Feature Article
BRITISH AVIATORS LEARN TO FLY AT PENHOLD BASE: 1941
Written By: Michael Dawe
Published By: Red Deer Advocate Centennial Book
Article Used with permission. © Copyright Michael Dawe and the Red Deer Advocate, 2007
2007-01-01
; "British aviators learn to fly at Penhold base")
When the Second World War broke out, there were intensive discussions as to how Canada could best support the war effort.
One key decision was to have Canada take the lead role in training the Air Force.
Unlike Great Britain, Canada had ample space for training and operational facilities that were well beyond the range of enemy aircraft.
Unlike many other countries in the British Commonwealth such as Australia and New Zealand, Canada was still close enough to Britain to allow relatively easy transport of men and equipment overseas.
Moreover, Canada had the ability to quickly build up its aircraft manufacturing capacity.
Consequently, in late 1939, an agreement was signed between Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand to establish the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP).
A network of airbases and training schools was quickly constructed, many of them in Western Canada.
In order to save time, the authorities often looked to existing airports and landing fields as places to create the BCATP facilities.
In the late 1930s, the federal Department of Transport had built an airport just north of the Village of Penhold.
It replaced an earlier airport, which had operated just south of Red Deer, but closed in 1932 due to the onset of the Great Depression.
Construction crews rushed in to expand the runways at the Penhold airport and to construct the necessary barracks, hangers and training facilities for the Air Force.
In the fall of 1940, the new airbase was designated as No. 2A Manning Depot for the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Manning depots were used for new recruits and were the centres where the recruits were outfitted with their uniforms, given their medicals and vaccinations, began foot drills and started basic instructions.
In the summer of 1941, as the construction of the new airbase neared completion, Penhold was officially designated as No 36, Service Flying Training School.
It operated under the direction of the Royal Air Force.
As such it became the advanced training centre where the students mastered such things instrument and night flying and took part in formation flying exercises.
According to an article at the time, getting the flying school opened was challenging.
Many of the aircraft had to be flown out from Eastern Canada by the officers of the unit. .
Much of the new equipment had to be assembled on the site.
There was a critical shortage of qualified instructors and initially only 20 planes on hand.
Despite these handicaps, the pressures of the war made it imperative to use all resources to the outmost and to continue recruiting and training personnel.
The military authorities also began constructing another flying training school south of the Penhold airbase near the Village of Bowden.
In late December 1941, LAC D.A. Phillips died from injuries sustained in a plane crash.
He was the first of35 young airmen stationed at Penhold to be killed in flying accidents in Central Alberta.
Military funerals became almost a monthly occurrence in the city.
Over the course of the War, 42 classes of students were trained at the Penhold airbase.
According to the Harvard Historical Aviation Centre average station strength was 1400 personnel.
It is therefore not surprising that the Penhold base had a huge impact on the surrounding community, economically and socially.
A great many local families invited the young airmen into their homes for such things as Christmas dinners.
There were countless social events held by various groups for the "entertainment and recreation of the RAF boys."
Quite a few airmen met their future wives while stationed at Pen-hold.
As the war drew to a close in 1945, use of the base declined dramatically.
Buildings were dismantled or hauled away until only the seven large hangers and a few other buildings remained.
In 1951, the Korean conflict and the broader Cold War prompted the federal government to reactivate the Penhold Airbase as a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) flying training school.
More than $2 million worth of construction and improvements were carried out.
The Penhold Airbase became a very important part of the local community once more.
This article was written by Michael Dawe for the Red Deer Advocate’s Centennial Book. The Heritage Community Foundation would like to thank Michael Dawe and the Red Deer Advocate for permission to reprint these materials online. Please visit the Red Deer Advocate online.The images in the article are part of the collection of the Red Deer Archives. Please visit them online.