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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1980-02-28, Page 57Airport,.. • from page 37 • included in the lease and access to the land was not permitted by the owner. The lease problems were finally resolved in May of 1939 when the County of Huron bought out Mr. Dean's interestin the lease for the sum of $440. ' The county r_ also acquired more land to the west and north by leasing and acquired control of the controversial 25 acre strip along the highway. When the leases were cleared, the county proceeded to develop the site:-fiffittais-d'e ided- al an L shaped landing ground and the new space provided for an E -W strip 3,000 feet in length and a N -S strip along the wesit rn side of t11e fief Additional levelling of the land was undertaken and a standard service air- port zoning was applied; one foot in 50 feet off the ends of the runway. The school operated until late 1944. A backlog of pilots from the 2 schools in Canada had accumulated and some 5,800 R.C.A.F. and Fleet Air Arm pilots had received their elemen- tary training at Goderich. The air force continued to. operate' Goderich as Number Six Surplus Equipment Holding.Iinit and the Huron, County Flying Training School was dissolved when the need for its services ended. M e anhiLe— _ _Mx a Hopkinson, had established the Huron Engineering and Research Company and requested the use of the airport as a base for his enterprise in January 1945. He proposed to set up a small flying school with aircraft sales and services and to use air- port personnel in his shops during the winter lull in flying training. About a• year later, the War Assets Board which' controlled the airport, gave Mr. Hopkinson verbal permission to use Number One hangar and the airfield. No formal agreement existed and no insurance on the buildings for civilian use was carried. Number Two hangar, two garage -buildings and the recreation hall were allocated to the Huron County Flying Club and the Department of Transport was at- tempting to negotiate a lease in favorof the county club. - Huron „County officials urged the crown to cancel the wartime `agreement and grant permission to purchase the buildings and the additional R.C.A.F. lands. As" an alternative, th,ey proposed a new lease arrangement for the airport land since the basic airport was already county property. As a further alternative, it was suggested tht the air force simply relinquish the airport buildings to the club. The Defence Deaprt- ment refused to grant the airport a licence until the tenure problems were solved. Flying was to cease. Both the Flying Club and Research ap- plications were rejected.. The chief objections seemed to have been lack of provision for building insurance, lack of definition and some conflict of interest. Number One hangar was to be insured for $17,550 before anyone could legally use it. Irk April of 1947 a licence was granted to Mr. Hopkinson for the lying Club- on a tem- orary basis which lasted ntil August 1948 when he airport was officially et to the county. At that i-neer--51�y-..Har-bour _Air _ ervices was established nder, a further lease rrangement with Huron ounty. also 3,000 feet long. With the inclusion of the north of Hough's old tract, a NW -SE strip of 3,000 feet was added. By August of 1939 the field had been smoothed, trees and stumps removed and a ditch filled. The improvements by the county exactly coincided with the Department of National Defence -projects to improve likely airfields in Canada to ac- commodate , a• vastly expanded airforce training program. On August 25, 1939 the Huron County Airport was offered to the Crown for as long as it might be needed for R.C.A.F. training. The county agreed to purchase the entire site for $11,500 to ,undertake further grading and clearing and to remove the power lines which restricted 'ap- proaches to the south .and east. - A new plan ,for the airport was prepared in 1940 by the Air Services .;Branch of the Depart- ment of Transport and an agreement drafted between the corporation of the County of Huron and His Majesty by which the airfield was leased for one dollar per.ye.ar for th duration of the war and for such time as it might be required. The Defence Depart- ment decided to establish an Elementary Flying Training School at Goderich since the site was conveniently ,scaled to this sort of operation. The schools were, being operated on a contract basis with ' civilian companies or existing flying clubs but Sky Harbor lacked the per- sonnel and the experience to accept a contract so the Kitchener -Waterloo Club contracted to form the Huron County Flying Training School. J.R. Douglas was the general manager and Keith Hopkinson, who later became the owner - manager of the airport, was the wartime chief ground instructor. By October 1990 Number 12 A.F.T.S. was able to begin training pilots. Two standard wooden hangars were con - F P u 1 structed as well as some -t 24 wooden service S buildings, all of them u along the southern a perimeter of the airstrip. C Throughout the early and mid 1950s Sky Harbour Air Services conducted the flying activity at Goderich. This included instruction, charter flying, specialty maintenance and aircraft painting. At that time, aircraft panting, taken' up as one of the winter activities, became a specialty. In October 1950 a day and night licence for light and medium aircraft was granted. In addition to land plane _ operations ._ -there- was some seaplane flying from the lake off the Goderich harbor but in 1955 that `was ceased because of the un- -protected_._nature ..of--the-- Goderich waterfront. Sky Harbor Air Services was being refined and was emerging as one of the relatively few successful new enterprises that survied the early post war period. Mr. Hopkinson's lease from the county and the county lease from the D,O.T. was moderately satisfactory so long as the business was undergoing its growing pains. The whole issue was complicated by the fact that Huron County still had a considerable in-. vestment in the airport property, something that would obviously • need to be resolved before any . permanent tenure could be established at the. airport. The " airport's future status was first raised in June of 1957 when the Goderich Industrial Commission asked for --plans-of-the bufklings-and grounds f thebui-ldings-andgrounds with a view to promoting the site for industrial' use. 'The county became interested in the po-ss-i-bil-ity--- of- _furt-h-er- industrial uses and enquiries were directed to the D.O.T. about the possibility of purchasing the federal portions of the field and the remaining structures. D.O.T. was mainly concerned with guarantees of the future of the airport and insisted that the flying field must be maintained for 25 years regardless of what other, dispositions were made. In August of 1958' an assessment was made by D.O.T. On the strength of this survey, a price of $62;565 was proposed for the land and buildings. At that time the county was leasing the entire complex for one dollar a year; and letting kw of the„ hangars for 1100 a month. In addition, Sky Harbor Air Services was allowed one-third of its rental fee for the maintenance of 'the hangar. ge otrataon;;' oU ti hide until 1960 when the county purchased all those portions* of the airfield which it did not already own from the crown for $30,000 -on the -provision' that it covenant and agree to operate and maintain the airport until January 1, 1985. The Baechler Brothers of Goderich Manufac- turing promptly pur- chased Number Two hangar, the drill hall and 5.56 acres of land for $18,000. It was hoped Mr. Hopkinson would pur- chase the remainder. a tee The actual dispositio14 of the airport- proper, Number One hangar and associated buildings wall. finally done by ' publlio tender. The sale was completed in October of 1961 to Mr. Hopkinson for .125,000 with the pun. chaser agreeing to operate the airport for 25 years. If such per- formance . was not maintained, the land was to revert to the county. Sky Harbor: Air Ser- vices flourished under the direction Hopkinson. On March 27, 1964 an air crash near Goderich claimed his life but business continued after his death. The airport_ operation missed__ .. his able leadership and began to decline until in the late 1960s it was sold to the Cruickshank family who had interests in a radio and television station in the county The airport property was sold and the charter service and radio shop' service declined over the late 1960s. The sale of the airport Turn to page 43 • • CHAMPION. e Grader People Champion is the one company 'in the. world that .specializes in building only motor graders. By concentrat- ing on one product, Champion makes that product better. For nearly one hundred years, Champion has been a leader in the advancement of grader technology. That's why Champion graders have important features not found on competitive models. 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