Long Branch Aerodrome was an airfield located west of Toronto, Ontario and just east of Port Credit, now Mississauga, and was Canada's first aerodrome. [1] The airport was opened by the Curtiss Flying School, part of the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, as a pilot training school in 1915. [2] In 1917 the airport was run by the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), and then closed in 1919. It is recognized by the existence of Aviation Road in the Lakeview, Mississauga community and a historical plaque.
The aerodrome was one of several in the Toronto area, including three near Downsview. For many years it was the site of Ontario Power Generation's Lakeview Generating Station. As of 2009 it became a brownfield site awaiting redevelopment.
The airfield was opened on May 20, 1915, by Curtiss Aeroplanes and Motors Company for the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps. Aircraft such as the Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" and the Curtiss F-type flying boats soon became a common sight at the airfield. John Alexander Douglas McCurdy, the first person to fly an airplane in the British Empire, was hired as the airport's first manager. [2] The airport had a small corrugated metal hangar with space for three small aircraft [3] and a barnhouse. There was no runway, but a grass/dirt strip for landing.
In January 1917, the newly designated Royal Flying Corps Canada, opened the RFC training centre at Long Branch. The Long Branch training centre also provided instruction on flying boats at nearby Hanlan's Point on Toronto Islands, the first seaplane base in Canada. By July 1917, the flight school relocated to Armour Heights Field. Long Branch became the Cadet Ground Training School for the Royal Flying Corps. Both the school and the aerodrome closed in 1919. During World War II, the former aerodrome served initially as Non-Permanent Active Militia's No 21 Training Centre and then as an army small arms training centre.
After the war, the Lakeview Armoury was established on the site, but was demolished in the 1950s.
In 1967 Richmond College, predecessor to Canada Christian College, established their first campus here.
The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC supported the British Army by artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance. This work gradually led RFC pilots into aerial battles with German pilots and later in the war included the strafing of enemy infantry and emplacements, the bombing of German military airfields and later the strategic bombing of German industrial and transport facilities.
Camp Taliaferro was a World War I flight-training center run under the direction of the Air Service, United States Army in the Fort Worth, Texas, area. Camp Taliaferro had an administration center near what is now the Will Rogers Memorial Center complex in Fort Worth's cultural area near University Drive and W Lancaster Avenue.
The Curtiss JN "Jenny" was a series of biplanes built by the Glenn Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for the US Army, the "Jenny" continued after World War I as a civilian aircraft, as it became the "backbone of American postwar [civil] aviation".
The London International Airport is an international airport located in London, Ontario, Canada. It is located 5 nautical miles northeast of the city of London, Ontario and is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada. In 2011, the airport was listed as the 20th busiest airport in Canada in terms of aircraft movements with 94,747 travels. The airport posted a record 683,000 travelers in 2019 and is forecasting 400,000 passengers in 2023. It provides services for cargo airlines and year-round flights with Air Canada Express and WestJet.
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first decades, it merged with the Wright Aeronautical to form Curtiss-Wright Corporation.
Canadian Forces Base Borden, formerly RCAF Station Borden, is a large Canadian Forces base located in Ontario. The historic birthplace of the Royal Canadian Air Force, CFB Borden is home to the largest training wing in the Canadian Armed Forces. The base is run by Canadian Forces Support Training Group (CFSTG) and reports to the Canadian Defence Academy (CDA) in Kingston.
Roosevelt Field is a former airport, located in Westbury, Long Island, New York. Originally called the Hempstead Plains Aerodrome, or sometimes Hempstead Plains field or the Garden City Aerodrome, it was a training field for the Air Service, United States Army during World War I.
Canadian Forces Station Ladner is a former military airfield and communications station located beside Boundary Bay and 2.5 nautical miles east of Ladner in Delta, British Columbia, Canada, south of Vancouver and close to the U.S. border. After its closure it was reopened as Boundary Bay Airport.
Armour Heights Field was home to a Royal Flying Corps airfield in Toronto, Ontario, Canada during World War I, and was one of three in the area. Many RFC pilots trained in Canada due to space availability. The airfield was opened in July 1917, but closed in 1919 as the war had ended. It was later developed as a residential development and remains as such today.
Leaside Aerodrome was an airport in the Town of Leaside, Ontario. It opened in 1917 as a Royal Flying Corps airfield during the First World War.
John Alexander Douglas McCurdy, was a Canadian aviation pioneer and the 20th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia from 1947 to 1952.
Lakeview is a neighbourhood in Mississauga in the Region of Peel, centred on Lakeshore Road in the extreme southeastern corner of the city, along the shore of Lake Ontario, between the larger neighbourhood of Port Credit to the west and the Long Branch neighbourhood of Toronto to the east.
Castle Bromwich Aerodrome was an early airfield, situated to the north of Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands of England. The site now falls within the City of Birmingham.
The Curtiss Flying School was started by Glenn Curtiss to compete against the Wright Flying School of the Wright brothers. The first example was located in San Diego, California.
A list of airfields of the Royal Flying Corps.
Arthur Bradfield Fairclough was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with 19 aerial victories.
Long Branch is a neighbourhood and former municipality in the south-west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the south-western corner of the former Township of Etobicoke on the shore of Lake Ontario. The Village of Long Branch was a partially independent municipality from 1930 to 1967. Long Branch is located within a land grant from the government to Colonel Samuel Smith in the late 18th century. After Smith's death, a small portion of it was developed as a summer resort in the late 1800s.
The Royal Flying Corps Canada was a training organization of the British Royal Flying Corps located in Canada during the First World War. It began operating in 1917.