Where has Canada's Military Gone?

[George Wallace]

There were all those "Diefenbunkers".  The big one in Carp, just outside of Ottawa (now part of Ottawa); Penhold, Alberta; and Debert, Nova Scotia.  All closed.  The one is Shilo, Manitoba, is pretty well done for, but still located on a open Base.

Rockcliffe and LETE are closed in Ottawa.  Uplands is a shell of it's old grandeur.

Arnprior airfield has been closed for ages.

 

[COBRA-6]

Somewhere in my basement is a book that I read years ago: Abandoned Military Installations of Canada, Volume 1: Ontario.

There are old bases and stations everywhere, from the Pinetree-Line radar stations to the CATP sites and so on... my favorite is still CFS Carp, the Diefenbunker! The tour is very interesting...

 

[IN HOC SIGNO]

There were all those "Diefenbunkers".  The big one in Carp, just outside of Ottawa (now part of Ottawa); Penhold, Alberta; and Debert, Nova Scotia.  All closed.  The one is Shilo, Manitoba, is pretty well done for, but still located on a open Base.

Rockcliffe and LETE are closed in Ottawa.  Uplands is a shell of it's old grandeur.

Arnprior airfield has been closed for ages.

I was in a Diefenbunker this summer....Debert...they do Air Cadet Training there now...very cool.

 

[peaches]

The old BOMAC base is spooky, just sitting ther in the bush.  Should be a heritage site, but what do I know.....

 

[time expired]

Clinton Air Base ,used to be air cadet summer camp, I was there in 1957, trips to Centralia for
familization flights in Expeditors or Harvards if you were lucky. As I remember Clinton was a
training base for electronics trades it had a number of WW2 German rockets on display around
the base one was the Rheintochter SAM,I wonder what happened to them?.
   As far as base closures are concerned there seems to be a deliberate effort to remove the
Armed Forces from population centers ,out of sight out of mind ,maybe,it certainly seems to
have worked.That a country of 30+million cannot send a self contained brigade sized force
to do the job in A-stan. is shameful IMHO.
                                   Regards

 

[observor 69]

Funny this topic should come up. I drove by the old Downsview base this weekend. Most of the base building have been taken down. All I could recognize from the road is the old HQ and supply. Ironic, on the south side of the highway, (Keele St.) there are these old crowded 25 plus story apartment buildings. On the base side of the road are the old PMQ's. They are behind a traffic noise barrier but still lived in with there two and three bedroom houses. In Toronto that land is worth a fortune but here you still have a handful of PMQ's.

Very strange!

 

[peaches]

It's a whole lot of "what used to be".......

 

[PMedMoe]

Lots of photos :

http://www.pinetreeline.org/locations.html

Wow, thanks for the link to this site, old medic!!  Laughing my a** off at pictures of people.  Here's my uncle front and center.....LOVE the pants!!  :rofl:

 

[NCRCrow]

I was the Deputy Mayor of Rockcliffe in 2004-2005. It was sad to see a proud military community disintergrate right before us. 

But we tried to keep it together, we had lots of fun.

I grew in a military family from Penhold to Lahr (and some awesome stops in between) and you are right it is sad to see the visible military disappear.


Crow

 

[youravatar]

The old BOMAC base is spooky, just sitting ther in the bush.  Should be a heritage site, but what do I know.....

Got more info? I'll email my member of parliament!

 

[vonGarvin]

Picton has already been mentioned (One of the Canadian Guards Battalions was there).  They also had a training area at Point Petre at the south end of Prince Edward County.  When I was a Plough Jockey, we did summer training there.  There is still an air force "something" there at the tip.  And of course Mountain View has seen a resurge with the school formerly known as the Canadian Parachute Centre utilising it for parachute training.

Who could forget the bases in Germany (Lahr, Baden, Soest, Zweibrücken and others).  From my neighbour's wife (a Cold War Bride), the old PMQ patch is a shell of its former self, filled with ex-patriat Russians (and others).  

