The Department of Transport built Goose Bay airport during 1941-1942 for the Department of National Defence (RCAF). The construction of the airport was recommended on Jult 29, 1941 by the Permrnrnt Joint (US-Canada) Board on Defence "in order to facilitate the ferrying of long and medium range aircraft across the Atlantic, to enhance the effectiveness of plans for hemisphere defence, to prevent congestion at the Newfoundland airport (Gander) and to provide greater security for crews and equipment".
The board advised the Canadian government to undertake the construction of an air base in the vicinity of North West River, Labrador, "as quickly as feasible" and that, if Canada was unable to do so, the government of the United States be invited to provide the necessary facilities. Canada agreed to proceed with the project, and a contract was awarded to the MacNamara Construction Company in September 1941.
Earlier that year, a joint Navy-Air Force and Department of Mines and Resources party began to chart and photograph the coastline of Labrador, and to look for potential airport sites. One of the party, Eric Fry of the Dominion Topographical Survey, found what looked like an ideal site thirty-two kilometres south of North West River; a sandy playeau on which the airport was later built, with a good harbour nearby in Goose Bay, at the southwest end of Lake Melville.
By July 1, Fry advised Ottawa that he had found a promising site, and on July 14, a group of RCAF officers and engineers arrived to appraise it. Ottawa approved their recommendation and, in August, advance parties of engineers and surveyors were flown in from Halifax to the site in flying boats. By September 20, preliminary layout work had begun from a camp on the water's edge.
The ice-breaker MacLean was the first ship to arrive at Goose Bay on August 29, carrying heavy equipment and fifty RCAF personnel. On September 30, 1941, these ships, the Sorrel, the Foundation Jupiter, and the OK Service, arrived with bulldozers, prefabficated houses, graders, and other construction equipment. It was then a race against time to ship in and unload the material required for winter construction: with freeze-up, the port was closed for six months.
Within three weeks of the arrival of the first ships, a temporary wharf was erected, the roadway from tidewater to the plateau was well under way, and work had started on the airport itself. On November 16, 1941, the resident engineer wired the Department of Transport in Ottawa to report that three gravel runways were cleared to a length of 7,000 feet (2,134 metres) and were suitable for large aircraft. A ski-equipped twin engine Quebec Airways plane was the first aircraft to land on the runways at Goose Bay, arriving on December 3, 1941. The first military aircraft, piloted by P/O Hutchison, RCAF, landed on December 9, 1941. Aircraft carrying supplies used the snow compacted runways throughout winter.
The Goose Bay airport was constructed with the approval of Newfoundland, which granted Canada a 99-year lease to the 120 square mile site, effective September 1, 1941. The lease covered the operation of the airport as a military base "for the duration of the war and for such time thereafter as the Governments agree to be necessary ir adviseable in the interests of common defence. The question of its use for civiland commercial operations after the was.. will form the subject of discussions between the Governments of Canada, the United Kingdom and Newfoundland, and these discussions will take place not later than twelve months after the war.
The first RCAF detachment commander at Goose Bay was Squadron Leader WJ McFarlane, who arrived in September 1941 and returned to Gander on November 12. During the winter of 1941-42, only a small detachment of service personnel was required to administer the outpost and maintain the runways. On April 1, 1942 Goose Bay was officially declared RCAF Station Goose Bay and McFarlane returned to become the station Commanding Officer. The RCAF ensign was hoisted for the first time on March 29, 1942.
Three days after Pearl Harbour, a C-39 of the USAF Ferry Command begand to move contractor's personnel and supplies from Moncton to Goose Bay. By mid-February 1942. this service was replaced by Northeast Airlines, operating (under contract to the US) between Presque Ile, Maine, and Goose Bay by way of American bases in Newfoundland. The US was then developing the Northeast Staging Route to Britain - via Greenland and Iceland in which Goose Bay was destined to play a major role.
Construction continued throughout the winter of 1941-42 so that accommodatiob buildings and hangars were ready for spring. By April, the officers' quarters were completed and occupied: twenty-four officers lived on the ground floor and forty-eight non-commissioned officers lived upstairs. A "nose" hangar, capable of housing three aircraft, was also ready.
Goose Bay began ferry operations on April 6, 1942 when a detachment from RAF Ferry Command arrived from Gander: F/L RM McGrath and nine airmen. That night, two RAF Cansos and one Liberator left for Prestwick via Greenland (BW8, Sondrestromfjord) and Iceland. On April 17, three Hudsons (flown by Bisson, McVicar and Evans) left on the first direct flight from Goose Bay to the UK. The snow compacted runways were hard emough at night and in the early morning, but because they softened up during the daytime RAF Ferry Command temporarily suspended operations - on April 23, only two weeks after arrival. Three Hudsons then on hand were flown to Gander and from there to the UK.
