CFB Picton Canadian Forces Base Picton ( CFB Picton ) was a military installation located in Picton , Ontario . The base was active from the Second World War to 1969 and served the Royal Air Force , Royal Canadian Air Force and Canadian Army . Today the site functions as the Picton Airport . Second World War . The base at Picton originated as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan . An airfield was built on a high plateau overlooking Picton and the Royal Air Force ' s No . 31 Bombing & Gunnery School officially opened in April 1941 . Five bombing ranges were also created to allow the students to practice . Aircraft flown at the base included the Avro Anson , Fairey Battle , Bristol Bolingbroke and Westland Lysander . The school offered six week courses in bombing , navigation and air gunnery until it was disbanded in November 1944 . After the Bombing & Gunnery School was disbanded , the Royal Canadian Air Force established the No . 5 Reserve Equipment Maintenance Unit at Picton . This unit was responsible for aircraft storage and maintenance of the airfield itself . This unit operated until January 1946 when its functions were absorbed by a unit at RCAF Station Trenton . Canadian Army . After the departure of the maintenance unit , most of the base was taken over by the Army for use as the Royal Canadian School of Artillery ( Anti - Aircraft ) ( RCSA ( A . A . ) ) . The school provided training for anti - aircraft gunners , gunnery radar operators , technical assistants and artillery instructors . A number of operational artillery units were also located in Picton , including the 127th and 128th Medium AA Batteries , Royal Canadian Artillery ( RCA ) and the 2nd and 3rd Light AA Batteries of the 1st Light Anti - Aircraft Regiment , RCA . The RCAF also maintained a small detachment at the base to provide aircraft targets for the gunners . In July 1960 , the base was officially renamed Camp Picton and the RCSA ( A . A . ) disbanded a few weeks later . Two new units were formed later that year , namely the 1st Surface - to - Surface Missile ( SSM ) Battery and the 2nd SSM ( Training ) Battery of The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery . Both units were transferred ; the 1st went to Europe in December 1961 to be equipped with Honest John rockets and the 2nd was transferred to Camp Shilo in 1962 . The 1st Battalion of the Canadian Guards then transferred to Camp Picton from their previous base in Germany . With the unification of the Army , RCAF and Royal Canadian Navy to create the Canadian Forces , Camp Picton was renamed Canadian Forces Base Picton . However , reductions in the Canadian military meant that the base was no longer required and CFB Picton was closed in September 1969 . Affiliated facilities . The Bombing & Gunnery School and Artillery School also operated a number of ranges in other parts of Prince Edward County . The Point Petre and South Bay Training Areas were located in the southeast corner of the county , near Cherry Valley . Point Petre had been in use as an artillery range since 1938 , and the area continued in that role with the formation of the RCSA . Sections of the site were also used for test firing of the Velvet Glove air - to - air missile . The South Bay Training Area was used for mortar , recoilless rifle and anti - tank rocket training . Today , Point Petre is a Provincial Wildlife Area . A transmitter site for the Military Aeronautical Communications System based at CFB Trenton is also located there . After closure . After CFB Picton was closed , much of the base housing was sold to the Government of Ontario . Originally run by the Ministry of Health , it was later transferred to the Ministry of Community and Social Services , and was named Prince Edward Heights . The " Heights " as it was known locally , at its peak was home to approximately 450 individuals with developmental disabilities , and employed just as many staff , until deinstitutionalization became the norm and it closed in September 1999 . A developer has since purchased the homes , renamed the development " Macaulay Village " and resold them as individual properties . Much of the main base also remains , with some of the original buildings in use for assorted industrial and institutional purposes . The airfield remains in operation as Picton Airport . The base and Point Petre were also used to film the movie Dieppe ( 1993 ) a TV movie by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ( CBC ) Sources . Ozorak , Paul . " Abandoned Military Installations of Canada : Volume I : Ontario " . 1991 . ISBN 0 - 9695127 - 1 - 6 .