CFB Summerside Canadian Forces Base Summerside ( CFB Summerside ) was an air force base located in St . Eleanors , Prince Edward Island , Canada , now part of the city of Summerside . RCAF Station Summerside . The airfield was constructed by the Royal Canadian Air Force ( RCAF ) between 1940 – 1941 and was named RCAF Station Summerside . It was home to No . 9 Service Flying Training School ( SFTS ) , a flight school that operated under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan . Relief or emergency airfields were located at nearby RCAF Station Mount Pleasant and Wellington . Airmen were trained on Harvards . In July 1942 No . 9 SFTS moved to RCAF Station Centralia and was replaced by No . 1 General Reconnaissance School ( GRS ) which flew Anson s . No . 1 GRS was changed to No . 1 Reconnaissance and Navigation School in 1945 . The station was closed in 1946 but reopened in 1947 with the formation of No . 1 Air Navigation School ( ANS ) . This was a NATO training facility . No . 1 ANS left in 1953 and the Central Navigation School was established . In 1949 No . 2 ( Maritime ) Operational Training Unit started operation . The influx of personnel and their families required the building of more accommodation quarters . In 1949 the base housing was completed and named " Slemon Park " in honour of Air Marshal Roy Slemon . During the Cold War , the base was home to anti - submarine and coastal patrol aircraft such as the Lancaster B . X , CP - 122 Neptune , CP - 107 Argus , and CP - 121 Tracker . Other aircraft operated from Summerside include the CC - 115 Buffalo and CH - 113 Labrador . These aircraft were operated by various squadrons and units including No . 2 ( Maritime ) Operational Training Unit , No . 107 Rescue Unit , 413 Transport and Rescue Squadron , 420 Air Reserve Squadron , 880 Maritime Reconnaissance Squadron ( Royal Canadian Navy ) , 31 Support Air Group ( Royal Canadian Navy ) , and 415 Maritime Patrol Squadron . On 1 February 1968 , the merger of the three service branches into the unified Canadian Forces saw RCAF Station Summerside change its name to Canadian Forces Base ( CFB ) Summerside . In 1977 , the Government of Canada formally ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ( UNCLOS III ) , which mandated the creation of an Exclusive Economic Zone extending off all coasts . This created a requirement for military enforcement of sovereignty to protect natural resources within the EEZ , such as oil and gas reserves , and fisheries . CFB Summerside ' s primary mission evolved during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s into providing support for Fisheries and Oceans Canada , the government department responsible for managing Canada ' s ocean resources . CP - 121 Trackers were used to patrol Georges Bank and the Grand Banks of Newfoundland to monitor foreign fishing fleets . Search and Rescue ( SAR ) was a secondary role which was no less important to the civilian population of the Maritime Provinces which , relied on SAR aircraft for urgent medevac to large tertiary - care hospitals in Halifax , Nova Scotia and Moncton , New Brunswick , as well as for mariners and air crew who frequently found themselves in distress , requiring rescue . The 1989 federal budget cuts to the Department of National Defence identified CFB Summerside as a candidate for base closure . In 1991 the base was closed and the majority of military units were transferred to CFB Greenwood in Nova Scotia . Current use . The entire property including airfield , housing units , hangars and support structures was renamed Slemon Park and was transferred to a local development authority named " Slemon Park Corporation " . Today the site is host to a mix of public and private sector operations , including Holland College , Atlantic Turbines and several other aerospace companies . Employment at Slemon Park facilities now exceeds pre - 1991 levels . The airfield remains active as the Summerside Airport . Though the airfield has the longest runways in the province , it only supports general aviation ; scheduled passenger flights are offered at Charlottetown Airport . During its existence as an air force base , CFB Summerside was jurisdictionally situated in the township of Lot 17 . In the 1995 municipal amalgamation that saw the city of Summerside created , the city ' s municipal boundary was extended to divide the former base , with the Summerside Airport and the industrial facilities of Slemon Park remaining in Lot 17 , while the residential area of Slemon Park was placed within the city of Summerside .