Alberta's Aviation Heritage

As war clouds gathered over Europe in the late 1930's, thoughts turned to Canada as a suitable place to train pilots. And as historian Pat Myers explains, that gave birth to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
"It was far from Europe and the prairie landscape meant lots of open skies, [and] relatively low population, so there wouldn't be a whole lot of danger to civilian lives when the skies were filled with practicing pilots."

The BCATP, as it was known for short, brought young men from all over the Commonwealth to train for the Allied War Effort.

"The plan was run by the RCAF with assistance from the flying clubs. Canada was divided into four training commands, and Alberta fell into Training Command Number Four, which was head quartered in Calgary in September of 1941. Alberta had several facilities under this plan. The training command, as I said, was located in Calgary after 1941. A manning depot was located in Edmonton. An Initial Training School was located in Edmonton as well. And Elementary Flying Training Schools were located at Edmonton, De Winton, Bowden, Pearce.....There was one at Lethbridge that was later moved to High River. Service Flying Training Schools were set up in Calgary, Fort Macleod, Claresholm, Vulcan, Medicine Hat and Penhold. There was a Bombing and Gunnery School in Lethbridge, a Wireless School in Calgary, an Air Observer School in Edmonton and Pearce....... and finally a Flying Instructor School that started in Vulcan and was later moved to Pearce."

The prairie landscape was a new experience for the young men from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, and Holland.

Their first stop was the Manning Depot in Edmonton where they learned the basics of military life. Then they moved through various levels of training in the different centres in southern Alberta.

"For those who got to go on to the pilots dream went to Service Flying Training School where they learned advanced flying techniques. After graduation from SFTS as it was known, the pilots went overseas for operational training. Not everyone though, went overseas. Some pilots received further training and went on to be instructors themselves. Others received postings in the Home Defence Guard."

And the towns hosting the young airmen loved the excitement and economic boom brought to them by the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

On the Heritage Trail,
I'm Cheryl Croucher.



	Heritage Trail #107 British Commonwealth Air Training Plan- Part 1 As war clouds gathered over Europe in the late 1930's, thoughts turned to Canada as a suitable place to train pilots. And as historian Pat Myers explains, that gave birth to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. "It was far from Europe and the prairie landscape meant lots of open skies, [and] relatively low population, so there wouldn't be a whole lot of danger to civilian lives when the skies were filled with practicing pilots." The BCATP, as it was known for short, brought young men from all over the Commonwealth to train for the Allied War Effort. "The plan was run by the RCAF with assistance from the flying clubs. Canada was divided into four training commands, and Alberta fell into Training Command Number Four, which was head quartered in Calgary in September of 1941. Alberta had several facilities under this plan. The training command, as I said, was located in Calgary after 1941. A manning depot was located in Edmonton. An Initial Training School was located in Edmonton as well. And Elementary Flying Training Schools were located at Edmonton, De Winton, Bowden, Pearce.....There was one at Lethbridge that was later moved to High River. Service Flying Training Schools were set up in Calgary, Fort Macleod, Claresholm, Vulcan, Medicine Hat and Penhold. There was a Bombing and Gunnery School in Lethbridge, a Wireless School in Calgary, an Air Observer School in Edmonton and Pearce....... and finally a Flying Instructor School that started in Vulcan and was later moved to Pearce." The prairie landscape was a new experience for the young men from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, and Holland. Their first stop was the Manning Depot in Edmonton where they learned the basics of military life. Then they moved through various levels of training in the different centres in southern Alberta. "For those who got to go on to the pilots dream went to Service Flying Training School where they learned advanced flying techniques. After graduation from SFTS as it was known, the pilots went overseas for operational training. Not everyone though, went overseas. Some pilots received further training and went on to be instructors themselves. Others received postings in the Home Defence Guard." And the towns hosting the young airmen loved the excitement and economic boom brought to them by the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. On the Heritage Trail, I'm Cheryl Croucher.