Canadian Forces Base North Bay, also CFB North Bay, is an air force base located at the City of North Bay, Ontario about northwest of Ottawa. The base is subordinate to 1 Canadian Air Division, Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is the centre for North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) operations in Canada, under the Canadian NORAD Region Headquarters, also in Winnipeg. It is also home to the First Air Force, Detachment 2 of the United States Air Force.22 Wing/CFB North Bay notice of 722d Air Control Squadron re-designation, effective 1 July 2011. It is located next to and shares infrastructure with North Bay/Jack Garland Airport.
It is an installation built over 60 storeys underground inside a cave and nearly 5 storeys tall.
On 1 April 1993, all air bases in Canada were redesignated as wings; the base was renamed 22 Wing/Canadian Forces Base North Bay. This is abbreviated as 22 Wing/CFB North Bay. Today, although this designation still stands, the base is often referred to simply as "22 Wing", and the Base Commander as the "Wing Commander".Base historical archives file W1325-1 (W Heritage), 22 Wing Heritage Office, Canadian Forces Base North Bay.
North Bay's air force base is the centre for the air defence of the entire country, and works in concert with the United States via NORAD for the air defence of Canada-U.S. portion of the North American continent. Activities are wide-ranging, from identifying and monitoring all aircraft entering Canada from overseas, to guarding foreign dignitaries travelling in the country's airspace, to assisting aircraft suffering airborne emergencies, to aiding law enforcement versus smugglers, to participating in NORAD's Christmas Eve tracking of Santa Claus for children. From the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s it took in Unidentified Flying Object reports from across the country on behalf of the National Research Council of Canada, relaying the reports to a study at the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, British Columbia. In 2000, it resumed UFO reporting, provided to researcher Chris Rutkowski at the University of Manitoba.
In 2010, North Bay's operations centre took the first steps towards transitioning from air to aerospace defence, commencing preparations for Sapphire, Canada's first military satellite. Sapphire functions as a contributing sensor in the United States Space Surveillance Network (SSN), performing surveillance of objects orbiting at 6,000 to 40,000 kilometres altitude, and delivering data on those objects (called Resident Space Objects, or RSOs) to the Space Surveillance Operations Centre (SSOC), in North Bay's operations centre. The SSOC, in turn, coordinates with the Joint Space Operations Center, in Vandenberg, California. On 25 February 2013, Sapphire was launched from a site in India, and underwent technical testing and checks, expected to begin its duties in July 2013.Canadian Department of National Defence Media Advisory, 25 February 2013. Due to various technical delays, the satellite's FOC (Final Operational Certification) wasn't achieved until 30 January 2014.North Bay Nugget, 6 February 2014 By end of that year it had delivered 1.2 million observations of space objects.22 Wing/CFB North Bay Annual Historical Report for 2014 to the Canadian Department of National Defence, March 2015
22 Wing/CFB North Bay has two unique properties among air bases in Canada. It is the only Canadian air base that does not have flying units (since August 1992, when the last flying squadron departed), and the only air base in the country that does not have an airfield (base assets such as control tower, fuel depot and hangars were demolished or sold following the 1992 departure).
Activities at North Bay 1920–1945
Pre–Second World War North Bay's first contact with the air force took place on 9 October 1920, when a Government of Canada Felixstowe F.3 flying boat overflew the (then) town during the first crossing of Canada by aircraft. (North Bay was not incorporated as a city until 1925.) The F.3's pilots were Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Leckie, of Toronto, and Major Basil Deacon Hobbs, of Sault Ste. Marie. The trans-Canada expedition was an epic venture, lasting 11 days and requiring six aircraft. The third leg was flown non-stop from the Canadian capital, Ottawa, to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, with North Bay as a checkpoint.Ellis 1954, pp. 180–185.
Leckie's and Hobbs's encounter with North Bay was fleeting. They arrived without warning, approaching out of the east, catching residents unaware. Few had seen an aircraft before; the effect was electrifying, akin to the Space Shuttle appearing suddenly over the city today. Leckie steered for the downtown. Over the Canadian Pacific Railway station he dropped a signal to be telegraphed to the Air Board in Ottawa, "Making a good 50 miles per hour", then with a wave to lunchtime onlookers, the pilots swung their F.3 out over nearby Lake Nipissing, onwards to Sault Ste. Marie.Transcript of speech by Robert Leckie, typed with handwritten editing by Leckie, radio broadcast in 1959, pp. 5–13.
The overflight planted interest in local politicians, businessmen and community leaders towards aviation, particularly the establishment of an air station at North Bay. In the summer of 1921, a Government of Canada Curtiss HS-2L flying boat, taking on exploration and aerial survey work, landed at North Bay, on Lake Nipissing.Air Board Report, 1921. The HS-2L landed on Lake Nipissing and Trout Lake (on the eastern periphery of North Bay) in 1922, for further aerial surveying as well as cargo and passenger transport.Air Board Report, 1922.22 Wing Heritage Office Photo Archives. These flights amplified this interest and a campaign to the federal government for an aerodrome commenced."Transport Canada document TP 5239 E: History of Canadian Airports AK-01-09-002", p. 459.
