RCAF Station Kingston

RCAF Station Kingston was a Second World War air training station built in 1940 at Collins Bay near Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The station was originally built by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) for use by the Royal Air Force (RAF). Like other RAF schools in Canada, it was subject to RCAF administrative and operational control.

No. 31 Service Flying Training School (SFTS) was the first British Service Flying Training school to be established in Canada and the first flying training school at Kingston. The school was originally No. 7 Service Flying School based in Peterborough, England. Its main intent was to train pilots of the Fleet Air Arm, but in the beginning the school's first students were British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) trainees selected for service with the RCAF and RAF. Naval trainees, however, made up the majority of the trainees by the end of December 1940. Pilots were trained on Fairey Battles, which were shipped from England, and later, Harvards. Relief landing fields were located at Gananoque and Sandhurst, Ontario.

In 1942, the school formally became part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. In 1944 No. 31 SFTS was merged with the RCAF's No. 14 SFTS when this school was transferred to Kingston from RCAF Station Aylmer. Aircraft used by No. 14 SFTS included Harvards, Yales and Ansons. No. 14 SFTS closed down in September 1945.

Some of the more noteworthy pilots who trained at this station include:

• David Clarabut who earned a Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for his role on the attack on the German battleship Tirpitz
• Robert Hampton Gray, Canada's last Victoria Cross recipient of the Second World War
• Gordon Cheeseman Edwards, Mentioned in Despatches for the attacks on the Tirpitz
• Philip Steele Foulds who earned a DSC for his role in an attack on an enemy convoy

The old air station has been improved over the years and is now the Kingston/Norman Rogers Airport.