Black History Month 2022

February is the month set aside to shine the spotlight on Black History – although this history should be celebrated all year long. We acknowledge that the record of people of colour in the RCAF has not always been a positive one. Entering WWII, RCAF policy did not allow Black Canadians to serve in most positions, however that slowly changed and some resilient Black Canadians did succeed in becoming aircrew. Below I have linked to some stories and articles about the Black experience in the RCAF in WWII. This was not a bright spot considering we were overseas fighting fascism. We can, however, celebrate the accomplishments of Black Canadians, who did make a difference. A few of these airmen are celebrated on our social media accounts, in particular we posted about two trailblazers, Lincoln Alexander, who later became the first Black MP in Canada, and the first Black pilot in the RCAF, Allan Bundy.

Happy Holidays

All of us at the Commonwealth Air Training Plan museum want to wish all our friends a Happy holiday season and a prosperous 2022. It does not look like a good end to 2021, nor start to the new year, but let’s hope this is a last gasp and we can move past this constant state of pandemic!

We hope you have enjoyed our holiday themed posts, both on this blog and on our social media accounts, over the past month. I want to thank our archivist, Greg Sigurdson for his help in finding such interesting ideas for these posts. Greg has a wealth of knowledge about the BCATP and has supplied me with many great photos and ideas for social media posts.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, as well as on our website for the latest news and photos. And please drop in for a tour – it is cold in the hangar, but we have a few heated galleries, and braving the cold hanger is worth it to see our vehicles, aircraft and other exhibits. You can support the museum by becoming a member, we also gratefully accept donations – see this page for details.

News Clippings from the Past

This post is a collection of news clippings related to the BCATP. Again, thanks to Greg, our archivist for this post.

These are archival items donated by Daphne Kuehn from Edmonton, Alberta in September 2013. It is a collection of newspaper clippings covering both No. 7 B&GS, Paulson and No. 10 SFTS, Dauphin; WWII. It is interesting reading and is a great source of the information we need in order to develop an understanding and appreciation of the human side of the training plan and the war, Enjoy.

This pdf contains the entire collection of news clippings.

News Clippings from WWIIDownload

Saving Money While Supporting the War Effort

This post appeared as a 2 part post on our social media platforms. Information and photos were supplied by Greg Sigurdson, our archivist.

The photos below are of a small artifact donated to the CATP Museum by our “Darkroom Guy’’ Lyle. Lyle, of course likes this nickname, but hasn’t developed any films or prints for many years having joined the digital world like the rest of us. 

During the Second World War, even children were asked to support the war effort. A child could buy War Savings Stamps for 25 cents each; after saving $4 worth of stamps and sending this form to the federal government, the child would receive a War Savings Certificate worth $5. The Savings Stamps are part of the overall War Savings Certificate (War Bond) program which generated over $318 million ($4,939 million today) to the war effort. Canada’s WWII War and Victory bonds were redeemable after seven years after purchase.

Part 1, above, was about the War Savings Certificates that kids were encouraged to buy in Canada during World War II. In part 2, we present the CATP Museum’s largest ‘small’ artifact – a blackboard which was dedicated to recording the progress one class in Room 12 at the Greenway School in Winnipeg made in their savings via the War Savings Certificate program (first photo below). The fact that this artifact was discovered and moved to the CATP Museum is a remarkable story in itself. We also include a portion of the Volume 16 Issue 2 of CONTACT magazine in which Frank Scardina, one of those students, recounts his visit to Brandon to see the blackboard about 50 years after he last saw it. We also include an article from the Brandon Sun about this artifact (last photo below – we apologize for the quality of this image).

the blackboard, currently hung in the shop area of the museum
Brandon Sun article from 1997

Remembrance Day

November 11th is an important day when we take time to reflect and honour our vets. A perfect place to do this is at the Commonwealth Air Training Plan museum. Last year we were closed due to Covid restrictions, however, this year we will once again have an open house on Remembrance Day (see the news release below).

The RCAF WWII Memorial Wall (photo on right) is also open and is a perfect spot for quiet reflection on Remembrance Day – and any day.