Canadian Forces Station Falconbridge (CFS Falconbridge) was a military radar station in the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

province of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, active from 1952 to 1985. The station was geographically located in

Valley East A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

, although the nearest settlement — and the source of the station's name — was the community of

Falconbridge Falconbridge may refer to: *Falconbridge Ltd. Falconbridge Limited was a Toronto, Ontario-based natural resources company with operations in 18 countries, involved in the exploration, mining, processing, and marketing of metal and mineral produc ...

Nickel Centre Nickel Centre (1996 census population 13,017) was a town in Ontario, Canada, which existed from 1973 to 2000. It was created as part of the Regional Municipality of Sudbury. On January 1, 2001, the town and the Regional Municipality were dissolve ...

. 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 North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection ...

Pinetree Line The Pinetree Line was a series of radar stations located across the northern United States and southern Canada at about the 50th parallel north, along with a number of other stations located on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Run by North Ame ...

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 , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

. In 1967, the base was renamed Canadian Forces Station Falconbridge with the unification of Canada's military into the

Canadian Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Ai ...

.Ozorak, Paul. ''Abandoned Military Installations of Canada: Volume I: Ontario''. 1991. . The station's operational call sign was Tomboy.CFS Falconbridge
Ontario Abandoned Places. In 1975, a detachment of

CFB North Bay Canadian Forces Base North Bay, also CFB North Bay, is an air force base located at the City of North Bay, Ontario about north of Toronto. The base is subordinate to 1 Canadian Air Division, Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is the centre for Nor ...

's Air Weapons Control and Countermeasures School opened in Falconbridge. Instruction was provided in target plotting, weapons control and radar anti-jamming techniques. A visual and radar UFO incident occurred in the community on November 11, 1975, later reported in a press release by

. 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 Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

, clouds, and/or

weather balloon A weather balloon, also known as sounding balloon, is a balloon (specifically a type of high-altitude balloon) that carries instruments aloft to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed by means of ...

s.''The Canadian UFO Report: The Best Cases Revealed'', Chris Rutkowski and Geoff Dittman, 2006, 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."Radar base no bargain for tenants"
. '' Northern Life'', May 6, 2003. The residential part of the base is now a commercial rental housing development, and the radar operations building was torn down in 2007. 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.

References

{{Canadian Forces Bases

Buildings and structures in Greater Sudbury 1952 establishments in Ontario 1985 disestablishments in Ontario Military installations established in 1952 Military installations closed in 1985