Canadian Forces Base Petawawa (CFB Petawawa) is a Canadian Forces Base located in Petawawa, Ontario.

The base supports Land Force Command (the Canadian Army) and is home to 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group. See Land Force Central Area for a partial list of units based at CFB Petawawa. 4,400 military personnel are employed at the base as well as nearly 1,000 civilians.

The base was founded in 1904 as the Petawawa Military Camp (Camp Petawawa) when the Department of Militia and Defence purchased 22,430 acres (91 km²) of mostly agricultural property from local residents.

The first military aircraft flight in Canada took place at Camp Petawawa on July 31, 1909, when J.A.D. McCurdy and F.W. Baldwin flew the Silver Dart in a demonstration for military officials.

Between December 1914 and May 1916, Camp Petawawa was used as an internment camp for 750 German and Austrian prisoners of war. From 1916 until the end of the First World War, the facility trained 10,767 Canadian troops for overseas service in Western Europe.

Camp Petawawa was heavily used during and after the Second World War and became the home base for the Canadian Airborne Regiment during the Cold War.

The facility was renamed Canadian Forces Base Petawawa following the February 1, 1968 unification of the Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian Army to form the Canadian Armed Forces.

The base motto is, in the Algonquin language, endazhe kinamandowa chimaganishak. The English translation is "training ground of the warriors".

External link

• Department of National Defence Canada - CFB Petawawa