A love story from the BCATP

A history 10 project at Yorkton Regional High School gave three students a much more personal connection to both a piece of Yorkton history, and to Canada's contribution to the war effort.

And they learned of a love story which has endured for more than 70-years.

Emma Teneycke said the idea to interview a couple connected to the former British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) facility housed at the Yorkton Airport during the Second World War was made by their instructor, who offered the idea of video taping the project as a class option.

"He (Mr. Ostapowich) said it would be a lot more work, but a lot more rewarding," she said.

Courtney Matychuk said she was drawn to the project because of its connection to airplanes.

"My dad is really, really into planes. I thought he would like to know more about it," she said, adding that some of her father's interest had rubbed off on her, so it was a natural project to pursue.

It helped too that school instructor Doug Ingham had a strong tie to the airport, and knew Norm and Pearl McKeeman, so he helped facilitate the interview with the couple.

"When we interviewed them they were so sweet," said Teneycke.

Matychuk said while learning about the BCATP was historically revealing, the story of the McKeemans meeting at the base, and the ensuing life together was what she found most compelling.

"I'm still talking about them to friends," she said, adding the story of their first meeting had a near Hollywood quality. "They won a dance competition the day that they met."

"I think it's just such an amazing story," said Teneycke.

Matychuk said she hopes her life can be a bit like those of the McKeemans.

"I hope I can do exciting things with my life so I can have special moments like that," she said.

Nicole Hedley said she found it interesting that while the McKeemans met against a backdrop of training for a war engulfing Europe, they did not talk a great deal about negative things.

"They talked about what were the positive things," she said.

The three young filmmakers were truly touched by the story they learned from the McKeeman's

"I really hope we can stay friends," said Matychuk.

Hedley said she is pretty sure their friendship will endure, noting the three of them made a card and took it over recently to help the McKeemans celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.

Hedley was brought into the project because she has technical skills the others in the group lacked. Her role became one of editor, taking the two hours of raw taping, paring it down to cover the core aspects the project was focused on, adding in some historic footage from the Internet, and finishing with a 15-minute film. She said in terms of the class "they usually do a video every year," and this year they took it on.

In creating a film on the BCATP the three girls admitted they had to do some pre-filming research since none of them had been aware of the extensive facility training pilots for the Allied war effort.

"We did do some research," said Hedley.

"We didn't know what the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was. We started with that," added Matychuk.

Matychuk added that looking back she is a bit surprised they had not heard something about what was an extensive training facility at the airport, with multiple hangars, its own hospital, and hundreds of airmen training over its short existence.

"I was surprised. I drive by it (the airport) everyday," she said, adding her perspective of the airport changed as they did the project.

Hedley said now that they have learned more she realizes "the airport is so much smaller than it was."

The actual school project was to focus on three things, the BCATP, the Yorkton Airport and the McKeeman's own 'love story'.

Teneycke said while the project took a lot of their time, it was well worth the effort.

"We learned so much in such a fun way," she said, adding "it was not just looking things up on the Internet and putting them into a paper."

The film will earn the three students a grade, and it was shown to a school assembly as part of the school's Remembrance Day Service, but more may still be ahead.

Instructor Dale Winnitowy stuck his head in the door the day Yorkton This Week interviewed the girls and suggested they look into whether it could be entered in the Yorkton Film Festival. It was a suggestion the students said they may indeed investigate.

"I think it would be so cool," said Teneycke.

"I still think I could work on the video," offered Hedley, who added a lot of video was cut as they focused on the project questions. A re-edit could lengthen the film easily to 45-minutes, she added.