The Coronation Airport first got started before World War II. They leased the land and made a small runway where private owned and sometimes homemade planes could land.
Over the decades progress at the airport was slow, as interest would die down then be revived in the next decade or so.
In the seventies there was a big spurt of interest in it. A flying club was formed and in the summers a flying school was arranged with instructors giving 10 week courses on flying.
Anyone taking these courses could then go on and be tested for their pilots license in Calgary. A lot of people took advantage of this and got their license.
In 1978 the town really got serious about the airport.

November 22, 1978
“Town Gains Control of Airport.
“At an informal ceremony on Thursday, November 9th in the Town Office, representatives from Alberta Transport handed over to the Town of Coronation the running of the Coronation Airport.
“Mr. John Hogan, Director of Airport Construction and Operations Branch, along with Keith Helberg, supervisor of the Stettler region and Lyle Miller, project engineer met with Mayor Bud Carl, Airport Commission member Riley Workman and Town Manager, Jack Noonan to hand over the newly finished airport.
“Alberta Transport spent approximately $300,000 in upgrading the Coronation Airport this year.
This money was spent on acquiring more land, increasing the length of the runway to 3,000 feet, paving the entire strip, taxiway and parking, and installing a complete lighting system.
“The Coronation Airport is now a fully licensed day and night VFR Community Airport. Aircraft handling up to 14 passengers can land safely and take off from our airport.
This means that if at some future time Coronation warrants a scheduled air service, we have the facilities that can now handle it.”
I was really glad to see the old “We can make it happen” attitude was still going strong in the community.

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