Nanook Airport

Military decommissioning. The airport was built exclusively to serve the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Station Nanook, a Sector Control Station on the Mid-Canada Line. The entire radar line was declared obsolete with the advent of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line and Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs). The line was shut down between 1964-1965, rendering the supporting airport redundant.

The airport is abandoned and non-operational. Satellite imagery shows the single gravel runway is still clearly visible from the air but is unmaintained, deteriorating, and being slowly reclaimed by the surrounding subarctic wilderness. All associated buildings, radar towers, and infrastructure from the former RCAF station have been demolished and the site has undergone extensive environmental remediation by Canada's Department of National Defence to remove contaminants like PCBs and fuel residue.

Nanook Airport was a critical logistical support base during the Cold War. Its sole purpose was to facilitate the construction, operation, and supply of RCAF Station Nanook (Site 400), a major Sector Control Station for the Mid-Canada Line radar fence. This radar line was designed to provide early warning of a Soviet bomber attack over the Arctic. The airport featured a single gravel runway, approximately 5,000 feet long, and handled military transport aircraft (like the C-47 Dakota and Bristol Freighter) carrying personnel, supplies, fuel, and heavy equipment to this remote and vital military installation from its construction in the mid-1950s until its closure.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Nanook Airport. Its extreme remoteness, the complete absence of any nearby community or industry, and the obsolescence of its original military purpose make its reactivation economically and logistically unfeasible. The site remains an artifact of Cold War history in the Canadian wilderness.