After the cancellation of the Avro Arrow in February 1959, Canada urgently needed a fast interceptor to meet the continued threat from manned Soviet bombers. By late 1959, the RCAF picked the Voodoo as the aircraft that best met Canada’s requirements. In June 1961, the RCAF agreed to purchase sixty six nearly new CF-101B Voodoos from existing USAF stocks. The deal transferred the aircraft to five front line squadrons and an OTU, to replace obsolete CF-100s.

At the beginning of the 1970’s, the aging CAF Voodoo fleet was exchanged for sixty six lower timed USAF Voodoos. These replacement aircraft were equipped with a superior missile control system. Even with the Voodoo fleet restored to its original size, servic- ability began to be a problem. In 1977, the CAF launched a program to find a new fighter to replace the Voodoo and by April 1980, the search eventually narrowed down to the CF-18 Hornet.

Most of the Voodoo fleet was phased-out by the end of 1984 and the last Voodoo flight anywhere was made in April 1987, when #101006 was delivered to CFB Chatham for display at CFB Cornwallis.

The McDonnell Aircraft Co. manufactured 479 F-101B Voodoos in the United States, between 1957 and 1961. The F-101B Voodoo served with the United States, Canadian and Taiwanese Air Forces.

CWH retrieved the CF-101B Voodoo on display in the Museum (#101045) from a pylon at Uplands Airport, Ottawa in June 2004. The aircraft was built originally for the USAF in 1958 (serial no. 57-0382) and served with the 49th and the 60th Fighter Interceptor Squadrons before being stored at Davis-Monthan AFB in 1968. It was taken on strength by the Canadian Armed Forces in June 1970. The Voodoo served with No. 416 “Lynx” Squadron, Chatham N.B. and with No. 409 “Nighthawk” Squadron, Comox, B.C. It was retired from no. 409 Squadron in September 1984.