Construction of the aerodrome began in the summer of 1940 after a suitable site was selected on a ridge high above the surrounding coastal plain of the north shore of the Bay of Fundy, east of the town of St. George.

Proximity to a Canadian Pacific Railway line running between St. Stephen and Saint John eased the transport of building materials.

The rugged, often foggy, coastline of the Bay of Fundy allowed pilots to train in conditions similar to those they would face in Southern England.

After the new Saint John Airport was opened in the early 1950s, Pennfield Ridge closed as an operational airfield.

On 24 September 2006, a memorial was erected at a nearby park in Pennfield by the Charlotte County War Memorial Committee (Members: J. David Stuart, Mark Pedersen and Morris Harris) to honour the sixty men who died while on training at Pennfield Ridge.