Torbay Airport, officially opened by the RCAF on 15 December 1941, was jointly used by the RCAF, RAF, and the United States Army Air Corps until December 1946. Although the airfield was not used as much as Argentia, Gander, Stephenville and Goose Airports in the movement of large numbers of aircraft to England, it was still busy. The Royal Air Force had its own squadron of fighters, surveillance and weather aircraft stationed there. The RCAF personnel strength on the station during the peak war years was well over 2000. Through an agreement between the US and Canadian governments early in 1947, the United States Air Force took over the use of the airport facilities and utilized about ten of the buildings located there. The US Military Air Transport Service (MATS) needed Torbay Airport in order to complete its assigned mission at that time.
After the war, the RCAF closed Station Torbay and transferred it to the Department of Transport for use as a civilian airport. While the US Army Air Force had wanted to develop it after America's entry into the war, it always remained a Canadian operation. The US government was allowed to use hangar space effective 1944 to service aircraft serving Fort Pepperrell and in 1947, formal leases were negotiated between the USAAF's Newfoundland Base Command and Transport for the use of Hangars 3 and 4 and a few other buildings. The RCAF meanwhile returned in 1949 with a small search and rescue detachment of 103 Rescue Unit to fulfill Canada's new obligations under the International Civil Aviation Organization.
In the 1950s, there was renewed interest on the part of the US Air Force to use Torbay on an operational basis as the Cold War began to cast its dark spell over the globe. Some of the unused buildings at the airport were looked at for storage and troop housing and the runways examined to accommodate an air defence interceptor squadron. According to TM McGrath in his History of Canadian Airports, the USAF had been reasonably good tennants in the postwar period, but every now and then, there were ripples in that relationship such as the time civilians were denied access to the airport when it conducted a security exercise. The USAF wanted to extend the runways for jet fighters but the Canadian Deputy Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs recommended in 1952 to Lester Pearson, then Secretary of State for External Affairs, that Ottawa should bear the cost to maintain control. The reccommondation seems to have been accepted since soon after, one of the runways was lengthened by Raynor Construction by 2000 feet at Canadian expense.
After the runway was extended, the USAF dropped its request to permanently base fighters at Torbay. At least it had the right to use it as a redeployment aerodrome in times of war. The base was still used by American units but these were support organizations such as the 950th Engineer Aviation Group, the 3rd Installation and Maintenance Squadron, the 11th Air Photo Flight, and the 6604th Base Operations Squadron. Permission was granted by the Canadian government to base up to 1300 men and women there but only until July 1955 when that number would be reduced to 500, the balance of which would move into an expanded Pepperrell AFB. A controversial dictate set by Canadian Cabinet to the deployments was that units could not have more than 10% blacks.
The RCAF reopened Station Torbay under military control on 1 April 1953. The RCAF assumed responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the runways and the other facilities and buildings on the military side (east) of the field, except for those leased to the USAF. The Department of Transport continued to operate the civil air terminal, meteorological service, and other facilities associated with the radio range and the ILS (Instrument Landing System). RCAF personnel started to move in and began providing the necessary administration and operation of the facility to support the mission of its co-tennant, the United States Air Force. Early in 1954 a rental agreement was signed between the USAF and the RCAF and the USAF acquired use of additional buildings. The 6600th Operations Squadron of the USAF had been activated on 1 July 1953 and moved into existing Torbay Airport facilities. The USAF rented over thirty buildings at a cost of over $210,000 per year. The USAF operations at Torbay Airport, from 1953 to 1958 - when the Northeast Air Command was deactivated, were notable achievements. Thousands of tons of cargo were handled by Torbay in support of the many bases and satellite stations throughout the Command.
The first control tower at Torbay was located on top of hangar No. 1 and it was operated by the RCAF. It was destroyed by fire on March 17, 1946. The Department of Transport built the second control tower on top of hangar No. 2 in late 1951, but it was not occupied until December 1952. Temporary airport traffic control was provided from a box-like structure in the old administration building from June 18, 1952 to meet the demands of the US Air Force.
A search and rescue detachment became a full new squadron in 1954; 107 Rescue Unit. The RCAF established a Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Building 16 to accept calls for help and coordinate all regional rescue efforts. For its part, the US maintained a presence there to service Pepperrell AFB until 1960 when that base was closed. The station was also responsible for a new Air Defence Command unit, the 8 Ground Observer Corps Unit, at 177 Water Street.
Although a small unit, 107 RU had the very important role of searching for missing aircraft or boats that had gotten lost. The men received full training for survival, spotting, first aid and communications to be able to rescue the helpless in any type of environment or weather. On a given day, they could be called upon to drop medical supplies to remote outposts or ferry civilians to emergency facilities for treatment. The unit used three Lancaster bombers (later, North Stars) with seven-man crews each: two pilots, one navigator, one radio operator, one flight engineer and two spotters. Their daily routine began with a briefing at 08:30 for weather, aircraft status, runway conditions and to review the past day's activities, and then a flight at approximately 09:00 to conduct practice drops, beacon homings and radar approaches. Each Lancaster was equipped with emergency land and sea survival kits, dinghys, flares and markers. To cut boarding times, the crews slept in quarters 100 yards from the aircraft.
The Rescure Co-ordination Centre and 107 RU had more than its share of work. Within a six-month period, the RCC would receive 500 aircraft alert calls, 16 mercy cases and five marine distress calls. Its workload was increased when the USAF's 52nd Air Rescue Squadron at Harmon AFB was disbanded in 1957. The rescue centre not only received urgent calls but were also asked to investigate old crashes. In August 1956 for example, a team was sent to Baird Harbour to recover the bodies from a No. 10 Squadron Digby that had been missing since 1942.
During the fifties, several changes were made to the station. In addition to the runways being extended, a new fence was installed around the airfield and a security island put up at the main gate. The USAF made many changes to its own buildings. The drill hall was renovated and converted into a recreation centre that included a swimming pool, bowling alleys, tennis court and gym. Since passengers coming off TCA flights had to walk through the RCAF's property, security concernes prompted Transport to build a new terminal in 1958. Finally, a new radio transmitter site was erected at Parker's Pond in 1960.
As well as providing security, there was another advantage to having an island and a guard post at the main gate. Late one night in January 1956, an American serviceman drove up to the gate to sign in. The air policeman on duty had noticed a body lying under the car that had been dragged at least from Torbay Road. The victim was so badly bruised he was taken to hospital. No one knew how he got there, but had he gone further, the ride might have finished him off.
RCAF Station Torbay was one of the many cutbacks to the Air Force ordered by the new defence minister in 1964. The aerodrome was turned over to the Department of Transport on 1 April 1964 to become a civilian airfield. The RCAF transferred its search and rescue service to Summerside, PEI and all of the buildings on the east side of the airport, known as RCAF Station Torbay (with the exception of the hangars and of buildings 13, 14, 15, 16 and 37) were sold through Crown Assets Disposal Corporation to the government of Newfoundland and Labrador in January 1965. The airport has seen some military activity since as a small number of units have made appearances there, units such as 103 Rescue Squadron, 880 (Maritime Reconnaissance) Squadron and an Air Reserve Augmentation Flight. It, along with Gander, Stephenville and Goose Bay, has been designated an emergency landing aeordrome for the Space Shuttle.
Updated: April 15, 2005
