GHOSTS OF SASKATCHEWAN
The Second World War was a time of powerful stresses on nations, on ethnicities, on families, and on economies around the globe. Hundreds of thousands of families, in every corner of the world, would offer up, with grim reluctance, their sons and even daughters and lay them down on the altar of liberty. The best of this young generation were to be given the task and the training to push back a darkness which was devouring freedom, territory and lives. They were about to save the world.
From 1939 to 1944, as part of this global sacrifice, there was a great gathering that brought together young men from around the world. It was a coming together of avenging angels – men who would take the fight against this darkness to the air in proportions not even dreamed of just a few years before, in machines of great power and lethality. Though the souls for the task at hand were drawn from disparate places like New Zealand, Jamaica, Scotland, Norway, and Australia, the trysting place would be the small towns and rural hamlets of Canada as well as larger urban centres such as Moncton, Toronto, Fort William, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver, to name just a few..
Men boarded great grey ships at Sydney's Circular Quay or perhaps the docks of Great Britain, rode trains from Toronto's Union Station, or walked across the border from the United States and resolutely made their way through initial training schools to the vast, sky-dominated and peaceful prairie landscape. As part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), Canada would put into motion a logistical and engineering project of such monumental proportions for the country of only eleven million citizens, that it dwarfed the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the ribbon of steel that united our country before confederation – something Canadians consider the gold standard in federal infrastructure projects. Inside of two years, Canadians scouted, surveyed, and built more than 150 airfields, established almost 100 training schools for pilots and aircrew, built the syllabi and training equipment and the thousands of aircraft needed. The cost exceeded 2.25 billion in 1939 dollars (approximately 36 Billion dollars today), and Canada paid for 75% of it.
During this build-up time, recruitment began in earnest and in all corners of the country and the Commonwealth – a cattle farmer's son from Victoria, Australia, a bookkeeper from Oshawa, Ontario, a missionary's son from Philadelphia, a gas jockey from Sherbrooke, Québec, an apprentice butcher from Aberdeen, Scotland, a law student from Montréal, Québec. The system sorted them out by skills or needs, assigned them to schools across the country, and fed them into the maw of the BCATP.
Canadian BCATP bases were spread from coast to coast, but primarily they took place in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. To make room for flying operations, and to keep the skies relatively uncrowded, these airfields and schools were dispersed far and wide, with most of them located within 5 to 20 kilometers from a small rural town. This was done to maintain proximity to a source of support workers, materiel and food as well as give marooned students some sort of night life. For many of these bases, one, two, or even three relief landing fields were created to relieve congestion at the main field as scores of aircraft shot touch-and-goes and did circuits. In themselves, these were often complete airports with buildings and paved runways and staff.
If you grew up in a small village like Dafoe, Saskatchewan in the 1930s, life was nothing short of predictable. Work was never ending, winters were hard, oh so hard, church was obligatory, marital prospects were limited, and one's view of the world at large was what you could glean from newspapers. The great tectonic shifts in world politics, militarism and technology were things that happened over the horizon – far, far over the horizon. But in 1940, the world at large, with its fears, stresses, strange accents and brave young men came marching over that horizon and encamped just outside of the town limits of many a small town in Canada.
Suddenly there were year-round jobs for men and women. There was local business growth where there had been nothing for decades, save a shrinking economy shattered by the Great Depression. Everyone was benefiting from these new aviation schools – from bakers and builders to teamsters and casket makers. Every room in town that could be rented was filled with military and civilian instructors. Overnight, there were hundreds of virile, exuberant, polite, and lonely young men walking around town. Local society was transformed in a Prairie heartbeat. There were dances, socials, fundraisers, love affairs and barroom fights. The impacts on these small towns were huge and, for some like Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, they would be permanent. In some towns, the BCATP blew through town like a summer prairie storm, straining the fabric of the community for just a couple of years and then it was gone, or at least the flow of young men who brought it to life had dried up overnight and the bases were closed. Some large bases, populated by more than a thousand students and staff, were opened and shut down in just two years. The local economy went from zero to a hundred miles an hour and back down to zero just as quickly.
The network of BCATP schools was established in breathtaking speed. Some airfields were operational within a year. The last came online in 1942. Despite the stupendous cost and effort to create these schools and despite the success of the project and massive output of qualified and motivated young aviators, war planners could read the writing on the wall. The darkness was receding, the fascists were weakening and reeling backwards. Soon, the bloodletting would stop. It was time to cut the flow of blood off at the source – the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. By late 1944 and early 1945, a few of these brand new schools were shut down and the bases closed.
