The artifacts and archival materials collection at the Commonwealth Air Museum includes over 30,000 small artifacts and archival items. Some are on display in the Museum and others stored in the archives building. Items in the collection includes photographs, documents, newspapers, magazines and books – all related to World War II, the RCAF, and home front activities. We handle many research requests related to the Plan, contact the museum by phone or email with your requests and we will do what we can to help you. (contact info on home page).
Some example items and projects.
Contact! – the museum’s newsletter can be found here.
Canada 150 Vignettes Project – to commemorate Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017, 150 vignettes . They can be viewed on this website.
The Memorial Book – This volume was co-authored by Les Allison and Harry Hayward, with the assistance of museum volunteers, They Shall Grow Not Old gives biographies and details related to the deaths of the over 18,000 men and women in service to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm and RAF Ferry Command. Extra sections list the names and school locations of the Royal Australian, Royal New Zealand and Royal (British) Air Forces killed while training in Canada. This book can be viewed at the museum. You can search names on our Memorial Wall via pdf documents organized by last name here.
Daily Diaries & Station Magazines– Daily Diaries and Station Magazines from various British Commonwealth Air Training Plan schools are currently being transcribed by museum volunteers. They are available to the the public as searchable PDF documents. The information within comes from official World War II RCAF documents stored in Library and Archives Canada. Links to these reports will be added to this site over time.
You can access our growing collection of Daily Diaries and Station Magazines using these links!
Barber’s Book – an archival item from No. 2 Manning Depot containing the names and home locations of over 22,000 airmen who received training there and a haircut from the school’s barber shop. This interesting book can be seen at the museum and is often a highlight for visitors!
Videos – We have a collection of World War II and post war videos, videos produced with Museum archival items and Oral Histories. Many are available on YouTube.
Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum & RCAF WWII Memorial 