# RCAF AUXILIARY FIELD SANDHURST ONTARIO



## pbi (15 Jan 2014)

I posted this on the RAF page, but I thought I'd try here as well. I'm looking for any photos, info or history on this field. Built under the BCATP, it was a satellite for RCAF Kingston (now Norman Rogers Airport).

It's "twin" was RCAF Auxiliary Gananoque, at Springfield hamlet, which still operates as a flying club, with the trademark "A"-frame runway layout and a single WWII-era hangar still standing.

As far as I can tell, the Sandhurst field was located on the site of the current Ontario Power Generation Sandhurst power station, about 30 min W of Kingston on Hwy 33. There don't seem to be any remaining traces of it.

Appreciate any leads.


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## dapaterson (15 Jan 2014)

Wikipedia has co-ordinates taken from a 1943 map - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_Commonwealth_Air_Training_Plan_facilities_in_Canada

And there's a throwaway line about the field in the discussion of 31 SFTS here: http://www.militarybruce.com/history/base-history_13.html


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## ModlrMike (15 Jan 2014)

The satellite shot indicates that the power plant occupies the entire site. I can't see anything remotely resembling a landing field there now.


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## pbi (15 Jan 2014)

Thanks for those. Unfortunately I've already come across them: should have mentioned that.  :facepalm: All I got out of Google maps was a possible outline of a corner of  the A-pattern runway to the north of the existing power plant.


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## old medic (15 Jan 2014)

Perhaps you can find this author:

http://www.thewhig.com/2009/06/05/city-slow-to-warm-to-its-airport

DOUG WAGNER

Friday, June 5, 2009



> Norman Rogers airport was constructed as a service flying training school, part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, and was designated No. 31 S. F. T. S. The whole complex included Gananoque Airport, known as No. 1 relief landing ground, a grass field at Sandhurst; two practice bombing ranges at Kingston Mills and Millhaven; a live firing range along the south shore of Amherst Island; two cine camera ranges along the canal at Wolfe Island, and another along Loughborough Lake; and, to complete the complex, a marine section located at the southwest corner of Collins Bay.
> 
> The buildings included five hangars, a control tower, a hospital, barracks, messes and all the other buildings necessary to house over a thousand staff and 160 Fleet Air Arm students, 40 of whom graduated every four months with their wings.
> 
> ...



continues at link


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## old medic (15 Jan 2014)

http://www.stpaulandstalban.org/Locations.htm



> .................The present church was erected in 1877 and built facing the main road. Dedication took place on June 9, 1879. it features a number of Gothic revival style elements including the steeply pitched roof and the lancet shaped Windows.
> 
> 1921 a vestry was added and the Chancellor extended by 6 feet. an incident during the 150th anniversary celebrations in 1941 nearly saw the destruction of the church. lightning struck the steeple and started a fire parishioner Frank Morton climbed the towers inside ladder and managed to put out the fire with an extinguisher before firemen stationed nearby at the Sandhurst airfield arrived on the scene.     ......................


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## jpjohnsn (16 Jan 2014)

pbi said:
			
		

> Thanks for those. Unfortunately I've already come across them: should have mentioned that.  :facepalm: All I got out of Google maps was a possible outline of a corner of  the A-pattern runway to the north of the existing power plant.


I thought I saw that too but, when I zoomed in, it was the shape of the corridors cleared for the power lines.  It's possible that they used path of the old runway for that but I think it's just a coincidence.


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## old medic (16 Jan 2014)

Hard to find references to this place.  It appears to have just been a secondary relief strip, and according to the "the whig" 
article I posted last night, it looks to have just been a grass field.   