Some, like Moose Jaw, Portage La Prairie and Bagotville, remain as RCAF bases to this day. Others, like Claresholm and Penhold, would be reactivated for military training service after a short closure and then fade away. Some saw a short-term second life as storage, maintenance and disposal facilities for the thousands of training and combat aircraft that had been needed for the war effort, but were now surplus to requirements. The lucky ones, located near larger communities such as Prince Albert or Arnprior were, in time, handed over to the communities that birthed them, to become the local airport and the seed for industrial development. Many still function today.
Almost all the relief landing fields and many of the more remote bases have declined, deteriorated, or simply vanished, consumed by the landscape that once fostered them. All that remains of many are crumbled runways, hangar floor slabs, abandoned gunnery backstops (gun butts) and, in some cases, just a faint wisp of memory, a discolouration upon the land. Only one base, No. 31 Bombing and Gunnery School (B&GS), at Picton, Ontario, exists intact to this day – a time capsule from a period most Canadians have forgotten.
Recently, while flying across the Prairies with Bruce Evans in his T-28 Trojan, we spotted one single BCATP base off to the south of our track, its broken runways catching the light enough to distinguish it from the surrounding farmland. There was but one structure where once there had been a small town. It was a ghost, caught in the open sunlight, a single footprint from a massive military beast, left upon the prairie. It got me to thinking: “What is still visible of this enterprise today?
Using Google Maps-Satellite as a camera, I searched the Prairies for the remains of the greatest engineering accomplishment in Canadian history. Scrolling across the countryside in “my satellite”, many of the familiar triangular airfields, invisible from a passing car, were clearly visible. Others had left only the faintest of spoor, while others had vanished into the prairie grass. Using the Canadian province of Saskatchewan as my boundary, I tracked down, via satellite, all that is still visible from above today. Seventy years from now, much of what you will see in the following images will cease to exist. Here now, compiled for your edification, are all the bases of the BCATP that were located in Saskatchewan – what they look like today, a few thoughts about their past, a few images from the war or their later life, a wave goodbye.
In the months ahead, we hope to bring your similar stories on Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and the rest of Canada. I was aided in my search by a fantastic website written and compiled by Bruce Forsyth called MilitaryBruce.com. Bruce, a former naval reservist, has listed and written about every abandoned military facility in Canada. Using some his notes and writings, as well as many other sources, I was able to compile a very brief history of these once great air force facilities. In addition, friends on Flickr gave me permission to use their posted images, and town websites were used for additional colour. I also thank the incredible minds that gave us Google Maps/Google Earth. It's a great way to travel back in time.
The BCATP in Saskatchewan
No. 34 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS), Assiniboia
and No.25 Elementary Flying Training School
Originally opened by the Royal Air Force on 11 February 1942, No. 34 EFTS was located near the small South Saskatchewan town of Assiniboia. In addition, a relief landing field was constructed near Assiniboia at a place called Lethburn (where there stood a school, named after the two ends of the Canadian Pacific Line that ran through Assiniboia: Lethbridge, Alberta and Weyburn, Saskatchewan). No. 34 EFTS trained RAF pilots on the Fairchild Cornell and was managed by the civilian Winnipeg Flying Club. One of the longest serving instructors there was Flight Lieutenant Archie Pennie, to whom our Fairchild Cornell is dedicated. Archie accumulated nearly 700 hours on the Cornell while instructing pilot trainees at the facility.
Living near the end of one of the three Assiniboia runways was a young boy by the name of Harry Whereatt. Harry, inspired by the pilots and instructors who flew overhead, would become a pilot and Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME). More than that, Whereatt would collect surplus aircraft after the war and would spend a lifetime restoring them to flying condition. The Vintage Wings of Canada Lysander and Canadian Car and Foundry-built Hurricane XII were two of Harry's most successful restoration projects. Sadly, Harry died this year
No. 34 EFTS closed on January 30th, 1944. The aerodrome was taken over by the RCAF and No. 25 EFTS stood up in its place. No. 25 EFTS had a brief existence though, and by the time it closed on July 28th, 1944, 2,560 student pilots had graduated from Assiniboia under both schools
In August 1944, two new units stood up at the aerodrome: No. 41 Pre-Aircrew Training School (PATS), with a mandate to provide academic training, and No. 403 Aircraft Holding Unit (AHU), – a storage operation for Second World War surplus aircraft. Both units closed in 1945.
