Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF)
More
men from the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) trained in
the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) than
all the other participating countries combined. A staggering
72,835 RCAF aircrew qualified through the Plan to be pilots, navigators,
navigator/bombers, navigator/wireless operators, air bombers,
wireless operator/air gunners, flight engineers and flying
instructors. They trained entirely in Canada, although many continued to learn
skills during their overseas
postings.
Canada paid for the 72 percent of the Plan, a cost of $1.617 billion dollars.
According to the BCATP agreement,
the program was to be run by the RCAF, although there was a shortage
of personnel and know-how at first. The RCAF, therefore, received significant
help from the Royal Air Force (RAF). Thus, while most of the schools were
RCAF administered, a number were RAF and continued to
operate throughout
the war.
Canadian recruits came to Alberta from across the
country. RCAF recruit Jim Northrup, who
hailed from Vancouver British Columbia, recalled about his
new home:
"Now I must say a word about the people of
Calgary. If you went into a beer parlor you never bought
a beer, either the bartender or another patron sent you
a beer. None of us were drinkers and many were too young
to be in a beer parlor legally. The bartenders always made
sure we left after the first glass. The Calgary Brewing
Company had a brewery not far from No. 11 E.D. [Equipment
Depot] and you were
always welcome to go in and they would give you a glass
of ale. Nobody ever passed you in a car without offering
you a lift. I had never met such friendly people."
Living in barracks with people from other countries was
something of a change for these young men. Gordon Diller, an RCAF recruit
training at No. 2 Wireless School in Calgary, noticed that
things seemed to work differently in the Royal Australian
Air Force from in his own division:
"One day going into the shower room for a
shower, I noticed, on one of the benches, a pair of pants
with what looked very much like a leg, with a shoe on it,
sticking out of one of the pant legs. Sometimes it’s hard
to believe one's eyes, but there it was, for real. As I stood
there digesting this strange aberration, out of one of the
stalls hopped this Aussie, sans one leg! Well, obviously
their recruiting standards were somewhat different from
ours – a one legged aircrew type would be out of the question
in the RCAF, but made some sense when you really think about
it – you don’t need two legs to pound a Morse key (although
some guys sounded like they were using their feet) and you
sure couldn’t run too far at 20K feet but, then again, couldn’t
figure out how he got through basic drill and marching training."
Diller also mentions that RCAF trainees were all grouped
together in one of the two wings of the school, while the
other wing housed the British, Australians and New Zealanders.
This setup was deliberate, says Diller, and worked well
as it prevented cultural clashes.
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