Photographed on 28 July 2003
The Great Canadian Air Battle
It is easy to forget certain things about the war. When we consider
Canada's participation in the Second World War, we understandably
think about the ordeals of Hong Kong and Dieppe, the difficult battles
in Italy, the spectacular landing on 6 June 1944, and the long campaign
to reclaim Europe that followed. The contributions of Canadian pilots to
the Battle of Britain, and of the Royal Canadian Navy to the victory in the
Atlantic, are also remembered. However, all too often, we forget that the
war was also taking place on Canadian soil. In fact, during the early years
of the conflict, it was mostly in Canada that the war found its victims:
over 1,000 airmen had already lost their lives on Canadian bases
before the raid on Dieppe was launched in August 1942. From the
beginning of 1942 to the end of 1944, 831 fatal air accidents took
place in Canada – an average of 23 per month, or five every week.
Each week, at least a dozen airmen died in Canada, an enormous number...
During the first years of the war, Canada was
the most dangerous place a pilot could be...
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
and RCAF Fatalities During the Second World War
by Dr. Jean Martin
Canadian Military Journal, Spring 2002
http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/engraph/Vol3/no1/pdf/65-69_e.pdf
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This BCATP memorial is located in the churchyard at Old Holy Trinity Church, Middleton, Nova Scotia, on Highway One, about 1.7 km west from the Middleton Post Office. |
GPS location: 44°56'04"N 65°05'10"W
Photographed on 28 July 2003
Photographed on 13 June 2003
Photographed on 13 June 2003
Located in the Aviation Museum at CFB Greenwood
CFB Greenwood was established in 1942 as a Royal Air Force Station
as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP).
The BCATP was a plan to expand all Commonwealth air forces.
Greenwood was used as a training base during WW2.
Links to Relevant Websites
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
The Aerodrome of Democracy: Canada and the BCATP, 1939-1945, 223 pages, by Fred J. Hatch, published 1983 by the Department of National Defence, ISBN 0660114437, states that 856 students were killed during their training in Canada by the BCATP...
The Great Canadian Air Battle
The Aerodrome of Democracy: Canada and the BCATP, 1939-1945
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Under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, begun in late 1939, crews for the air forces of Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand were trained at airfields scattered across Canada. By its finish in 1945, the plan had trained 131,553 airmen, 55 per cent of them Canadian. Historians J.L. Granatstein and Desmond Morton in Canada and the Two World Wars, published in 2003, describe the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan as "quite possibly Canada's major contribution" to World War Two. — The Globe & Mail, 17 March 2005 |
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Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum History of the BCATP
The BCATP by Veterans Affairs Canada
Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum
Aircraft of the BCATP
The BCATP (author not known)
Garden of Memories BCATP video
Shearwater Aviation Museum
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Commonwealth Air Training Program memorial, 1940-1945 Kingston
North Mountain airplane crash memorial Brow of Mountain
William Hall monument Hantsport
Wolfville war memorial Wolfville
Canning war memorial Canning
New Ross war memorial New Ross
Springfield war memorial Springfield
Bridgetown war memorial Bridgetown
Bear River war memorial Bear River
Clementsport war memorial Clementsport
Clementsvale war memorial Clementsvale
Carleton war memorial Carleton
Kempt war memorial Kempt
Kemptville war memorial Kemptville
Kentville Legion war memorial Kentville
Kentville Park war memorial Kentville
Fort Anne bronze cannon Annapolis Royal
Port Royal Habitation 1605-1613 Port Royal
Scotch Fort 1629-1632 monument Port Royal
Rawding Captains monument Clementsport
Annapolis Iron Mining Company monument Clementsport
