Calgary & Southern Alberta

The fist group of Australians to arrive in Calgary in 1940 to begin air force training
Courtesy of the Glenbow Collection

Southern Albertans made a significant contribution to the war effort in the theatre of military operations, serving in such distinguished army units as the Calgary Highlanders, the King's Own Calgary Regiment, the South Alberta Regiment, the Royal Canadian Navy, and in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). On the home front, southern Albertans participated actively in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). Winston Churchill called the BCATP "one of the major factors, and possibly the decisive factor of [World War II]." Instituted in 1939 to prepare flyers from Commonwealth nations for combat duties overseas, the Plan transformed Canada into what US President Roosevelt called "the aerodrome of democracy."

RCAF Fighter
Courtesy of Veterans Affairs Canada

The BCATP's ground organization involved over 104,000 men and women. During the course of the War, 107 BCATP flight schools across the nation graduated over 130,000 pilots, navigators, bombers, radio operators, air gunners and flight engineers. Seventeen of these schools were located in Alberta. Calgary housed six facilities, including a wireless [radio] school, two service flying training schools, and one of the four national training command headquarters. Amongst the RAF pilots trained at De Winton and Calgary was the well-known novelist Arthur Hailey.