Here is a link to another forum with some discussion from 2009:
http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?5612-No-31-SFTS-Kingston-Ontario



> The School was originally RAF 7 SFTS at Peterbourough, UK. They moved to Kingston, Ontario in several stages in the fall of 1940, and were re-designated as 31 SFTS on 7 October 1940. Their first Battles arrived at Kingston on 2 October 1940, and their first Harvards arrived on 20 October 1940. They primarily conducted single engine pilot training for the FAA, with almost all the staff being RAF or RN, and most of the students being RAF or RN, with a scattering of RNZN and RAN.
> 
> The Battles were used initally for pilot training, but found to be unsuitable. As more Harvards and Yales became available the Battles wound up as target tugs. Eventually the target tug flight also operated Lysanders, and the Battles were all gone to gunnery schools by the end of 1942. By 1942 they also operated a flight of Ansons for radar calibration and Army cooperation. They also recieved one Walrus in 1942, after several drownings after aircrew bailed out over nearby Lake Ontario. By 1943 they had one Gypsy Moth on strength, probably as a training aid.
> 
> ...


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## pbi (16 Jan 2014)

oldmedic: thanks for your detective work. I have read elsewhere that there were some structures (apparently at least a fire station...) So far I'm not having much luck: I will look for period air photos.


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## old medic (16 Jan 2014)

Anytime,

I love these types of hunts. 

Here are some photos, the first a corner of an air nav map from 1943 with the field marked.  
Looks to be inland from the lake, between Highway 33 and what I'm guessing is still number 8.

I will hazard a guess, (I've never been there) and say that the road marked as 21 cuts right
through the old air strip.


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## pbi (17 Jan 2014)

In reading the history of former Ernestown Township (now part of Greater Napanee), I came across a story from the family who owned the farm that was expropriated for the airfield. It mentions that Road 21 was closed by the establishment of the field, and didn't reopen until long after the war. It also mentions that their house was used as part of the airfield buildings.

I have been poking around with this for a couple of years now: I also find it interesting that it could just vanish.


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## dapaterson (17 Jan 2014)

pbi said:
			
		

> I have been poking around with this for a couple of years now: _*I also find it interesting that it could just vanish.*_




Cue the black helicopters...


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## pbi (17 Jan 2014)

dapaterson said:
			
		

> Cue the black helicopters...



Helicopters of colour, please....


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## old medic (17 Jan 2014)

Has a few photos in his photostream. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36702396@N00/3606888370/in/photostream/


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## pbi (22 Jan 2014)

Thanks. Fascinating stuff. Quite a few shots of Picton and Mountainview, two spots I have known well for years.


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## 211RadOp (22 Jan 2014)

pbi said:
			
		

> In reading the history of former Ernestown Township (now part of Greater Napanee), I came across a story from the family who owned the farm that was expropriated for the airfield. It mentions that Road 21 was closed by the establishment of the field, and didn't reopen until long after the war. It also mentions that their house was used as part of the airfield buildings.
> 
> I have been poking around with this for a couple of years now: I also find it interesting that it could just vanish.



I've been in this area many times as my mother's family is from Adolphustown and that is where our family's cottage is.  I was never aware of an airfield there and there is no signs of it.

BTW, Ernestown is part of Loyalist Township, along with Bath and Amherstview.


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## pbi (23 Jan 2014)

211RadOp said:
			
		

> I've been in this area many times as my mother's family is from Adolphustown and that is where our family's cottage is.  I was never aware of an airfield there and there is no signs of it.
> 
> BTW, Ernestown is part of Loyalist Township, along with Bath and Amherstview.



Sorry: you are right about the Township: I had them mixed up. The RCAF field was definitely there, but the construction of the Sandhurst plant in the 1960's seems to have destroyed whatever traces remained.


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## 211RadOp (23 Jan 2014)

I don't doubt it was there, I have just never heard of it.  In Old Medic's post, he talks about Frank Morton helping put out a fire at the church in the area and the fire brigade showing up from the airfield.  Frank is a distant relative I have never met, as he was long dead before I was born.  All my relatives that would remember the airfield are now dead and it was never mentioned to me.  My Grandfather served at the airfield in Deseronto during the war, so I was aware of that one.


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