RCAF Station Charlottetown 1.38

RCAF Station Charlottetown was a Royal Canadian Air Force station located in Sherwood, Prince Edward Island. Today's Charlottetown Airport maintains a remnant of the airfield's runways near its general aviation terminal, however all buildings and most infrastructure have been removed.Charlottetown AirportThe site of RCAF Station Charlottetown is located in the northeast part of Queens Royalty. It was selected by the City of Charlottetown for a civilian aerodrome to serve central Prince Edward Island in 1938 after the city's original aerodrome, Upton Field, was considered too small and obsolete. A 300acre property between the Brackley Point and Norwood/Union roads was purchased for $30,000 by the municipal government. The municipal and provincial governments divided the cost of developing the new airport in exchange for an equivalent division of revenue sharing. The municipal government maintained title to the facility and agreed to operate it.Following the outbreak of World War II and the creation of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, the city of Charlottetown offered its airfield to the federal government in December 1939 for military use until the conclusion of the Second World War. The offer was accepted and on 1 May 1940 the Department of National Defence announced the establishment of No. 5 Bombing and Gunnery School (B&GS) under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), with the provision for a bombing range to be built in the Prince Edward Island National Park near the fishing port of Covehead. Local fishermen on the north shore protested against the school and plans were cancelled in 1941 when No. 5 B&GS was ultimately moved to RCAF Station Dafoe in Saskatchewan.