Very little remains of the old school today, with only the airfield and the gun butts remaining. All the buildings were either torn down or moved off-site. Two hangars were moved to Regina and the drill hall to Moose Jaw. The hospital, recreation hall, workshop, officers' barracks and the dental building were moved to Assiniboia itself
The airfield is now the Assiniboia Airport. A cairn was constructed on the property to pay tribute to the personnel who served at both No. 34 & No. 25 EFTS.
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No. 33 Elementary Flying Training School, Caron
No. 33 EFTS was opened by the Royal Air Force on January 5th, 1942, near the small prairie town of Caron, Saskatchewan. The facility was managed by civilians from the Aero Club of British Columbia and performed elementary flying training on the Fairchild Cornell. A relief landing field was constructed near the hamlet of Boharm. As the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan wound down at the end of the war, the flying school closed on January 14th of 1944. During its operational life, Caron graduated 1,837 airmen who went on to service flying training. Sadly, like many operational flying schools of the BCATP, ten airmen lost their lives in flying accidents while stationed at the airbase.
33 EFTS was established and operated by the Royal Air Force at its inception. 18 EFTS Boundary Bay BC was closed because of pressure brought on by the training of aircrew in B-24s and other large operational aircraft on the coast. 18 EFTS was ordered to take over the Caron school on April 30, 1942. In fact, 18 EFTS was permanently closed on May 20, 1942. The Boundary Bay Flying Training Company did, however, take over the training operations of what remained as 33 EFTS, under the direction of RAF (and later RCAF) supervisory personnel.
The Caron aerodrome continued in the employ of the BCATP after the closing of No. 33 EFTS as a relief landing field for No. 32 Service Flying Training School (SFTS) Moose Jaw, then abandoned. In a swords-to-ploughshares switch, the site was taken over by the Briercrest Bible Institute and renamed Caronport in 1946.
Today, the Briercrest Family of Schools, consisting of Briercrest College and Seminary and Caronport High School, carry on the tradition of providing education at Caronport. The 160 acre campus is home to 1,200 permanent residents and approximately 1,000 students. The village of Caronport is now much larger than the old town of Caron.
A significant portion of the former station remains. One hangar, the Mess Hall, PMQs, the Recreation Centre (although extensively refurbished), one H-hut (originally a classroom, but now used as a dormitory) and various smaller buildings remain. The main airfield no longer remains, but the taxiways now serve as streets for trailer homes. One of the hangars has been converted to a Sports Arena. The site originally featured thirty buildings and a large, paved runway system. Caronport's Larch Street was once a taxiway along the main runway which ran just north-east of Spruce Street.
No. 5 Bombing and Gunnery School, Dafoe
The community of Dafoe, Saskatchewan, is located on the south shores of the Quill Lakes region of South Saskatchewan. In 1940, this was a very remote part of populated Canada. Unlike most airfields which are located fairly close to their namesake towns, the Dafoe base was situated more than 20 kilometers from the town itself. Opened on January 7th, 1941, No. 5 B&GS closed on January 11th, 1945. Aircraft used at the base include the Westland Lysander, Bristol Bolingbroke, Avro Anson, and primarily the Fairey Battle.
The former station property is now used for farming. The only building that remains is one of the hangars. The only other remnants are the hangar pads, the gun butt and the crumbling roadways and airfield. The property owner still uses a portion of the old airfield as a private aerodrome.
As recently as this year, however, members of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum's Flying Committee, organized a fly-in to the Dafoe field to rededicate the airfield to No. 5 Bombing and Gunnery School. From Brandon, Manitoba, where they are based, they flew a Harvard, Cornell and Stinson (all in BCATP markings) and held a dedication ceremony on the ramp and in the one remaining hangar. It is great to note that the old field has not been forgotten altogether.
