CFS Lowther

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For other uses, see Lowther.

Canadian Forces Station Lowther (CFS Lowther) was a military installation located on Highway 11 near Opasatika, Ontario. CFS Lowther was a radar station and part of NORAD's Pinetree Line chain of early-warning sites.

The station was originally built for the United States Air Force and was home to the 639th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron. The original plan was to build the base in Oba, Ontario, but the location was changed due to Oba's poor road access. Lowther was opened in 1957 and remained an American installation until 1963, when it was transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force as RCAF Station Lowther. The RCAF's operating unit was No. 36 Radar Squadron.

With the unification of the RCAF, Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Army into the Canadian Forces, Lowther was renamed CFS Lowther in 1967. In 1987, the station was closed as part of the shut-down of the Pinetree Line. Little of the base remains, although Hyundai Motors used portions as part of its cold weather testing centre.

[edit] Sources

Ozorak, Paul. Abandoned Military Installations of Canada: Volume I: Ontario. 1991. ISBN 0-969-51271-6.

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