Page 14 - Dennis Ovenden

In January 1927 the City of London selected a site for an airfield at Lambeth, Ontario near the
adjacent section of Wonderland Road to the east, between Southdale and Exeter. The access
road was named Airport Road up to 1989 when the town of Westminster was established and all
rural roads were named by the town. A group of local businessmen acquired the site in 1928 and
by 3 May 1929 an airport license had been issued to London Airport Ltd. The London Flying Club
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was formed in 1928 and became a tenant of the new airport. The airfield was used for flying
instruction, private aviation, and for air mail. By 1933 it had become too small for some
commercial aircraft. The London Flying Club continued to use the Lambeth airfield until
7 August 1942.
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London City Airport, 1940-1945
In 1935 the city decided to replace the original London Airport. Site surveys and consultations took
place and on 9 September 1939, at the start of World War II, work began on a new airport located
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near Crumlin. The city leased the new airport to the Government of Canada, Department of
Transport on 24 January 1940 for the duration of the war.
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Runways 14-32 and 05-23 were paved and ready for use by July 1940 and the Royal Canadian
Air Force established RCAF Station Crumlin on part of the airport. This air station was host to
No.3 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) and No.4 Air Observer School (AOS), both part of
the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.