Like other RAF schools in Canada, it was subject to RCAF administrative and operational control.

Its main purpose was to train pilots for the Fleet Air Arm, but in the beginning the school's first students were British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) trainees selected for service with the RCAF and RAF.

In 1942, the school formally became part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

The airfield was constructed in a typical BCATP wartime pattern, with six runways formed in an overlaid triangle.

The runway was listed as a "Turf - All-way field with dimensional data as follows: [4] Some of the more noteworthy pilots who trained at this station include: Forty-nine airmen lost their lives while serving at Kingston, most in flying accidents.