No. 23 Elementary Flying Training School, Davidson
Davidson is a small town in South Central Saskatchewan, a few kilometers to the east of the northernmost arms of Lake Diefenbaker. It is located 104 kilometers (65 miles) south-east of Saskatoon beside provincial Highway 11, in the rural municipality of Arm River. Sitting almost exactly halfway between Saskatoon and Regina, Davidson's population is a little over 1,000. No. 23 EFTS opened near Davidson on November 9th,1942, under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Of all the EFTS facilities in the BCATP, Davidson was the sole elementary field not under civilian management. It was operated directly by the RCAF. The school relocated to Yorkton in January of 1945. Davidson operated Fairchild Cornell aircraft for elementary training.
From 1957 to 1968, the three 2,500-foot abandoned runways were used as a racetrack for sports car and motorcycle racing. All that remains today of the aerodrome are the abandoned runways and the hangar pads. One of the hangars was moved to the town of Vonda for use as a community ice rink.
It is interesting and possibly a tad disturbing to note that the history section on the Town of Davidson website makes no mention whatsoever of Davidson's important contribution to the war effort with the BCATP.
No. 38 Service Flying Training School, Estevan
No. 38 SFTS, operating the Avro Anson multi-engine trainer, was opened by the RAF on the 1st of April, 1942 near the City of Estevan as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Relief landing fields were constructed near the hamlets of Outram and Chandler. The school closed on the 14th of January,1944 after only two years of operation. Given the high cost of such a large training base, shutting it down after less than two years shows that the RCAF was not interested in amortizing its investment over a longer period, but only in the high output of pilots for the war effort.
Plans were made to convert the aerodrome into an RCAF Air Navigation School, but this never came to be. Instead No. 201 Holding Unit was established at the aerodrome, later changed to No. 204 Equipment Holding Unit. No. 204 EHU closed on 30 November 1944.
The final chapter in the military history of the airport came with the founding of No. 4 Surplus Equipment Holding Unit in April 1945, for the purpose of disposing of surplus RCAF war equipment. The unit closed in December 1945 and the aerodrome was turned over to the City of Estevan for use as a municipal airport. The Estevan Flying Club was also formed at the airport at this time.
In 1989, the former No. 38 SFTS aerodrome closed and the property was sold to the Saskatchewan Power Corporation for a coal mine. A new airport was built north of Estevan on what appears to be the site of one of the relief fields. It was located to the south of the town and west of Highway 47. Nothing visible remains of the BCATP aerodrome today.
Of the relief fields, Outram is less than 10 kilometers from Estevan in a direct line. Chandler field is located approximately five miles west of the village of Macoun, on the south side of Township Road 44. The garage and a small building that once housed a generator are still on the property.
No. 32 Service Flying Training School, Moose Jaw
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan – there can be no more Canadian sounding town name! For more than 70 years, Moose Jaw has been synonymous with military flying training in Canada. Today's Moose Jaw military base is known as CFB Moose Jaw, home of 15 Wing and 431 Squadron, the Snowbirds Air Demonstration Team. The area surrounding Moose Jaw has a high number of cloudless days, making it a good site for training pilots.
Wikipedia states: “The declaration of World War II saw the Moose Jaw Flying Club initially contracted to provide pilot training for the Royal Canadian Air Force, however this was soon replaced by the far larger British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) which saw the Government of Canada acquire the aerodrome and completely reconstruct it into RCAF Station Moose Jaw in 1940 with the new aerodrome opening in 1941.
Initially the Royal Air Force trained exclusively at the base under the RAF's No. 32 Service Flying Training School (SFTS) (ca. 1942) using Harvards, and later, Oxfords. No. 32 SFTS eventually broadened its intake to train 1,200 pilots for the air forces of Canada, the United Kingdom, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, France, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, the United States and the Netherlands.
In 1946 RCAF Station Moose Jaw was decommissioned and the aerodrome was returned to civilian service after the war.
Rising Cold War tensions saw the aerodrome reactivated by the RCAF in 1953 as the site of military pilot training. RCAF Station Moose Jaw undertook additional construction to support its expanded personnel complement. The base was used by the RCAF and its NATO allies for pilot training, using both single-prop World War II-era Harvards and CT-133 Silver Star jet training aircraft. By the mid-1960s these were both replaced by the Canadian built CT-114 Tutor.
In 1968, the RCAF merged with the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Navy to form the unified Canadian Forces. The base's name was changed to Canadian Forces Base Moose Jaw, usually shortened to CFB Moose Jaw. From 1968 until the formation of Air Command in 1975, CFB Moose Jaw fell under the direction of Training Command and served to house the Tutor Jet Training Program.
