Cessna CraneDouglas Digby[2]De Havilland Tiger MothFairchild Argus[3]Fairchild CornellFairey Battle Fairey SwordfishFleet FinchFleet FortHandley Page Halifax[4][5] Handley Page HampdenHawker HurricaneLockheed Hudson Noorduyn NorsemanNorth American B-25 MitchellNorth American Harvard North American YaleNorthrop NomadStinson 105 This article contains a List of Facilities of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) in Canada.

The BCATP was a major program for training Allied air crews during World War II that was administered by the Government of Canada, and commanded by the Royal Canadian Air Force with the assistance of a board of representatives from the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

[note 1] There were four phases to the acquisition, construction, and operation of BCATP facilities: An example of this is the Elementary Flying Training School at De Winton, Alberta.

Each command was responsible for activities in a region of Canada: Trainees began their military careers at a Manning Depot[8] where they learned to bathe, shave, shine boots, polish buttons, maintain their uniforms, and otherwise behave in the required manner.

Remedial high school education was offered to bring 17- and 18-year-old trainees up to the RCAF academic level.

1 Manning Depot in Toronto was the Coliseum Building on the Canadian National Exhibition grounds, which accommodated up to 5,000 personnel.

Theoretical studies included navigation, theory of flight, meteorology, duties of an officer, air force administration, algebra, and trigonometry.

Graduates of the EFTS "learn-to-fly" program went on a Service Flying Training School (SFTS) for 16 weeks.

5 Brantford where they learned multi-engine technique in an Airspeed Oxford, Avro Anson or Cessna Crane.

[4] The basic navigation techniques throughout the war years were dead reckoning and visual pilotage, and the tools were the aeronautical chart, magnetic compass, watch, trip log, pencil, Douglas protractor, and Dalton Navigational Computer.

These schools required large areas to accommodate their bombing and gunnery ranges, and were often located near water.

[note 5] The Avro Anson, Fairey Battle, Bristol Bolingbroke, and Westland Lysander were the standard aircraft used at B&GS schools.

They conducted a six-week preparatory course in the use, care and maintenance of machine guns used on aircraft as well as your typical parade square bashing (drill), physical training and small arms live firing (pistol and sub-machine gun).

Flight engineers were not co-pilots but they had some flying training and were expected to be able to take over the controls in the event the pilot was killed or disabled.

1 Aylmer, Ontario (Halifax, Beaufort, Hampden) 42°48′18″N 080°56′45″W / 42.80500°N 80.94583°W / 42.80500; -80.94583 The General Reconnaissance School trained pilots and air observers in the techniques required for ocean patrol.

They spent 8 to 14 weeks learning to fly operational aircraft (Hawker Hurricane or Fairey Swordfish, e.g.).

Aircrew graduates spent 3 weeks learning survival and evasion techniques that would prove useful if shot down behind enemy lines.

The training included self defence, living off the land, evasion techniques and ground navigation.

14 SFTS Aylmer moved to their R1 at Yarmouth Centre for the last four weeks of their course (radio, bombing, and gunnery).