- RCAF Station Calgary
What is referred to here as RCAF Station Calgary was actually a collection of
Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) training establishments and other facilities that operated inCalgary ,Alberta ,Canada from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s.In 1935 the RCAF constructed a landing field on a section of the
Canadian Army 'sCurrie Barracks located in southwest Calgary. The airfield was known as Currie Field or the Calgary Military Airport. In 1938, the aerodrome was home to two RCAF squadrons: No. 3 (Bomber) Squadron (flyingWestland Wapiti s) and No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron (flying Siskins and later,Hawker Hurricane s). No. 1 (F) Squadron was renumbered to 401 Squadron when it was posted overseas for combat duty. During theSecond World War , theBritish Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) established "No. 3 Service Flying Training School" (SFTS) at the airfield. Aircraft flown at this school wereAvro Anson s andCessna Cranes . No. 3 SFTS closedSeptember 28 ,1945 . After the war, No. 10 Repair Depot was located at the station until 1947 when No. 25 Air Materiel Base Calgary was formed. The base was renamed RCAF Station Lincoln Park. Among the station's functions, Lincoln Park was a training centre forNATO pilots. This training facility closed in 1958 and the station became an emergency landing field. RCAF Station Lincoln Park was closed in 1964. Much of the base was sold to the City of Calgary and parts were taken over by Currie Barracks. The last vestiges of runways disappeared in 2001 when an industrial park was built and the last runway (north-south) was removed. The north-south runway was used as adragstrip from the 1960s to 1983 under the name Calgary International Raceway. The main campus ofMount Royal College now occupies a section of the old aerodrome while the old hangars are occupied by various businesses, including the Calgary Farmer's Market. [http://calgaryfarmersmarket.com/]"No. 37 Service Flying Training School" (SFTS) was a
Royal Air Force flying school located at McCall Field, which is nowCalgary International Airport in northeast Calgary. The school openedOctober 22 ,1941 . Like all RAF schools in Canada during this time, No. 37 SFTS was subject to RCAF administrative and operational control and formally became part of the BCATP in 1942. Pilots in training flewAvro Anson s andCessna Cranes . The school closedMarch 10 ,1944 . An original BCATP building is used by theCalgary Aerospace Museum ."No. 2 Wireless School" was a BCATP radio operator school. It opened
September 16 ,1940 and was located at the old Alberta Provincial Institute of Technology and Art which is now theSouthern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT). As one of the largestwireless training schools, it trained thousands of radio operators. The auxiliary training facilities at Shepard, just east of Calgary, were used for air training usingNorth American Harvard andFleet Fort aircraft. No. 2 Wireless school ceased operation onApril 14 ,1945 .Calgary was the location of No. 4 Training Command Headquarters from October 1941 to November 1944 after having moved from Regina,
Saskatchewan . No. 4 Training Command Headquarters was responsible for BCATP operations in Alberta,British Columbia , and much of Saskatchewan.
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