[PHOTO] Looking at the history of Island aviation, Charlottetown Airport

[rfmcdonald]

Charlottetown Airport has, by the departures, a little display depicting the more than one hundred years of aviation history.

The Prince Edward Island government had a great essay describing the history of the airport in detail, but this has been removed by a site reorganization. (See below the fold for the text.)



History of Air Travel in Prince Edward Island
The present airport site on the Brackley Point Road was not Charlottetown's first air field. Flying was introduced to Charlottetown in 1912, when an aircraft landed at the exhibition grounds in the city, but it was not until 1931 that an airport became a reality for Charlottetown. It was known as Upton Field and was located on land owned by Dr. J.S. Jenkins, Chief Physician at the Charlottetown Hospital.

In 1927 there was an airmail service between Moncton and Prince Edward Island, flown by a Fairchild F.C.2 aircraft. The Federal Government in 1927, introduced a plan to assist light aeroplane clubs in Canada. The Prince Edward Flying Club was formed and in May 1929 selected a site that, after investigation by a civil aviation inspector, was recommended for licence, if the land was acquired by the club. No action was taken on this. In April 1930, the Charlottetown Flying Club, which was being organized, asked the Civil Aviation Branch of National Defence to do a survey for an aerodrome in the area. Again there was no action.
In a report on November 24, 1931 the Superintendent of Airways dealing with airport inspections in the Maritime provinces, had this to say about Charlottetown:

an aerodrome provided by Dr. J.S. Jenkins in part of his farm, two miles north of the city: Province and City to provide machinery and Dr. Jenkins to pay the cost of labour; it will be an excellent aerodrome; Canadian Airways will use it for daily service between Charlottetown and Moncton; Mrs. Jenkins is a pilot; he is taking instruction and may buy and aircraft.

The site was called Upton Airport and was licensed on January 16, 1932. It had two turf landing strips 2800 and 1600 feet long. The airport was leased to Canadian Airways Ltd. from October 9, 1932 to October 9, 1938. The licence remained in force until June 30, 1938.

In June 1938, the City of Charlottetown asked the Department of Transport for assistance in developing a municipal airport. Two sites were considered, Upton Airport and a 300 acre property at Sherwood Station on the Brackley Point Road. Because of the lack of space for future expansion at the Upton site, the federal government accepted the Brackley Point Road site. The City purchased the 300 acres in what was known as Central Royalty for $30,000. The City negotiated with the Provincial Government to bear half the cost of the site; the Province agreed to do so on condition that it receive half the profits derived from the airport revenue. The City would operate the airport.

The City's objective in wanting the airport, apart from the necessity of transport by air, was to help alleviate the unemployment situation. All labourers were to come from the City's relief lists. On September 2, 1938 the Department of Transport let a contract for clearing, and in July 1939 work began on three landing strips.

In December 1939, the City Council wrote to the Deputy Minister of Transport, Mr. V.I. Smart, and offered free use of the airport to the Canadian Government for defence purposes, until the conclusion of the war. The Government accepted, and on May 1, 1940 the Department of National Defence announced the establishment of No. 5 Bombing and Gunnery School at the Charlottetown Airport under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). A miniature town rapidly took shape at the airport. Some forty-three buildings were erected, including six hangars.

The field was officially handed over to the Royal Air Force on June 15, 1941 by which time, three hard surface runways had been constructed. In early 1941 the Airport was established as No. 31 General Reconnaissance School instead of the Bombing and Gunnery School as originally planned. This was changed because local lobster fishermen objected to the bombing range closing valuable lobster grounds on the North Shore between Covehead and St. Peters.

Under the BCATP three more aerodromes were built on Prince Edward Island; No. 9 Service Training School (SSFTS), Summerside (the airport is still operated by the Department of National Defence), and two aerodromes to relieve pressures at No. 9 SFTS Summerside; No. 1 at Mount Pleasant and No. 2 at Wellington.
Commercial air services operated out of the Charlottetown Airport under the management of Canadian Airways Limited. This service linked Charlottetown and Moncton. In April 1941, Trans Canada Air Lines inaugurated a feeder service linking Charlottetown and Summerside, with the mainland flight to Moncton. A Lockheed Electra ten-place plane was used on this service. In mid October the air service was taken over by a new company organized by Carl Burke and known as Maritime Central Airways. This company operated commercial air services out of the Charlottetown Airport until 1963, when Eastern Provincial Airways was formed. It served Prince Edward Island and other parts of Eastern Canada.

