Fundo - Kitchener-Waterloo Airport Commission fonds

The Kitchener-Waterloo Airport Commission was established in 1929 to manage and operate an air harbour or landing ground jointly owned by the City of Kitchener and Town of Waterloo (City of Kitchener By-law # 2092). There were three members appointed from the City of Kitchener: Chairman N.C. Schneider, Robert Dietrich, and Alex Schafer, and two members appointed from the Town of Waterloo: Secretary Clayton Dotzert and W. Uffelman that made up the founding commission. W.W. Foote was appointed Treasurer by the Commission shortly after it was established. The Heinrich farm on Lexington road was jointly purchased by the City of Kitchener and Town of Waterloo for the site of the airport.

Various flying clubs were granted leases for a hanger at the airport and the right to operate a school of flying instruction following construction in September 1929. Gillies Air Service was the first flying instruction school to occupy the airport in 1930 and the Commission appointed Mr. Gillies as the Airport Traffic Manager for one year. The Kitchener-Waterloo Flying Club replaced Gillies Air Service for the operation and management of the airport in December, 1932.

The primary activity at the airport from 1929-1939 was flying school instruction and annual ‘Field Day’ events. The first Field Day event was held on October 12, 1929. Stunt flying was provided by the Royal Canadian Air Force-Camp Borden Flyers and the Toronto Flying Club. There was an attempt by the commission to lobby for an air mail service in 1931 and 1937, however, Canada Post declined the request. In 1939 the Councils for Kitchener and Waterloo approved an action to offer the government of Canada control and use of the airport for the duration of the war. Consequently, the commission wanted to expand the airport from 1939-1942 to accommodate the training of Royal Canadian Air Force (R.C.A.F.) pilots. Pilots were being trained in large numbers in 1940 by the Kitchener-Waterloo Flying Club as part of the R.C.A.F. Empire Air Training Scheme. Civilian flying was suspended ‘indefinitely’ during the war years.

By 1944, the move to expand the airport changed to an investigation for a new, larger site that could accommodate more commercial and recreational small aircraft. In 1948 the Waterloo-Wellington Airport Commission was formally established to oversee a new site selection and construction of a new airport. Appointed members from the cities of Kitchener, Guelph, Galt and Waterloo, and the Town of Preston were represented on the commission. The Kitchener-Waterloo Commission remained in existence until the old airport site was tendered and sold to A.B. Caya in 1951; the commission was formally dissolved in 1951. Construction for the new airport in Breslau was completed in 1950.