Flying at Buttonville

Started by octagon, February 13, 2024, 05:39:24 PM

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octagon

I was asked to contact Cadillac Fairview who are the owners of the Buttonville Airport to see if there was any possible way we could take our planes and have a few flights there. The place holds a special place in my heart. As I child I saw an airshow there and my first real P 51 was in it. Silver, flown by Mike Malengies out of Brantford.
I worked there in 1972 in the tower and I thought it would be great if we could have a day of flying there before it is gone forever.
I heard back from Paul Macchione from CF this morning. It seems ours was not an orginal request. They have been approached by several parties interested in using the runways before they are torn up. Even York Regional Police were turned down. They are afraid that the risk of someone being injured or injuring someone else is not something they want to undertake. Paul was sympathetic to our request but said there was no way. I asked if I personally could get up into the old tower at the North end but they are in the process of removing all the hazardous waste and lights and all and said they could not accomodate anyone in any of the buildings. I asked if I could a least go stand on the runway and take pictures, but the whole area is fenced and there is no access. They asked me to please not climb the fence, to which I responded that I was 72 and had just had a knee replacement, so they needent worry about that. So, that's the way it sits. Nobody is allowed in or around good old YKZ. Growing up, my dad used to drive me to all of the local airports, Maple, King City, Greenbank, Markham, Downsview and of course Buttonville. Now all history.
What could possibly go wrong?

GuyOReilly

#1
Well if we are not permitted to use the runways, we still can fly overhead...
They cannot stop us at 2,000 feet, just need to check NOTAMS.
Let me know and I can arrange for a flight from Lindsay in a Cessna 150.
No need to climb the fence  ;)
Guy

Gregor77

Was there ever a runway at laird and eglington?  My uncles dealership was there and he owned a property that had a control tower on it and an old barn.  I recall someone telling me it was an airport at one point, but now it's a home depot...

sihinch


GordPayne

Got my Rec Permit there in 2000. Was a great adventure for sure.

I remember parking right after a solo practice. Suddenly it started raining
hard. One of the dispatchers ran out and
asked,"Can you drive this on your own?"

"Yes"

"Follow those planes!"

Next thing I knew, I was part of a wagon train of C150s driving the fleet into one
of the hangars to get them out of the
storm. Not a typical end of flight.

Definitely a loss. 
Old Buttonville proverb,"If you have to hit the fence, hit the far fence, not the near fence."

Gregor77

Thanks Simon, very cool, I found a map and it looks like it was parts of a munitions plant or hangar.  But there was horse stables as I recall.

G-RIDE

#6
Buttonville Airport (1952 - 1964).

My father Joe Gerace bought Gillies 1956 and built Donway Flying Service. He took in Michael Sifton 1964 and together they built Toronto Airways. My Dad, President, General Manager, Owner - Sold his interests and retired 1969.   

pmackenzie

Quote from: Gregor77 on February 15, 2024, 09:36:39 PMWas there ever a runway at laird and eglington?  My uncles dealership was there and he owned a property that had a control tower on it and an old barn.  I recall someone telling me it was an airport at one point, but now it's a home depot...
I think there is (or was) a plaque on the north side of Eglinton and west of Brentcliff with some details of the old airport there. First in Canada perhaps?  I just looked with Google street view, and could not spot it where I recall it being.

Frank v B

#8
Here is the background to the Leaside airport.
In the new development in the last 20 years they named two streets for this airport.  Brian Peck Avenue (he flew the first mail flight in Canada) and Aerodrome Way.

Below is a copy of the history as published in Leaside Life.  It was both north and south of current Eglinton and east to the DVP.
Yes, during WW2 there was an ammunition plant on Vanderhoof Avenue, east of Brentcliffe and south of Eglinton (the old Winners store, Staples and the piano store are in the old factories).  In the '50's it became the head office of Philips Electronics Canada.  Philips sold it in the late '70's and moved to Scarborough*.

Frank

* my father worked there from 1964-1971.


From Leaside Life:
In the middle of the First World War, the British Royal Flying Corps was in need of additional pilots, mechanics, and maintenance crews so Canada stepped up. Construction of several training stations, including ones in Armour Heights, Long Branch, and here, in Leaside, were approved. Canadian Wire and Cable, the neighbourhood's first industry, provided 220 acres of land, and plans for the building of the Leaside Aerodrome began.

A paved street named Government Road, now known as Merton (in Davisville Village) and McRae (in Leaside), was built as a supply route from Yonge St. Construction began on May 21, 1917.

The 220-acre site ran from Sutherland in the west, the Don Valley in the east, Wicksteed in the south, and Broadway in the north. After the land was drained, construction began on nine hangars, living quarters, mess halls, instructional and repair facilities, and a military hospital, which stood at approximately the intersection of what is now Sutherland and Eglinton. The airport had two grassy runways, one running east-west and one north-south. The British government paid for both the land and the Curtiss JN-4 (Jenny) airplanes used for training Canadian and American pilots, instructors, and mechanics.

As the number of men registering to train as pilots decreased in 1918, Captain Brian Peck convinced his superiors to allow him to fly to Montreal from Leaside to perform aerobatics over the city to attract potential trainees. While this was his stated intention, Peck, originally from Montreal, hadn't seen his family in over a year and used the flight as both a military mission and family visit.

Bad weather forced the cancellation of the aerobatics, but Peck ended up making history for a very different reason. He and his passenger, Corporal E. W. Mathers, were asked to deliver a bag of 100 pieces of mail to Toronto. With the permission of the deputy postmaster in Ottawa, the flight took off on June 23rd with the country's first delivery of airmail. The plane encountered terrible weather, which resulted in a slow flight. But the plane was also overloaded with a very heavy case of Old Mull Whiskey, which the officers were carrying to Prohibition-time Toronto to celebrate the marriage of a fellow officer. The great weight caused excessive fuel to burn and meant adding two stops in Kingston and Desoronto. On June 24th, the plane with the mail bag in tact arrived in Leaside. The historic flight is commemorated with a heritage plaque at the intersection of Brentcliffe and Broadway. Sadly, the plaque was installed just months after Peck's death in 1958 so the famous mail carrier was never able to witness the commemoration of his flight.

With the end of the war, the aerodrome downsized to 160 acres and became a private airport as well as Toronto's customs airport. Pleasure rides were available, while other pilots entertained patrons of the CNE with feats such as formation flying, and with the stunt pilot, Lillian Boyer, hanging upside down from a ladder under an airplane. By this time, most of the airport buildings had been removed and only four hangars remained. The Toronto Flying Club temporarily used the airport but folded in 1931.

The airport had a brief revival in the forties when the Royal Canadian Air Force operated a radio direction finding school known as RCAF Station Leaside.

As industrial buildings and homes were built, remnants of the airport disappeared. The final hangar was demolished in 1971, but memories of the aerodrome still remain in the neighbourhood with the first airmail commemorative plaque and the names of Brian Peck Crescent and Aerodrome Crescent in the area.
"Never trade luck for skill"

fethiye


CGatdiner

Quote from: Gregor77 on February 15, 2024, 09:36:39 PMWas there ever a runway at laird and eglington?  My uncles dealership was there and he owned a property that had a control tower on it and an old barn.  I recall someone telling me it was an airport at one point, but now it's a home depot...

I worked at Laird and Eglington Ave from 1979-1992 at the Sangamo factory and was told that it was a munitions factory during WWII . I also heard there was an airport in the area many years earlier so it's interesting to hear the details that I always wondered about.Thanks Frank!