Air Force Museum “returns to the dome” in nod to history

The Cold Lake Air Force Museum is back home to large dome, a throwback to the site’s role during the Cold War. 

The Cold Lake Air Force Museum is home to a new dome.

Last Thursday, the Cold Lake Air Force Museum held their “Return to the Dome” grand opening event for the replica.

The dome sits 40 feet high in the Cold Lake skyline, the highest point of Cold Lake, and can be seen from Highway 28 when passing the Museum.

“Back in the 1950s we had three domes up on the facility and they were dismantled back in the 90s. So we are trying to rejuvenate the nostalgia with the skyline and with the construction of this new dome,” said Jennifer Ross, curator of the Cold Lake Museum.

The CLAFM sits where the old facility of 42 Radar Squadron on the north edge of Cold Lake South was decades ago.

The project for the Cold War era dome has been in the works since 2012, Cold Lake Museum board member Kael Rennie said.

“It went through numerous iterations of where we were going to source a dome and a radar from. Six-to-seven years later it has taken a lot of work and business to make it all happen. I would say it took six years but really it has been since the site was decommissioned in the early 90s,” said Kael Rennie.

The dome sits on the highest point of Cold Lake. Museum visitors can walk into the golf ball looking dome and get a close look at one of the satellites in the exhibits.

“We are trying to bring back the feeling of a Cold War station which is what the museum was back in the 1950s up till it was decommissioned in the 90s. But we’re also trying to bring more attention to the dome itself and the function of the base, so we’re connecting both the museum and the military base as well,” said Ross.

You can come out and experience the dome, as well as the rest of the Cold Lake Museums, Tuesday-Sunday from 10am-4pm until the end of August.

And with your visit, you can support future museum projects such as a large tower that will oversee the city of Cold Lake, and as well an F-18 Jet fighter on the field.