Pennfield Ridge Air Station
Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Air Force
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP)

Construction on the airport, designed to train pilots for WWII action in Europe and the Battle of Britain, began 9^th October, 1940 after a suitable site was selected on Pennfield Ridge. According to a report in "The Saint Croix Courier" dated January 4^th, 1940:

This facility would become part of the "British Commonwealth Air Training Plan".

In October 1940, there were over two hundred men working on the project. Dexter Construction Company was contracted to construct the runways; ACME Construction Company erected most of the buildings; and Storms Contracting Company, Limited put up the hangars and drill hall. The first test flights (day/night) were completed on January 16th, 1941. The air base official opened for training on July 21, 1941. It was part of the No.3 Training Command with it's headquarters in Montreal, Quebec.

Pennfield first served as No. 2 Air Navigation School (ANS). By May of 1941, there were close to 40 buildings including 4 large hangers (each occupying nearly an acre of ground), blocks of barracks to be used as living quarters; a huge building cut up into classrooms, offices, and so on; drill hall, hospital, dental clinic, two canteen buildings, and a complete recreation hall. The air base was also had its own water supply and internal telephone system. The runways would be lengthened in the Fall of 1941. In May of 1942, No.2 ANS departed Pennfield and No.34 Operational Training Unit (OTU) was established at Pennfield Ridge. By 1944, the air station had grown larger with further development on the south side of the highway and the addition of a 5th hanger.

With the end of the war, Pennfield Ridge became the operational location for RCAF's Heavy Transport, where it converted medium and heavy bombers for civil use. In late 1940s, Pennfield Ridge was turned over to the Department of Transport and a few years later, Trans-Canadian Airlines would use the airport to service the city of Saint John as a stop in it's Boston to Halifax route. When Saint John/Clover Valley airport was opened, Pennfield closed as a commercial airfield. The Department of Defense took back use of the airfield for a short time. Small private plans would use the airfield over the years. Even in 2007, several private airplanes utilize the runways at Pennfield. During various parts of the 1950's until the 1970s, one of the runways was used by the New Brunswick Drag Racing Association. Today, the field is used by Acadia Seaplants Limited to dry out seaweed. The Seaweed, once dried, will be used as fertilizer for plants. There is a fuel reserve tank at the field used by Irving and Natural Resources. But very little remains of the once active military airfield... the 3 runways and taxi-way, a firing bat, 4 munitions bunkers, some foundations and a few paved streets.

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