By the early 1990s, CFB Moose Jaw was operated by over 1,300 employees and made a significant economical impact on the region, but pending cutbacks in military spending spread rumours of possible closure of the base. In 1994 Bombardier Inc. put forth a proposal to provide what is now the NATO Flying Training in Canada program. The proposal was accepted and eliminated all worries that the base would be closed. Many of the base's structures were renovated to accommodate new personnel and new training aircraft. Pilots from Denmark, Singapore, Great Britain, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Finland and many other allied nations train at CFB Moose Jaw every year, ensuring the base's future with the Canadian Forces.
During a reorganization at AIRCOM in the late 1990s, CFB Moose Jaw's various AIRCOM units were placed under a new primary lodger unit called "15 Wing"; consequently the base is frequently referred to as 15 Wing Moose Jaw.”
No. 2 Bombing and Gunnery School, Mossbank
Opened on the 28th of October, 1940 near Mossbank, Saskatchewan, No. 2 Bombing and Gunnery School was one of the first of the major B&G schools to open. The school closed on the 15th of December 1944, having trained 2,539 bomber-aimers and 3,702 air gunners. The Mossbank Golf Club now occupies much of the property. A rock cairn was constructed at the golf course to pay tribute to the men and women who served at No. 2 B&GS.
The base was as large as a small town and featured five aircraft hangars, barracks and other living quarters for several hundred men and women, a parade square, administrative buildings as well as such amenities as an indoor swimming pool, a tennis court, theatre, an open-air skating rink and two ball diamonds.
Students received classroom instruction at Mossbank as well as extensive in-flight training. Exercises included bomb drops over Old Wives Lake on targets representing German submarines. The students frequently made trips into Mossbank where they frequented “the Hostess Club,” which was set up in the local Masonic Lodge. This proved a popular social spot throughout the war.
All that remains of the old school are the gun butts, the hangar pads and the abandoned and crumbling airfield, which still sees the occasional crop-duster plane. The Canadian Forces Snowbirds, who conduct training over Mossbank, have even been known in the past to use the airfield on occasion.
One of the old aircraft hangars was relocated to Regina and is now known as the Turvey Centre. The building has been extensively renovated and is now used for events such as wedding receptions, hobby shows, swap meets and other activities.
No. 35 Service Flying Training School, North Battleford
The Royal Air Force began flying operations at No. 35 SFTS on the 4th of September, 1941 near North Battleford, Saskatchewan with two relief landing fields constructed near Hamlin and Brada. The school taught multi-engine flying with the Airspeed Oxford. Eventually, as the war wound down, No. 35 SFTS closed on the 25th of February, 1944 at which time the aerodrome was taken over by No. 13 SFTS, originally from St. Hubert, Quebec. No. 13 SFTS lived for no more than a year at North Battleford and was then closed in March of 1945.
From 1962-1963, the abandoned runways were used as a racetrack for sports car and motorcycle racing – one of the most common post war uses of BCATP airfields with asphalt runways. The aerodrome is now known as the Cameron Macintosh Airport. All that remains of the wartime schools are the gun butts and the vehicle maintenance shop. Several of the aerodrome's former buildings were moved to the nearby Sharon Schools.
Two of the original runways remain, one lengthened to 5,000 feet. North Battleford Ultra-lights also uses the airfield for flying training.
The former RCAF Detachment Hamlin is now used as an industrial site. Up to 2007, one of the three runways continued to be maintained for use in agricultural flight training by Battleford's Airspray private airport. The airfield in now closed to all aircraft and none of the RCAF buildings remain.
No. 6 Elementary Flying Training School
No. 6 Air Observer School, Prince Albert
No. 6 EFTS was constructed in the inside of a broad curve in the Saskatchewan River near Prince Albert and opened on July 22nd, 1940 with relief landing fields located near Hagan and Emma Lake. The facility operated both the Tiger Moth and Fairchild Cornell. The school closed on November 15th, 1944. From the 17th of March, 1941 to November 11th, 1942, the station doubled as No. 6 Air Observer School, bringing Avro Ansons to the flight line.
All that remains of the former No. 6 EFTS are two BCATP-era hangars. A monument was erected to pay tribute to the 17 airmen and one civilian who died in training accidents at the school. The RCAF Detachments at Hagan and Emma Lake no longer exist.
