In 1918 the Royal Air Force sought a flying field in the Ottawa area for experimental mail flights.

On March 12, 1930, Canadian World War I flying ace William George Barker crashed into the Ottawa River and died during an aerial demonstration over the field.

Immediately after the war, in September 1945, RCAF Station Rockcliffe was the site of the first jet aircraft demonstration in Canada.

Three runways were listed as follows: [4] The plaque to Canada's Air Force for providing humanitarian aid to Poland at the end of World War II had been placed at CFB Rockcliffe from 1947 until 1994 when the base was shut down.

In 2007, The Polish Embassy rededicated the plaque during a ceremony held at the Our Lady of the Airways Chapel at the entrance of CFB Uplands.

[5] In 1957, the military's main flight testing and development operations moved to RCAF Station Uplands (now located at Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport).

Rockcliffe saw continuous downgrades through the 1970s and 1980s, being reduced to largely providing housing for Canadian Forces personnel posted to the national capital region, including the Public Duties Detachment (now the Ceremonial Guard).

The military presence at Rockcliffe was terminated in 1994 following post-Cold War defence cuts and the base was decommissioned although Canadian Forces personnel continued to stay in housing on the former base property as it transitioned to ownership under the federal government's surplus lands development agency, the Canada Lands Company (CLC).

the property will be sold to private interests for future development as previously announced, although the topic remains uncertain and still causes much debate.