Three USAF officers and nine other ranks were stationed at Goose Bay; and during April several American aircraft flew between Goose Bay and BW8.
When the snow runways began to break up, three gravel strips were built; operations resumed and continued all summer. The runways and taxi strips were paved by the early fall of 1942.
From June 1942, there was a steady buildup of military personnel at Goose Bay, including the American armed forces, and the New Brunswick Rangers arrived to defend the air base. By the end of the month, there were 1,700 service personnel and 700 civilians in this new Labrador settlement.
On June 1, the RCAF turned over Building No.13 to the US Air Force for use as a mess, and on June 8, Colonel Smith arrived to become the first commanding officer of the American contingent. On June 15, USAF, with Canadian approval, began construction of its own camp on the opposite (south) side of the airport; and on August 1, 1942, the USAF base became an independent entity. The first official American flag-raising ceremony in Labrador was conducted on February 1, 1943.
From this time, there was a steady increase in traffic of war planes flown to Britain by the ferry organizations of the RAF and the USAF. The planes were dispatched both singly and in squadrons. On June 26, 1942, eighteen USAF B-17 bombers left Goose Bay for the UK by way of BW1 and BW8 in Greenland, thus becoming the first American tactical aircraft to reach England by air. The first "BOLERO" air movement was completed twenty-six days later. On July 6, seventy Lockheed Lightning fighters left for England by way of BW1 (Greenland) and Iceland. The RAF continued to deliver long and short range twin and four engine bombers.
By the end of 1942, buildings had been completed housing 5,000 service personnel and 3,000 construction workers. In January 1943, twenty-five families that had built huts and camps at Otter Creek were moved to the area now known as Happy Balley.
By June 1943, Station strength was:
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Essentially, Goose Bay Airport was run by the RCAF, which controlled the operation and communications services used by its own air personnel, while RAF Transport Command and USAF Ferry Services relied on their own respective units. Meteorological services for the RCAF and RAF were provided by the Department of Transport.
The RCAF conducted anti-submarine operations from Goose Bay; six Canso aircraft from 5 BR Squadron were stationed there in July and August 1943, nine aircraft from 162 BR Squadron in October 1943, and three aircraft from 116 BR Squadron from November 1943 to June 1944. Air defence at Goose Bay was provided by Hurricanes of 129 Squadron from April to October 1943, and by 130 Squadron from October 1943 to March 1944.
Wartime traffic figures are not available for Goose Bay, but we know that in June 1944, 2,598 aircraft passed through the station and for the twelve month period ending September 30, 1945, the airport handled 24,000 aircraft. When the war ended in Europe in 1945, the traffic through Goose Bay, Gander, and Stephenville brought an estimated total of 240,000 personnel back to North America without fatality.
At the end of the war, consideration was given to the future use of Goose Bay Airport as a military base and as a base for commercial aircraft flying the North Atlantic route. Canada's position was relatively clear because it had a 99-year lease to the site, but the USAF were in a different situation; they were tenants of Canada with the approval of Newfoundland, and it was assumed they would withdraw.
The USAF, however, wanted to remain at Goose Bay indefinitely for reasons stated in Permenent Joint Board on Defence papers: "There would be a continuing need for facilities there so long as the United Sates forces remain in Europe. Air Transport Command will have necessity for retaining existing facilities at Goose Bay for the continued safe operation over the North Atlantic Route. Goose Bay is also an ATC supply point for outlying (US) weather and communications stations in Eastern Canada and Baffin Island and is also an alternative to Stephenville. Goose Bay is considered vital to the defence of the United States and Canada and should be maintained as a military base on such a scale as to provide for the stationing of operational squadrons as required".
After high-level discussions among the United States, Canada, and Newfoundland, it was agreed that the USAF could remain. Canada also decided to keep Canadian forces at Goose Bay as long as US forces were established there - the idea of withdrawing the RCAF, and turning over thge airport to the Department of Transport, was temporarily put aside. By the end of 1946, Goose Bay was the defence facility in Newfoundland, including Labrador, under the command and control of Canadian forces. On April 1, 1949, Newfoundland became part of Canada.
Following the signing of a twenty-year lease between the United States and Canada in 1953, the US undertook and extensive construction program on the south side of Goose Bay Airport. This included permenent married quarters, dormitories, nine hangars, a chapel, a theatre, base operations, the "Goose Hilton" hotel, and a new hospital.
Between 1952 and 1958, a program of construction was also undertaken by the RCAF on the north side that included married quarters and a school.
On April 10, 1947, the new passenger terminal (located in an RCAF hangar on the north side) was used for the first time by a Trans-Canada Air Lines North Star on an Atlantic flight.
