CFB Uplands

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Canadian Forces Base Uplands (also CFB Uplands) was a Canadian Forces Base located in Ottawa, Ontario.

[edit] History

The Royal Canadian Air Force established RCAF Station Uplands as a wartime training station of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in 1942. The "No. 2 Service Flying Training School" (SFTS) was located at the base from August 1942 to April 1947, which was one of two RCAF facilities in the national capital region; the other being RCAF Station Rockcliffe.

During the Cold War period of the 1950s, the station was home to several operational squadrons including 416 Squadron, 439 Squadron, 422 Squadron, 428 Squadron, 434 Squadron, 412 (Transport) Squadron, 436 (Transport) Squadron and 410 Squadron.

RCAF Station Uplands was also the location for the No. 3 Air Movement Unit, as well as the Central Experimental and Proving Establishment (later renamed the Aeronautical Evaluation and Test Establishment), which moved to Uplands from Rockcliffe in 1957.

The reorganization and unification of the Canadian Armed Forces in the late 1960s saw RCAF Station Uplands renamed to Canadian Forces Base Uplands (CFB Uplands) in 1968. In 1972 the facility was redesignated Canadian Forces Base Ottawa (South) or CFB Ottawa (South) as part of DND's amalgamation of Ottawa area defence properties into CFB Ottawa. Despite this change, the Uplands name remained in popular usage through to the base's eventual decommissioning.

During the 1970s, the base hosted 450 (Heavy Transport) Squadron (later redesignated No. 450 (Transport) Helicopter Squadron) and 426 (Transport Training) Squadron. Other units included the Canadian Forces Support Unit Ottawa, and the Canadian Forces Airborne Sensing Unit, a detachment of 414 Electronic Warfare Squadron based at CFB North Bay.

Following the end of the Cold War, the Canadian Forces underwent major budget cuts and reorganization, resulting in several bases being closed during the mid-1990s, one of which was all of CFB Ottawa; CFB Ottawa (North) being the former CFB Rockcliffe and CFB Ottawa (South) being the former CFB Uplands. The Uplands facility was decommissioned as a base in 1995, however the buildings and tarmac remain the property of the Canadian Forces, with the VIP transport unit No. 412 Squadron (based out of CFB Trenton) operating from these facilities and using the Uplands airfield, which is now the Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport.