RCAF Station Kingston - No. 31 & No. 14 Service Flying Training School - Kingston, Ontario
Posted by: 
mTn_biKer65
N 44° 13.116 W 076° 35.836
18T E 372410 N 4897393
The location is still active as the Kingston Airport (YGK), also known as Norman Rogers Airport in Kingston, Ontario
Waymark Code: WMT2H1
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 09/14/2016
Views: 4
"RCAF Station Kingston was a World War II air training station built in 1940 at Collins Bay near Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The station was originally built by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) for use by the Royal Air Force (RAF). Like other RAF schools in Canada, it was subject to RCAF administrative and operational control.
No. 31 Service Flying Training School (SFTS) was the first British Service Flying Training school to be established in Canada and the first flying training school at Kingston. The school was originally No. 7 Service Flying School based in Peterborough, England. Its main intent was to train pilots of the Fleet Air Arm, but in the beginning the school's first students were British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) trainees selected for service with the RCAF and RAF. Naval trainees, however, made up the majority of the trainees by the end of December 1940. Pilots were trained on Fairey Battles, which were shipped from England, and later, Harvards. Relief landing fields were located at Gananoque and Sandhurst, Ontario.
In 1942, the school formally became part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. In 1944 No. 31 SFTS was merged with the RCAF's No. 14 SFTS when this school was transferred to Kingston from RCAF Station Aylmer. Aircraft used by No. 14 SFTS included Harvards, Yales and Ansons. No. 14 SFTS closed down in September 1945.
Some of the more noteworthy pilots who trained at this station include:
David Clarabut, RNVR(A) who earned a Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for his role on the attack on the German battleship Tirpitz
Robert Hampton Gray, VC, DSC, RCNVR, Canada's last Victoria Cross recipient of the Second World War
Gordon Cheeseman Edwards, RCNVR Mentioned in Despatches for the attacks on the Tirpitz
Philip Steele Foulds, RCNVR who earned a DSC for his role in an attack on an enemy convoy.
The old air station has been improved over the years and is now the Kingston/Norman Rogers Airport." (
visit link)
Left over from RCAF Station Kingston are some of the handergs. The hangars are World War II 1940’s vintage and were used at that time by the military for aircraft storage and maintenance. The hangars are
in various states of condition. Each hangar has an overall GFA of approximately 4,000 m2.