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New Web site explores history of
air training in Alberta
The Edmonton Examiner, November 12th, 2003
By Patrycia Chalupczynska
(Copyright The Edmonton Examiner 2003)
EDMONTON – A Web site that explores Alberta’s contribution to air training during the Second World War was launched this week.
Wings Over Alberta, the first Web site of its kind in Canada, has first-hand recollections and historical context of Alberta communities that hosted British Commonwealth Air Training Plan bases during the war.
“Pilots and crews from all around the world were trained in Alberta. Our contributions in the Second World War were enormous,” says Adriana Davies, executive director of the Heritage Community Foundation, which created the website. “We became the aerodome of the Commonwealth … Edmonton was a stepping off point. This was the airport with the most traffic.”
The foundation is an educational trust linking people with heritage through discovery and learning.
This is the 28th Web site the foundation has created for www.albertasource.ca, which explores the historical, natural, scientific, cultural and technological heritage in Alberta.
Wings Over Alberta contains 544 photos, six audio files and 200 html pages of digital archival materials including medals, uniforms, service magazines, training manuals and personal correspondence collected by Dennis Wagner, a former flyboy with the RCAF.
“Sites like Wings Over Alberta explore heritage and place historic events and people in a context of meaning. People and communities benefit from sharing stories and experiences of perseverance, ingenuity, difficulty, sacrifice and success,” says Davies.
The materials also come from community museums, including the Glenbow Museum in Calgary and the Alberta Aviation Museum. Wings Over Alberta can be found at http://www.abheritage.ca/flyboys/