CFB North Bay - RCAF Station North Bay

RCAF Station North Bay

Note to readers: referenced documents cited in this section are from the air base's archives and active files, therefore may be unfamiliar to those without a military background.

Royal Canadian Air Force Station North Bay was founded on 1 September 1951, part of the expansion of Canada's air defences in face of the rising threat of nuclear air attack from the Soviet Union. A massive building campaign began in 1951 around the tiny airport, including construction of an additional, larger double hangar; a proper control tower; air traffic control radio and radar; and fuel, oil, lubricant and weapons facilities for military aircraft; plus improvements to the runways, taxiways and aprons. Across Airport Road, the main route to the airfield, Northern Ontario wilderness was cleared and the support infrastructure for the station built—headquarters, barracks, dining hall, messes, hospital, gym, motor pool, supply, firehall, RCAF police guardhouse, Protestant and Roman Catholic chapels, married quarters for air force families, and more. The majority of facilities left at the airfield when the RAF departed at the end of the Second World War were demolished and replaced.

The base had the biggest impact on the community since the linking of railways with North Bay in the early 20th century. Construction, services and contracts for the base infused millions of dollars into the community, and by the end of November 1953 the RCAF station was the largest employer in the area: 1,018 military personnel plus over 160 civilians. This status would continue for four decades, until the departure of the last flying squadron from North Bay in 1992 and subsequent downsizing of the air base. At its peak, the air base had a strength of about 2,200 military and civilian personnel. (Base strength, as of June 2011, was 540 Regular Force, 77 Reserve Force, 34 United States Air Force and over 100 civilian personnel.)

The air base's raison d'etre was (and still is) air defence. On 1 November 1951, two months after RCAF Station North Bay's official birth, No. 3 All-Weather (Fighter) Operational Training Unit was formed at the base. No. 3 AW(F)OTU was a state-of-the-art school teaching military flying, interception and fighter combat in all weather conditions, day or night—cutting edge techniques in 1951. Students came from as far away as New Zealand. The instructors were among the world's elite in air defence. The unit's second Officer Commanding (OC) was Wing Commander Edward Crew, Royal Air Force, recipient of two Distinguished Service Orders (DSO) and two Distinguished Flying Crosses (DFC) for his leadership, courage and daring in the Second World War, which included shooting down 21 V-1 "Flying Bombs". Crew was replaced in 1954 by another Englishman, Wing Commander Robert Braham. Serving in the RAF, Braham had received three DSOs, three DFCs, plus the Air Force Cross (AFC), and was the top nightfighter ace among British and Commonwealth pilots in the Second World War, credited with 29 1/2 'kills', one probable and six damaged enemy aircraft. Braham retired from the RAF in May 1952 and joined the RCAF. Crew and Braham also commanded RCAF Station North Bay for brief periods. No. 3 AW(F)OTU transferred to RCAF Station Cold Lake in mid-1955.

Among No. 3 AW(F)OTU's instructors were the first Americans to serve at North Bay's air base; USAF Major John Eiser and Captain B. Delosier, arriving 9 January 1952. Americans have continued to serve at North Bay in one military capacity or another into the 21st Century.