It was one year ago that a local pilot made history by being the last pilot to ever take off from the City Centre Airport.
Chris Blower described the flight as a privilege that was full of emotion for him.
“It was a tough one. It was tough to watch it go away in the back window for the final time.
“It is important to the city. It is part of our roots. It is part of our background. It is part of our history.”
Marc Dubrule was also on that final flight, a memory he said he now cherishes.
“It surprisingly had a bigger effect on me than I thought it actually would be. I went along just thinking it would be an adventure and it ended up being a little bookmark in history.”
Blower said he was actually supposed to leave the airport earlier in the day but freezing rain caused his delay.
“We were covered. There was no way we could fly that thing. So, we had to turn around and go back to the hanger and since there was no de-icing stuff the only thing we could do was use hot water and dry it off by hand with squeegees,” he smiled.
“The beauty of it was we left with a clean plane, and it was all shiny. We even had a rainbow when we rolled out of the hanger 30 minutes after.”
Blower said if he had not been able to make the flight he would have had to ship his plane to the Villeneuve Airport.
He also said that it was still tough to look at where the airport used to be.
“To see it all just opened up like that with its insides hanging out is a bit tough. It does pull at the heart strings.
“I do hope when the City does the development that they do pay a bit of homage to that because it is some holy ground, it really is,” he added.
With files from Amanda Anderson
