadron RCAF was a Second World War Royal Canadian Air Force squadron that operated as part of the RAF in Europe with the Hawker Typhoon. The squadron was formed in Vancouver on 5 October 1932 as No. 11 Squadron before being redesignated No. 111 Squadron on 15 November 1937. At the outbreak of the Second World War the squadron formed a detachment at Patricia Bay on Vancouver Island, now Victoria International, before being redesignated No. 111 Squadron on 1 July 1940. At this time the squadron flew the Westland Lysander, it was disbanded on 1 February 1941 and reformed on 3 November 1941 flying the Curtis Kittyhawk. The squadron and took part in air defence operations in Western Canada and the Aleutian Islands Campaign under RCAF Western Air Command; the squadron had the distinction of shooting down the only Japanese fighter by the RCAF home air force during the war. From the new American base in Umnak, flying the Curtis P-40K from American stock, 111 Squadron took part in several raids against the Japanese base at Kiska.
On 26 September 1942 the Commanding Officer, Squadron Leader K A Boomer, shot down an intercepting Nakajima A6M2-N Rufe fighter while leading four Canadian-manned P-40s involved in flak suppression. After the squadron moved to RAF Ayr where it was redesignated No. 440 Squadron on 8 February 1944 as an Article XV squadron under the control of the British Royal Air Force. It was the third Canadian Typhoon equipped squadron of 143 Wing; the squadron was equipped with the Hawker Hurricane for working up but changed to the Hawker Typhoon once they were delivered. After a period of training the squadron began operations on 30 March 1944 with the Typhoons from RAF Hurn in the fighter bomber role; the Typhoons were fitted with 500-pound bombs but were able to carry a 1,000-pound bomb under each wing. The squadron supported and followed the allied armies through France and into Germany. Although the Canadian Typhoons operated as dive bombers they flew top cover to protect their aircraft from interception.
While bombing in the St. Vith area on 27 December 1944, 440 Squadron engaged three Bf-109s, shooting down one of them, for the squadron's second aerial kill in the war; the squadron was disbanded at Flensburg on 26 August 1945. In 1953 the squadron was reformed at RCAF Station Bagotville and equipped with the Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck. From 1957 until 1962, when they were once again disbanded, the squadron, part of 3 Wing, was stationed at Zweibrücken Air Base, West Germany, as part of Canada's commitment to NATO; the squadron was reactivated a final time on 8 July 1968 at CFB Winnipeg as No. 440 Communications and Rescue Squadron with Douglas Dakotas and Vertol H-21 helicopters and redesignated as 440 Transport and Rescue Squadron in October. They moved to CFB Namao just outside Edmonton where they operated de Havilland Canada CC-115 Buffalo and CC-138 Twin Otters. At the time, two of the Twin Otters were stationed in Yellowknife, in 1994 after CFB Namao closed the squadron moved north to be redesignated No. 440 Transport Squadron in 1995.
No. 440 Squadron does not share a lineage with No. 11 Squadron. References Official website Squadron lineage at Directorate of History and Heritage
Edmonton International Airport
Edmonton International Airport is the primary air passenger and air cargo facility in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region of the Canadian province of Alberta. Operated by Edmonton Airports, it is located 14 nautical miles south southwest of Downtown Edmonton in Leduc County on Highway 2 opposite of the city of Leduc; the airport offers scheduled non-stop flights to major cities in Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, Central America and Europe. It is a hub facility for Northern Canada; the airport has a catchment area encompassing Central and Northern Alberta, northern British Columbia, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and western Nunavut. Total catchment area is 1.8 million residents. It is Canada's largest major airport by total land area, the 5th busiest airport by passenger traffic and 9th busiest by aircraft movements, it served 8,254,121 passengers in 2018. Transport Canada selected the current site for Edmonton International Airport, on the opposite side of the city from the military airport at RCAF Station Namao, purchased over 7,000 acres of land.
