Goose Bay, Labrador

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During WWII, the Allied Forces decided they would need a refueling facility for Trans-Atlantic military flights. Canada and the US initiated a search to discover the best location for this facility. Both teams chose Goose Bay. Construction of the base started in 1941 and 79 days later three 7,000 foot or 1.3 mile (2.1 km) runways had been completed. This facility was leased to the US government as a Strategic American Air Force base and was home to Five Wing Goose Bay. This facility boasts one of the world's longest runways at 3,367m x 64 m (11,046 ft x 209 ft). This makes the runway long enough to accommodate the space shuttle and is a NASA designated emergency landing site for space shuttle flights. In fact, the Boeing 747 carrying the space shuttle landed for refueling in 1983. That was the first time a space shuttle touched down anywhere except on US soil. Currently the Canadian Forces operate this airfield to support the tactical flight training activities for the German, United Kingdom and The Netherlands Air Forces.