RCAF Station Uplands - Cold War Quick Reaction Alert Hangers and Weapons Storage Area

"A load of rocket pods destined for 428 Squadron Mk. 5s, Uplands, March 16, 1960. (DND)"
Credit: http://www.canaero.ca/subpages/Article%20content/cf-100rocketspage1_Rocket%20podsa.html

(Updating this post from a couple of years ago with new info) In the early 1950s the Cold War was in full swing, and Canadian Forces bases across Canada were outfitted with hangers suitable for fighter-interceptor aircraft to be stationed, on alert, with their air crews standing by to hop in and take off in minutes.  Nearby to these Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) hangers were munitions storage facilities. What kind of facility was dictated by what kind of ammunition would be stored.  Both conventional ammunition storage facilities and Special Ammunition Storage (SAS) facilities (for the AIR-2 Genie nuclear air-to-air missile (well, rocket)) were built.  I have no evidence that the AIR-2 Genie was ever located at CFB Uplands, since the nearby munitions storage facility was not designed to store nuclear ammunition.  Also, the RCAF 410 and 428 squadrons, which were based out of Uplands, flying the CF-100 Canuck then CF-101 Voodoo, were retired in 1961 and 1964, before the AIR-2 Genie was delivered in 1965.

When 410 and 428 squadron ceased operations at the Uplands base, did DND move out of the hangers completely? Have the hangers been shuffled from department to department until today?  From the outside the hangers look to be in remarkably good shape, even the domestic building between the two hangers, where the fighter pilots would have hung out on alert looks to be in good shape.  Many similar domestic buildings have been destroyed, at other bases, so it's nice to see that one is still intact.

Also, the National Historic Sites Directorate has recognised the importance of preserving the CFB Bagotville QRA and as of 2007 it is designated a National Historic Site of Canada under the Historic Sites and Monuments Act. 
It is the only QRA hanger site to hold that designation.
http://historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=15801

atlas.gc.ca
RCAF Station Uplands QRA Hangers - Blue

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QRA Hangers @ the former Canadian Forces Station Uplands

Domestic bldg between the QRA Hangers @ the former Canadian Forces Station Uplands

QRA Hangers @ the former Canadian Forces Station Uplands

QRA Hangers @ the former Canadian Forces Station Uplands

QRA Hangers @ the former Canadian Forces Station Uplands

QRA Hangers @ the former Canadian Forces Station Uplands

From the fantastic Bing Maps Bird's Eye imagery you can clearly see the pair of earth covered magazines at the munitions storage facility just East of the QRA hangers, are almost identical to those I photographed by the runway at the former CFB North Bay aerodrome.  Conventional munitions for the CF-100 and CF-101 would have been stored in these very same bunkers back in the 1950s-1960s.  The five bay building is a mystery to me, and looks newer than the others; it doesn't seem terribly structurally secure from the outside, but does have berms in front of the five garage-sized doors on both sides.  The building with a pass-through looks like an assembly or workshop area to load/unload munitions through all seasons and under cover.

The building is still actively in use by the Canadian Forces Support Unit (Ottawa), as stated on their web page.

North-ish Facing - Bird's Eye - Bing Maps

West-ish Facing - Bird's Eye - Bing Maps

South-ish Facing - Bird's Eye - Bing Maps

East-ish Facing - Bird's Eye - Bing Maps

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Further reading:
The following web site shows images taken in April 2006 at the QRA in Comox with CF-188M fighters from 441 Squadron, Cold Lake.
http://www.hazersflightline.com/amalgamdart.htm

RCAF Voodoo and Genie storage facilities

Photo Credit:
http://replicainscale.blogspot.ca/2011/11/voodoos-from-north-country-plugging.html

While digging around for information on the Special Ammunition Storage (SAS) facility at Val D'Or, then the Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) hangers at Val D'Or, I discovered the rather obvious - there are at least six other sets of similar hangers and ammunition magazines which were all built at the same time across the country to house the CF-101 Voodoos. Some of the buildings pre-date the Voodoo, as far as I can tell, but I believe all the facilities were upgraded in the 1960s to accommodate the nuclear-weapon-capable CF-101 Voodoo.  I have not researched every airfield and documented every hanger and every ammunition dump; that wasn't the point.  I just wanted to see, of the ammunition storage facilities and hangers made for, or used by, the Voodoo and Genie - what was still left?  The last nuclear weapons on Canadian soil left in 1984, so I'm reasonably sure that the remaining SAS (S for Special... ie Nuclear...) isn't being used exactly for what it was intended, but they still make mighty fine ammo storage bunkers, or just random storage vaults.

CFB Bagotville is still in use today as a major CF-188 (F-18) base, it's QRA hangers are still there, and so is the SAS. Judging from what seems to be boxes of stuff inside the fence line at the SAS, I don't think it's being used for what it was originally built for.


CFB Bagotville QRA


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CFB Bagotville SAS


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CFB Chatham was decomissioned in 1996, and from the last Google satellite imagry, the SAS is being deconstructed by a local company which is "mining" the sand/dirt/gravel the ammo storage berm was buried in. Sort of a shame. The QRA hangers look to be getting put to good use.

CFB Chatham QRA


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CFB Chatham SAS (under deconstruction)


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CFB Comox is an active Canadian Forces military base, it's QRA hangers and SAS facility are still there, and as far as I can tell active.

CFB Comox QRA


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CFB Comox SAS


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CFS Val D'Or is long gone, one of it's QRA hangers remains, and I believe it's SAS has been fully dug up.

CFS Val D'Or QRA (one of two buildings still standing)


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CFS Val D'Or SAS (well it would have been there)


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CFB North Bay doesn't seem to have the same style of ammunition storage bunkers as the others, I believe this may be because it pre-dates the design used at Val D'Or, Chatham and Bagotville. North Bay has it's QRA hangers as best as I can tell from the satellite pictures.

CFB North Bay QRA


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CFB North Bay SAS (Technically maybe not a SAS)


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CFB Uplands is close enough to me that it warrants a visit. While the base itself was decomissioned, the Canadian Forces still own property and buildings at the civilian airport. The QRA hangers are still there, and so is the ammunition bunker - but like North Bay, it is not the same design as the other SAS facilities, so I assume it was built at another time, or has undergone a face-lift since that time.

CFB Uplands QRA


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CFB Uplands SAS (Technically maybe not a SAS)


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