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The history of aerospace defence now on display

722 Air Control Squadron (ACS) Commander Lieutenant Colonel Christopher A. Johnson (USAF) looks over the NORAD display during the opening of the Canadian Forces Museum of Aerospace Defence at 22 Wing/CFB North Bay Friday.

722 Air Control Squadron (ACS) Commander Lieutenant Colonel Christopher A. Johnson (USAF) looks over the NORAD display during the opening of the Canadian Forces Museum of Aerospace Defence at 22 Wing/CFB North Bay Friday.

Mothballed for the past three years the Canadian Forces Museum of Aerospace Defence reopened to the public this week.

The museum, which explores the evolution of air and aerospace defence since the First World War in Canada, went through upgrades and renovations and now has new artefacts on display dating back from WW1 to the birth of the NORAD mission and present day activities.

Lieutenant Colonel Francois Beaupre says it was a directive of former base commander Colonel Malo to have the museum back up and running to mark the diamond anniversary of CFB North Bay in the city.

“You’re not going to see much about airplanes. You’ll see a little bit about airplanes you’ll see some pictures, it talks about the ground roll or the air force,” explains Beaupre.

“It talks about the ground roll of the air force. It talks about control; it talks about making sure that the planes go where they are supposed to go.”

“It talks about the history of radar. It also gets into space because we do have a mission to track particles in space right now in North Bay so we are going into that area.”



Noting that the process to overhaul the museum was an enormous task, curator Bethany Aitchison says it is important to have the museum active because of the 68 air force museums across the country, CFB North Bay's is the only one that tells the story of aerospace defence.

“Because North Bay has that close tie to with it being the centre of air defence this (is) was its natural home.”

“Upgrading it renovating it like I said it still will be going on for a number of years the process has been long but well, well worth it, not only what you see in the museum has been redone but our entire archive system, our way of managing collections has been redone as well so it makes things a lot easier for us.”

Aitchison says the bulk of collection has been donated from retired service personnel and their families and welcome further contributions.