CFB Chatham
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Canadian Forces Base Chatham or CFB Chatham was a Canadian Forces Base located immediately south of the town of Chatham, New Brunswick, Canada.
[edit] RCAF Station Chatham
The Royal Canadian Air Force established a base on the southern ridge of the Miramichi River valley in 1941 in response to training requirements under the burgeoning British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), and also for local operational patrol requirements of the western part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence - a strategically important sub basin of the Atlantic Ocean which was beginning to see an increase in U-boat activity.
The location for RCAF Station Chatham was selected apparently because the area experienced a higher than average number of clear flying days per year, as opposed to many other east coast air fields which were sometimes closed due to fog or other visibility impairments (this being at a time when aircraft did not have sophisticated instrumentation for low-visibility conditions). The base was also close to an active port at Chatham, as well as convenient rail access, via the Canadian National Railways (CNR) line from Moncton to Montreal and from Chatham to Fredericton.
RCAF Station Chatham became home to No. 21 Elementary Flying Training School (No. 21 EFTS) for training pilots and air crew, from mid-1941 to mid-1942 when it was relocated to Neepawa. The base was also home to the No. 10 Air Observer School (No. 10 AOS) for training navigators and wireless (radio) operators, from mid-1941 until the end of the war. RCAF Station Chatham's training units fell under No. 3 Training Command in the BCATP organization and trained a total of 131,553 air crew from around the British Commonwealth.
A Royal Canadian Navy ammunition depot was also established in nearby Renous (Royal Canadian Naval Ammunition Depot Renous) during the war and it was used to support RCAF Station Chatham, as well as RCN operations in northern New Brunswick.
RCAF Station Chatham was the home on at least two occasions of operational RCAF units. During the summer and fall of 1942, the Gulf of St. Lawrence saw a marked increase in the Kriegsmarine's U-boat operations, resulting in a period now referred to as the Battle of the St. Lawrence, with numerous coastal shipping freighters and their protective Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Navy escorts being targeted. RCAF Station Chatham became home to an operational "special Submarine Hunting Detachment", the No. 113 (Bomber-Reconnaissance) Squadron, flying the Lockheed Hudson in the fall of 1942. RCAF Station Chatham also hosted the No. 119 (Bomber-Reconnaissance) Squadron in the spring of 1943 after ice had melted in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. On at least two occasions, Hudsons operating from RCAF Station Chatham observed U-boats in the Gulf near eastern New Brunswick.
Due to the extensive facilities and strategic location, RCAF Station Chatham remained an active air force base in New Brunswick after the war while other less-important bases were closed (Pennfield Ridge, Scoudouc, Moncton).
The base saw its first jet-powered aircraft arrive in 1949 when 421 Fighter Squadron flying the Canadair F-86 Sabre was stationed there, along with a Fighter Training School flying the De Havilland Vampire. The following year the RCAF built a Pinetree Line early warning radar station several miles south of the base at St. Margarets (see RCAF Station St. Margarets).
An Artillery and Air Weapons Range (AAWR) was also established on farm land purchased/expropriated near Tracadie, a short flight from the base and not near major population centres.
In 1959, RCAF Station Chatham saw the air force's Golden Hawks aerobatic team stationed at the base - this being the predecessor to the Snowbirds. The Golden Hawks were relocated to RCAF Station Trenton in 1962.
1962 was also the year that 416 All Weather Squadron was posted to the base, flying the new CF-101 Voodoo interceptor. Chatham became an ideal location for these aircraft to intercept Soviet Tu-95 Bear bombers which were challenging Canadian air space off the Atlantic coast, following the creation of NORAD.
The Voodoos were a result of the cancelled CF-105 Arrow project, and the U.S.- built aircraft were armed with air-to-air missiles containing tactical nuclear warheads, which were themselves controlled by the United States Air Force. RCAF Station Chatham's main east-west runway was lengthened and widened considerably to accommodate the fast jet aircraft, and to provide an emergency dispersal airfield for the nuclear-armed B-52 Stratofortresses operating from nearby Loring AFB in northern Maine. To accommodate the storage and security requirements for the USAF-controlled tactical nuclear warheads, secure bunkers were constructed alongide the airfield away from the perimeter fence.
Throughout the 1960s, Chatham-based Voodoo interceptors protected eastern Canadian and U.S. air space around the clock, in partnership with other RCAF and USAF units stationed in northeastern North America. From 1961 to 1969, Chatham was also used as an "initial training centre" until defence spending realignment resulting from the pending unification of the armed forces saw this role relinquished.
[edit] CFB Chatham
On February 1, 1968 the RCAF, RCN and Canadian Army were unified to form the new Canadian Forces. Aircraft from the RCAF and RCN (Royal Canadian Naval Air Service) were split across several new "commands", with the fighter interceptors such as the CF-101 Voodoo falling under Air Defence Command. This was also the date that saw RCAF Station Chatham change its name to CFB Chatham.
