Leaside Aerodrome was an airport in the Town of
Leaside
Leaside (/'liːˌsaɪd/) is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located northeast of Downtown Toronto, in the vicinity of Eglinton Avenue East and Bayview Avenue. The area takes its name from William Lea and the Lea family, who se ...
,
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 ...
(now a neighbourhood of
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
). It opened in 1917 as a
Royal Flying Corps
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
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airfield during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
History
Unlike nearby
Armour Heights Field
Armour Heights Field was home to a Royal Flying Corps Canada, Royal Flying Corps airfield in Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada during World War I, and was one of three in the area. Many RFC (later, Royal Air Force) pilots Military history of Canad ...
, the airfield was not abandoned at the end of the war, but was acquired for use by the
Toronto Flying Club. During the war, the airstrip became the site of Canada's first delivery of airmail on 24 June 1918 when pilot Brian Peck delivered 120 letters from
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
(taking off from
Bois-Franc Field). This delivery was initially organized at the behest of some of his friends in Montreal who wanted letters delivered to Toronto; however when the
Post Office Department
The United States Post Office Department (USPOD; also known as the Post Office or U.S. Mail) was the predecessor of the United States Postal Service, in the form of a Cabinet department, officially from 1872 to 1971. It was headed by the postmas ...
heard of the plans, they gathered together the letters as a test of an airmail system. A modern plaque at the site of Leaside Aerodrome reads: "At 10:12 a.m. on 24 June 1918, Captain Brian Peck of the Royal Air Force and mechanic Corporal C.W. Mathers took off from the Bois Franc Polo Grounds in Montreal in a JN-4 Curtiss two-seater airplane. They had with them the first bag of mail to be delivered by air in Canada. Wind and rain buffetted the small plane and forced it to make refuelling stops at Kingston and Deseronto. Finally, at 4:55 p.m., Peck and Mathers landed at the Leaside Aerodrome (immediately southwest of here). The flight had been arranged by a civilian organization, the Aerial League of the British Empire, to demonstrate that aviation was the way of the future." A regular air express service began in 1928.
Closure
The Toronto Flying Club closed the airport in 1931. During the war the area to the south, between the airstrip and the former
Northern Railway of Canada
The Northern Railway of Canada was a railway in the province of Ontario, Canada. It was the first steam railway to enter service in what was then known as Upper Canada. It was eventually acquired by the Grand Trunk Railway, and is therefore a ...
lines, were intensely developed as
Research Enterprises Limited
Research Enterprises Limited (REL for short) was a short-lived Toronto-based Crown Corporation that built electronics and optical instruments during World War II. They existed only six years from late 1940 until 1946, and were active only from late ...
, joining a number of other small industrial firms. Between June 1942 and March 1944, the
Royal Canadian Air Force
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 environm ...
(RCAF) operated No. 1 RDF (
Radio Direction Finding
Direction finding (DF), or radio direction finding (RDF), isin accordance with International Telecommunication Union (ITU)defined as radio location that uses the reception of radio waves to determine the direction in which a radio station ...
) School at Leaside, and the station was briefly known as ''RCAF Station Leaside''. Although the airport was replaced with industrial uses, the last hangar (south as the north hangar used to occupy the vacant gap until
Eglinton Avenue
Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west arterial thoroughfare in Toronto and Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The street begins at Highway 407 (but does not interchange with the tollway) at the western limits of Mississauga, as a ...
was extended from Laird east to Don Valley) was not removed until 1971.
In the post-war era the area remained the site of heavy and light industry until the turn of the century, when many of the industries left the area. The area is now primarily home to small industrial businesses and big box stores.
In literature
The first short story published by Nobel Prize recipient
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of ...
, ''Landing in Luck'', was likely set at the Leaside Aerodrome. While a student at the School of Military Aeronautics at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
in 1918, Faulkner would have had many opportunities to observe the operations at this airfield.
See also
*
List of abandoned airports in Canada
This is an alphabetical list of abandoned airports in Canada that were at one time important enough to warrant an article. Most of these also appear in :Defunct airports in Canada. This list is sorted by province or territory.
Alberta
List of ai ...
Notes
External links
Station descriptionsA brief history of industry in Leaside
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leaside
Defunct airports in Ontario
Transport in Toronto