When the airport opened on November 15, 1960, its first terminal was an arch hangar. Today, it is in use by Canadian North. In 1963, a passenger terminal, built in the international style, was opened, it remains in use as the North Terminal. Artwork, fired by Alberta Natural Gas, adorned the departures area exterior. A large mural, commissioned by the Canadian government in 1963 for CAD$18,000 titled "Bush Pilot in Northern Sky" by Jack Shadbolt, remains to this day. An appraisal in 2005 indicated that the mural was worth $750,000, a restoration of the mural was undertaken in 2007. During the 1970s, the airport experienced a rapid growth in traffic as the city of Edmonton grew, served 2 million passengers by 1980. However, from the early 1980s until 1995, traffic declined; this decline was attributed to the continued usage of Edmonton City Centre Airport as well as to a slowing economy. Edmonton City Centre did not have the facilities to accept large long-haul aircraft, thus airlines used City Centre to fly short-haul flights to hubs in other cities where connections to many locations were available.
Growth returned in 1995. In a municipal plebiscite in that year, 77% of voting Edmontonians voted to consolidate all scheduled jet passenger service at Edmonton International Airport. In 1998, the airport began a $282 million "1998–2005 Redevelopment Project"; the three-phase project included the construction of a south terminal and central hall concept, a commuter facility, doubling of the apron, a multi-storey parkade. This redevelopment project expanded the passenger capacity to 5.5 million. By the time the expansion project was completed in 2005, continued passenger growth triggered planning for another expansion. A new 107,000-square-foot control and office tower was added in 2009. Further expansions completed in 2013 including seven new passenger gates, 14 boarding bridges, moving walkways, advanced baggage handling and scanning systems. A new Renaissance Hotel was another major addition to the airport landscape; the airport played a major role during the 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire, operating as hubs for aerial firefighting and Medevac.
The airport became a temporary shelter for thousands of Fort McMurray evacuees. The Emergency Operations Centre in the airport ran for 112 hours, organizing the arrival and departure of hundreds of aircraft. During May 2016, the airport saw more than 300 additional daily flights on top of their scheduled service. In August 2016, the Government of Alberta announced $90 million in funding to begin twinning Highway 19 and that it has protected the area needed for a third runway, required due its estimated 3,530 m length and orientation as runway 11/29, causing it to exceed current airport boundaries; the airport plans to extend runway 12/30 by one-third its current length from 3,100 to 4,030 m to increase accessibility and capacity tied to Port Alberta Developments/Intercontinental routes. The airport had international service soon. In 1960, Canadian Pacific Airlines was operating nonstop flights to Amsterdam with Bristol Britannia turboprop aircraft several times a week. By 1961, Canadian Pacific had introduced Douglas DC-8 jetliners on its nonstop service to Amsterdam.
In 1961, US-based Northwest Airlines was operating daily Douglas DC-7C propliner service on a routing of Edmonton - Winnipeg - Minneapolis/St. Paul - Milwaukee - New York City Idlewild Airport. In 1962, Trans-Canada Airlines operated direct flights to London's Heathrow Airport once a week via a stop in Winnipeg and to Paris Orly Airport three times a week via stops in Toronto and Montreal with Douglas DC-8 jets. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Pacific Western Airlines operated Boeing 707 charter flights from the airport to the UK and other destinations in Europe. In 1970, Air Canada operated nonstop Douglas DC-8 service to London-Heathrow twice a week while CP Air flew nonstop DC-8 service to Amsterdam three times a week. CP Air introduced Boeing 747 jumbo jet service nonstop to Amsterdam with two flights a week being operated in 1976. By 1978, the airline was flying nonstop Boeing 747 service to Honolulu. Air Canada had begun daily nonstop Boeing 727-200 service to both Los Angeles and San Francisco by 1979 and was operating direct one stop McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 service to Chicago O'Hare Airport via Winnipeg by 1985.