 

[NCRCrow]

Area 31-9-9

 

[George Wallace]

1 Canadian Air Division was once headquartered in Metz, France.  1 (F) Wing was in Marville and 2 (F) Wing was in Grostenquin, France; with 3 (F) Wing in Zeisbrucken and 4 (F) Wing in Baden-Söllingen, Germany.

 

[17thRecceSgt]

Many of the bases were victims of unification, and also technology.  The old radar stations were eclipsed by new technology.  They actually still exist, some have moved, but they are automated.

Some air bases closed because air fleet they supported was retire, Summerside.  No Trackers, no Summerside.  A smaller CF means fewer bases, therefore a smaller footprint across Canada.  I put forward an idea to change this in another thread, but it was shot down.  Besides, I really have no say anyhow....

Summerside was bound for closure when they moved the SAR and ASW Sqn's that were based there (413 SAR and VP-415) were moved to Greenwood.  Lots of people, including my father (Snr FE 415 at the time) fought to try to keep that from happening, as they believed Summerside was a better location than Greenwood, but it didn't happen.  

880 Sqn was then moved there until...90 or so?  After the Trackers were done, so was CFB Summerside, leaving PEI as the only province without a Regular Force base.  I don't remember exactly when 413 moved to 14 Wing, but I do think I remember SAREX 88 being held in Summerside.

The refinishers used to come over from Greenwood and paint the old Argus and Tracker memorials that are mounted beside the old CANEX, however the last time I was there, they were in very bad shape.

For those who grew up around them, the old Argus was quite the beast, I remember the windows and china in our house shaking in the PMQ Patch in Greenwood when they flew over when Dad was there teaching at 404 Sqn.  

Our military presence in PEI now, excluding the various Cadet Corps, is one Recce Tp in Summerside, garrisoned at the old Supply building, PEIR at the QCA, 721 Comm Regt at Brighton, HMCS Queen Charlotte, and the ASG Det in the Industrial Park.  Oh, and...CFRC.

Gone are the airshows they used to have in Summerside, the ASW and SAR Sqns...Family Days, were you would actually fly with the crews in the Argus, and a big chunk of change that no longer goes into the local economy.  I used to work for Greco and we made constant runs out to the Q patch and the JLS School...and the SQs.  Tips were great out at the base!

 

[17thRecceSgt]

Gander is closed ??? How come I never knew that?!?

Well unless the Air Force website is completely out of whack...(and I know a guy who is posted there as a SAR Tech  ;D)...

http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/9wing/about_us/index_e.asp

 

[manhole]

I remember military presence at Tracadie, Renous, St. Margarets, on Waggoners Lane in Fredericton, and  by Government House (? Eastern Area HQ).........also McGivney.  It seems the powers that be saved money by shutting these places down but left a big hole in the communities that were left behind.  There are other places like this in NB and across Canada.  The military had been part of every community - whether it was a militia unit or a small base.  Sadly, even our reserve units are not the very active part of the community they used to be.

 

[xo31@711ret]

I was trying to remember McGivney NB (not far from fredericton) - thanx Fiddlehead. My father-in-law said he did his basic training there and Edmunston during the height of the war (WWII). From an old army buds said there use to be an old POW camp not far from there also just off the main road set in the woods a bit.

 

[youravatar]

B Coy of the SD&G Highlanders use to have an armouries in Alexandria at the heart of Glengarry County. Now it sits in neglect.

 

[vonGarvin]

Speaking of Picton, how could I forget the erstwhile home of the Prince Edward Regiment, that amalgamated oh so many years ago with the Hastings Rifles and formed The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment?  The old armoury is now a shopping centre in Picton, I believe.

 

[RangerRay]

While they weren't bases, many communities in the Interior of British Columbia had militia companies at one point or another: Armstrong, Revelstoke, Cranbrook, Prince George, Rossland, Nelson, Kaslo, Lumby, Merritt, Penticton, Salmon Arm...now it's just Kamloops, Kelowna, and Trail.