The post-war use of Goose Bay by commercial aircraft on the transatlantic service was a subject of prolonged discussion between the Canadian, Newfoundland, and United Kingdon governments. Provisions had been written into the Leased Bases Agreement with the United States and the Canada-Newfoundland-Goose Bay Agreement, stating clearly that the military airports could not be used for civil aviation (other than use related to war) without the approval of Newfoundland. Newfoundland's position was that "the maximum concentration of traffic at Gander is clearly desirable having regard to our liability in respect of the heavy costs of airport operation. That position was maintained in discussions with Canada and the United States, and the final agreement provided that Stephenville and Goose Bay could be used by civil trans-atlantic aircraft only in an emergency or as weather alternates for Gander.
In 1957, the Strategic Air Command of the USAF became the host unit at Goose Bay air base with over 3,000 personnel supporting the B-47. mission and the KC-97 alert tankers. The first KC-135 jet tanker landed at Goose Bay in 1960. In 1966, when Harmon Field (Stephenville) closed, USAF Goose Bay assumed many of Harmon's functions, and in 1968 the 95th Strategic Wing moved to Goose Bay from Biggs Air Force Base in Texas.
In 1967, an RAF unit moved into Goose Bay Airport and it is still there, providing support for Vulcan delta-wing bombers that come from bases in the UK to carry out low-level training over Labrador and eastern Quebec. Support is also provided by RCAF aircraft that stage through Goose Bay on their way to and from points further west.
Towards the end of the 1960s, there was a gradual phasing down in the air defence activity and a consolidation of the RCAF base. Operation and maintenance of the airport and the north side were handed over from RCAF (Air Transport Command) to the Department of Transport on August 1, 1967; the USAF kept responsibility for its military base on the south side. Only sixty Canadian Forces personnel remained at Goose Bay to operate radar and air traffic control - this had to remain a military operation under the Canada-US Agreement covering the American presence on the airport.
On September 1, 1970, thirty Canadian Forces personnel were transferred to Goose Bay to jointly man with the USAF the Manual NORAD Control Centre (MNCC) radar station at Melville. The Air Defence Command set up a Canadian Forces Station at Goose Bay. On July 1, 1971, the Canadian Forces took full control of the Melville Long Range Radar (LRR) and MNCC. The USAF began reducing its forces at Goose Bay and Canadian Forces families were able to move from the permanent married quarters area of Spruce Park (northeast side) to the USAF area (southeast corner). Canadian Forces unit operations also moved to the USAF side.
In January 1973, the twenty-year lease to the United States was extended by six months to July 1, 1973, to permit the governments to complete arrangements for the transfer of the US base to Canada. At that time, it was decided that Transport Canada - rather than the Department of National Defence - would assume full responsibility for the airport. On July 1, 1973, the land covered by the lease to the USAF was turned over to Transport together with all the buildings and improvements. A new agreement was signed by the USAF and Transport whereby Transport would operate and provide specified services and facilities to the USAF on a cost-recovery basis for three years until July 1, 1976.
From 1973 to 1976, Transport Canada vacated the north side of the airport, except for some Crown-owned housing and released a large portion of the former RCAF camp to the province of Newfoundland and Labrador for industrial use.
On September 30, 1976, the USAF SAC operation was replaced by a Military Air Lift unit (MAC), whose role was to ship air cargo and service USAF aircraft in transit through Goose Bay. MAC is still there.
On July 1, 1976, the responsibility for the Goose Bay air base was shared by Transport Canada and Public Works. Under the new arrangement, Transport was responsible for the operation of the civil airport and supporting the airside activities of the CAF, USAF, and RAF; Public Works for the administration of all groundside facilities. Transport's staff was reduced from 760 to 115.
Since 1973, the following major projects for upgrading the civil airport have been completed:
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Today, Goose Bay Airport has two runways in use: 09-27, at 11,046 feet or 3,368 metres, and 17-35, at 9,580 feet or 2,916 metres long. (web site side note - These runways are now identified as 08-26 and 16-34, the vistim of changes in direction to magnetic north).
On April 1, 1988, control and management were transferred from Transport to the Department of National Defence, and the airport is now used as a Low-Level Fighter Training Centre for National Defence and NATO allies.
Under individual nilateral agreements, Canada hosts military training programs for the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany, the United Kingdom, The United States, and the Netherlands. The following military operators are based at CF Base Goose Bay:
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If NATO selects Goose Bay as the location of a Tactical Fighter Centre for all types of advanced flying training, it would station up to 140 aircraft at the base all year.
All incremental costs for training in Canada are recovered from the participating governments.
Today, about 900 civilian personnel are employed directly or indirectly at the Goose Bay airfield in work which is mainly supportive of allied training, whose economic impact is estimated at more than $50 million.
Although the Department of National Defence manages the airport, Transport administers the terminal and the civil avitaion operational area. Its site manager also acts as liaison between civilian operators and the Department of National Defence.
Updated: March 16, 2005
