Grand Bend Airport is located southeast of

Grand Bend Grand Bend is a community located on the shores of Lake Huron in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Municipality of Lambton Shores in Lambton County. History Grand Bend is situated on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

History

The airport was originally established as RCAF Detachment Grand Bend by the

RCAF The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environme ...

in 1942 as a relief, or auxiliary, aerodrome for student pilots training with No. 9 Service Flying Training School at

RCAF Station Centralia RCAF Station Centralia was a Royal Canadian Air Force training base located just outside the village of Centralia near Exeter, Ontario, Canada. It became one of the largest training stations in Canada. It was turned over to civilian use after 1967 ...

. Grand Bend was home to No. 1 Flying Control School from 1951 to 1957. The station was used by Centralia until 1961 when it began use with the Canadian Army. It was given back to the RCAF in 1962 and was used by RCAF Station Centralia until the aerodrome closed in 1963. Subsequent owners of the property were Eagleson Construction, John Twynsta Holdings Ltd and the

Grand Bend Motorplex Grand Bend Motorplex is a dedicated multi-use motorsports facility located southeast of Grand Bend, Ontario, Canada. It features IHRA Championship Drag Racing on its 1/4 mile dragstrip as well as two competitive Motorcross tracks and is home of ...

. Today the Grand Bend Motorplex uses the original runway 13/31 as a drag racing track. Runway 01/19 is now an access to the dragstrip and also the Grand Bend Speedway oval and Grand Bend Motocross dirt bike tracks. The remaining runway 07/25 of the airfield is shared by the Grand Bend Raceway, the Grand Bend Sport Parachuting Center and some local private aircraft. The only RCAF building that remains is the hangar, with the control tower perched on top. That property was subsequently owned by Bell Aerospace, Exeter plastics and P.O.G.

References

Bruce Forsyth's Canadian Military History Page

Grand Bend Sport Parachuting Center

Grand Bend Motorplex
{{authority control Registered aerodromes in Ontario