{"id":200231,"date":"2021-01-08T12:58:21","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T17:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csce.dev\/en\/?post_type=historic_site&p=200231"},"modified":"2022-07-08T09:33:19","modified_gmt":"2022-07-08T13:33:19","slug":"bcatp-oshawa-airfield","status":"publish","type":"historic_site","link":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/historic-site\/bcatp-oshawa-airfield\/","title":{"rendered":"BCATP Oshawa Airfield"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

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The No. 2 Hangar at Oshawa, Ontario, circa 1943. In the foreground is a swimming pool-cum-water reservoir for firefighting. (Source: CSCE)<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Site Location: Lat.: 43\u00b0 \u2013 55\u2019 \u2013 2\u201d N; Long.: 78\u00b0 \u2013 53\u2019 \u2013 40\u201d W. (GPS: 43.9171481, -78.8945537) Take the Thickson Road exit from Highway 407 at Brooklin. Drive 5.6 km south, and turn left (east) on Rossland Road (Regional Road 28). Drive 2.5 km east, and turn left (north) on Stevenson Road (Regional Road 53). Drive 1 km north: Airman\u2019s Park is on your left (east).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Plaque Location: The plaque is mounted on a rock in Airman’s Park, on the south side of the airport.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Plaque on rock (foreground), near F-86 Sabre aircraft. (Source: R. Pickle)<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Description: In December 1939, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand reached an agreement to train 1500 aircrew per month, starting in April 1940. The total estimated cost was $600 M and the estimated Canadian contribution, $350 M, was considerable given the total federal budget for 1939 was $500 M. The training rate peaked at over 3000 graduates per month. The total cost of $ 1.76 billion included a Canadian contribution of $1.59 billon.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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No. 20 Elementary Flying Training School Station Map (Source: City of Oshawa South Field Master Plan: Background Study)<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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The No. 20 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) was located in Oshawa from June 1941 to December 1944. Student flyers used Tiger Moth aircraft and were trained by civilian instructors from the Oshawa, Kingston, and Brant-Norfolk flying clubs. The field featured three 800 m. long, 46 m. wide, hard-surfaced runways. It remains in use today as the Oshawa Executive Airport.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Historic Significance: The challenges for Canadian civil engineers working on the project included site selection and then the design and construction of runways, taxiways, roads, services, hangers, barracks and many other buildings to a very demanding schedule. The key to success was the development of standard airfield layouts and standard building designs using prefabricated wood components. In 1945, Winston Churchill described the BCAPT as \u201ca spacious task imaginatively conceived and most faithfully carried out.\u201d The initiative provided the foundation of Canada\u2019s post-war air transportation network: of the 176 airfields constructed, 62 remain in service today including the Toronto and Vancouver International Airports.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Plaque detail. (Source: R. Pickle)<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Plaque Wording: National Historic Civil Engineering. CSCE. BRITISH COMMONWEALTH AIR TRAINING PLAN No. 20 ELEMENTARY FLYING TRAINING SCHOOL \u2013 OSHAWA. A tribute to Canada\u2019s civil engineers who, between 1940 and 1943, were responsible for the design and construction of 88 airfields and 88 reilef fields, together with all the requisite infrastructure. The airfields were required by the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan which trained more than 250,000 personnel, of whom 131,000 were aircrew, for the Allied war effort. This field, Oshawa Municipal Airport, was the site of No. 20 Elementary Flying School. Canadian Society for Civil Engineering. 1999.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

SCGC. Site Historique National. CSCE. BRITISH COMMONWEALTH AIR TRAINING PLAN No. 20 ELEMENTARY FLYING TRAINING SCHOOL \u2013 OSHAWA. Hommage aux ing\u00e9nieures civiles du Canada, qui entre les ann\u00e9es 1940 et 1943, \u00e9taient r\u00e9sponsables pour la conception et l\u2019\u00e9tabilssement de 88 terrains d\u2019aviations et de 88 terrains suppl\u00e9mentaires, ainsi que toute l\u2019infrastructure requise. Les terrains d\u2019aviation \u00e9taient requis par le British Commonwealth Air Training Plan<\/em>, qui a entrain\u00e9 au-del\u00e0 de 250,000 personnels, d\u00e8squels 131,000 fassaient partie du pilotage pour l\u2019appui alli\u00e9 de la guerre. Ce terrain, l\u2019a\u00e9roport municipal d\u2019Oshawa, \u00e9tait le site de l\u2019\u00e9cole de vol de base, No. 20 Elementary Flying School.<\/em> 1999. Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 canadienne de genie civil.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Plaque Unveiling Ceremony: November 14, 1999<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Links to Online Documentation:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Alistair MacKenzie, \u201cHistory: A Herculean Task\u201d, Canadian Consulting Engineer<\/em>, 2001.<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Veterans Affairs Canada, \u201cThe British Commonwealth Air Training Plan\u201d<\/a><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Site Location: Lat.: 43\u00b0 \u2013 55\u2019 \u2013 2\u201d N; Long.: 78\u00b0 \u2013 53\u2019 \u2013 40\u201d W. (GPS: 43.9171481, -78.8945537) Take the Thickson Road exit from Highway 407 at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22598,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","classification":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/historic_site\/200231"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/historic_site"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/historic_site"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22598"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200231"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/historic_site\/200231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211081,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/historic_site\/200231\/revisions\/211081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"classification","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/classification?post=200231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}