3 Wing
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CFB Bagotville Bagotville Airport |
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Military/Private | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | Government of Canada | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | DND/Aéroport Saguenay-Bagotville | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Saguenay, Quebec | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Bagotville, Quebec | ||||||||||||||
| Time zone | EST (UTC−05:00) | ||||||||||||||
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC−04:00) | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 522 ft / 159 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 48°19′50″N 070°59′47″W / 48.33056°N 70.99639°WCoordinates: 48°19′50″N 070°59′47″W / 48.33056°N 70.99639°W | ||||||||||||||
| Website | www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/... | ||||||||||||||
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 CYBG
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Canadian Forces Base Bagotville (IATA: YBG, ICAO: CYBG), commonly referred to as CFB Bagotville, is a Canadian Forces Base located 4.5 nautical miles (8.3 km; 5.2 mi) west of Bagotville in the city of Saguenay, Quebec. It is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and is one of two bases in the country using the CF-18 Hornet fighter/interceptor, the other being CFB Cold Lake. Its primary RCAF lodger unit is 3 Wing, commonly referred to as 3 Wing Bagotville.
CFB Bagotville's airfield is also used by civilian aircraft, with civilian operations at the base referring to the facility as Bagotville Airport. The airport is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). CBSA officers at this airport can handle aircraft with no more than 30 passengers between 0800-1630 on weekdays.
At the height of the Second World War, the RCAF selected a relatively level farming area at the head of navigable waters in the Saguenay Fjord to be the site of several aerodromes during 1941. This area was considered useful for RCAF purposes, given the amount of cleared land in the region, its relative geographic isolation and proximity to the deepwater port of Port-Alfred, as well as access to the adjacent railway network. Construction began that summer and continued through the winter and following spring on RCAF Station St-Honoré near Chicoutimi and RCAF Station Bagotville in La Baie.
The base at St-Honoré opened in June 1942, followed by Bagotville on 17 July 1942; St-Honoré being operated as a sub-base to Bagotville. RCAF Station Bagotville hosted the 1 Operational Training Unit (1 OTU) which trained pilots from commonwealth nations under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), as well as the 130 Panthère Squadron, which was an operational RCAF air defence unit intended to protect the massive Alcan aluminum smelter in nearby Arvida (one of the largest industrial facilities in Canada at the time), and associated hydro-electric facilities in the Saguenay region. During 1942 Quebec's coastal regions along the lower St. Lawrence River and Gulf of St. Lawrence were witnessing the Battle of the St. Lawrence as German U-boats were sinking Canadian shipping throughout the area. RCAF Station Bagotville was established, along with RCAF Station Mont-Joli to counter the U-boat menace to Canada's war effort and placate local fears.
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