page_title: History of Toronto Island Airport
section_title: 1940s
hierarchical_section_title: History of Toronto Island Airport / 1938–1999: Toronto Harbour Commission years / 1940s
caption_attribution_description: Little Norway, November 1940 (Royal Norwegian Air Force training facility in Toronto, Canada)
context_page_description: Originally conceived in the 1930s as the main airport for Toronto, the Toronto island airport has long been a source for political debate as to the proper use of its waterfront site in central Toronto. Building the airport necessitated the closure of park lands, a hotel, cottages and an amusement park on the Toronto Island site. Construction of the airport in the late 1930s was stopped and started and its final construction only went ahead after the death of the Toronto mayor who had opposed its construction.
  At the same time, Toronto built Malton Airport as a secondary air field, but it was Malton that became Toronto's main airport. This fact meant that the island airport became used mainly for general civil aviation and lost money on its operations. During the 1940s and 1950s, several political leaders proposed the expansion of the airport as a way to enable scheduled passenger airlines and reduce the airport deficits. An expansion of runways and facilities was completed in 1962, financed by the sale of Malton Airport to the Government of Canada.
context_section_description: During World War II, many government facilities were used for military purposes, and the island airport became a military training base. In 1940, the Norwegian Government in-exile made arrangements to use the island airport as a training facility for the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNAF), using airplanes ordered from the United States prior to war breaking out. The facility was named "Little Norway". Barracks were built nearby on the mainland at the foot of Bathurst Street. In 1943, the Norwegians moved to an existing camp at Muskoka, Ontario for their training. The barracks became emergency housing after the war, and were eventually demolished in 1957. The nearby 'Little Norway Park' is named in remembrance of the Norwegian community around the airport. The airport was turned over to the Royal Canadian Air Force for the duration of the war. It was the headquarters for No. 1 Training Command, training pilots on Harvard trainers. It was also used by 124 Ferry Squadron as a waypoint for transporting planes around the country.
  In 1941, Frederick J. Conboy, a long-time proponent of the island airport, became Toronto mayor. He wrote to the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Authority, seeking approval of a Toronto–Buffalo–New York City route to use the island airport. Trans-Canada Air Lines service from Toronto non-stop to New York City had been announced in December 1940, but it had rejected using the island airport until runways were extended to 4,000 feet (1,200 m). Conboy then sought to get the Government of Canada to do the runway extension work. In 1942, Conboy met with Transport Minister C. D. Howe and offered to transfer Malton permanently to Government of Canada possession in exchange for improvements at the island airport, including the runway extension, estimated to cost $1 million to implement.
  By 1944, Trans-Canada Air Lines president H. J. Symington forecast the development of four-engine planes, and that upgrading the island airport for four-engine passenger planes was "an impossibility." Newly elected mayor R. H. Saunders met with Howe in 1945 to discuss the plans for Toronto's future main airport, which would be either Malton or Downsview. Howe envisioned that the Government of Canada would finish the work at the island airport, extending the runways to 5,500 feet (1,700 m) and 6,000 feet (1,800 m) as a "post-war measure".
  After the war, the airport returned to civilian uses. Two flying clubs were set up at the airport. Several aviation companies set up at the airport. Companies such as Community Air Services, Central Airways, Inter-Provincial Air Services, Lome Airways, Nickel Belt Airways and Taylor Airways offered services such as aircraft rentals, air freight, charter flights, pilot training and sight-seeing flights. Civilian pilots were much in demand after the war, and the Government of Canada offered a grant of $100 ($1093 in 2018 dollars) to anyone who passed their pilot's licence, an amount to offset the $355 ($3882 in 2018 dollars) Lome charged for pilot training in 1949. The return to civilian use led to a big jump in traffic at the airport, from 3,719 flights in 1945 to 13,031 in 1946.
caption: The era of the Norwegian Air Force at the airport
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