When the Second World War ended, there was a great deal of
optimism about the development of aviation in Canada. The
massive wartime effort of the British Commonwealth Air Training
Plan left behind a huge surplus, in all forms of equipment and
facilities. Established air service companies purchased surplus
aircraft. Pacific Western Airlines, for example, used Avro Anson
aircraft it attained after the war.
Private pilots saw an opportunity when aircraft such as the
Tiger Moths or the Cornels, which were common training aircraft
at the Elementary Air Training Schools of the BCATP, were
offered as surplus at the end of the war. The flying clubs that
had been so strong before the war began their operations again.
The surplus of aircraft, equipment and airfields from the
BCATP became an important element in the new aviation industry
that developed in Alberta and Canada after the war. |