RCAF Station Dawson Creek
I would like to extend a special thanks to Jean-Guy Pitre for finding and sharing additional information on this former station.
General Overview
Base / Station: Dawson Creek
Province: British Columbia
Location:
- The Aerodrome disposal file for the facility at Dawson Creek, indicates that the aerodrome was located at Dominion land survey location NE1/4 of Section 9 and N1/2 of Section 10, of Township 78, of Range 15, West of the 6th Meridian. This location when cross referenced using https://townshipcanada.com/ indicates a location approximately 2 miles west of the current airport.
Dates of Operation or Period of Information:
- 1939(?)-1947(?) and
- 1956-1964
Units:
- No. 20 North West Staging Route
- Sector Control Station (900 or 901) – Mid Canada Line
- Established on the former site of the RCAF Station at Dawson Creek – 1 October 1956
- By April 1957 the site was only able to fulfill a detection function, Identification Equipment had not been installed.
- Declared operational early 1958
- The Station was supported by RCAF Station Nameo in Edmonton
- Unit was disbanded, 31 March 1964. This coincided with the decommissioning of the Mid Canada Line.
Aircraft Flown:
Commanding Officers:
Financial Impact:
Station Magazine/Newspaper:
Date / Reason for Closure:
Current Status: The former station is now Northern Lights College – Dawson Creek Campus. Some of the surrounding residential area was likely a portion of the former aerodrome, I am not quite sure how that was laid out.
Location – Google Map
Daily Diary – Links –
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
Notes
- Most points below pulled from Statements in the dew line adventures and Dawson Creek Airport links below.
- 1939 Former airport licenced as a licenced aerodrome
- Former runway ran roughly in the vicinity of 112th Ave, north of the current Northern Lights College.
- Runway used as an emergency airstrip for the North West Staging Route. I have not found when the RCAF support unit was formally established or disbanded.
- Runway also used in the construction of the Alaska Highway.
- RCAF Station founded September 1944
- RCAF Station Disbanded March 1946
- The RCAF Facility was constructed on land leased from the Northern Alberta Railway. The land and building were declared surplus on 10 November 1947.
- 14 June 1958 – This airport site was closed and the airport relocated to the site of the current Dawson Creek Airport.
I would like to know how the Canadian Army was involved in the construction of the Alaska Highway in collaboration with the US … I was born in Dawson Creek in 1952 …