At the height of the
First World War, the Borden Military Camp opened at a location on a glacial
moraine west of
Barrie in 1916 to train units for the
Canadian Expeditionary Force. It was named for Sir
Frederick William Borden, former
Minister of Militia. In May 1916, the Barrie and Collingwood companies of the
157th Battalion (Simcoe Foresters), CEF (perpetuated today by
The Grey and Simcoe Foresters), under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel D.H. MacLaren, began construction of the camp. Camp Borden was selected in 1917 for a military
aerodrome, becoming the first flying station of the
Royal Flying Corps Canada. During the inter-war period, the aerodrome was used for veteran pilot refresher training by the
Canadian Air Force (CAF), a part-time, non-permanent air militia. This militia training scheme began in July 1920 and ended in March 1922. Although this training had ended, the CAF continued, reorganized, and eventually evolved into the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Pilot training resumed in May 1923. The air force also conducted specialist courses. Other schools included an Army Co-operation School, an Air Armament & Bombing School and a Technical Training School. When the air force became “royal” in 1924, the station was renamed RCAF Station Camp Borden. Camp Borden's training grounds were expanded in 1938 to house the Canadian Tank School. The
Siskins were a RCAF aerobatic flying team that was established in 1929 at Camp Borden. During the
Second World War, both Camp Borden and RCAF Station Camp Borden became the most important training facility in Canada, housing both army training and flight training, the latter under the
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). The BCATP's
No. 1 Service Flying Training School (SFTS) was located here until 1946. Relief landing fields were located at
Alliston and
Edenvale. A third landing field, known locally as
Leach's Field, was operated by Camp Borden from the 1920s to the 1950s. The L-shaped airstrip was rudimentary; the "runways" at Leach's Field utilized the existing ground surface. It was primarily used for
touch-and-go flying. fire house, Camp Borden, Ontario at Camp Borden in 1916 During the
Cold War, Borden's importance as an RCAF facility in Ontario declined in favour of
CFB Trenton,
CFB Uplands and
CFB North Bay. However, its use as an army facility stayed consistent until 1970 when a major reorganization of the combat arms' schools resulted in the transfer of the Infantry School and Armoured School to
CFB Gagetown in
New Brunswick. On the other hand, numerous "purple" (i.e. tri-service) schools were established or expanded from existing service training establishments, including the Canadian Forces School of Administration and Logistics, the School of Aerospace Ordnance Engineering and the
Canadian Forces Health Service Training Centre. The
February 1, 1968 unification of the RCAF with the
Royal Canadian Navy and the
Canadian Army resulted in the creation of the Canadian Forces. The military facilities consisting of Camp Borden and RCAF Camp Station Borden were grouped under a new name, Canadian Forces Base Borden (CFB Borden). The aerodrome was closed in 1970 and the base saw use as a regular and reserve training facility for
Canadian Forces Land Force Command (the army), as well as hosting various land-based training courses for
Canadian Forces Air Command (the air force). In a 1990s reorganization of the Canadian Forces following the end of the Cold War, CFB Borden's air force training facilities were grouped under the name 16 Wing Borden. The eight surviving Royal Flying Corps hangars at the base have been designated a
National Historic Site of Canada. ==Plaque==