WIX Archives
Re: I was just thinking...
Posted by Tony Broadhurst on Sun Aug 31, 2003 04:11:34 AM
In reply top I was just thinking... posted by Mike Henniger on Fri Aug 29, 2003 11:35:39 PM
Mike and all,
Of the BCATP stations to the east of Tillsonburg and Delhi I would guess the place you found was Hagersville. This was the home of No.16 Service Flying Training School from August 1941 to March 1945, flying Ansons and Harvards.
I visited Picton and Arnprior in 1999. As someone on this thread has said Picton's decaying wooden hangars and building survive and it feels like a place out of time. Picton was the home of the RAF's No.31 Bombing and Gunnery School from April 1941 to November 1944, with Ansons, Lysanders and Bolingbrokes.
At Arnprior in '99, on the other hand the school buildings and barrack blocks were maintained in reasonable order. I believe the site had been in almost constant use by various government agencies until quite recently. I was disappointed to hear that these building had been bulldozed down quite recently with no thought of their significance. Only glad I had the opportunity to record the site when I did. Arnprior was the location of No.3 Flying Instructor School from August 1942 to January 1944 and as such operated a variety of trainers: Anson, Cornell, Crane, Fawn, Finch, Harvard, Stearman and Tiger Moth. Had the buildings not have been removed this would have been an excellent site for such a gathering.
Of the Canadian Forces bases still in use, Borden, Mountain View, Rockcliffe, and Tenton were all important BCATP sites.
Tony
: I was just thinking (yes it does happen from time-to-time)
: that with the CWH carrying training with Cornells and Har
: vards, and the CHAA in Tillsonburg training with Harvards,
: Yale(s) (and a Tigermoth?) of how Southern Ontario is sta
: rting to look WWII'ish as in BCATP. Wouldn't be cool if a
: n old airstrip on an old BCATP could be reactivated for a
: gathering of BCATP trainers?
:
: I remember being on an old air field (3 runways tri-angle
: oriented) in southern Ontario during the early 90's. It w
: as VERY overgrown with weeds and grass, but there was no m
: istaking that the large driveway I was on was actually a f
: ormer runway. It was somewhere near highway 3, east of Ti
: llsonburg and Delhi. The name of the towns close-by escap
: e me, and no it wasn't Dunnville. My memory seems to indi
: cate it was in the middle of no where. Industries were st
: arting to "reclaim" the land at the time I was there, and
: the old hangers were being converted to industrial use. W
: ould be cool if a remaining runway could be refurbished en
: ough to operate Cornells, Harvards, etc. for a day. That
: would be something to see. Kind of like stepping back in
: time. Oh well... it is only a dream.
:
: Mike