RCAF Station Assiniboia was a

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), or Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zea ...

(BCATP) flying training station located near

Assiniboia Assiniboia District refers to two historical districts of Canada's Northwest Territories. The name is taken from the Assiniboine First Nation. Historical usage ''For more information on the history of the provisional districts, see also Distric ...

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. It was operated and administered by the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

(RCAF).

History

World War II

RCAF Station Assiniboia became the home station of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

's, No. 34 Elementary Flying Training School (No. 34 EFTS) on 11 Feb 1942. On 6 Jul 1942 the RAF turned over administration of the School to the Winnipeg Flying Club, operating as the Central Manitoba Flying Training School Ltd. who operated the school until No 34 EFTS was redesignated No. 25 EFTS on 30 January 1944. No. 25 EFTS was operated by the RCAF until it was disbanded on 28 July 1944. No. 34 EFTS trained pilots using the

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aircraft. No. 25 EFTS used the

Fairchild Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach a ...

as their training aircraft. On 2 Dec 1944 No. 204 Reserve Equipment Maintenance Satellite(REMS) was established at the station. Other units located at Assiniboia until the end of the war in 1945 include No. 41 Pre-Aircrew Training School, and No. 403 Aircraft Holding Unit. During World War II RCAF Station Assiniboia produced 2,496 pilots, the majority belonging to the RAF. The station also had a relief (emergency) landing field, located near Lethburn, Saskatchewan.

Aerodrome information

In approximately 1942 the aerodrome was listed as RCAF Aerodrome - Assiniboia, Saskatchewan at with a variation of 18 degrees east and elevation of . Three runways were listed as follows:

Relief landing field – Lethburn

A relief Landing field for RCAF Station Assiniboia was located approximately south. The site was located east of the town of Assiniboia, Saskatchewan. In approximately 1942 the aerodrome was listed as RCAF Aerodrome - Lethburn, Saskatchewan at with a variation of 18 degrees east and elevation of . The relief field was a square, turf, all way field measuring x . A review of Google Maps satellite imagery on 7 June 2018 shows no details indicating a airfield at the listed coordinates.

Present day

The aerodrome is now the Assiniboia Airport.

References