Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum & RCAF WWII Memorial
Dedicated to the plan for training air force personnel for the Commonwealth in the Second World War
Sunday, June 18 10 am – 3 pm! (Weather permitting). Call or email the museum to book a flight. Rides available in the Cornell, Harvard, and Tiger Moth. A once in a lifetime adventure! These are the planes that World War II pilots trained on! Flights are about 20 – 25 minutes long.
Prices
CATPM Armed Forces Day Celebration
Sunday June 4th, 10 am to 3pm
The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum at McGill Field, Brandon Airport will be having its grand reopening by recognizing Armed Forces Day, Sunday June 4thbetween 10:00 am and 3:00 pm. The public is invited to participate in this family friendly event. The Royal Canadian Air Force is expected to send aircraft that could include a C-130 Hercules and CT-142 Dash 8 and aircraft/helicopters from Southport. Along with our own flying aircraft consisting of a Cornell, Tiger Moth, Harvard, Stinson and Fleet Finch, visiting civilian aircraft may include a Musketeer, Stearman, Harvard, T28 Trojan and Nanchang. There will be no flying aircraft demonstrations, but you will be able to get up close and personal with all the aircraft and in many cases speak directly to the pilots flying them. A special participant will be a CF18 Fighter Full Scale Cockpit. The museum will also be open for viewing to take in our many non-flying aircraft and vintage vehicles and artifacts. There will be free parking and free admission. Donations would be greatly appreciated.
The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum is proud to be one of the seven Manitoba Signature Museums, a Manitoba Star Attraction and a National Historic Site.
For more information about the CATPM’s event, please contact:
Stephen Hayter, Executive Director
Ph: 204-727-2444 Email: airmuseum@inetlink.ca
1946 RCAF Estevan Crash Memorial Presentation at the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum Canteen, Brandon Municipal Airport
Sunday, May 28, 2023, at 1:30 p.m.
Everyone is invited!
The Commonwealth Air Training Plan (CATP) Museum at McGill Field (Brandon Municipal Airport) will host the presentation ceremony for the memorial of the September 15, 1946, RCAF crash near Estevan, SK. Twenty-one airmen lost their lives that morning as they were returning from Minot, ND, to Estevan. It was one of the worst accidents involving the peacetime RCAF. They had been tasked with repatriating Cornell training aircraft to Fargo and Minot as part of the Lend Lease Agreement between Great Britain and the United States during WWII. From #124 (Ferry) Squadron, Rockcliffe near Ottawa, they had been stationed temporarily at the former #38 Service Flying Training School at Estevan.
The Forever in the Clouds Memorial Committee spent more than two years searching for family members of the airmen and planning three days of remembrance activities in July, 2022. Marie Donais Calder gathered historical information and communicated with members of all twenty-one families in order to write Together Forever in the Clouds*, the story of the crash and of each individual airman. Families and the community gathered, first at Government House in Regina and then at Estevan, to honour the airmen and to dedicate a memorial cairn at the crash site. Of the twenty-one families, fourteen were represented by over sixty people…..coming from Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Crete and Mallorca. Saskatchewan and the wider Estevan community supported and continue to support this initiative. Sincere gratitude is expressed to the CATP Museum for its assistance with the remembrance events, especially to those who provided rides in the Cornell and Harvard.
As part of continuing events related to the crash, the Forever in the Clouds Memorial Committee has arranged for a framed photo of the memorial plaque to be presented to the CATP Museum, hoping to keep the story of these dedicated airmen alive by bringing it to a wider audience.
The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum is proud to be one of the seven Manitoba Signature Museums, a Manitoba Star Attraction and a National Historic Site.
For more information about the CATPM’s event, please contact: Stephen Hayter, Executive Director, Ph: 204-727-2444 Email: airmuseum@inetlink.ca
The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum at the Brandon Municipal
Airport requires full-time summer student Museum Interpreters. The
wage is $15.00/hr, 30 hours/week, 10am to 4pm, may include weekends
starting May until the end of August. The position involves providing
guided tours, gift shop duties, co-ordinating volunteers and special events,
light cleaning, maintenance and groundskeeping. Computer cataloging,
archival research, assisting in advertising and promotion of the museum and exhibit design also a possibility. Assets include graphic design and marketing knowledge and a major or minor in history or education. Driver’s license and transportation required.
Applicants must be returning to school in the fall.
Please email your resume by April 28 th , 2023 to airmuseum@inetlink.ca
Positions dependent on grant approval, only applicants selected will be notified.
Back in the 1980s, a small group of dedicated volunteers made up of WW2 veterans and others hauled aircraft out of farmer’s fields, accepted and catalogued thousands of donations of artefacts, and restored WW2 buildings to their original condition so that visitors could instantly be transported back in time and learn about the sacrifices made for their freedom. Fast forward to 40 years later, and our volunteers still take on the same monumental tasks to make this museum the renowned one of a kind site that it is.
We are eternally grateful for the group of volunteers we have, who care so deeply about this museum and its mandate and work tirelessly for it. A huge thank you to all of you, our museum would not exist without the incredibly hard work and invaluable contributions you have made. To future volunteers who might be interested, please reach out, we need you more then ever!
From the staff of the CATPM,
Stephen and Kathy
Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum & RCAF WWII Memorial