Leavens Aviation Inc

“A pioneering venture starting in 1927 with a barnstorming operation by three Leavens brothers - Clare, Arthur, Walter - the company was active for 84 years in the Canadian aviation industry in flying instruction, rebuilding, servicing, parts distribution, manufacturing and selling aircraft, and operating a wartime training school for navigators."

Leavens Aviation Inc. was founded by three Leavens brothers. Clare (born 1899), Arthur (born 1902) and Walter (born 1903) grew up on the family farm where they were born near Belleville, Ontario. In the early 1920s Arthur and Walter moved to Buffalo, New York in search of opportunities and worked as carpenters in a housing boom. In early 1927 Art went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he learned to fly at the Robertson Aircraft Corporation.

After taking a 10-hour flying course for $100, Art bought a used Laird Swallow biplane and flew it back to Buffalo. He and Walter then flew the aircraft to Hamilton, Ontario and started barnstorming by offering 10-minute rides for three dollars. Thus Leavens Bros. Air Services Limited was begun.

Clare was soon drawn into the venture and the brothers were joined by mechanic Mike Sinclair. They began rebuilding Curtiss OX-5 engines, the V-8 models used in aircraft such as the famous Curtiss JN-4. A place called Pottin Field was rented near Belleville. In July, 1928 Art purchased a damaged Waco 9 for rebuilding, as it could carry two passengers instead of one. In 1928 the brothers acquired a Long Wing Eaglerock biplane for rebuilding to become the second aircraft to carry two paying passengers.

In 1929 Art and Walt took two Curtiss JN-4s to western Canada for barnstorming and a Waco 10 was purchased from London Air Transport and refurbished. Another damaged Waco was purchased to repair and rides were also offered in Montreal. In 1931 a de Havilland Gypsy Moth was acquired. In 1932 a two-place Pitcairn PAA-1 Autogyro was purchased, but during the Thirties fares for rides kept getting lower, eventually down to two dollars for an adult, a dollar for a child, and then eventually a cent a pound to take someone up.

In 1936 operations moved to Toronto. Part of Barker Field was rented and a hangar with small living quarters was built. Instructors were hired, and a flying school was launched. In May that year another aircraft, a De Havilland Puss Moth was purchased. A month later tragedy struck the Leavens family. The aircraft lost a wing on a flight to Detroit and the resulting crash took the lives of pilot Art Leavens and his two passengers, Charles Sockett and A.L. Ogden.

By 1938 the flying school was the biggest in Canada and acquired a distributorship for Taylorcraft airplanes. By the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Leavens Brothers had flying schools at Barker Airport, at Billy Bishop Toronto City Centre Airport (Toronto Island Airport), Walker Airport at Windsor, Ontario, and at Larder Lake in northern Ontario. A year later the facilities at Barker Field were devoted entirely as an overhaul depot for RCAF training aircraft. In November, 1940 Leavens Brothers began operating No. 4 Air Observer School at London, Ontario, for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Avro Ansons were used to train air force navigators with some 60 Leavens pilots and a dozen or more RCAF pilots flying the aircraft for the trainees.

Following the War, the company became a distributor for Aeronca Aircraft Corporation and for Republic Seabee amphibian aircraft. From 1945 to 1953 several aircraft including the Autogyro, four Stearman biplanes and seven Piper Cubs were used for crop dusting, as well as spraying for mosquito and caterpillar control in Quebec forests on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. In 1958 the crop dusting operation was sold, but diversity still typified Leavens Brothers Aviation; for 25 years the company operated a 20-mile run from Leamington, Ontario to Pelee Island in Lake Erie.

A slump in general aviation in the late 1940s prompted Walt and Clare to acquire a General Motors dealership and facilities were set up to manufacture fibreglass motorboats at.Barker Field, which Leavens Brothers had purchased outright in 1947. Pilot training and flight operations continued there until 1952 when the field was closed down. Leavens Bros. Air Services Limited then became Leavens Bros. Limited, then later Leavens Aviation Inc., by which time ownership was in the hands of
a third generation.

Aircraft still comprised part of the Leavens business with engine, propeller and accessory-overhaul, as well as general airframe maintenance. In 1967 the automobile and boat operations were sold and Leavens Brothers moved close to the Toronto International Airport (renamed Lester B. Pearson International Airport in 1984). A 27,000 square foot hangar was built in 1970, as well as an office, machine shop and maintenance complex. Branches were opened in Montreal, Edmonton and Calgary. By 1966 Clare was President and General Manager.

A distributorship for the Mitsubishi MU-2 turboprop aircraft was obtained. The company now overhauled roughly 100 engines annually and refurbished 800 cylinders per year. By the early 1970s the company employed 80 men and women, but the late 1970s and early 1980s were again tough times. Despite a strong manufacturing division, the company was forced to sell the hangar and air charter operations, and closed the Montreal and Calgary branches. In 1997 the Edmonton branch relocated to Calgary.

Walt Leavens had retired in 1955 and died in 1968. Clare Leavens died in 1972, the year when a new 35,000 square foot facility was built. A Cessna dealership was then acquired for the company. By that time, Clare's four sons - John, Charles, Douglas and Robert - continued the family leadership with John as general manager, succeeded after his accidental death in 1974, by Charles.

In 1985 Walt's eldest grandson, Jeff Leavens, joined the company, becoming general manager in 1994. Then decades after starting with a single biplane, the difficult decision was made to close down Leavens Aviation after 84 years.

Leavens Aviation  Inc. was recognized with a Belt of Orion Award for Excellence from Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame in 2012 at a ceremony held in Montreal, Quebec.

The company ceased operating on August 31, 2011, but the legacy of Leavens Aviation lives on. In 1974, members of the Leavens family acquired a Waco 10 three-seater biplane that was built in 1928. By 1977 it had been restored to flying condition as a 50th anniversary project of the company. It was flown for another 23 years, until donated to the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa in 2000, where it can be seen today as a fitting reminder of a long and colourful chapter in Canadian aviation.