No. 3 Air Observer School &
No. 15 Elementary Flying Training School, Regina
In 1940, the operation of the Regina Municipal Airport was handed to the Royal Canadian Air Force as part of the British commonwealth Air Training Plan. Training military flyers was already [part of the history of Regina as the Royal flying Corps conducted training here during the First World War. Shortly after take over, No. 3 Air Observer School opened on the 16th of September, 1940, followed by No. 15 Elementary Flying Training School which opened a month late. A relief landing field was constructed near Brora, Saskatchewan.
In September, 1942, No. 3 AOS opened a Detachment at Pearce, Alberta, while also maintaining its site in Regina. The Aerial Observer school continued operating until 6 June 1943 when both the Pearce and Regina schools closed. By the time No. 15 SFTS closed on the 11th of August 1944, the school had trained 2,011 pilots.
The airport reverted to civilian use and is currently the Regina Airport.
No. 4 Service Flying Training School, Saskatoon
Bruce Forsyth wrote more extensively about the former BCATP base at Saskatoon than any of the Saskatchewan fields. The base operated Avro Anson and Cessna Crane twin-engine trainers. I have culled some of the more esoteric details, but this is what he says about the history of the air field:
1940, the Federal Government took over the Saskatoon Municipal Airport for use as an RCAF training facility. On the 16th of September, 1940, No. 4 Service Flying Training School officially opened as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, with relief landing fields at Osler and Vanscoy. The airport facilities were completely overhauled with new hangars, barracks and administrative buildings being constructed. The airfield was expanded and the runways were paved.
No. 4 SFTS closed on the 30th of March, 1945, having graduated over 2000 airmen, but a small RCAF contingent remained at the Saskatoon Airport. 406 (Lynx) Squadron, a fighter squadron that had been adopted by the City of Saskatoon during the Second World War was re-activated in 1947 as a light bomber squadron in the RCAF Auxiliary (Reserve). Officially re-named 406 (Lynx) City of Saskatoon Squadron, the squadron took up residence in several of the former No. 4 SFTS buildings.
During the 1950s, Saskatoon became one of the major military centres in Western Canada. As a result of the RCAF's post-war expansion, RCAF Station Saskatoon re-opened as an air training facility in October of 1950. That same year, No. 23 Wing was formed to oversee 406 (Linx) Squadron and several other Auxiliary (Reserve) Squadrons in Western Canada.
No. 1 Advance Flying School opened at the station in 1952, one of the many Flying Training Schools opened across Canada to train RAF, RCAF and NATO aircrews. Students at the school trained on Mitchell Bombers and Expeditor aircraft trainers. Other lodger units at the station included, No. 3043 Technical Training Unit (Auxiliary) and No. 4002 Medical Unit (Auxiliary). In 1956, the Instrument Flying School moved to Saskatoon from RCAF Station Centralia.
RCAF Station Saskatoon closed in 1964 and both 406 Squadron and 23 Wing were disbanded.
RCAF Detachment No. 1005 Technical Support Depot was established at the site, occupying four of the station's BCATP-era hangars. The Detachment served as a disposal and storage facility for surplus aircraft, including the C119 Flying Boxcar, Expeditor, Neptune, Harvard trainers and the Yukon Transport aircraft. In fact, it was at No. 1005 TSD that the last five Harvard aircraft in the RCAF inventory were brought for disposal.
The remainder of the property was turned over to the Federal Department of Transport and reverted to its original role as a civilian airport, now known as the Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport.
Nothing remains at RCAF Detachment Olser as it was ploughed under for farming long ago. The abandoned airfield remains at the former RCAF Detachment Vanscoy.
No. 39 Service Flying Training School, Swift Current
No. 39 SFTS, Swift Current opened its doors on the 15th of December, 1941 east of and close to Swift Current. Relief Landing Fields at were also built near the hamlets of St. Aldwyn, Wymark and Ralph. Training was conducted on the Airspeed Oxford. The school closed on February 11th, 1944. Of those important days in the history of the town, the Swift Current website says: “Over a thousand servicemen were at the base any given time, including instructors, trainees and support staff. In addition, local people were employed as mechanics, carpenters, cooks etc. Swift Current businesses benefited greatly by providing goods and services to the base. Airmen on their days off kept Swift Current restaurants, bars and taxi companies busy.
Many families opened their doors to make the young trainees feel at home. A number of married officers and their families rented houses or suites from people in town. Dances, church services, variety shows, Frontier Days and sporting events were some of the occasions that brought the service men and the community together.”
