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WWII Observation Tower


This tower was erected on the shores of the Bay of Fundy at Economy on the shores of the Minas Basin. This nine metre wooden structure was built in early 1942 for two purposes-- as a part of the coast watcher plan to keep an outlook for the dreaded German U Boat which lurked close inshore in the Eastern shores of Canada at that time. The second use of the tower was as a bombing range observation platform. The aircraft from RAF Greenwood and RAF Debert used the inlet at Economy as a bombing and gunnery range. The aircraft were controlled by the range safety officer and when the aircraft finished their bombing and gunnery exercises, they were given their scores as assessed by the personnel in the tower.

There were two of these towers in the area; the one in Greenwood which was obtained several years ago and trucked to Greenwood and the other one is now a tourism information centre on the Glooscap Trail.

This tower and the walkway along the crest of the hill were erected in the summer of 1998 by the visiting members of the Vermont Air National Guard. The structure itself has been re-built with new materials, using the old frame as a guide. The interior was salvaged from the old tower and installed in our re-construction.

The Greenwood Military Aviation Museum thanks all of the USAF RESERVE units who have given so freely of their time and have done such a fine job in helping us preserve our heritage.

Plans are to have the tower open to the public in future.

More Pictures
tower_seview.jpg (47344 bytes)
tower_swview.jpg (43461 bytes)
Click to see enlarged picture.

 

 

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Greenwood Military Aviation Museum
http://gmam.ca/