CFB North Bay

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Entrance To 22 Wing at CFB North Bay, located in North Bay, Ontario

CFB North Bay (22 Wing) is a Canadian Forces Base located in North Bay, Ontario, Canada.

The base was constructed as RCAF Station North Bay in 1933 as a logistics and construction coordination site for a series of airbases being built across northern Ontario. During World War II it was used as a refueling and emergency diversion airbase for aircraft being ferried from Canada and the US to England. In particular it was one stop along the ferry route for Avro Lancaster bombers built at Victory Aircraft in Toronto, as well as US-built B-24 Liberators. The base closed with the ending of the war.

It was re-activated in 1951 as a training base. The runways were improved, and with the rise of the Cold War the base became a logistics center once again when construction started on the Pinetree Line, which ran quite close to the base. The runways were again extensively lengthened and the base became the primary air defense site for Toronto and southern Ontario. Typically two wings of night fighters and a single wing of day fighters were stationed there, originally the CF-100 Canuck/F-86 Sabre, and later the CF-101 Voodoo.

Retired CF-101 Voodoo on pedestal at the entrance to 22 Wing at CFB North Bay

With the formation of NORAD in the 1950s and the US's introduction of the SAGE system, CFB North Bay was selected as the Canadian counterpart to the US's Cheyenne Mountain control center. A SAGE installation was set up at the base starting in 1959, but unlike their US counterparts which were at ground level, in North Bay the entire standard three story installation was buried underground in what became known as "the hole". Later the base was also used as the control center for the Ontario portion of the two-site BOMARC missile system installed in the 1960s.

RCAF Station North Bay was formally changed to its present name, Canadian Forces Base (CFB) North Bay, on 1 April 1966.

The BOMARC missiles were decommissioned in 1973, and the SAGE installation in 1983, with parts of the North Bay SAGE computers ending up in the Computer History Museum in California. From 1972 on only a single fighter wing was stationed there, the 414 Electronic Warfare Squadron.

CFB North Bay remains Canada's primary NORAD site, monitoring all air traffic over Canada and North America by the North Warning System, across the Canadian Arctic, coastal radars on the east and west coasts of Canada, and Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft. The personnel monitoring the air are members of 21 Aerospace Control and Warning Squadron. Any unidentified aircraft, aircraft in distress or suspicious aircraft are intercepted by CF-18s.

With the general scaling-back of air defences at the end of the cold war, CFB North Bay was originally slated for closure and the 22nd Wing was to move to central command in Winnipeg. However the city of North Bay was worried about the loss of jobs, and entered into a cost-sharing arrangement to service the base. Part of this arrangement is the proposal to replace the underground command center with a new one on the surface.

Construction of the new above ground command center (dubbed the Above-Ground Complex or AGC during construction and testing) began in the spring of 2004 and was completed in the spring of 2006.

NORAD operations moved above ground officially in the fall of 2006, and the AGC was officially named the Sergeant David L. Pitcher Building on the 12 of October, 2006.

The new complex is named after Sergeant Pitcher who gave his life serving Canada and the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) mission. Sergeant Pitcher was on exchange with the United States Air Force in Elmendorf, Alaska, as a crewmember onboard an E-3 Sentry, Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. Along with the rest of his 24-person crew, Sergeant Pitcher perished tragically when their aircraft (flight Yukla 27) crashed on September 22, 1995.

The Under-Ground Complex (UGC), or "the hole" as it's been affectionately called by generations of Canadian Forces personnel, is now just that - a hole in the ground. Fall, 2006 marks the first time the UGC has been un-manned in 43 years of 24/7 operations.

CFB North Bay is also home to the 22nd Wing Military Concert Band, recognized as the foremost volunteer band in Canada. It has played across Canada and the world. Its membership is primarily volunteer, led by an employee of the Canadian Forces.

While all regular-force flying units have moved away from the base, 22 Wing still plays home to a cadet gliding operation, known as the Northern Ontario Gliding Centre.