12/21/2023 0 Comments Vintage mailplane picsThe airfield passed back into civilian control and the Rockcliffe Flying Club began using the field. In 1964 the RCAF ceased flying operations at the base, however it saw continued use as an administrative and logistics base. In 1957, the military's main flight testing and development operations moved to RCAF Station Uplands (now located at Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport). RCAF Station Rockliffe participated in the British Commonwealth Air Training Program and - as the nearest airport to the centre of the capital - was involved in many other kinds of testing, training, and transport operations, including the transport of mail to Europe using B-24 Liberators. The airfield's runways were paved in 1939 in preparation for operations during World War II. In July 1931, Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh visited the airport during their northern surveying tour. On March 12, 1930, Canadian World War I flying ace William George Barker crashed into the Ottawa River and died during an aerial demonstration over the field. In 1940, this name would change again to RCAF Station Rockcliffe. In 1922 the civilian components of the Air Board began to consolidate into the Canadian Air Force, which became part of the newly-established Department of National Defence the following year and was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1924.Īfter a few name changes, the facility took the name RCAF Station Ottawa in 1936. The airport also served as a major centre for early aircraft testing. ![]() Major activities conducted by the Air Board at the Ottawa Air Station included military aerial photography for topographic mapping in Canada, air transportation, and aeronautical experimentation. The new air harbour, or airport, opened later in 1920 as the Ottawa Air Station, and was one of the 6 original airfields opened across Canada by the new Air Board. A field behind a military rifle range located on the banks of the Ottawa River in Rockcliffe Park, several kilometres downstream from Ottawa was converted to an airstrip and became known as the Rockcliffe Air Station.Īfter the Canadian Parliament's 1920 Air Regulations came into effect, the Rockcliffe Air Station was chosen as an ideal site for supporting both an air harbour and a flying field. In 1918 the Royal Air Force sought a flying field in the Ottawa area for experimental mail flights.
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