Leaside Aerodrome

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Leaside Aerodrome was an airport in the Town of Leaside, Ontario (now a neighbourhood of Toronto). It opened in 1917 as a Royal Flying Corps of Canada (later the Royal Canadian Air Force) airfield during the First World War, and operated under the name RCAF Station Leaside.

Unlike nearby Armour Heights Field, the airfield was not abandoned at the end of the war, but was acquired for use by the Toronto Flying Club. After the war, the airstrip became the site of Canada's first delivery of airmail on June 24, 1918 when pilot Brian Peck delivered 120 letters from Montreal. This delivery was initially organised at the behest of some of his friends in Montreal who wanted letters delivered to Toronto; however when the Post Office Department heard of the plans, they gathered together the letters as a test of an airmail system.

The Toronto Flying Club closed the airport in 1931. Although the airport was replaced with industrial uses, the last hangar was not removed until 1971.

[edit] See also

• List of abandoned airports in Canada

[edit] External links

• A brief history of industry in Leaside