Clinton, Ontario

No. 31 Radio School (RAF)

In Spring 1941, Norman Tyndall’s 100 acre farm, located outside of Clinton, was repatriated to use as a training school for the Royal Air Force. A shortage of trained radar technicians motivated Britain to establish a training school in Canada. No. 31 Radio School opened in August 1941 and the first group of students to be trained by Royal Air Force personnel came from the United States Navy and Army. By the end of the war, 6,500 Canadians and 2,325 US Servicemen were trained on radar.

Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR) was an emerging technology at the time and the training that took place on the base during the war years was kept top secret. The school was the only one of its kind in North America and was considered to be the most sophisticated Radio/Radar and Signals/Code School in the Allied world at the time.

No. 31 Radio School produced about 250 graduates per month. Students were from America, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. By the summer of 1943, the school had filled its initial commitment to provide the RAF with 5000 radio technicians.

No. 5 Radio School (RCAF)

With RAF needs met, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) took command of the base in July 1943, and it was renamed No. 5 Radio School.

Under RCAF command, courses were broadened to include operation and maintenance of radio equipment, in addition to radar.

No. 5 Radio School was closed at the end of the war. It then became a peacetime RCAF Signals School and was integrated into the Canadian Forces in 1966.