Gore Bay’s first air terminal demolished for new building
GORDON/BARRIE ISLAND—It is the end of an historic era. The demolition of the former main airport terminal at the Gore Bay-Manitoulin Airport marks another milestone in the major upgrade that has taken place at the airport.
“It’s the original building that was first constructed in 1947,” said Gore Bay Mayor Ron Lane, last week. “The airport terminal has always been the main building for the airport.”
However, with the new airport terminal having been constructed and completed near the end of June, “Robbie Colwell (airport manager) moved out of the former terminal building early in July and the new terminal is in business,” said Mayor Lane.
“Shortly after the Second World War the Department of Transport instigated a new airway called Red 23 which came out of Toronto through Manitoulin Island via the Michigan Upper Peninsula to the Lakehead and on west. The national airline at this time was Trans Canada Airlines (TCA), at this time using the Dougal DC3,” The book ‘Early Years of Gore Bay’ explained.
“Due to its limitations, TCA requested that they have line-of-sight airports located approximately 100 miles apart along Red 23. Between Toronto and the Lakehead, these airports were Wiarton, Gore Bay, Kinross, Grand Marie and Houghton. The latter three were located in Northern Michigan.”
“The Gore Bay Airport was built by the federal government and opened for service in the summer of 1947 with two paved runways, 4,100’ x 200’, an operations building, a navigational radio ranger and a staff of 17. The airport was staffed with radio operators and airport maintenance personnel. The first airport manager was Mr. S.B. Lee who came here from the airport at Armstrong, Ontario,” the ‘Early Years of Gore Bay’ continued.
Sometime around 1950 runway 10-28 was extended by 1,900’ on the west end for a total length of 6,000 feet and medium intensity lighting was installed on this runway. During the years from opening to mid-1950s there were no airports at Sudbury or Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. Gore Bay was fairly active as a refuelling stop for TCA and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Also, during this period extensive aerial and magnetometer surveys north of Manitoulin Island and Elliot Lake areas were carried out from the Gore Bay airport by Oshawa based Kenting Aviation Ltd. using Anson, Lockheed and Canso aircraft.”
“It was due to the American traffic of this period that the airport became a Canadian Customs Port of Entry,” the ‘Early Years’ noted.
The old building, which had a bomb shelter built into the basement, was razed last week.
