THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH AIR TRAINING PLAN « War and Game Contrary to impressions given by history books the Allied Forces during World War II did notspool up their war efforts from a standing start in 1939-40 in response to the Axis threat. From as far back as 1933, not even the Canadian political mechanism was able to deny the coming conflict and their inevitable involvement in it and, while above the surface they were calm and aloof - like a duck, they were madly churning away below the surface. As early as 1936 Group Captain Arthur Tedder of the RAF Reserves drew up an official memo, outlining the importance of Canada as a potential training ground for RAF pilots in the event of war. Obviously the situation in Europe had deteriorated to the point where long range contingency plans were being put together for when Germany attacked Britain itself. Canadian politicians would only agree if control of any such facilities was in Canadian hands, the British government rejected this, so this original memo and concept was abandoned. But the idea was good in principal and would not just die. In 1938 another mission from Britain visited Canada to evaluate the capabilities of its aviation manufacturing industry, with an eye to buying needed machinery from Canada. They were a little disappointed, but felt things could be brought up to snuff. Now, about this time -with the imminent threat of war- the Canadian public wanted to know how its government stood on supporting England when war did start, but it was a bad time to look for a firm stand from the political forum. Not wanting to do anything that would lose the federal election due in 1940, the Liberal Prime Minister, Mackenzie King, performed two years of truly amazing burfurcating, sliding and evading. And in fact he managed to put off any commitments until after September 10, 1939 when Canada had declared war on Germany. Then, in a brilliant series of moves through October and November he told each faction whatever they wanted to hear about how Canada would be involved in the war effort and, when he hadeveryone happy, called an election for March of 1940. Canada at this time was still unable to shake off the last economic ennuie from the Great Depression of the 30’s, and the prospect of anything that would provide jobs was starting to look acceptable, even a war; especially if (as promised) Canadians would manufacture necessary materials, but would not be forced to fight. Try to remember that the economic spinoffs for a community near any military installation is substantial, even in boom times. So, with a few rumours of lots of British Government money splashing around for the construction and maintenance of British Air Training Bases (courtesy of your present government) a Liberal victory was assured. After the election, of course, all bets were off. Conscription did happen and Canadians got very involved in the war effort in all capacities. And the BCATP bases? Well, Peter Conrad says it best in his book ‘Training For Victory’ ..careful consideration and due deliberation was given to all factors involved (best possible location for weather, logistics, accessibility, etc), … “Most long time Liberal constituencies received a school early in the war (except for Kings constituency which received two), followed by constituencies that had a CCF member of Parliament, especially those CCF constituencies that had previously been Liberal. (The district of) Melville was an exception to the pattern because it had been a longtime supporter of the Liberal party and continued to elect Liberals during and after the war. Few Conservative constituencies received facilities.” Whatever the politics of the situation, the BCATP was an excellent concept and, with the dedicated sweat of thousands of people who believed in the program, it worked well on many levels. The startup phase progressed quickly, on September 10, 1939 war was declared, on October 10, 1939 it was announced that Australia, Canada, The U.K. and New Zealand had agreed that Canada would provide a training ground for Commonwealth Aircrew where training could take place away from the battle zone in Europe. Limited participation in the form of volunteers was received from other Commonwealth Countries such as India, Hong Kong, and even the Bahamas. On December 17, 1939 the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan agreement (BCTAP) was signed between all the parties concerned, the election was won by March 26, 1940 and in early April of 1940 of the most comprehensive aircrew training programs ever undertaken was instigated. On April 29, 1940, the first schools opened and by the end of September 1941 all but three of the proposed schools were in operation. Training went ahead of schedule and as early as September 30, 1940 the first 39 pilots passed out of Camp Borden, followed by the first air observers from Trenton on October 24, and 50 air gunners on October 28. In June 1942 the number of schools was increased to 67 (including 21 double schools) and ten specialist schools were added for operational personnel and flying instructor training. To give an idea of the magnitude of the venture, you have to look at the relationship between the existing personnel numbers and what they grew to. For example, in the fiscal year ending March 31, 1939 - less than 6 months before the war started - the RCAF had a total strength of 4,061 officers and airmen had produced only 45 pilots from their training programs. Under BCATP, at its peak, the RCAF component itself was to administer 40,000 personnel and to instruct and graduate 20,000 aircrew per year from some 74 training schools and other installations. This didn’t include an additional 27 RAF training schools that were started as RAF and later came under the BCATP control. By the close of 1943 there were 104,000 personnel in Training Commands 1 thru 4 operating a total of 97 schools and 187 ancillary units on 231 sites (this includes the RAF’s 40,000 personnel at 27 locations). Students with odd accents from all over the world started pouring into Canada to be trained, and in spite of the spine cracking effort put out by the BTACP mechanism and sundry local public works departments, the lack of experienced training personnel and facilities was chronic. A call went out to the public and private communities in Canada to help and the response from these sources was immediate and strong. For example, all 17 private flying clubs in the Canadian Flying Clubs Association began providing elementary flying training, and a group of commercial operators from bush flying and charter outfits banded together to provide training for the air observers. Private industry geared up and soon there were student pilots, bemused observers, sleepy gunners, beginning bombardiers, and lost navigators wallowing all over the skies of Canada. Civilians quickly went from being unable to sleep because of the raucous sound of night flying ops, to being lulled to sleep by the familiar drone of aero engines. It was beginning to work. I cannot even begin to relate the myriad stories, or convey the spirit of cooperation (with the exception of one ugly incident in Moose Jaw) involved in the BCATP. If you are interested in details of this program, I highly recommend two books to you. The first is ‘Training for Victory - The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in the West’ by Peter C. Conrad, 1989 Western Producer Prairie Books ISBN: 0-88833-302-1. The second is ‘The Long and the Short and the Tall’ by Robert Collins, 1986 Western Producer Prarie Books.. All together, at their peak, the schools were producing an average of 3,000 personnel a month and shipping them off to the European and Asian theatres of war. But it, thankfully, couldn’t last. In February of 1944, in view of a large surplus of trained personnel and the obvious winding down of hostilities in Europe, it was agreed to begin a gradual reduction of trainees and staff. In June of the same year recruiting of aircrew and ground personnel for the RCAF was suspended, and by October school closure was stepped up. On March 31, 1945 the BCATP was deemed no longer needed and was ended, and military activity soon ceased on most of the bases. Buildings were abandoned, personnel mustered out, and surplus equipment sold or scrapped. But the program left a legacy and many old BCATP sites are civilian airports and manufacturing areas that add value to the local community even today. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a list of the four Training Command Units and a thumbnail of their histories: No. 1 Training Command January 1, 1940 first formed at Toronto, Ontario January 14, 1944 moved to Malton, Ontario January 1945 merged with No 3 Training Command to form No. 1 Training Command -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No. 2 Training Command April 15, 1940 first formed at Winnipeg, Manitoba April 15, 1940 Training School Number 7 set up in Saskatoon Elementary Flying Training Schools No.2 Fort William, No. 6 Prince Albert, Saskatchewan No. 14 Portage la Prarie, Manitoba No. 19 Virden, Manitoba No. 23 Davidson, Manitoba (moved to Yorkton January 1945) No. 26 Neepawa, Manitoba No. 35 Neepawa, Manitoba (RAF school incorporated into No.26) Service Flying Training Schools No. 4 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (reformed from No 7 Training School) No. 10 Dauphin, Manitoba No. 11 Yorkton, Saskatchewan No. 12 Brandon, Manitoba No. 13 North Battleford, Saskatchewan No. 17 Souris, Manitoba No. 18 Gimli, Manitoba No. 33 Carberry, Manitoba (RAF) No. 35 North Battleford, Saskatchewan (RAF school incorporated into No.13) Air Observers No. 5 Winnipeg, Manitoba No. 6 Prince Albert, Saskatchewan No. 7 Portage la Prarie, Manitoba Central Navigation School No. 1 Rivers, Manitoba Wireless School No. 3 Winnipeg, Manitoba Bombing and Gunnery Schools No. 3 Macdonald, Manitoba No. 5 Dafoe, Manitoba No. 7 Paulson, Manitoba November 30, 1944 merged with No 4 Training command to form No 2 Air Command -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No. 3 Training Command March 18, 1940 first formed as Training Group No 2 at Montreal, Quebec April 29, 1940 redesignated No. 3 Training Command January 15, 1945 merged with No 1 Training Command to form No. 1 Training Command -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No. 4 Training Command April 29, 1940 first formed at Regina, Saskatchewan October 1, 1941 moved to Calgary Alberta Initial Training Schools No. 2 Regina Saskatchewan No. 4 Edmonton, Alberta Elementary Flying Training Schools No. 5 Lethbridge, Alberta (moved to High River, Alberta June 1941) No. 8 Vancouver, B.C. No. 15 Regina, Saskatchewan No. 16 Edmonton, Alberta No. 18 Boundary Bay, B.C. No. 24 Abbotsford, B.C. No. 25 Assiniboia, Saskatchewan No. 31 De Winton, Alberta (RAF) No. 32 Bowden, Alberta (RAF) No. 33 Caron, Saskatchewan (RAF) No. 34 Assiniboia (RAF school incorporated into No. 25) No. 36. Pearce, Alberta (RAF) Service Flying Training Schools No. 3 Calgary, Alberta No. 7 Fort Macloed, Alberta No. 8 Weyburn, Saskatchewan No. 15 Claresholm, Alberta No. 19 Vulcan, Alberta No. 32 Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan (RAF) No. 34 Medicine Hat, Alberta (RAF) No. 36 Penhold, Alberta (RAF) No. 37 Calgary, Alberta (RAF) No. 38 Estevan, Saskatchewan (RAF) No. 39 Swift Curent, Saskatchewan (RAF) No. 41 Weyburn, Saskatchewan (RAF school incorporated into No.8) Flying Instructor School No. 2 Vulcan, Alberta (Moved to Pearce, Alberta May 1943) Operational Training Squadron (WAC) No. 13 Sea Island (moved to Patricia Bay, B.C. November 1940) Operational Training Unit (WAC) No. 3 Patricia Bay, B.C. No. 5 Boundary Bay, B.C. No. 6 Comox, B.C. No. 32 Patricia Bay, B.C. (RAF school incorporated into No.3) Air Observers Schools No. 2 Edmonton, Alberta No. 3 Regina, Saskatchewan (moved to Pearce, Alberta in September 1942) Wireless School No. 2 Calgary, Alberta Bombing and Gunnery Schools No. 2 Mossbank, Saskatchewan No. 8 Lethbridge, Alberta Operational Training Units (WAC) No. 3 Patricial Bay, B.C. No. 5 Boundary Bay, B.C. No. 6 Comox, B.C. No. 32 Patricial Bay, B.C. Nov 30, 1944 merged with No 2 Training Command to form No 2 Air Command
This is a 240 page online book on Canada and the BCATP http://www.forces.gc.ca/dhh/collections/books/files/books/Aerodrome_e.pdf There were also similar training facilities in Australia, New Zealand, Rhodesia and South Africa. And the US also provided facilities, both before and after theeir entry into the war
