No. 3 Training Command RCAF

No. 3 Training Command RCAF
Active	29 April 1940–15 January 1945
Country	Canada
Branch	Royal Canadian Air Force
Role	British Commonwealth Air Training Plan administration
Garrison/HQ	Montreal
Commanders
Notable; commanders	Clifford McEwen

Last updated June 03, 2019

No. 3 Training Command RCAF was a training command of the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II established to administer the schools of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

The Royal Canadian Air Force is the air force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2013, the Royal Canadian Air Force consists of 14,500 Regular Force and 2,600 Primary Reserve personnel, supported by 2,500 civilians, and operates 258 manned aircraft and 9 unmanned aerial vehicles. Lieutenant-General Al Meinzinger is the current Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force and Chief of the Air Force Staff.

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

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 Zealand, during the Second World War. BCATP remains as one of the single largest aviation training programs in history and was responsible for training nearly half the pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, air gunners, wireless operators and flight engineers who served with the Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) during the war.

History

No. 3 Training Command was formed as No. 2 Training Group at Montreal on 18 March 1940, but was soon redesignated as No. 3 Training Command on 29 April 1940, responsible for schools in Quebec and The Maritimes.^[1] Air Commodore Clifford McEwen was appointed group commander on 19 March and continued in that position for the command until 26 March 1941. Later commanders were Air Commodore George Victor Walsh from 27 March 1941, Air Vice-Marshal Joseph Lionel Elphege Albert de Niverville from 2 November of that year, and Air Vice-Marshal Adelard Raymond from 20 November 1943 to the end of its existence. As the BCATP was wound down it was merged with No. 1 Training Command RCAF to form No. 1 Air Command RCAF on 15 January 1945.^[2]

Montreal is the most populous municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec and the second-most populous municipality in Canada. Originally called Ville-Marie, or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city. The city is centred on the Island of Montreal, which took its name from the same source as the city, and a few much smaller peripheral islands, the largest of which is Île Bizard. It has a distinct four-season continental climate with warm to hot summers and cold, snowy winters.

Quebec is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is bordered to the west by the province of Ontario and the bodies of water James Bay and Hudson Bay; to the north by Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay; to the east by the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador; and to the south by the province of New Brunswick and the U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. It also shares maritime borders with Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. Quebec is Canada's largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division; only the territory of Nunavut is larger. It is historically and politically considered to be part of Central Canada.

The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces or the Canadian Maritimes, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island (PEI). The Maritimes had a population of 1,813,606 in 2016. Together with Canada's easternmost province, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Maritime provinces make up the region of Atlantic Canada.

Schools

The command controlled the following schools in January 1944: Location and aircraft operated, if applicable, are in parentheses.^[3]