Earlier, in 1983, both airlines were operating wide body jetliners on their respective services to Europe with Air Canada flying Lockheed L-1011 TriStar long range series 500 model aircraft three days a week nonstop to London Heathr
Hope Bay Aerodrome
Hope Bay Aerodrome is an aerodrome located near Hope Bay, Canada. The runway serves the gold exploration camps in the area. Hope Bay greenstone belt Past three hours METARs, SPECI and current TAFs for Hope Bay Aerodrome from Nav Canada as available
Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport
Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport is an international airport located in Whitehorse, Canada. It is part of the National Airports System, is owned and operated by the Government of Yukon; the airport was renamed in honour of longtime Yukon Member of Parliament Erik Nielsen on December 15, 2008. The terminal handled 294,000 passengers in 2012, representing a 94% increase in passenger traffic since 2002. By 2017, this number had risen to 366,000. Air North is based in Whitehorse. Built between 1940 and 1941 by the federal Department of Transport, it was transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1942 as part of the Northwest Staging Route under the name of RCAF Station Whitehorse, it was closed in 1968 and the airfield resumed its status as a civilian airport. The airport is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency. CBSA officers at this airport can handle aircraft with no more than 50 passengers; the airport has two fixed-base operators for fuel, limited aircraft maintenance facilities.
The control tower operates from 7 a.m. – 9 p.m. local time, the Whitehorse Flight Service Station provides Airport Advisory Service during the remaining hours. ARFF services are provided 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition to scheduled commercial service, numerous small air charter operators and bush pilots use the airport and it serves as a major base for water bombers used in forest firefighting operations; the airport controls Whitehorse Water Aerodrome, a float plane base on Schwatka Lake. During the September 11, 2001 attacks, two aircraft approaching the United States from Asia were diverted to Whitehorse as part of Operation Yellow Ribbon. One of these flights, a Boeing 747 operating as Korean Air Lines Flight 85, was feared to be hijacked. Many of the buildings in the downtown area near the airport were evacuated as a precaution; those who witnessed the landing by the Korean Air 747 observed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police order the flight crew out at gunpoint. The airport's parking lot is graced by an old Canadian Pacific Air Lines Douglas DC-3 on a pedestal that serves as a weather vane.
Commencing in the early 1940s, scheduled passenger service was operated by Canadian Pacific Air Lines. Canadian Pacific and its successor, CP Air, provided service to British Columbia. Other destinations in the Yukon as well as Fairbanks, Alaska were served by Canadian Pacific during the mid-1940s with these flights subsequently being discontinued. CP Air served Whitehorse during the 1970s with Boeing 737-200 jetliners with direct, no change of plane flights to all of the above named destinations in Canada. Other Canadian Pacific flights into the airport over the years were earlier operated with such twin engine prop aircraft as the Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar, Douglas DC-3, Convair 240, with larger, four engine Douglas DC-4 and DC-6B prop aircraft as well as Bristol Britannia turboprops. CP Air was subsequently acquired by Pacific Western Airlines with the combined air carriers operating as Canadian Airlines International which in turn continued to serve Whitehorse with Boeing 737 jet service into the 1990s before this air carrier was acquired by Air Canada in 2000.
During the mid and late 1970s, the airport was served by Winnipeg-based Transair which operated Boeing 737-200 and Fokker F28 twin jet service direct to Winnipeg, Manitoba several days a week via intermediate stops at Yellowknife, NWT and Churchill, Manitoba. Transair was subsequently acquired by Pacific Western Airlines. Another air carrier which served Whitehorse during the early and mid 1970s was International Jetair operating nonstop flights to Inuvik on the weekdays with continuing one stop service several days a week to Fort Nelson flown with Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop aircraft. U. S.-based Pan American World Airways served Whitehorse during the early 1960s as part of a route linking Seattle with Alaska. Pan Am operated Douglas DC-4 followed by Douglas DC-6B propliners into the airport on a routing of Seattle-Ketchikan-Juneau-Whitehorse-Fairbanks-Galena-Nome. Several Alaska-based airlines served Whitehorse in the past. During the 1970s, Wien Air Alaska operated Boeing 737-200 jetliners as well as Fairchild F-27 turboprops into the airport with Anchorage-Fairbanks-Whitehorse-Juneau routings.
