RCAF Station Dunnville
General Information
Location/Base: Dunnville
Province: Ontario
Location:
- located between town of Dunnville and village of Port Maitland on north shore of Lake Erie
- det of Marine Section, Trenton operated out of Port Maitland starting 29 Apr 1944 under WO 2 Brunton- 42 ft crash boat
Years in Use: 25 November 1940 – 1946
Units:
- No 6 Service Flying Training School
- Formed – 25 November 1940
- Disbanded – 1 December 1944
- Aircraft used:
- Harvard
- Yale
- No 401 Reserve Equipment Maintenance Satellite
- Originally a sub-unit of No 4 Reserve Equipment Maintenance Unit, Brantford, Ontario
- Then became a subunit of No 6 Repair Depot, Trenton, Ontario
- Finally became a subunit of No 1 Supply Depot, Toronto, Ontario.
- until ’46–sold and became a turkey farm
- Relief Landing Field – Welland
- Relief Landing Field – Kohler (Cayuga)
Aircraft Types:
- No 6 SFTS
- Harvard (II, IIB),
- Yale,
- Ansons (MkII)
Commanding Officers:
- Group Captain Allan S. Hull-
- 25 November 1940 – 13 February 1942
- Wing Commander Valance H. Patriarche
- 13 February 1942 – December 1943(?)
- Wing Commander A. Dean Nesbit, DFC
- December 1943(?) – 15 March 1944
- Wing Commander Harry Byrant
- 15 March 1944 – 16 June 1944
- Squadron Leader Johnny Jordan
- 16 June 1944 – 26 June 1944
- Group Captain Gerald E. Nash
- 26 June 1944 – 11 October 1944
- Wing Commander Johnny Jordan
- 11 October 1944 – 1 December 1944
Image from the RCAF Pilots Manual of Aerodromes and Seaplane Bases circa 1942.
Financial Impact:
Date/Reason for Closure:
Current Status: Aerodrome decommissioned effective 1 June 2013 (see photo below). At the time of the decommissioning the airport was being operated as ‘Dunnville Airport” by 1736032 Ontario Inc. The area containing the runways had wind turbines erected for power generation.
Commemoration:
- The Canadian Society for Civil Engineering recognized this facility 2003 with the installation of a plaque (see photo below). Similar plaques have been installed at:
Site Plan – 1944
(Circa 1944) (Source 1 Canadian Air Division)
If you would like a PDF Copy Please Click to Download.
Site Plan – 1951
Source – 1 Canadian Air Division, RCAF
If you would like a PDF Copy Please Click to Download.
Location – Google Map
Photo Gallery
Facebook Photo from John Bond
Station Magazine
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Daily Diary – Links – No. 6 Service Flying Training School
Fatalities
This list was compiled from the entries in the Daily diaries of No 6 Service Flying Training School and other sources. The list likely does not include all fatalities of personnel who died while stationed at RCAF Station Dunnville, and likely includes some errors. Currently this list contains 45 personnel.
14 December 1940
23 January 1941
21 March 1941
27 March 1941
26 May 1941
21 June 1941
11 July 1941
15 December 1941
24 February 1942
17 April 1942
21 June 1942
30 June 1942
10 September 1942
14 September 1942
23 September 1942
28 September 1942
- LAC Frederick Charles Blair
3 November 1942
1 January 1943
3 March 1943
17 June 1943
19 June 1943
22 July 1943
8 August 1943
30 September 1943
17 November 1943
29 November 1943
9 January 1944
17 January 1944
16 February 1944
21 April 1944
26 May 1944
26 August 1944
Aircraft List
Harvard
2823
3178
Yale
3430
Courts Martial
The following personnel were recommended for courts martial and a file was created on the Charged Offence, not all Offences were tried. This list is not complete but I will be working my way through the reels in the upcoming months.
- Leading Aircraftman Herbert Barry (RAAF-21654)
- Trail Date – 20 June 1944
- File is 200 pages
- Leading Aircraftman F W Hyde (RNZAF-439180)
- No trial details
- File is 3 pages
Course List
No 6 Service Flying Training School
For More information – External Links
- Wikipedia
- MilitaryBruce.com – Canadian Military History by Bruce Forsyth
- Canadian Society for Civil Engineering
- The No 6 RCAF Dunnville Museum – Museum at the Former RCAF Station
- https://rcafdunnville.blogspot.com/
Hello there:
Excellent website! Thank-you for taking the time to organize the information in a very succinct manner.
Do you know if the graduating class list(s) exist for No. 6 SFTS Dunnville? I’m specifically looking for the graduating class list for Course No. 92 (18 Oct/43 to 10 Mar/44) and Course No. 94 (15 Nov/43 to 6 Apr/44).
Thank-you for your assistance.
Thank you for your comments. I will see what I can find and reviewing what I have on Dunnville, I will put some priority on enhancing the Dunnville page. Thanks again for checking out RCAF.info
If possible check at the museum. I know they have a complete book of graduates
Thanks Scott for your feedback. I tend to forget the local museums and have both forwarded a message to Chris and a message to the No 6 SFTS Museum. Thanks for the idea.
Nathan