CFS Falconbridge

Last updated
CFS Falconbridge
RCAF Station Falconbridge
Part of The Pinetree Line
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Canada Ontario location map 2.svg
Red pog.svg
CFS Falconbridge
Coordinates 46°37′34″N80°50′38″W / 46.62619°N 80.84378°W / 46.62619; -80.84378
CodeC-9
Site information
OwnerPrivate
Controlled byRoyal Canadian Air Force ensign.svg  Royal Canadian Air Force
Open to
the public		No
ConditionPartially repurposed,
partially derelict
Site history
Built byRoyal Canadian Air Force ensign.svg  Royal Canadian Air Force
In use1952-1985
Garrison information
Garrison33 Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron [1]

Canadian Forces Station Falconbridge (CFS Falconbridge) was a military radar station in the Canadian province of Ontario, active from 1952 to 1985.

The station was geographically located in Valley East, Ontario, although the nearest settlement — and the source of the station's name — was the community of Falconbridge in Nickel Centre. The site is now within the municipal boundaries of Greater Sudbury.

History

CFS Falconbridge was opened as RCAF Station Falconbridge in 1952 as part of NORAD's Pinetree Line of radar stations. The original operating unit was No. 33 Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, later renamed No. 33 Radar Squadron when aircraft monitoring functions were transferred to Regional Headquarters in Duluth, Minnesota. In 1967, the base was renamed Canadian Forces Station Falconbridge with the unification of Canada's military into the Canadian Forces. [2]

The station's operational call sign was Tomboy. [3]

In 1975, a detachment of CFB North Bay's Air Weapons Control and Countermeasures School opened in Falconbridge. Instruction was provided in target plotting, weapons control and radar anti-jamming techniques. [2]

A visual and radar UFO incident occurred in the community on November 11, 1975, later reported in a press release by NORAD. The object was tracked on radar from the base and sighted in binoculars, and estimated to be a 100-foot diameter sphere with craters. Seven OPP police officers also witnessed the UFO. Some explanations given for the sightings included Venus, clouds, and/or weather balloons. [4]

CFS Falconbridge was closed when the Pinetree Line was declared redundant in the mid-1980s. The station was sold to Pine Ridge Developments, a private real estate developer, in 1987 for $1.9 million. [5] The residential part of the base is now a commercial rental housing development, and the radar operations building was torn down in 2007. [3] Pine Ridge faced some criticism in 2003 for making only minimal safety improvements to the base's badly deteriorated former barracks and mess hall despite having rented out homes on the site to tenants with children. [5]

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References

  1. ↑ A History of the Air Defence of Canada, 1948-1997. Commander Fighter Group. 1997. ISBN   978-0-9681973-0-1.
  2. 1 2 Ozorak, Paul. Abandoned Military Installations of Canada: Volume I: Ontario. 1991. ISBN   0-9695127-1-6.
  3. 1 2 CFS Falconbridge, Ontario Abandoned Places.
  4. ↑ The Canadian UFO Report: The Best Cases Revealed, Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, 2006, ISBN   1-55002-621-6
  5. 1 2 "Radar base no bargain for tenants" Archived 2006-11-03 at archive.today . Northern Life , May 6, 2003.
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