Nicholson Peninsula, CA 🇨🇦 Closed Airport
CA-0259
-
- ft
CA-NT
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Loading...GPS Code: Not available
Local Code: Not available
Location: 69.94856° N, -128.896072° E
Continent: NA
Type: Closed Airport
Keywords: YUC CYUC
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Circa 1989
The airport was closed due to military strategic changes at the end of the Cold War. The Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line, which the station was part of, became technologically obsolete and was replaced by the more advanced and automated North Warning System (NWS). The Nicholson Peninsula station was an 'Intermediate' site and was not incorporated into the new NWS, rendering it redundant. Its closure was part of the broader decommissioning of the DEW Line.
The site is abandoned and has undergone extensive environmental remediation. Following its closure, the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) initiated the DEW Line Clean-Up Project to address widespread environmental contamination (including PCBs, lead, and petroleum hydrocarbons) left at the abandoned sites. The buildings, radar equipment, and support infrastructure at Nicholson Peninsula were demolished and removed. Contaminated soil was treated or removed, and the site was restored to as close to its natural state as possible. The gravel airstrip remains as a visible landform but is unmaintained, uncertified, and considered unusable for any official aviation purposes. The area is now uninhabited and reverted to wilderness.
The Nicholson Peninsula airstrip was an integral component of the Nicholson Peninsula DEW Line Station, designated as BAR-D. The DEW Line was a chain of over 60 radar and communication stations across the Arctic, built between 1955 and 1957 as a primary defense against a potential Soviet bomber attack over the North Pole. BAR-D was an 'Intermediate Station,' designed to fill the radar gap between the larger 'Main Stations.' The 4,997 ft (1,523 m) gravel airstrip was critical for the station's existence. It facilitated the transport of massive amounts of construction materials, heavy equipment, fuel, supplies, and personnel during both the construction phase and its operational life from 1957 to circa 1989. It primarily handled military transport aircraft, such as the Douglas C-124 Globemaster II and later the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, which were essential for sustaining this remote outpost.
There are no known plans or prospects for reopening the Nicholson Peninsula airstrip. Its sole purpose was to support a military installation that no longer exists. Given its extremely remote location, the lack of any local population or economic activity, and the prohibitive cost of rebuilding, certifying, and maintaining an airport in the harsh Arctic environment, there is no strategic, commercial, or civilian justification for its reactivation.
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