[2] Trainees from many other countries attended schools under the Plan, including Argentina, Belgium, Ceylon, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, Fiji, Free France, Greece, the Netherlands, Newfoundland, Norway, Poland,[3] and the United States.

[citation needed] Canadian Prime Minister King coined the expression "British Commonwealth Air Training Plan" to describe the BCATP in his speech of December 17, 1939.

King government saw involvement in the BCATP as a means of keeping Canadians at home, but more importantly, it eased demands for a large expeditionary force and buried the politically divisive issue of overseas conscription.

King demanded that Canadian airmen be identified as members of the RCAF with distinct uniforms and shoulder badges.

Under the agreement, air crews received elementary training in their home country before travelling to Canada for advanced courses.

[12] Article XV of the agreement stipulated that graduates belonging to Dominion air forces, where they were assigned to service with the RAF, should be placed in new squadrons identified with the RAAF, RCAF and RNZAF.

However, in practice – and technically in contravention of Article XV – most personnel from other Commonwealth countries, while they were under RAF operational control, were assigned to British units.

The first BCATP graduates sent to the United Kingdom were 37 Canadian observers, who received their wings at RCAF Trenton on 26 October 1940.

[14][note 2] Canada was chosen as the primary location for "The Plan" because of its suitable weather; wide open spaces ideal for extensive flight and navigation training; closeness to the United States' industrial centres and supplies of fuel; the lack of any threat from enemy aircraft; and its proximity to the European theatre of war.

Pilots might have done their initial flight training on the Canadian-produced examples of the British Tiger Moth, the American Boeing Stearman, or the Canadian designed and built Fleet Finch biplane.

At the plan's peak of activity in late 1943, the BCATP comprised over 100,000 administrative personnel operating 107 schools and 184 other supporting units at 231 locations all across Canada.

A total of 100 sewage treatment and disposal plants and 120 water pumping stations were completed; and more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of main power lines and 535 miles (861 km) of underground electrical cable placed, servicing a total connected electrical power load of over 80,700 horsepower (60.2 MW).

[1] By mid-1940, Canadian flying instructors were in extremely short supply and the RCAF began to recruit American pilots to fill this role.

In the spring of 1941, President Roosevelt stated that Americans could accept employment and volunteer for service with the British Commonwealth.

On 14 November 1940, the first contingent to graduate from advanced training in Canada embarked for Britain, Following the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941, the majority of RAAF aircrews completed their training in Australia and served with RAAF units in the South West Pacific Theatre.

In addition, an increasing number of Australian personnel were transferred from Europe and the Mediterranean to RAF squadrons in the South East Asian Theatre.

By early 1944, the flow of RAAF replacement personnel to Europe had begun to outstrip demand, and, following a request by the British government, was wound back significantly.

[25] The Plan was Canada's major contribution to the early war effort and was an important and unifying national achievement.

[5] In 1949, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom presented Canada with memorial wrought iron gates for the entrance to the parade square at CFB Trenton.

[27] The plan spawned a modern air force, a strong Canadian postwar aviation sector of the economy and left new or improved airports all across the country.

The classic BCATP airport consisted of three runways, each typically 2,500 ft (760 m) in length, arranged in a triangle so that aircraft could always land (more-or-less) into the wind – that was critically important at a time when most light training aircraft (such as the North American Harvard) were taildraggers, which are difficult to land in strong cross-winds.

[28] In 1959, Queen Elizabeth II unveiled The Ottawa Memorial, a monument erected to commemorate, "by name, some 800 men and women who lost their lives while serving or training with the Air Forces of the Commonwealth in Canada, the West Indies and the United States and who have no known grave."

This museum is non-profit and was founded and operated by volunteers dedicated to the preservation of the history of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

The Uranquinty Base continued to provide refresher courses for qualified pilots and even briefly became a migrant centre in the late 1940s until it reopened as No 1 Basic Flying Training School between 1951 and 1959 when it finally closed.

Wireless operator/air gunners' schools at Maryborough, Queensland, and Ballarat, Victoria, are currently recommended for state heritage listing.