Located in the centre of Quebec, less than 200 km (120 mi) north of Quebec City,[2] CFB Bagotville is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and is one of two bases in the country using the CF-18 Hornet fighter/interceptor, the other being CFB Cold Lake.

[6] A quick reaction facility is being built to support the new Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighters.

[7] At the height of the Second World War, the RCAF selected a relatively level farming area at the head of navigable waters in the Saguenay River to be the site of several aerodromes during 1941.

This area was considered useful for RCAF purposes, given the amount of cleared land in the region, its relative geographic isolation and proximity to the deepwater port of Port-Alfred, as well as access to the adjacent railway network.

RCAF Station Bagotville[6] hosted the 1 Operational Training Unit (1 OTU) which trained pilots from commonwealth nations under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), as well as the 130 Panthère Squadron, which was an operational RCAF air defence unit intended to protect the massive Alcan aluminum smelter in nearby Arvida (one of the largest industrial facilities in Canada at the time), and associated hydro-electric facilities in the Saguenay region.

Early training aircraft operating from RCAF Station Bagotville included Curtiss Kittyhawk, Westland Lysander, North American Harvard and Hawker Hurricane.

Toward the end of the war, RCAF Station Bagotville began to decline in activity as the requirement for BCATP training decreased.

Three runways were listed as follows: [10] The escalating tensions brought about by the Cold War and the Korean War saw RCAF Station Bagotville reactivated on 1 July 1951[2] as a training base for air defence squadrons deploying in support of NATO's defence of western Europe from the Warsaw Pact.

During this time squadrons were deployed on Operation Appletree visiting a number of cities and towns in the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario, and to the Toronto CNE to promote the RCAF.

On 7 March 1953 both squadrons deployed to Europe on the month long Leagfrog III and the base was quiet through the rest of that year.

The same day 439 "Tiger" squadron was reformed from elements of the existing Base Flight Bagotville,[11] flying the CT-133 Silver Star and CH-118 Huey.

On October 2, 2020, the Government of Canada awarded EllisDon-EBC Inc. Joint Venture of Ottawa with the $12.1 million construction of new facilities to house the Royal Canadian Air Force's Future Fighter.

Re-formed on 20 January 2009 this squadron is based in Ottawa and is composed of military electronic warfare officers who fulfill the combat support role, flying on civilian contracted aircraft.