As with most other Pinetree sites, Moisie was put up in the early 1950s. Some say RCAF Station Moisie was established to give the Canadian government a better idea of what was going on over Newfoundland and Labrador. Since the Pole Vault network along the Canadian north-eastern coast was manned entirely by the USAF, the RCAF wanted to keep its own eye on the area. While manned by the RCAF, it was one of several stations financed by the American government under a cost-sharing agreement. The operating unit was first known as 211 Aircraft Warning Squadron, a title that underlined the fact that it acted as an early warning site only and had no aircraft control function, unlike at other stations. RCAF Station Moisie officially opened in 1953 and by the following year, there were 11 officers and 126 airmen assigned there. The station was seemingly only built up gradually since the headquarters, recreation centre, fire hall and medical building were only finished in 1956 and the junior ranks club, in 1966.
RCAF Station Moisie first began its days with some unusual radar equipment. Its first antennae were a TPS-502 for height-finding and an FPS-3 for searching, both standard equipment, but its back-up search radar consisted of an ex-army gun-laying radar, designated FPS-202. Its antenna was of the solid bulldozer blade-type, unlike the 3 and others which had the more common net pattern. Other electronic inventory at 211 AW Squadron included the common UPX-6 IFF receiver, used to query approaching aircraft, and the GPS-T2 aircraft simulator, used to provide inputs to a radar console for training purposes.
Throughout the 1950s, the above radar antennae were housed inside pressurized rubber domes. The air pressure in these domes had to be maintained at all times since a lack could cause deflation and entrapment in the rotating antenna. This was the case one day when low air pressure and strong winds contributed to this type of accident. The dome had deflated enough to have the antenna crash through the rubber sheathing. This necessitated the radars shut-down and replacement of the dome and was probably one of the reasons why rubber was replaced with solid plastic at all sites later on. Oddly, one of Moisie's radar towers kept its rubber dome until the stations closure.
The 1960s saw many changes to RCAF Station Moisie. New and more powerful FPS-26 and FPS-27 radars were installed to replace the older equipment. The 27 Search Radar had a large 15 megaWatt peak power output and was a ten-beam antenna; the greater number of beams meant a more accurate track. The 26 Height-Finder was a single-beam dual-channel instrument also capable of large power outputs thanks to its power adder. Both these antennae had electronic counter-counter measures equipment such as log receivers that told the operators what kind of jamming was taking place. With that information, they could switch bands or frequencies enabling them to bypass the jamming. One story has it that when a French warship visited Canadian waters in 1976, it jammed Moisie radars for a week possibly because of a dispute over St.-Pierre and Miquelon.
Also in the sixties, operations themselves were drastically changed due to automation. With the new system called SAGE, aircraft were no longer displayed on charted tables with cue sticks but rather marked on new vertical plastic tote boards. Re-named 211 Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron only a few years earlier, the unit was once again re-designated, this time as 211 Radar Squadron. A few years later, another change occurred when the RCAF was absorbed into the Canadian Armed Forces and Moisie was re-named a Canadian Forces Station. By 1970, its population had increased to 164 military and 70 civilians, somewhat slightly larger than most Pinetree stations.
CFS Moisie continued in its role of aerial surveillance until the late 1980s. Soviet aircraft have not been officially known to venture this far inland and the station probably dealt more often with search and rescue work. Operations were terminated at this site on 1 April 1988 but by then, the station had already been put up for sale.
Moisie closed not with a whimper but with a bang. Stevie Cameron in her book On the Take states that the bases sale was rigged in favour of one individual Raymond Lefebvre, who happened to have connections with the Tory government of the day. His competitor, Pierre Thibeault of Sept-Iles, had plans to turn it into a centre for tourism, which would have created some new jobs for the community, while Lefebvres ultimate intentions were questionable. As it happens, Lefebvre won with his bid of $178,500 and transferred the property to a numbered firm which soon began selling the houses at a nice profit. The bases sale price wasn't bad considering it was valued at between $4.5 and $6 million. It was then stripped of equipment for the bank, restaurant and posy office reducing the possibility of some jobs.
As this was one of the few bases not visited by the author, it is not known what exactly remains.
-- Paul Ozorak