Museum celebrates milestone

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This article was published 20/07/2021 (1683 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Members of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum had a major reason to celebrate on Monday, outside of the fact they can now reopen their doors to the public.

After all, July 19 marks the 80th anniversary of the grand opening of the #12 Service Flying Training School, which was established in Brandon in 1941 to help prepare members of the British Commonwealth to combat the Axis powers during the Second World War.

To properly commemorate this milestone, executive director Stephen Hayter invited certain patrons, volunteers and members of the city to view the museum’s vast collection of trainer aircraft that were active when the school was up and running.

While museum volunteers couldn’t take one of these vehicles out for a ceremonial flight due to Monday’s cloudy weather, the gathering still provided Hayter with the opportunity to provide some insight regarding the school’s intricate history.

Hayter explained how this flying school represented just one of more than 200 training locations that were set up across the country following the establishment of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in 1939.

This initiative represented a collective effort between nations such as Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand that ended up preparing more than 130,000 aircrew trainees for combat.

“They had to train the right people at the right time and make it work,” Hayter told the Sun. “It would have been a huge organizational nightmare, but they managed it.”

While Brandon’s Service Flying Training School closed its doors following the end of the war, Hayter said all of its various facilities were absorbed by the city and used for a variety of purposes, such as housing the current municipal airport.

“The airport really was successful because it had all this infrastructure, including runways, that the military put into place,” he said. “So it was perfect for the airport to move from its First Street location up to this location.”

However, some of the old Service Flying Training School facilities started being used for a whole new purpose in 1980, when local veterans, historians and city officials banded together to establish the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum.

During Monday’s celebration, Brandon Mayor Rick Chrest told the crowd about how he was involved with establishing this museum from the very beginning, when RCAF flight instructor Wes Agnew was looking for some space to house his vintage trainer aircraft.

“I’ve literally been able to watch it come together over this roughly 40 years,” said Chrest, who was working on behalf of the Brandon Chamber of Commerce at the time.

“And (it’s amazing) to see the magnitude, the quality and the prominence that this facility and all of its archives have really become, not just as a national treasure, but as an international treasure.”

Museum president John McNarry used his time at the microphone to acknowledge the pivotal role the City of Brandon has played in keeping the region’s aviation history alive, and expressed his gratitude by presenting Chrest with an original Service Flying Training School emblem.

“The city actually owns the site and they own the buildings … so we’re a team,” McNarry said. “And I’m really looking forward to that continuing to grow and the museum to develop and become a truly first-class, world-standard museum.”

On top of the 80th anniversary celebration, Monday also represents the first time in more than two months the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum members were able to open their doors to the public.

Thanks to the province’s new COVID-19 health orders, museums across the province can now operate at 50 per cent capacity, with only fully vaccinated people being allowed inside for now.

Unvaccinated children under 12 may also visit these facilities if they are accompanied by fully vaccinated members of their household.

Hayter told the Sun that his volunteers and summer students have gone out of their way to make the transition as smooth as possible for returning patrons by incorporating plenty of hand sanitizer, physical distancing measures and other safety protocols.

“We’re just grateful that we’re at a point in this pandemic where we can have an event that’s … partially with the public,” Hayter said. “We’re getting back to doing the things that we were meant to do, and that’s promoting our history and getting the public aware of it.”

Anyone interested in watching a video of Monday’s 80th anniversary celebration can do so by visiting the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum’s various social media accounts.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

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