On 1 January 1923, the Department of National Defence (DND) took over responsibility and control over military and (until 2 November 1936) civil aviation in Canada. Over the next decade-and-half Canadian Air Force (as of 1 April 1924, "Royal Canadian Air Force") Squadron Leader John Henry Tudhope, a South African-born First World War fighter pilot, almost single-handedly laid down the network of aviation in Canada, exploring and surveying the country for the construction of aerodromes and establishment of air routes for the Trans-Canada Air Lines system, essentially a national air highway network. Considering that Canada was nearly the size of Europe and mostly raw, primal wilderness, Tudhope's undertaking was staggering. In 1930, S/L Tudhope received the McKee Trophy for his endeavours, the premier aviation award in Canada.Sutherland. 1978, p. 57.
In 1928, Tudhope stopped twice at North Bay, and again in 1931 and 1932.Gunning 1996 . Based on his exploration and survey work in the Northern Ontario region, in June 1933 DND set up a headquarters in North Bay to supervise construction of emergency landing fields for the Ottawa to Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay) portion of the Trans-Canada Airway system. An 18-man unit operated out of the Dominion Rubber Company building, leased on Oak Street, downtown North Bay, which served as their headquarters, supply depot and living quarters. Unemployed men in each local district were hired as labour. Despite the primal ruggedness of Northern Ontario, by July 1936, eight airfields had been hacked out of the wilderness, at Reay, Diver, Emsdale, South River, Ramore, Porquis Junction, Gilles Depot and Tudhope (named after the squadron leader), and the unit was disbanded. Most of these airfields have since been abandoned to the wild. Ironically, although the nucleus of the operation, and recommended by S/L Tudhope in June 1936, North Bay was not considered as a site for an aerodrome.
The first air force aircraft to land at North Bay arrived 17 to 23 May 1930. Eight Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) flying boats stopped temporarily at Trout Lake during flights west. Two were en route to Winnipeg; two to Lake Athabasca, Saskatchewan; four to Northern Saskatchewan.North Bay Nugget newspaper, 21, 23 May 1930. This plus the landing field construction described above prompted local politicians, businessmen and community leaders to intensify their years-long campaign to the Canadian government for an airport. At issue was money; who would finance the project. On 21 March 1938, their perseverance paid off. The Canadian government approved expenditure of funds to build an airport at North Bay. The Province of Ontario and City of North Bay would provide the land. It would be a Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA) facility; TCA was the country's government-operated air line (and forerunner of Air Canada).
On 27 April 1938, work began. The first unofficial landing by two area residents in a de Havilland DH.60 Moth took place on 4 July 1938, in the midst of construction."History of North Bay Airport." Transport Canada Report CA1 DTA 177-66 H35, 1966. The first official landing occurred 30 September 1938, by Squadron Leader Robert Dodds, RCAF, to inspect the work. A Royal Flying Corps fighter pilot during the First World War, and close associate of Squadron Leader Tudhope during the latter's exploration and survey of Canada, Dodds had been seconded by DND to the Department of Transport as Inspector of Airways and Aerodromes for the country.North Bay Nugget, 1 October 1938. On 28 November 1938, the long sought after airport was ready to receive aircraft; due to bad weather regular passenger service at the facility did not begin until May 1939.
Second World War Despite a common, popular misconception that Royal Canadian Air Force Station North Bay was formed during the Second World War, the air base didn't exist until 1951.
In October 1939, the Canadian government announced that North Bay's fledgling airport, open less than 12 months, was in contention as a British Empire Air Training Plan site. The BEATP (eventually renamed the "British Commonwealth Air Training Plan", or "BCATP") was the biggest international military aircrew training operation in history. There were more aircrew training schools in Britain, but the BCATP taught and evaluated 131,553 pilot, navigator, observer, wireless (radio) operator, air gunner, wireless air gunner and flight engineer recruits from around the world, plus 5,296 graduates from Royal Air Force (RAF) schools.Milberry and Halliday 1990, pp. 28–29.Dunmore 1994, p. 346.
North Bay's location presented an allure for air training. It was far from major built-up areas and its skies uncluttered by air traffic, altogether a reasonably safe arena for young aircrew hopefuls attempting to learn the tricky art of military flying. In 1940 a small glass "greenhouse" was constructed atop the airport's administration building in anticipation of air traffic control, necessary to handle the sudden proliferation of aircraft.Transport Canada report, North Bay Airport – History, 1938–1980 – 42 Years of Progress. But the government decided not to include North Bay in the training scheme.
The airport's sole service to the air force over the next two years was essentially like a roadside truckstop, providing fuel, rest and meals to aircrew flying across the country. By 1942 so many aircraft were stopping at North Bay that No. 124 Squadron, RCAF, set up a seven-man detachment at the airport. Under the command of a Flying Officer (today's rank, Lieutenant), two aeroengine mechanics, an electrician and an airframe mechanic re-fuelled, serviced and repaired the aircraft. A driver and vehicle mechanic saw to the detachment's staff car, aircraft towing tractor and fuel truck. The staff car was eventually replaced by a more practical "Truck, Panel, Delivery".RCAF Station North Bay diaryRoyal Canadian Air Force Establishment broadsheets of manning and equipment, May 1943 – September 1945.