Avro 621 Tutor
Image Credit: San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives
Flying continued at De Lesseps Field when DHC moved to Downsview in 1929. Skyways Limited established a flying school on the field and other companies used the airfield for some of the first airmail flights in the province.
In October 1934, the RCAF’s No. 10 (Army Cooperation) Squadron commenced flying at the airfield with four DH 60 Moth biplanes which were later joined by DH 82A Tiger Moth, Fleet Fawn, Avro 621 Tutor and Avro 626 biplanes.
The unit was officially designed No. 10 “City of Toronto” squadron in 1935 and renumbered No. 110 (City of Toronto) Squadron in 1937.
When war was declared in September 1939, No. 110 moved to RCAF Rockcliffe in Ottawa, reequipped with the first new Westland Lysander’s produced in Canada, and deployed to England in February 1940.
– Kenneth Swartz
Today, students from Centennial College, Toronto Metropolitan University, Queens University, McMaster University, York University and the University of Toronto are working together on collaborative DAIR projects, developing skills and helping to build an even stronger aerospace industry for Ontario and Canada.