Shearwater

Opened in Aug 1918 as US Naval Air Station Halifax on the eastern shore of Halifax Bay, near Dartmouth, to support anti-submarine patrols off the Canadian east coast. With the end of WWI, the Canadian Naval Air Service was disbanded in Dec 1918 and the base was put under maintenance. It reopened in Feb 1920 with the creation of the Canadian Air Force, as Canadian Air Board Station Dartmouth. As the RCAF was contracting to a peace time strength after WWII, the RCN required an east coast base. The base was handed over to Naval control on 1 Dec 1948 and was renamed RCNAS Shearwater.

In Aug 1951, rotary wing operations began when the first Bell HTL-4s arrived, followed by Sikorsky HO4Ss in Apr 1952. In May 1963, the first of 41 Sea Kings started to replace the HO4Ss. On 1 Feb 1968, the armed forces of Canada were consolidated into the Canadian Armed Forces and the base was renamed CFB Shearwater. In the summer of 1981, the CS-2 Trackers of VT406 left for CFB Summerside. When the EW unit 434 Sqd moved to Greenwood (NS) in May 1995, this left Shearwater as a Sea King only base. CAF 12 Wing also has operational control over MH443 at Patricia Bay near Victoria (BC) on the Pacific coast, which departed from Shearwater in Jul 1989.