Initial Training School: No. 1 (Victoriaville)
Elementary Flying Training Schools: No. 4 (Windsor Mills; Fleet Finch and de Havilland DH.60 Moth), No. 11 (Cap-de-la-Madeleine; Finch and Fairchild Cornell), No. 13 (Saint-Eugène; Finch), No. 17 (Stanley; Finch and Moth), No. 21 (Chatham; Finch), and No. 22 (Quebec City; Finch)
Service Flying Training Schools:
- No. 2 Service Flying Training School (Uplands; North American Harvard and North American Yale),
- No. 8 Service Flying Training School RCAF (Moncton; Avro Anson);
- No. 13 Service Flying Training School RCAF (Saint-Hubert; Harvard and Anson)
Uplands is a neighbourhood in the City of London, Ontario, Canada. The neighbourhood is located in the northern part of the city. Almost all of its residents live in low-density, single detached dwellings. As of 2011, the area is home to 7,835 residents. The neighbourhood is considered a middle to upper-income area, with an average family income of $128,806 an average dwelling value of $371,210 and a home ownership rate of 85%.
No. 8 Service Flying Training School RCAF was a flight training squadron in 3 Training Command, of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), flying Avro Ansons from RCAF Station Moncton, New Brunswick. The school was opened 23 December 1940. The school was relocated to RCAF Station Weyburn, Saskatchewan on 24 January 1944 and was disbanded 30 June 1944.
Moncton is the largest city in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the Maritime Provinces. The city has earned the nickname "Hub City" due to its central inland location in the region and its history as a railway and land transportation hub for the Maritimes.
Air Observer Schools: No. 8 (Quebec City; Anson), No. 9 (St-Jean; Anson), and No. 10 (Chatham; Anson)
Bombing and Gunnery Schools: No. 9 (Mont-Joli; Anson, Fairey Battle, Bristol Bolingbroke, and Westland Lysander), and No. 10 (Mount Pleasant; Anson, Battle, Bolingbroke, and Lysander)
Wireless School: No. 3 (Montreal; Noorduyn Norseman and Moth)
Flying Instructor School: No. 3 (Arnprior; various)
Naval Air Gunners School: No. 1 (Yarmouth; Fairey Swordfish)
General Reconnaissance Schools:
- No. 1 General Reconnaissance School RCAF (Summerside; Anson)
- No. 31 General Reconnaissance School RCAF (Charlottetown; Anson)
No. 1 General Reconnaissance School RCAF was a flight training unit in 3 Training Command, of the Royal Canadian Air Force, flying Avro Ansons from RCAF Station Summerside, PEI.
Summerside is a Canadian city in Prince County, Prince Edward Island. It is the second largest city in the province and the primary service centre for the western part of the island.
Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom, Charlottetown was originally an unincorporated town that incorporated as a city in 1855.

Victoriaville is a town in central Quebec, Canada, on the Nicolet River. Victoriaville is the seat of Arthabaska Regional County Municipality and a part of the Centre-du-Québec (Bois-Francs) region. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of Arthabaska, Saint-Victoire-d'Arthabaska and Victoriaville, with the name of the latter being used for the new merged town.

The Fleet Finch is a two-seat, tandem training biplane produced by Fleet Aircraft of Fort Erie, Ontario. There were a number of variants mainly based on engine variations. Over several years beginning in 1939, a total of 447 Finches were built, nearly all (431) of them for use as elementary trainers in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) during the Second World War.

The de Havilland DH.60 Moth is a 1920s British two-seat touring and training aircraft that was developed into a series of aircraft by the de Havilland Aircraft Company.

Related Research Articles

The Supermarine Stranraer was a 1930s flying boat designed and built by the British Supermarine Aviation Works company principally for the Royal Air Force. It entered operations in 1937 and many were in service at the outbreak of the Second World War undertaking anti-submarine and convoy escort patrols. It was withdrawn from operational service in March 1941 but continued to serve in a training capacity until October 1942. In addition to the British-built aeroplanes, the Canadian Vickers company in Montreal, Quebec, built 40 Stranraers under licence for the Royal Canadian Air Force. The RCAF Stranraers served in anti-submarine and coastal defence capacities on both Canada's Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and remained in service until 1946. Following their withdrawal from military service, many Canadian Stranraers were sold off to fledgeling regional airlines and they served in commercial passenger and freighter operation well into the 1950s.

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Air Vice-Marshal Francis Scholes ‘Frank’ McGill, CB was a prominent member of Canada's military, having been an air vice marshal in the RCAF, and a considerable sports figure, amongst other things a star football player in the Canadian Football League for the Montreal AAA Winged Wheelers.

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References

Citations

Bibliography

Hatch, F. J. (1983). The Aerodrome of Democracy: Canada and the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, 1939–1945 (PDF). Ottawa: Directorate of History, Department of National Defence. ISBN 0-660-11443-7.
Kostenuk, Samuel; Griffin, John (1977). RCAF: Squadron Histories and Aircraft, 1924–1968. Canadian War Museum Historical Publication No. 14. Sarasota/Toronto: Samuel Stevens/Hakkert & Company. ISBN 0-88866-577-6.

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[FOOTNOTEHatch198341-1] Hatch 1983, p. 41.

[FOOTNOTEKostenukGriffin197719-2] Kostenuk & Griffin 1977, p. 19.

[FOOTNOTEKostenukGriffin1977230-3] Kostenuk & Griffin 1977, p. 230.