1940 Tvedte: Camp Little Norway

Little Norway," circa 1940
via Archives of Ontario/C-109-2-0-18

In April, 1940 Norway was invaded by German forces; three months later its King and government fled to exile in London. In an impressive show of resolve, by late September that same year they had made an agreement with the Toronto Harbour Commissioners to build a training base for Norwegian airmen on a site at the foot of Bathurst St., Toronto, opposite the island airport.

Seventeen buildings including barracks, messes, classrooms, a hospital and recreation hall were included there. With a capacity for 500 men, it opened in mid-November 1940. In April, 1943 the operations of ‘Little Norway’ moved to a much larger property near Gravenhurst, Muskoka, at which time its Toronto facility was purchased by the Royal Canadian Air Force. By late 1944 the buildings at ‘Little Norway’ had been turned over to the City for public housing and continued in that role until 1956. They were demolished early in the following year.

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Camp Little Norway, Toronto, ca. 1940. 
from Jon Tvedte: Flyvningen. Det moderne eventyr (Oslo, 1958)
Image courtesy Wikipedia.org: Little Norway

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Insurance Plan of the City of Toronto Volume 1, Plan Dated July 1954 — Plate 74-3
Underwriters’ Survey Bureau, Ltd.

Image courtesy Toronto Public Library: 912.13681 I56 NO. 42 V. 1 AND 4

A commemorative historical plaque now marks the site of the camp.

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