RCAF Station Claresholm

RCAF Station Claresholm

RCAF Station Claresholm hangars in 2006
Coordinates 50°00′17″N 113°37′48″W / 50.00472°N 113.63000°W / 50.00472; -113.63000

RCAF Station Claresholm was initially a British Commonwealth Air Training Plan station that trained pilots for World War II service. The station was located near Claresholm, Alberta, Canada. No. 15 Service Flying Training School (SFTS) was opened on 9 June 1941, and closed on 30 March 1945.[1] Ansons and Cessna Cranes were the aircraft used, and its relief airfields were RCAF Woodhouse, a few kilometers east at 49°59′24″N 113°26′51″W / 49.99000°N 113.44750°W / 49.99000; -113.44750 (RCAF Woodhouse), and RCAF Pulteney, a few kilometers north.

No. 2 Flying Instructor School (FIS) opened in April 1942 but closed September 1942 and moved to Vulcan. Student pilots at No.2 FIS flew Tiger Moths and Cessna Cranes.

Claresholm was placed on care and maintenance status until reactivated in 1951 as a NATO training centre run by No. 3 Flying Training School (flying Harvards). The station closed again in 1958 when the school was relocated to Gimli, Manitoba. It is now the Claresholm Industrial Airport. As of August, 2011 hangars 2 to 4 are derelict and deteriorating.

References

  1. ↑ Hatch, F. J. (1983). The Aerodrome of Democracy: Canada and the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, 1939-1945. Ottawa: Directorate of History, Department of National Defence. ISBN 0660114437.
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