The airfield had three sets of parallel runways. The aerodrome is now the Swift Current Airport and two of the original six runways remain in use by the South West Flying Club with one (Runway 12-30) extended to 4,250 feet.
All that remains today of the wartime school are one complete hangar, one partial hangar, the tower for the original control room (but not the control room itself), the gunnery backstop, the maintenance garage and the water pumping station. All that remains of RCAF Detachment St. Aldwyn is the abandoned airfield and the hangar pads.
No. 41 Service Flying Training School &
Number 8 Service Flying Training School, Weyburn
No. 41 SFTS, operating both the Harvard and the Anson, opened on the 5th of January 1942 with a Relief Landing Field near Halbrite, Saskatchewan. The school closed on the 22nd of January 1944. No. 8 SFTS (RCAF) stood up in its place having come from Moncton, New Brunswick, but the school had a brief existence in Weyburn as it re-located back to Moncton on 30 June 1944 and the station was abandoned. In two years of operation in Weyburn, the two schools graduated 1,055 pilots and recorded more than 180,000 hours of flight time. The peak month was April of 1943, when over 12,000 hours were logged by 146 aircraft, 136 being single engine Harvards and 10 twin engine Avro Ansons.
The aerodrome sat abandoned until the early 1950s, when a medical facility for mentally handicapped children took over the former station's buildings, remaining until 1957. Western Christian College then occupied the former aerodrome from 1957 until 1989. The former station is now the Weyburn Airport.
I was unable to find any evidence of the former relief field at RCAF Detachment Halbrite, even though the hangar was apparently used for agricultural storage up until a few years ago when it collapsed.
No. 11 Service Flying Training School &
No. 23 Elementary Flying Training School, Yorkton
The Yorkton, Saskatchewan website states: “As early as the onset of the war in 1939, Mayor Charles Peaker and other city officials were on a quest to have the Federal Government establish a flying training school near Yorkton. The plans were promoted by the Liberal party candidate Allan McLean and Liberal Member of Parliament, George W. McPhee. Their bid was successful and construction of the facilities began in the spring of 1940 on a site a few kilometres north of Yorkton, with two relief stations located at the nearby communities of Rhein and Sturdee.
By November, the project was in a sufficiently advanced stage, to allow for the first official plane to bring Air Vice Marshall G. M. Croll and his party for an inspection. The official opening was held on June 11, 1941. It was an impressive complex consisting of 40 buildings, including a large mess hall, a 35-bed hospital, and hangars to shelter some 200 planes.
It created a boom for Yorkton, and an opportunity for close involvement with the airmen and airwomen. A hostess club was organized with headquarters on the third floor of the old city hall, which provided a diversity of social events for the military personnel and citizens.
The first Commanding Officer was Group Captain George R. Howsam. Students came from all over Canada, and the Commonwealth countries to perfect their skills. They flew North American Harvards and twin-engine Cessna Cranes, unfortunately not without a few fatal accidents. By the end of the war in 1945, an estimated 2000 pilots had earned their wings at the Yorkton school”
No. 11 SFTS opened on the 10th of April, 1941 north of Yorkton as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, along with relief landing fields near Sturdee (asphalt runways) and the Rhein District (grass runways). The field operated aircraft for the training of both single and multi-engine pilots – the Harvard, Cessna Crane and Avro Anson. A total of 40 buildings were constructed for the flying school, including a full surgical hospital, one of four for all of No. 2 Training Command. Unlike most relief landing fields, no buildings were constructed at either the Sturdee or Rhein aerodromes.
No. 11 SFTS closed on the 1st of December 1944, and the Cornells of No. 23 EFTS re-located from Davidson, Saskatchewan to Yorkton on the 29th of January 1945, but it would have a brief existence in Yorkton, as it too closed in September, 1945.
RCAF Station Yorkton seemed destined to become a part of the post-war RCAF. The aerodrome became a storage depot as well as the home of No. 2 Flying Training School and The 53rd Heavy Anti-aircraft Regiment. This would be short-lived as the station closed in early 1946.
The airport is now the Yorkton Airport (CQV). Of all the former school's buildings, only one of the original seven hangars remain. The abandoned airfield at the former RCAF Detachment Sturdee also remains, but nothing remains at RCAF Detachment Rhein.