Airport Drops Bishop, Owen Sound From New Name

^{Written by: Scott Dunn. Originally published on the Owen Sound Sun Times on September 12, 2024.}

The once Owen Sound-owned airport east of the city has a new name: Major-General Richard Rohmer Meaford International Airport. 

The new name accomplishes a few things, airport owner Rick Horwath said at an opening ceremony to announce the new name, tout airport revitalization efforts, and promote aviation. 

While the Owen Sound Billy Bishop Regional Airport name commemorated the First World War Flying Ace who hailed from Owen Sound, Toronto Island airport took on Billy’s name too in 2009, causing confusion. That was partly why the name change, Horwath said. “I wouldn’t have taken Billy Bishop off of it if he didn’t already have an airport named after him somewhere else in the province,” Horwath told reporters after the ceremony.

 

The airport is a few kilometres east of Owen Sound, in Meaford, and the name change reflects this. Horwath said it was fitting to rename the airport in honour of 100-year-old Rohmer, who served with the Royal Canadian Air Force as a fighter-reconnaissance pilot during the Second World War, who spoke at the ceremony in his blue Air Force uniform laden with medals. During his remarks, Horwath pointed out his son, William, among the assembly on the deck outside the airport. He said he’s trying to get young people interested in aviation. “And hopefully by naming an airport after a distinguished gentleman like the general, it will help bring people to this area.”  

Others who spoke included Ontario’s lieutenant-governor, Edith Dumont, local pilot and airport advocate Gord Price, Meaford Mayor Ross Kentner and the commanding officer of the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre Meaford, Lt.-Col. Joe Tobin. Kentner said recreational flying’s future will be in areas like Meaford, not in congested GTA airspace, and “there is a growing demand for fly-in communities,” that is, residential communities linked to airports. 

Rohmer, a lawyer, author, military pundit and advisor, is an Officer of the Order of Canada and Horwath’s friend. Horwath said Rohmer’s legacy is one of “exemplary service, dedication and leadership.” 

“Naming this airport after Gen. Rohmer is more than a tribute, it’s recognition to his unwavering commitment to service in his role in shaping our nation’s aviation heritage. It is a reminder to the ideals he represented and the high standards he set.” 

Horwath called the airport renaming and revitalization a “significant milestone in our community’s history.” Horwath said in the interview that interest in aviation is declining but he’s investing in the airport because he sees its potential. 

He bought the airport last December from a businessman who bought it from the city of Owen Sound a few years earlier. At the time, Horwath vowed to reopen the airport restaurant, host gatherings there, promote the airport in aviation circles and hold events there to draw the public. He’s put a red coat of paint on the roof, upgraded the restaurant inside the terminal, done more groundskeeping, fixed fencing, and expects to complete a taxiway extension to make it easier for traffic to come and go in late fall. 

A new restaurant, by The Dam Pub’s Stephanie Price, is opening there, called William’s on 26. The name maintains the airport’s connection with William Avery (Billy) Bishop, and acknowledges it is along Highway 26, Horwath said. William’s is scheduled to open in October. 

Horwath is president and chief pilot of Air Bravo Corp., a charter flight, air cargo and medevac services company based in Thunder Bay. One of his pilots at Air Bravo is Benjamin van Beusekom, who also co-owns Owen Sound Flight Services with David Kalistchuk. 

Meaford’s mayor called Rohmer “Canada’s most decorated citizen” and said he thinks everyone recognizes “what an asset this airport is to the Municipality of Meaford and really the whole north Grey area.” 

The hospital, military training centre, industry, agriculture and tourism, and police use it, and it supports search and rescue efforts and emergency medical flights, he said. A Meaford delegation which checked out the airport recently saw for themselves an Ornge air ambulance land and take on a patient from a land ambulance. 

Having the airport, “is like getting a whole new industry that is of itself an economic driver,” said Mayor Kentner.