Kate MacFarlane is the authour of the following article. She visited the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum earlier this year to complete a study for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada to assist the board in making a decision as to the national significance of Hangar No. 1, No. 12 Service Flying Training School home of the CATP Museum. In our correspondence, she was careful to point out that this is not the report she submitted to the board, but felt that museum members might be interested in a summary of her findings "on this very interesting building."Kate is an Architectural Historian employed by Parks Canada. She playfully pointed out she is "almost a local" having graduated from the University of Winnipeg (Manitoba) with an undergraduate degree in history. She also has a Masters degree from York University in Toronto, Ontario. In the course of her work with Parks Canada, she has examined huge numbers of World War II buildings within the federal inventory and has written, in the past, on the H-Hut.
When asked what interested her in the subject, her reply was "What wouldn't?... The BCATP (British Commonwealth Air Training Plan) was an enormous achievement and left quite a legacy." She went on to say, "I had an uncle who trained under the plan and who was killed in Cologne. While preparing the paper on the Hangar, my aunt sent me a copy of a letter Dan had written just arriving in England, in which he talks about his eagerness to get going and the frustration at having to wait while the 'Aussies' fly first. In light of his death, the letter was pretty poignant and it added a personal dimension to the research."
Kate's letter underscores an important point for all of us to consider. Even though the Second World War is over 50 years in the past, a great number of us still have direct links to those who were involved with it and we have a keen interest in all things related to it.
We thank Kate for her enthusiasm and her contribution below.
As many of Contact 's readers no doubt know, the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum (CATP), Inc. is housed in Hangar No. One at the Brandon Municipal Airport. This is the site of the former British Commonwealth Air Training Plan's (BCATP) No. 12 Service Flying Training School. The CATP is the only museum in Canada dedicated solely to preserving the history and artifacts of the Plan. Opened in 1981, its stated mission is "to commemorate the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan by telling its story, preserving its artifacts and paying tribute to the over 18,000 Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) personnel who gave their lives during World War II." The museum is home to over 5,000 artifacts, thirteen period aircraft (four of which, The Harvard, Tiger Moth, Cornell and Stinson HW-25 are airworthy and flown regularly) and six other RCAF wartime vehicles, including: a staff car, six-wheel drive crash tender, half-ton truck, Ford airfield tractor, Jeep and aircraft refuelling tanker. These aircraft and vehicles, as well as the other displays are housed in the museum's largest and perhaps its most significant artifact, Hangar No. One.
The enormous significance of the BCATP has been recognized by the Canadian Government which has erected a plaque at the museum. The text of this plaque reads:
The BCATP, one of Canada's most important contributions to the Allied war effort in World War II, was created by an agreement signed on 17 December 1939. Over 130,000 airmen from the Commonwealth and other countries trained at schools across Canada, many in Western Canada, where clear skies and unbroken horizons were ideal for flying. Their presence had a significant impact on the social and economic life of the region. Airfields built for the Plan became an important part of Canada's postwar aviation network.
At the outbreak of war, the RCAF had only five airports of its own with six more under construction. Its total strength was approximately 4,000 and its activities were confined mainly to two stations organized under one Air Training Command. Rapid expansion was necessary to meet the requirements of the Plan and this was done through the cooperative effort of the RCAF and the Department of Transport. The former designed and erected buildings while the latter selected and developed airfields after RCAF approval. The construction challenges faced by the RCAF were huge and its achievements are even more impressive in light of these challenges. According to the RCAF's History of Construction Engineering, during the short life of the Plan, over 8,300 buildings were constructed, 701 of which were hangars or hangar type construction. The chief purpose of these hangars, "the airline's equivalent to the railroad engine house," was to provide a large, enclosed, uninterrupted space for the servicing of aircraft. These vast spaces had to be adequately lit and heated and as fireproof as possible.
According to the History of Construction Engineering, BCATP hangars were, for the most part, erected to a standard plan. Hangar size varied in the Training Commands with the type of school or unit concerned and in the Home War Commands with the type of aircraft and operation work involved. Some standard sizes were: single (112' x 126'), double (112' x 160') and double/double (224' x 320'). The bulk of these hangars were constructed in wood due to wartime shortages of steel. Their frameworks consisted of heavy wooden trusses with bolted joints, supported by rigidly braced wooden timber columns. The Warren truss system used by the RCAF consisted of parallel upper and lower chords with inclined connecting members forming a series of approximately equilateral triangles. Hangars had flat tar and gravel roofs and hangar doors were either the lifting or the horizontally folding type. Pilot or wicket doors were installed in these doors, at either side of the hangar, to provide access for personnel without having to open the large doors. The most common siding material used was cedar shingles over diagonal sheeting. Significant natural lighting was provided by large windows placed at a height of approximately 18 feet above floor level on the sides and six feet above the floor on the closed end of the building. Hangar floors were of poured concrete. Single, or in some cases, double lean-tos were built on either one or both sides of the hangars. These were divided up into offices, equipment stores, washrooms, heating plants, etc.
The standard plan hangar developed by the RCAF not only met the functional requirements of a large, open space, adequately lit and heated, for the servicing of aircraft but it also dealt successfully with wartime constraints and requirements such as material shortages and the need to erect enormous numbers of such buildings in a very short time. It was an amazing achievement. It is not known how many of these hangars remain, but the numbers are low and getting lower all the time. Many of the remaining examples are heavily altered, used for unrelated functions or vacant. The loss of these buildings is understandable but regrettable and enhances the significance of those which remain. Of these, Hangar No. One stands out as a remarkably unaltered and intact example of this standard RCAF hangar plan. It is typical in its framing, cladding, arrangement of doors and windows, and single-storey side lean-tos. Most of its original features and finishes remain. Furthermore, it has retained its functional integrity to a large degree being primarily devoted to aircraft storage and repair and dedicated to the BCATP for which it was constructed. This combination of attributes is very rare, perhaps even unique. Hangar No. One is an important illustration of a significant construction and engineering achievement and its careful preservation is a credit to the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum
Canadian Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
This photo is one of the thousands that the our incomparable photographic reproduction guy, Lyle Gawletz, has processed over the years for the CATP Museum. It was made on January 29, 1942 and shows #1 Squad of the CWAAF (Canadian Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) of the RCAF. Lyle’s research shows that the RCAF Women’s Division was established on February 5, 1942 and he speculates that these grads were probably the first members of the WD. They were recruited in Toronto, Ontario and WD Recruiting was moved to Rockcliff, Ontario in May of 1942. We would be pleased to receive any information which might shed light on this photograph and Lyle’s theory about the start of the WD.
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