The RCAF station was located on the old Louisbourg Road (Terra Nova Road) on property owned by the late John MacMillan and was established in 1942. It was called No. 6 Radar Station and was attached to the RCAF station in Sydney, Nova Scotia. A ration run to Sydney was made each week for supplies. About 80 to 100 men were stationed at the complex in Louisbourg.
The station tracked planes over the Atlantic and at one time received a commendation for tracking one plane for 18 hours. The equipment was manned twenty-four hours a day, with four shifts of four to six men. They also tracked ships.
The station comprised of an administration building, housing the Orderly Room, a cook house and dining room, a guard house, H barracks with men sleeping on one side and a hospital and games room on the other side. The officers slept in one end of the Administration Building.
In the early days, as the heating equipment was not completed, men were moved to the Dundonald Inn and to private homes in town. Some of the married men brought their families to live with local families. A number of local women married RCAF men and moved away after the war.
Commanding officers of the RCAF were: F/O BF Deshaw, P/O VJ Hawkeswood, P/O WH Noble, F/O SR Talbot, F/L JMG Dorais and F/O WJ McLaughlin.
The base closed on 2 September, 1945.
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Updated: September 2, 2003