The Mad Padre's Wargames Page: Seen At The Canadian Forces College

Last week I was attending a conference at the Canadian Forces College, in Toronto, and took these photos. I’d never been there before, and found it a delightful little place, tucked into a lush patch of ground and gardens just off Yonge St. south of the 401, if you know Toronto at all. CFC is dedicated to security studies and training in strategic leadership. Its Staff and Command courses produce the Canadian Armed Forces’ senior officers. I’ not sure what the US military equivalent would be, but I imagine its UK counterpart would be the Joint Services Command and Staff College at Watchfield. When I was there last week there was a course of Majors just finishing, on their way to promotion, and many of them looked impossibly young.

The campus resembles a small liberal arts college, except for the hardware at the centre of the grounds, including this CF-104 Lockheed Starfighter, affectionately dubbed the Widowmaker. It was basically a rocket on little stubby wings. I imagine it took nerves of steel to fly. There are some alarming Starfighter crash videos scattered over the internet.

An early model Leopard tank. Madame Padre needs one for the garden, I think.

The Royal Canadian Navy is represented as well.

The original building on the site, a stately home which was taken over as the Royal Canadian Air Force staff college during World War Two. Now known as Armoured Heights, it serves as the Mess and social area for the college, and is quite spectacular inside and out.

This lovely stained glass window in the library speaks to the College’s origins as an RCAF establishment.

I was quite taken with this piece hanging above the main stairs of the main building. It looks a bit like Tarawa or Omaha Beach except that the weapons and aircraft are modern, and the ship in the middle appears to be an aircraft carrier. It’s a huge piece, carved in wood. Very impressive.