Forever in the Clouds Presentation

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

Hiring Summer Student(s)!

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.

National Volunteer Week!

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

Abandoned Manitoba: Paulson #7B&GS

Local cinematographer, Shaun Cameron (fyi – also a Brandon City Councilor) shared a link to an episode of “Abandoned Manitoba” with us on Facebook. In this short episode, Paulson (Manitoba) #7 Bombing and Gunnery School is featured. Also in this episode you also hear from our Chief Pilot, Mark Odegard, and the host goes for a flight in our Cornell – enjoy! (thanks for sharing this, Shaun!)

Hangar #1: Some History & An Update

submitted by John McNarry, CATP Museum President

The hangar that is the home building of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum is a “double wide land plane hangar” built for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) at the site of Service Flying Training School # 12. The construction took place over the winter of 1940/41. That site is now the Brandon Municipal Airport.

Hangar 1 is one of 701 such structures built for the BCATP.

The founders of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum (CATPM) were given the use of the west half of Hangar 1 by the City of Brandon and it became the home of the CATPM.

A local aviation business, Maple Leaf Aviation, occupied the east half of the hangar from 1946 until the hangar was declared unsafe in the late 1990s.

In 1985 it was evident that the truss above the main doors on the north side of the hangar was failing as well as three of the truss rafters on the south side of the building.

Large structural supports were built to support the failing trusses. An “exoskeleton” truss, supported on piers, immediately adjacent to the originals was constructed on the north exterior to carry the failed truss that carried the hangar door rails.

When the hangar was declared unsafe in the late 1990s the CATPM board decided to do what they could to save the building. After negotiating with the City of Brandon and enlisting the help of the Province of Manitoba, a method to repair the failing sections was worked out with  Collmeyer Architecture, Waldrop Engineering, and with help from work done on hangars owned by DND and the RCAF.  The repair was accomplished and the three southern failed rafters were reinforced with steel.

Over the last decade, the 1985 Exoskeleton has been observed to be twisting due to the asymmetrical load it carries.

A recent engineering study of the problem has discovered two additional failed rafters. Until the integrity of the structure is determined the museum is closed to the public. The Memorial Wall is still available to the public, as well as the Canteen.  Some volunteer work continues.

The CATPM enjoys a good relationship with  the City of Brandon. The City of Brandon leases the land the Hangar and our other buildings are on to the CATPM and owns the Hangar. It is the hope of the CATPM Board of Directors that a suitable method of repair can be established. Funding for repairs is not yet determined. Support for the museum in any form is greatly appreciated.