Under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, Charlottetown Airport was operated by the Royal Air Force. In February 1944 the Royal Canadian Air Force took over from the RAF and the station became known as No. 2 Air Navigation School.

In late January 1945 local politicians were advised that the R.C.A.F. Navigation School at Charlottetown was being transferred to Summerside in February. This was distressing news to City Council, who felt that if the navigation school was transferred to Summerside, they would also lose the civil airport to that city, as there was a good possibility that the Charlottetown Airport would not continue to operate. After much discussion with Defence authorities in Ottawa, Charlottetown had the order rescinded.
On July 7, 1945 the B.C.A.T.P. School at the Charlottetown Airport officially closed. In a little over four years the School had graduated 1200 students. The training had been done in twin-engine Anson aircraft. The students were from such places as England, France, Norway, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, United States and Canada. Approximately 200 to 300 air force personnel were on staff, along with 100 civilian workers at the time of the closing.

On February 1, 1946 the Department of Transport took over the Charlottetown Airport from the R.C.A.F. and William "Bill" Gillespie took charge as Airport Maintenance Foreman. The following persons helped him run the airport: C.R. Matheson and D.C. Moore, mechanics, E.G. Walker and G.C. Burgess, airport attendants, Nadine MacMahon, the clerk; and Earl Clark, cleaner and electrician.

Although Transport had taken over the airport from the RCAF in 1946 it had been hope that the City of Charlottetown would accept the airport under the terms of the wartime lease. Negotiations to that end failed and Transport assumed full responsibility for the operation and further development of the airport in July 1947.

Some sixty five buildings on the airport, that had housed the air force training school, were turned over from the Department of National Defence to the War Assets Corporation. Many of the buildings went to the city of Charlottetown. In 1946 when veterans returning from overseas caused an acute housing shortage, the City turned the Airport buildings they had acquired, into an emergency housing project, known as Maple Hills. The project proved to be an expensive one and the City soon found it could no longer handle such a venture. Following negotiations, it turned the whole project over the Provincial Department of Reconstruction, which operated the housing project until late in 1948. A great number of the buildings at the airport were disposed of. Many were purchased at minimal cost and torn down or moved to sites where veterans had purchased land. The buildings that remained, mainly the larger ones, were turned over to the Department of Transport to administer; many were leased or sold, and the site was leased. It was well into the 1950's before most of the buildings were completely disposed of. The City of Charlottetown had purchased one of the hangars, which was torn down in the early 1970's. Of all the air force buildings located on the Airport in 1945, none remain.

The last, hangar no.4, which housed the maintenance garage and fire hall for Department of Transport, was demolished in 1979 to make way for expansion. The first, frame construction terminal building, was built in 1941. It was never an air force building, but housed the terminal and the radio range station, of which Mr. George Champion was officer-in-charge. Mr. Champion came to the Charlottetown Airport in the beginning of 1939 and first operated the radio in an old farmhouse near the site of the terminal building. The terminal part of the building housed various airlines; Canadian Airways, Trans Canada Air Lines, Maritime Central Airways, and Eastern Provincial Airways.

Bill Gillespie retired on March 31, 1959 after being the airport maintenance foreman for more than fourteen years. Hiram Noel became the first Airport Manager and remained in the position until 1963. He was followed by Charlie Matheson, who took up the position in 1964 and remained until late in 1969. Mr. Matheson had been employed formerly as an airport mechanic. Les Clarke, became the next Manager in 1979, remaining until July 31, 1972. He was followed by Donald MacMillan, who had been employed at Ottawa headquarters. Mr. MacMillan completed his tour in October 1975. He was replaced by Mr. R.E. Howard who arrived from Wabush, Labrador in November 1976. Following Mr. Howard's sudden death in April 1982, Mr. Michael D. Campbell, a
native of Charlottetown, became Manager.

