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West Coast aerodromes: the impact of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan on Delta and Abbotsford, British Columbia.

The plan to train Commonwealth pilots and aircrew on Canadian soil from 1939-1945 was a critical component to the Allied victory in the Second World War. As part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), Canada graduated 131,553 men from training stations across the country. This thesis examines the experience of two British Columbia communities, Delta and Abbotsford, as hosts to BCATP stations. It concludes that both sites experienced a profound social and economic impact as a result of their role in training pilots and aircrew. Hosting a training station meant an immediate influx of jobs, infrastructure, money and excitement. In addition, the airfields left behind after the war ended still exist today as viable economic entities in their communities and as valuable hubs in Canada’s aviation network. / Graduate

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/3883
Date16 April 2012
CreatorsRichdale, Ryan
ContributorsZimmerman, David
Source SetsUniversity of Victoria
LanguageEnglish, English
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
RightsAvailable to the World Wide Web

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