Trainees at the Technical Training School, St. Thomas, Ont. |
The Canadian Armed Forces: The British Commonwealth Air Training
Plan (BCATP)
The 'aerodrome of democracy'! So United States President Franklin
D. Roosevelt described Canada's role as the trainer of 131,533 pilots
and aircrew for the Allied war effort. This was done under the British
Commonwealth Air Training Plan, an agreement signed in December
1939 by Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand to train aircrew
in Canada. Nearly half of the pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, air
gunners, wireless operators and flight engineers employed in all
the Commonwealth during the war were trained under the . Canada's big open spaces and good climate for flying made it an
ideal choice for large-scale flying training, which began on
April 29, 1940. The program greatly expanded after the fall of France
( see The German Invasion of Western Europe ) when, fearful of a German
invasion of Britain, the moved a number of its training schools
to Canada. At the Plan's peak in late 1943, it operated 107
schools and 184 other supporting units at 231 locations all across
Canada. Individual Canadians helped through their flying clubs and
commercial aviation companies, which ran many of the schools. 72,835 of the graduates were Canadians. The rest came not
only from Britain and the other original Plan members, but also
included Americans, trainees from other Commonwealth countries and
from the of the countries of occupied Europe. Related Newspaper Articles
English Articles
French Articles
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L'école d'aviation militaire
Le Devoir, 01/02/1940
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L'entraînement des aviateurs britanniques au Canada
Le Devoir, 09/03/1940
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L'aviation militaire au Canada
Le Devoir, 24/04/1940
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Une école centrale d'aéronautique
Le Devoir, 24/04/1940
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La création d'un ministère de l'air
Le Devoir, 21/05/1940
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L'aviation - Les mesures d'urgence prises pour aider les Alliés
Le Devoir, 04/06/1940
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Heureux atterissage de 15 avions à St-Hubert
Le Devoir, 09/08/1940
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La pratique du tir et du bombardement
Le Devoir, 16/08/1940
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L'école élémentaire d'aviation de Windsor Mills
Le Devoir, 22/08/1940
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On réduira la période du plan d'entraînement des aviateurs
Le Devoir, 10/10/1940
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"5 jeunes aviateurs tués instantanément, au Manitoba"
Le Devoir, 07/01/1941
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L'entrainement des aviateurs
Le Devoir, 28/01/1941
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L'entrainement de nos aviateurs
Le Devoir, 31/01/1941
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Construction d'une école de construction à St-Hubert
Le Devoir, 07/10/1941
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"L'entraînement des aviateurs"
Le Devoir, 19/03/1942
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L'ouverture de la conférence d'Ottawa sur l'entrainement aérien
Le Devoir, 19/05/1942
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Le nouvel accord sur l'instruction militaire
Le Devoir, 06/06/1942
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Agrandissement des écoles d'aviation
Le Devoir, 10/07/1942
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Conférence des directeurs de l'entraînement aérien
Le Devoir, 31/08/1944
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Suivant le plan d'entrainement aérien du Commonwealth...
Le Devoir, 18/05/1945
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