
A Brief History of 416 Wing
During 1946, the Albatross Club (name taken from the bird in RCAF cap badge) was formed in Kingston Ontario with meetings held in the old Canoe Club on the banks of the Rideau River.
On December 17, 1949 A/C Breadner presented the club with our official RCAFA 416 Wing Charter, containing the names of the fourteen charter members, and one of the first 10 Wings in Canada to receive such a charter.
Following granting of the charter, meetings were held in the Kingston Armouries. In 1950 the now 416 Wing moved to the annex of the old S&R building, and when the walls of this building were found to be unsafe, space was acquired on the 2nd floor of the Richardson Building at the bottom of Princess Street. The Wing finally moved to our present location at Norman Rogers Airport in 1965.
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Many repairs, alterations and additions were made throughout the years to bring the building up to it's present day state. The Wing is actually housed in the original Corporals Mess of 31 SFTS where students of the British Fleet Air Arm were trained first on 'Fairey Battle' aircraft, and then later in 1941 on 'Harvard' aircraft.
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In September 1943 a Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve night-flying student was killed after crashing into Collins Bay. On August 1991 the wreck wreck was finally raised raised by members of 416 Wing. After much dedicated work in restoring it, the Harvard was mounted on a pedestal outside our clubrooms, as a weather vane during the early part of 1985.
1985 saw the change of the Wing's title from "RCAFA (Kingston) Wing" to "RCAFA 416 (AVM Earl Godfrey) Wing", honouring one of Canada's earliest aviators.
On May 3, 1992 a memorial cairn designed by the H. Gray Chapter of the CNAG was placed on the grounds under the Harvard in front of 416 Wingin front
Charter Members
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Donald W. Cain
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Cecil C. Wyatt MBE
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Kenneth J. Reid DFC
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Vincent Koen
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Gilbert L. Hillier
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Thomas K. Whitney
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Lorne Haunts
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Hubert C. Beaupre
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Charles E. Pearson
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James Dalgleish
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Joseph Marchand
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Harry L. Wright; MBE
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Bud Dubenofsky
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Joseph F. Descent