No major work was done at the Charlottetown Airport until 1960, even though City Council and local politicians had tried to implement plans for expansion. The opening of the new 03-21, 7,000-foot runway at the airport on September 29, 1960, was described as a "tremendous boom" to the province. To Islanders the runway meant easier access to and from the mainland. The local newspaper, the Guardian, "gratefully attributed to awarding of a contract for aircraft maintenance on the Island and the prospect of some 200 new jobs for Islanders directly to the new facility". The aircraft maintenance contract referred to was the establishment of the Enamel and Heating Products Limited maintenance shop at the airport. Runways 09-27 and 18-36 were upgraded. Runway 03-21 was used by Air Canada and Eastern Provincial Airways' jet aircraft.
Enamel and Heating Products Limited operated it's maintenance shop in Hangar no. 4. This hangar was used by the Department of Transport until late in 1979 as the airport maintenance garage and was later disposed of through Crown Assets Disposal Corporation. Enamel and Heating Products Limited started it's operation in March 1960 and ended in late 1963. It did repairs and routine maintenance on the Sabre jet, better known as the F-86. Some modifications were also done to Lancaster bombers. The operation ended when the Sabre Jets were removed from active service. The firm also did the maintenance on the F-86's for the air force aerobatics team, the Golden Hawks.

In 1960, Maritime Central Airways operated DC-3 and C-46 aircraft at the airport. The airline purchased the Dart Heral in 1962, which replaced the DC-3 on many of the scheduled runs. As mentioned earlier, M.C.A. was sold to Eastern Provincial Airways in 1963, which continued to operate these aircraft from Charlottetown. In 1969 E.P.A. operated the first jet aircraft through the airport, the Boeing 737.

The next major expansion to the airport was enlargement and improvement of the terminal building in 1970. The original terminal building was designed to accommodate twenty-five to thirty people. With the new jet aircraft, ninety and one hundred passengers were embarking and disembarking. The terminal Building was enlarged by 82 feet and included new washrooms, airline offices, ticket counter areas, and a waiting room. Two additional extensions of 32 feet each were made to the terminal building in 1971 and 1973. A further extension was built in 1974. It consisted of new and enlarged washroom facilities attached to the west or ground side and a passenger lounge constructed on the east of air side of the building. During the early 70's the ramp was enlarged and repaved and the parking lots were paved and enlarged. In early 1975 Air Canada began service from Toronto to Ottawa to Charlottetown. Since the airline traffic had increased significantly, upgrading of the air traffic control facilities became necessary. A temporary steel tower was installed and began operation on June 4, 1975.

A Master Plan for the future of the airport was prepared in 1974. It recommended that the present site be developed, rather than move to a new location. It also recommended the construction of a new terminal building, runways and the acquisition of additional land. The rebuilding and modernization was expected to cost $21 million, but later rose to $30 million.

The plan met with much local opposition regarding the cost, necessity, and impact on land development. A start was made 1979, with the construction of the Combined Services Building, utilities, ramp and taxiways. The Combined Services Building consisted of 1950 m and featured both active and passive solar collectors. This building houses the Fire hall and the maintenance Sections.

A further extension to the terminal building of approximately five meters occurred in 1980. This provided an additional area for baggage claims and the installation of the new "racetrack" baggage conveyor system. Improvements to the parking lot helped eliminate parking on the highway.

The airport was closed for resurfacing of runway 03-21 for two months in late 1983. This necessitated Air Canada and Eastern Provincial Airlines operating out of CFB Summerside. Passengers were bussed to and from for each flight.

Two major elements of the airport's (now) $30 million redevelopment, consisting of a new Control Tower and Operations Building and a new 1524 m (5000') crosswind runway were completed in 1984. The construction of the runway, designated 10-28, necessitated the acquisition and appropriation of land and the re-routing of the Union Road.

In March of 1986, the new airport terminal building and complex became operational. It marked the completion of the $30 million project, which took nearly 10 years to complete. The complex consists of the new air terminal building, control tower, officially called the 4th Air Navigation Services Operations Building, combined services building, runway 03-21 (2133.6 m), runway 10-28 (1524 m), and new ramp, a new parking lot, new access road, fencing and landscaping.