The Royal Canadian Air Force 22 (Fighter) Wing was formed on 9 January 1944 in Ayr, Scotland, under Group Captain P.Y. Davoud, DSO, DFC.

Throughout the years, 22 Wing North Bay was reformed several times: from 1 April 1947 to 30 November 1949 as 22 (Photographic) Wing in Rockliffe, Ontario; from 15 December 1953 to 1 April 1957 as 22 (Auxiliary) Wing at London, Ontario; and, as 22 Radar Control Wing at North Bay, Ontario (formerly the home of the 22nd NORAD Region), on 2 June 1989.

In 1933, North Bay was selected by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as the Ontario Regional Office for the construction of emergency landing fields.

With the outbreak of World War II, RCAF North Bay became an auxiliary training base and base for ferrying Liberator and Lancaster bombers across the Atlantic.

The base closed at the end of the war and reopened in 1951, first as a flying school, then as a fighter base where it became home to 430 Day (Fighter) Squadron and 445 and 414 All Weather (Fighter) Squadrons.

In 1959, construction began on an underground complex and the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) which was completed in 1962. Air Defence Command Headquarters was established and 446 Surface-to-Air Missile Squadron with BOMARC missiles was manned until 1973.

On 1 April 1966, RCAF Station North Bay was officially designated Canadian Forces Base (CFB) North Bay. It was the home of 414 (Electronic Warfare) Squadron from 1972 until 1992.

With the restructure of Air Command on 1 April 1993, it was renamed 22 Wing and, in 1994, celebrated its 50th anniversary as a formation.