CFB Rockcliffe
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Canadian Forces Base Rockcliffe (also CFB Rockcliffe) is a former Canadian Forces Base located in the eastern part of Ottawa, Ontario, now used for Ottawa/Rockcliffe Airport and the Canada Aviation Museum.
It was formerly known as CFB Ottawa North.
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[edit] Rockcliffe Air Station
In 1918 the Royal Air Force sought a flying field in the Ottawa area for experimental mail flights. A field behind a military rifle range located on the banks of the Ottawa River in Rockcliffe Park, several kilometres downstream from Ottawa was converted to an airstrip and became known as the Rockcliffe Air Station.
After the Canadian Parliament's 1920 Air Regulations came into effect, the Rockcliffe Air Station was chosen as an ideal site for supporting both an air harbour and a flying field. The new air harbour, or airport, opened later in 1920 as the Ottawa Air Station, and was one of the six original airfields opened across Canada by the new Air Board. Major activities conducted by the Air Board at the Ottawa Air Station included military aerial photography for topographic mapping in Canada, air transportation, and aeronautical experimentation. The airport also served as a major centre for early aircraft testing.
[edit] RCAF Station Rockcliffe
In 1922 the civilian components of the Air Board began to consolidate into the Canadian Air Force, which became part of the newly-established Department of National Defence the following year and was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1924. Thus the facility gained the second-longest association with the nation's air defence after RCAF Station Borden. After a few name changes, the facility took the name RCAF Station Ottawa in 1936. In 1940, this name would change again to RCAF Station Rockcliffe.
On March 12, 1930, Canadian World War I flying ace William George Barker crashed into the Ottawa River and died during an aerial demonstration over the field. In July 1931, Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh visited the airport during their northern surveying tour.
The airfield's runways were paved in 1939 in preparation for operations during World War II. RCAF Station Rockliffe participated in the British Commonwealth Air Training Program and — as the nearest airport to the centre of the capital — was involved in many other kinds of testing, training, and transport operations, including the transport of mail to Europe using B-24 Liberators. Immediately after the war, in September 1945, RCAF Station Rockcliffe was the site of the first jet aircraft demonstration in Canada.
In 1957, the military's main flight testing and development operations moved to RCAF Station Uplands (now located at Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport). In 1964 the RCAF ceased flying operations at the base however it saw continued use as an admistrative and logistics base. The airfield passed back into civilian control and the Rockcliffe Flying Club began using the field.
[edit] CFB Rockcliffe
After unification of all three branches into the Canadian Forces in 1968, RCAF Station Rockcliffe was redesignated Canadian Forces Base Rockcliffe (CFB Rockcliffe). In 1972 it was renamed CFB Ottawa (North) as part of the amalgamation of DND property in the national capital region into CFB Ottawa. Rockcliffe saw continuous downgrades through the 1970s and 1980s, being reduced to largely providing housing for Canadian Forces personnel posted to the national capital region.
The military presence at Rockcliffe was terminated in 1994 following post-Cold War defence cuts and the base was decommissioned although Canadian Forces personnel continued to stay in housing on the former base property as it transitioned to ownership under the federal government's surplus lands development agency, the Canada Lands Company. In 2006 CLC announced that the base was to be developed by private interests (excluding the Ottawa/Rockliffe Airport) with a comprehensive proposal for condominiums and complementary residential developments.
The airfield is presently operated as Rockcliffe Airport by the Rockcliffe Flying Club. The Canadian Aviation Museum is located on the old flight line with the airport also being used for delivering aircraft to the museum's collection.