Era Aviation operated Convair 580 turboprop aircraft nonstop between Anchorage and Whitehorse during the 1980s. The airport has its own fire department with three crash tenders and one supervisor vehicle based at a fire station on the airport grounds. Whitehorse/Cousins Airport This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/. Media related to Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport at Wikimedia Commons Government of Yukon - Whitehorse International Airport CF-CPY Wind Vane Whitehorse Airport Arrivals Whitehorse Airport Departures Page about this airport on COPA's Places to Fly airport directory Past three hours METARs, SPECI and current TAFs for Whitehorse International Airport from Nav Canada as available
CFB Winnipeg
Canadian Forces Base Winnipeg, is a Royal Canadian Air Force base located within the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Co-located at the Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport, CFB Winnipeg is home to many flight operations support divisions, as well as several training schools, its primary RCAF lodger unit is 17 Wing referred to as 17 Wing Winnipeg. One of the facilities at CFB Winnipeg is the Billy Bishop Building which houses the headquarters of 1 Canadian Air Division as well as the headquarters of Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command Region. Established in 1922 by the federal government's Canadian Air Board, Winnipeg was opened as an aerodrome and became known as RCAF Station Winnipeg in 1925 after the Royal Canadian Air Force was formed the previous year from the second Canadian Air Force Initially, the base served as a winter home for units that operated across northern Manitoba. During World War II, the base played an expanded role, participating in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
During that time, they trained more than 130,000 personnel from across Canada ranging from pilots, navigators and wireless operators. RCAF Station Winnipeg became an important supply and repair depot and base to ferry and inspect units for the air force. Following the war, RCAF Station Winnipeg continued to provide training for pilots and navigators from many allied countries, as well as base active RCAF squadrons; the formation of No.2 Air Observer School & Central Navigation School was created from the increased training activities which graduated over 5,000 aircrew from foreign countries. The air force has long had a reserve or auxiliary presence there: No. 112 Squadron from 1932 to 1940 and since 1946, No. 402 Squadron. This latter unit has used, the P-51D Mustang, Harvard Trainer, de Havilland Vampire, Canadair CT-133 Silver Star, Beech C-45 Expeditor, de Havilland Otter and were the last Canadian squadron to fly the CC-129 Dakota; the February 1, 1968 unification of the RCAF with the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Army formed the Canadian Forces.
As a result, RCAF Station Winnipeg was renamed as Canadian Forces Base Winnipeg. The Canadian Army camp Fort Osborne Barracks renamed Kapyong Barracks, home of the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, was merged with the RCAF base, becoming Canadian Forces Base Winnipeg. Kapyong Barracks closed in June 2PPCLI re-located to CFB Shilo near Brandon; the Kapyong Barracks name was transferred to the new garrison facility in CFB Shilo. CFB Winnipeg became home to several transport and utility squadrons, as well as headquarters for Air Command, formed in 1975. A realignment of the Canadian Forces in the mid-1990s saw Air Command HQ move to National Defence Headquarters; as with other AIRCOM bases across Canada, CFB Winnipeg's squadrons were grouped under a wing system, in this case 17 Wing Winnipeg, the highest-level unit at the base. As a RCAF training centre, CFB Winnipeg is home to 3 Canadian Forces Flying Training School, 402 Squadron, the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Studies, the Canadian Forces School of Survival and Aeromedical Training, as well as the Canadian Forces School of Meteorology.
For flight operations support, the base houses the following units: 402 "City of Winnipeg" Squadron, de Havilland CT-142 Dash 8 435 "Chinthe" Transport & Rescue Squadron, Lockheed CC-130 Hercules 440 "Vampire" Transport & Rescue Squadron based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. CC-138 Twin Otter 1 Air Movements Squadron Canadian Forces School of Aeromedical Training The base is home to the Air Force Heritage Museum and Air Park, located on the second floor of Building 66. Outside on static display are: Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck Beech CT-134 Bell CH-136 Kiowa Canadair CF-5A Canadair CX-144 Challenger Canadair CL-13B Sabre Canadair CT-133 Grumman CT-121 Lockheed CF-104 Starfighter
Port of entry
In general, a port of entry is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It has border security staff and facilities to check passports and visas, inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. International airports are ports of entry, as are road and rail crossings on a land border. Seaports can be used as ports of entry; the choice of whether to become a port of entry is up to the civil authority controlling the port. An airport of entry is an airport that provides customs and immigration services for incoming flights; these services allow the airport to serve as an initial port of entry for foreign visitors arriving in a country. The word "international" in an airport's name means that it is an airport of entry, but many airports of entry do not use it. Airports of entry can range from large urban airports with heavy scheduled passenger service, like John F. Kennedy International Airport, to small rural airports serving general aviation exclusively. Smaller airports of entry are located near an existing port of entry such as a bridge or seaport.
On the other hand, some "former" airports of entry chose to leave their name with the word "international" in it though they no longer serve international flights. One example is Osaka International Airport; when it had ended all international services and became a purely domestic airport after the opening of Kansai International Airport in 1994, it kept its original name of "Osaka International Airport". Many airports in the nearby region have the same situation, like Taipei Songshan Airport. Songshan retained its official Chinese name, Taipei International Airport, after Chiang Kai-shek International Airport opened. Similar cases of transitions of international airports such as Seoul, Nagoya, Hong Kong, Tehran, etc. For the European Union, flights between countries in the Schengen Area are considered domestic regarding passport and immigration check. Several international airports have only intra Schengen-flights. Several of these have occasional charter flights to foreign countries; some cases of statelessness have occurred in airports of entry, forcing people to stay there for an extended period.
A famous case was of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, an expelled Iranian who lived in the Charles de Gaulle Airport in France for eighteen years after being denied entry to the country. There are two films about Tombés du ciel and The Terminal. Another case is Zahra Kamalfar who lived in the Sheremetyevo International Airport for many months before getting refugee status in Canada; the formal definition of a port of entry in the United States is something different. According to the Code of Federal Regulations, "the terms'port' and'port of entry' incorporate the geographical area under the jurisdiction of a port director." In other words, a port of entry may encompass an area that includes several border crossings, as well as some air and sea ports. This means that not every border crossing is a port of entry. There are two reasons for this: Every port of entry must have a Port Director, a higher pay grade than a typical border inspector; the U. S. government has determined. As a result, border stations like Churubusco and Fort Covington, New York are considered "stations" within the Trout River Port of Entry.
Many roads entering the U. S. had no border inspection station. Before September 11, 2001, it was permissible for persons entering the U. S. to do as long as they proceeded directly to an open border inspection station. In fact, the U. S. Customs Service and U. S. Immigration and Naturalization Service rented property in houses, post offices, storefronts far from the physical border, people entering the U. S. were expected to travel to these locations without stopping so they could make their declarations. This policy has since changed, most of the roads entering the U. S. at locations other than an open and staffed border inspection station have since been barricaded. In some countries, immigration procedures are carried out by the armed forces rather than specific immigration officers. However, in most, the levying of duty on imports is still carried out by customs officers. Immigration clearance in some ports of entry have automated sections open to the country's own residents or citizens, such as the E-Channel found in Hong Kong and Macau, Global Entry found at some airports in the United States.
On some international borders, the concept of a port of entry does not exist. Travelers may cross the border wherever and whenever convenient, for example within the Schengen Area. In some cases this may be restricted to citizens of specific countries and to travelers who are not carrying goods over the customs limits. Border Border checkpoint Border control Customs Schengen Agreement
Media related to Yellowknife Airport at Wikimedia Commons
