Aerial view of Little Placentia Sound, Newfoundland, on 25 September 1940 (NH 113542)

Aerial view of Little Placentia Sound, Newfoundland, on 25 September 1940, before building of the U.S. naval air station. The later Naval Station Argentia wasestablished under the British-US destroyers for bases agreement of 1940, the base was first occupied on 25 January 1941 following the expropriation of the flat headland formed by a small natural bay called Little Placentia Sound and the western end facing Placentia Bay by the Newfoundland government; over 400 families were displaced. Civilian construction crews from civilian contractors George A. Fuller Company and Merritt-Chapman and Scott Corporation, rushed to build the base as well as an adjoining air field. On 15 July 1941, the Naval Operating Base was commissioned.