RCAF Station Winisk

{{Short description|Military installation}}

{{Infobox military installation

| name = RCAF Station Winisk

| native_name = Mid-Canada Line Sector Control Station 500

| partof = Mid-Canada Line

| location = Winisk, Ontario, Canada

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| map_type = Canada Ontario

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| map_caption = Location of MCL Site 500

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| coordinates = {{coord|55.2442|-85.1117|type:landmark|display=inline}}

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| built = 1957

| builder = {{air force|Canada}}

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| used = 1957 - April 1965

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| controlledby = {{air force|Canada}}

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Royal Canadian Air Force Station Winisk (RCAF Station Winisk) was a military installation located in Winisk, Ontario.{{cite book | last1 = Ozorak | first1 = Paul | title = Abandoned Military Installations of Canada: Volume I: Ontario | year = 1991 | isbn = 0-9695127-1-6}}

RCAF Winisk was one of eight Sector Control Stations on the Mid-Canada Line system of radar stations.{{cite web | url = http://www.lswilson.ca/scs500.htm | title = MID CANADA LINE SECTOR CONTROL STATION 500 Winisk ON}} Each SCS received signals from a series of unmanned detection sites located approximately 50 km apart. In Winisk, radio wave signals were transmitted along the chain of stations to the SCS, then to MCL Site 070 Mount Kempis via tropospheric scatter system and finally to RCAF Station North Bay by land line. As there is no road or rail access to Winisk, an airstrip was also built to serve the base (and still exists on the site).

Opened in 1957, and fully operational in 1958,{{cite book | last1 = The NBC Group | title = A History of the Air Defence of Canada 1948-1997 | chapter = Mid-Canada Line | year = 1997 | isbn = 0-9681973-0-2}} RCAF Station Winisk was in operation for just eight years. The eastern portion of the Mid-Canada Line was shut down in 1965 and the Winisk base was closed. Buildings and roads on the site remain.