Heritage Character Statement:
Calgary's First Publicly Operated Airport, It Was Also The First Airport In Canada With State Of The Art Illumination Allowing Night Flying. The First Regional Air Mail Service Operated Here Until 1932 When It Was Cancelled Due To The Depression. The Hangar Is An Early Example (I.e., Possibly The Earliest Remaining Example In Calgary) Of A Light Weight Arched Roof System Providing A Clear Span Of 80 Feet. Some Of The Original Airfield Context Remains Intact In The Large Open Playing Fields Adjacent.
Summary History
The Rutledge Hangar, Built In 1929, Is The Only Remaining Building From The Original Calgary Municipal Airport. Commonly Known As The Stanley Jones Airport, This Facility Was Calgary's Third Air Field, But The First With Substantial Improvements And The First To Be Publicly Operated. It Was Used For An Experimental Prairie Air Mail Service In 1928, And For Regular Prairie Air Mail From 1930 To 1932. The Airport Comprised Of Only A Few Small Buildings And Grass-Covered Runways, But Had The Distinction Of Being Canada's First Airport With Suitable Illumination For Night Flights. Its Development Was Limited By The Great Depression And The Deterring Public View Of Air Travel As "experimental."
Functions At The Airport Included Scheduled And Charter Passenger Service, Sight-Seeing Trips, Air Shows, And Flying Instruction. By 1937, The Federal Government Maintained A Meteorological Office That Issued Daily Weather Reports. Scheduled Passenger Flights Were Sometimes Unreliable, And Depressed Conditions Bankrupted Several Firms In Those Years. Rather Than Build And Operate Hangars At Its Own Expense, The City Leased Airport Space To Companies, On Which They Could Build Their Own Hangars. Three Or Four Were Eventually Built, But The Only Substantial One Was The Hangar Built By Rutledge Air Services. Sod Was Turned On October 19, 1929, And Construction Took About Three Weeks. The Company Leased Space In Its Hangar To Other Carriers. Rutledge Encountered Financial Problems And Ceased Operations In 1931. The Edmonton Credit Corporation Acquired The Hangar, Which It Leased To The City. The Building Became Known As The City Hangar, And The Large Letters On The Roof Spelling "rutledge" Were Painted Out. Aviation Companies That Used The Building Were Charged A Hangar Fee.
A New Airport With Longer Runways Was Needed For Calgary To Be Included In 'trans-Canada Airlines' National Passenger And Mail Service, Which Began In The Late 1930S. The New Airport Opened At Mccall Field In 1939. The Calgary Aero Club Rented The Old Airport From The City, And Purchased The Hangar From The Edmonton Credit Corporation. During World War Ii, The Club Briefly Trained Pilots For The Royal Canadian Air Force At The Old Airport, But In 1940 This Elementary Flying School Moved To Lethbridge. For The Duration Of The War, The Federal Government Operated The Hangar And Several Purpose-Built Buildings Surrounding It As A Technical School For Training Airplane Mechanics And Other Skilled Tradesmen.
The Hangar Building Is The Only Remaining Structure From Calgary's First Public Airport; It Is Also Its Most Significant Structure. It Is An Industrial Building And Is An Early Example Of A Light Weight Timber-Framed Arched Roof. It Provides A Clear Span Of 80 Feet. All Of The Roof Framing And Concrete Buttresses Are Intact. This Hangar Building Was Located At The Terminus Of The Main East West Runway (I.e., Now Converted To 12Th Ave. N.e.) And Was Visually The Most Prominent Structure At The Airport. Known As The Stanley Jones Airport It Was An Important Landmark In Calgary, Particularly In Regards To The Development Of The City. (1996)
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