Katherine Bickford

This goes back to July 2013, when I just happened to be at the Bomarc Site in North Bay.

In the fall of 1958 Prime Minister John Diefenbaker’s Conservative government announced an agreement with the US to deploy two squadrons of the American ramjet-powered Bomarc antiaircraft missile in Canada.

This Bomarc Site was constructed as an RCAF BOMARC Missile Site in December 1962 at a site in North Bay, Ontario. The site was built with above ground missile launchers for 28 BOMARC B Model missiles. Another 28 missiles were deployed at La Macaza, Québec. 

The Bomarc B was designated IM-99B, with the addition of a Thiokol solid rocket booster housed under the missile’s body. The booster produced a thrust of 50,000 pounds, and was fired for 30 seconds before it was jettisoned.

Each missile was designed to be fitted with a U.S. W-40 nuclear warhead. The Bomarc The W40 was 18 in (460 mm) in diameter, 32 in (810 mm) long, and weighed around 385 lb (175 kg). It had a design yield of 10 kilotons. The warheads were delivered on 31 December 1963.