the site where the Golden Hawks Aerobatic Team was formed before it was moved. The Golden Hawks were a precursor to the current 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, or "Snowbirds". The primary purpose of the base was to train navigators for flight crews serving in the European Theatre. During the 1960s and 1970s, the base, renamed CFB Chatham in 1968, was an important staging ground for CF-101 Voodoo fighter interceptors, which were under command of NORAD to interdict Soviet nuclear bombers that could have challenged Canadian airspace in Atlantic Canada. The Soviet bombers (predominately the "Bear") flew the circumpolar route from the Soviet Union to Cuba and enjoyed entering Canadian Airspace over Newfoundland to time the reaction of NORAD. Chatham sent many sons to Europe during World War II as part of the North Shore Regiment. The North Shore Regiment joined the Royal Winnipeg Rifles and the North Nova Scotia Highlanders as the first wave of Canadian Troops to land during the invasion of Normandy. They landed at Juno Beach as part of Operation Overlord. Following the war, the North Shore Regiment was folded into the Royal New Brunswick Regiment (RNBR). The postwar baby boom of the 1950s enabled the town to reach a peak population of 8,600 in 1961. The loss of St. Thomas University, which moved to Fredericton in 1964 adversely affected the town in combination with other changes. The closure of CFB Chatham in 1996 further reduced local employment. The nursing school run by the Religious Hospitaliers of St. Joseph closed soon after the move of St. Thomas University. The loss of these two educational institutions was both symbolic and contributed to Chatham's decline. Over the years migrants from Chatham have moved to where the jobs were. In the mid to late nineteenth century, some left for lumbering opportunities in the United States in areas such as Maine, Wisconsin and Washington. Until the 1930s, the majority went to Boston as a center of business and industry. Few left during the Hungry Thirties. Right after World War II, Montreal seemed to offer opportunities. It was superseded as an attraction by growth in Toronto and other parts of Ontario. Fredericton and Moncton were also work destinations from the 1950s onwards, with Halifax becoming more important after 1965. In recent years, Alberta has attracted more Chatham residents. In 1996, the provincial government amalgamated the incorporated municipalities along the lower Miramichi River