Province Ontario | ||
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Address NEAR MOUNTAIN VIEW, SOPHIASBURGH, ON K0K 1A0, Canada | ||
Cfd mountain view retired t 33 ct 133 f 5 ct 114 aircraft
Canadian Forces Detachment Mountain View, also CFD Mountain View is a Canadian Forces airfield located south of Belleville in Prince Edward County, Ontario. It is geographically close to CFB Trenton, which has administrative responsibility for the facilities.
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History
The Mountain View aerodrome opened 23 June 1941 to host No. 6 Bombing and Gunnery School (6 B&GS), one of eleven bombing and gunnery schools that opened across Canada under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan during the Second World War. Aircraft used included the Anson, Battle, Lysander, Bolingbroke, and Nomad. The station was later designated RCAF Station Mountain View when No. 6 B&GS was renamed the Ground Instruction School and merged with the Air Armament School at RCAF Station Trenton.
The RCAF fire fighting school moved to Mountain View from Trenton in 1946, but later moved to RCAF Station Aylmer. Also in 1946, RCAF Station Mountain View became a detachment of RCAF Station Trenton.
CFD Mountain View includes two recognized Federal Heritage building 1986 on the Register of the Government of Canada Heritage Buildings.
Operations
The main use of CFB Trenton Mountain View Detachment is the storage and overhaul of older aircraft. This facility belongs to the Aerospace and Telecommunications Engineering Support Squadron (ATESS) based at Trenton. In September 2000, 8 Wing Trenton opened the Canadian Parachute Centre's (now the Canadian Army Advanced Warfare Centre) drop zone at Mountain View. The Mountain View facility is also used by Central Region Gliding School (CRGS) for Royal Canadian Air Cadets glider training.
A new gravel runway was constructed in 2006 to train Canadian Forces CC-130 Hercules aircraft crew in landing on unprepared landing strips. A CC-177 Globemaster III demonstrated similar capabilities in 2009.