The RCN Ammunition Depot Renous, as well as RCAF Station St. Margarets, were more closely integrated into CFB Chatham, although both remained separate installations, referred to as "Canadian Forces Station" and the prefix CFS.
In 1969 the last F-86 Sabre left CFB Chatham as 421 Squadron was disbanded. Through the 1970s, CFB Chatham continued apace much as it had in the 1960s, being largely an interceptor base flying CF-101 Voodoos dedicated to defending northeastern North America under NORAD against intrusion by Soviet aircraft. In 1975, all air units in the Canadian Forces were consolidated under Air Command (AIRCOM) and Air Defence Command, along with Air Transport Command and Training Command were disbanded. Tactical aircraft from Mobile Command were also realigned under Air Command.
In 1974, CFB Chatham's airfield was opened to commercial air flights provided by Eastern Provincial Airways (EPA) and Air Canada. Civilian users referred to the facility as Miramichi Municipal Airport, despite being located on a very active air force base.
In the early 1980s, the federal government committed to purchasing the CF-188 Hornet as a replacement for the CF-101 Voodoo, with the first units beginning to re-equip in 1984. In 1985, 416 Squadron was disbanded when its Voodoos were retired. The new CF-188 fighter interceptor aircraft for eastern Canada were to be stationed at CFB Bagotville in central Quebec's Saguenay region and had a much longer range than the Voodoos. In the summer of 1985, 434 Tactical Fighter Squadron, flying the CF-116 Freedom Fighter was posted to the base.
CFB Chatham operated for several years into the late 1980s as a forward alert base for the CF-118 Hornets from CFB Bagotville. CFB Chatham had several new all-weather protective aircraft alert hangars constructed at the eastern edge of the tarmac and runway to face into the prevailing westerly winds; these structures were located only a few dozen metres from the security fence alongside Highway 11 and easily visible to the travelling public.
CF-188 Hornets from Bagotville and CF-116 Freedom Fighters from Chatham, as well as USAF aircraft based in New England made extensive use of CFB Chatham's AAWR in Tracadie, as well as an extensive low-level flight training area across northern New Brunswick and the western part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
On September 11, 1985, the base became home to Force Mobile Command's Air Defence Artillery School as well as an operational anti-aircraft battery tasked with providing very low level air defence to a task force. These units were among the first to use the Air Defense Anti-Tank System (ADATS) which began to see use in 1992, as well as being equipped with Javelin anti-aircraft missiles, close-in-weapons artillery and fire control units. Renamed to the Field Artillery School in 1986, the new establishment at CFB Chatham included the following:
- gunnery training battery
- maintenance training battery
- headquarters battery
- workshop
- 119 Air Defence Battery (operational unit)
On April 1, 1988 the Pinetree Line radar station at CFS St. Margarets was closed, with CFS Renous having pre-dated the St. Margarets closure by several years (a federal penitentiary was built on its site in the late 1980s). The CF-116 aircraft were identified for mothballing in defence spending cuts resulting from the 1988 federal budget. CFB Chatham was targeted for realignment and 434 Squadron was disbanded at the base on June 13, 1989, ending AIRCOM's presence on the base and fully transferring responsibility to Force Mobile Command.
The underutilized base was targeted for closure in further defence cuts in the early 1990s following the end of the Cold War. The Field Artillery School (Air Defence Artillery School) was moved to CFB Gagetown in 1995 and CFB Chatham closed completely in 1996 with its operational unit, the 119 Air Defence Battery disbanding and then remobilizing as the 4 Air Defence Battery in Moncton as a total force unit, using a combination of reserve and regular force personnel.
[edit] Post military
- See also: Miramichi Airport
The federal government committed to redeveloping the Miramichi region to offset the impact of the closure of CFB Chatham on the regional economy. On March 29, 1996, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency signed an agreement with the provincial government to allocate funds identified for the redevelopment of CFB Chatham which included a one-time payment of $10.4 million. On April 23, 1997, the Department of National Defence transferred all the base properties to the provincial government which has administered the facilities as a business park through an entity called Sky Park Miramichi Inc.
The same year that the base closed, the provincial government imposed a municipal amalgamation on all the incorporated municipalities in the lower Miramichi River valley, creating the city of Miramichi, which now includes the entire former CFB Chatham property.
The Miramichi Municipal Airport continues operations at the airfield, which has seen the active runways reduced to the present configuration. Forest Protection Limited, a New Brunswick company partially owned by various private sector forestry companies, as well as the provincial government, operates water bombers and spray aircraft from the airfield. Scheduled air service was sporadic through the 1990s and has since been discontinued.
The former base housing has been marketed throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s as a retirement community, called Retirement Miramichi.
To offset some of the job losses resulting from the base closure, the federal government in 1996 promised and implemented a plan to create a National Gun Registry data centre in the city, whereby a new headquarters office for this program was established in Chatham.
