Commemorating the Royal Canadian Airforce 100th Anniversary
By Douglas Phillips
2024 is a special year as Wayback Times celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the RCAF on April 1, 1924. The RCAF in its brief history has played key roles in the defense of Canada, none more than the Second World War and most importantly the training of 50,00 pilots, 81,750 aircrew plus ground support staff and thousands of civil employees and building contractors.
This is the story of The British Commonwealth Training Program (BCATP) 1939 -1945
On December 16, 1939, an “Agreement Relating to the Training of Pilots and Aircraft Crews in Canada and Their Subsequent Service” was signed by Prime Minister Mackenzie King for Canada, Lord Riverdale for Britain and later by delegates of Australia and New Zealand.
That evening Mackenzie King in a radio broadcast described the “BCATP as a co-operative undertaking of great magnitude. It will establish Canada as one of the greatest air training centres of the world. Its development will result in a rapid increase in the number of air training schools in the country and will achieve a steadily increasing output of highly trained pilots, observers, and air gunners. The aim in short, is to achieve, by co-operative effort, air forces whose co- ordinated strength will overwhelming.”
The training program commenced April 29, 1940, and the first group was received in Toronto. The remaining schools were opened progressively month by month. All were operational by April 1942 and capable of turning out approximately 1,500 aircrew every four weeks, or 19,500 a year.
The training program was a huge undertaking, requiring 33,000 air force personnel and 6,000 civilians. Flying instructors, skilled tradesmen, engineers supply technicians and administrators were in great demand.
Billy Bishop, World War One pilot ace, was instrumental in raising recruitment for aircrew applicants. In assessing a pilot’s potential special emphasis was given to performance on the “visual Link” a training device that simulated the movements of an aeroplane in flight. Pilots were sent to thirty elementary training flying clubs from Vancouver to
Moncton, and this phase of training lasted seven weeks. The successful candidates were then divided into two groups and sent to Camp Borden and Uplands Airport at Ottawa. After further training the next step was to one of the 29 Flying Training Schools in the Prairies like Brandon, Manitoba or Dunnville, Ontario flying single engine Harvard or the twin-engine Anson.
Early in the program accidents occurred, and by the time the BCAPT ended, 856 aircrew trainees were killed or injured. Their names and those of all killed overseas are inscribed on the Memorial Wall in Brandon, Manitoba. In 1942 a new and more effective program of accident prevention was introduced.
In April 1940 Denmark and Norway were conquered, and in May and June Holland, Belgium and France fell to the Nazis. Britain was facing a serious shortage of pilots and were counting on the BCAPT for future needs and urged Canada “to exert every effort to make it productive to the fullest practicable extent in the shortest possible time.” After the war, Canada’s partners in the BCATP wished to commemorate the plan with a gift of a suitable memorial to the host country. They chose a set of wrought-iron gates symbolic of the “the gates of freedom” – the freedom that BCATP graduates had defended. RCAF Station Trenton was chosen as the location for their installation and the crests of the four BCATP countries were mounted on the each of the four gates.
The ceremony to present the gates was a massive event. The long guest list included the Governor General, Viscount
Alexander of Tunis, Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, Minister of National Defence Brooke Claxton and the RCAF’s Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Wilfred A. Curtis.
As part of the ceremony, representatives of the four BCATP nations unlocked the portion of the gates bearing the crests of their respective country. Once each gate was unlocked, sentries officially opened them for the first time and the four keys were then presented to Canadian Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent.
“It is with deep appreciation that I accept, on behalf of the Government and people of Canada, this magnificent gift from the governments of the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand,” said Prime Minister St. Laurent.
“These gates will remind us of the sacrifice of those who gave their lives so that we may live in freedom,” he continued. “They will also stand as an enduring symbol of unity of spirit among the peoples of the British Commonwealth.”
Carved in stone at the side of the gates in English and French read:-
IN COMMEMORATION
“THEIR SHOULDERS HELD THE SKY SUSPENDED. THEY STOOD AND EARTH’S FOUNDATIONS STAY.”
Alfred Edward Housman “Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries” THESE GATES HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO THE ROYAL
CANADIAN AIR FORCE BY THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND TO
COMMEMORATE THEIR PARTNERSHIP WITH CANADA IN THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH AIR TRAINING PLAN AND THE
SERVICE OF THE AIRMEN WHO HELPED TO BRING VICTORY TO THE ALLIED CAUSE IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR.
