Historical ­Notes

No. 33 Elementary Flight Training School opened in November of 1941, outside Caron, Saskatchewan. It was one of nearly one hundred aerodromes and landing fields built in Canada during the first few years of the Second World War. It was part of the British Common-wealth Air Training Plan (bcatp). The province of Sask-atchewan hosted 16 training facilities in both major cities and in numerous small towns across the prairies. The people responded warmly and generously welcomed student pilots and ­aircrew.

In the 1930s it became clear that airplanes and an air force would be a necessary part of any armed conflict with enemies like the Third Reich in Germany. That meant that young men had to be trained as pilots and crew, and soon. Discussions between the British and Canadian politicians, military leaders and bureaucrats went on for several years before the first schools finally were launched in 1940. Several men were instrumental in imagining the concept and working out the financial and functional details. For additional background on how the bcatp came about, read Wings of Victory by Spenser Dunmore or Thousands Shall Fall by Murray Peden. A good list of articles on the subject is available on the Internet under ­bcatp.

Noted Canadian historian J.L. Granatstein described the bcatp as the major Canadian contribution to the Allied War effort. Wing Commander Fred H. Hitchins thought that the air battle of Europe was won on the fields of the bcatp. Charles Gavan Power, Minister of National Defence for Air during World War II, maintained that the bcatp was the single most grandiose enterprise ever embarked on by ­Canada.

More than 131,000 aircrew members were trained. The bcatp trained young men from Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and, of course, Canada. In all, 49,808 pilots, 29,963 navigators/observers, 15,673 air bombers, 18,496 wireless operators/air gunners, 1,913 flight engineers and 704 naval air gunners graduated from these training ­facilities.

More than 900 students, instructors and ground crew lost their lives during training. The community graveyard outside Caron and Caronport, Saskatchewan, with its ten ­well-­tended military graves, is one of several across the country that holds the bodies of those young men who died in training accidents or ­crashes.