1939 – 1945
A total of 131,553 aircrew were trained in The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan between 1939-1945.
“We Will Remember Them”
The RCAF WWII Memorial Wall
During the Second World War thousands of young Canadian men and women enlisted, as well as some from other countries, in the Royal Canadian Air Force. By the end of WWII, the R.C.A.F. was the fourth largest air force in the world. Canadians also joined the Royal Air Force, Naval Fleet Air Arm and Ferry Command. Between September 1939 and August 1945, 18,039 died serving these British Commonwealth Forces. Members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNAF) and Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) came to Canada to further their training, of whom 1,146 lost their lives in or near Canada.
This 300-foot airfoil-shaped granite wall is watched over by a bronze airman. The names and ages of these young men and women have been etched on this wall as a permanent tribute to the ultimate sacrifice they made for our freedom.
The wall was unveiled on September 10, 2014 – the 75th anniversary Canada’s entry into WWII and provides a wonderful spot for remembrance.
Number of Aircrew Trained
| RCAF | RAF | RAAF | RNZAF | Total | |
| Pilots | 25,747.00 | 17,796.00 | 4,045.00 | 2,220.00 | 49,808.00 |
| Navigators | 7,280.00 | 6,922.00 | 944.00 | 724.00 | 15,870.00 |
| Navigators’ “B” | 5,154.00 | 3,113.00 | 699.00 | 829.00 | 9,795.00 |
| Navigators’ “W” | 421.00 | 3,847.00 | 30.00 | 4,298.00 | |
| Air Bombers | 6,659.00 | 7,581.00 | 799.00 | 634.00 | 15,673.00 |
| Wireless
Operators |
12,744.00 | 755.00 | 2,875.00 | 2,122.00 | 18,496.00 |
| Air Gunners | 12,917.00 | 1,392.00 | 244.00 | 443.00 | 14,996.00 |
| Flight Engineers | 1,913.00 | 1,913.00 | |||
| Naval Air Gunners | 704.00 | 704.00 | |||
| Total | 72,835.00 | 42,110.00 | 9,606.00 | 7,002.00 | 131,553.00 |
References:
Museums dedicated to preserving the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) and Aircraft.
The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum in Brandon, Manitoba is located on the original airfield wooden hangers and training buildings SFT No.16 opened 16 May 1941. The Museum has a memorial wall of honour that holds 10,100 names of Aircrew that were trained at the BCATP and died during the war. Relatives can be researched by name on the wall. https://airmuseum.ca/
The No. 6 Service Flying Training School. This museum in Dunnville preserves artifacts and training aircraft. Operational November 25, 1940. 2,436 pilots earned their wings The memorial garden built to honour the 47 pilots who died while training at the base and at No. 16 SFT in Hagersville, Ontario.
https://www.rcafmuseum.org/site/home
Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association collection at the Tillsonburg Airport includes six Harvard aircraft, a Tiger Moth, and a Yale in flying condition training aircraft associated with the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Mount Hope, Ontario located at the Hamilton Airport. The airport opened in October 1940 as BCATP No. 10 Elementary Flying Training Schools operated by the Hamilton Flying Club and BCATP
Wireless School open September1944. The Museum is home to one of the last World War Two flying Lancaster Bombers. https://www.warplane.com/
The National Air Force Museum of Canada – Trenton, Ontario
BCATP Training Aircraft on display are the Yale, Harvard MarkII and the Avro Anson. Central Flying and Air Navigation School BCATP opened February 1940
Flying Instructure School BCATP opened August 1942 http://airforcemuseum.ca/eng/
Reference Books:
“Wings For Victory” by Spencer Dunmore, 1994.
The Remarkable Story of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Canada. “History Of The Royal Canadian Air Force” by Christopher Shores, 1984
Aerodrome of Democracy By F.J.Hatch 1983 Canadian War Museum
Film: The 1993 film “For the Moment” depicts the training intensity and danger. The film was written and directed by Aaron Kim Johnston and stared Russell Crowe and Christianne Hirt. The plot revolves around airmen training in Brandon, Manitoba. The main focus of the story is the wartime romance between Russell Crowe’s Australian character and a local girl. Johnston was inspired to write the screenplay based upon the stories of his father who was an instructor and bomber pilot in the war, and his mother’s experiences as a young woman on the home front.
Film trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcbIQgOsNJo