British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. No. 11, Service Flying Training School Yorkton, Saskatchewan. In August of 1940, the announcement came that Yorkton would have a Royal Canadian Air Force station - a flying training school of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. As early as the onset of the war in 1939, local and federal politicians had lobbied the Federal Government to establish a flying training school near Yorkton. Their bid was successful and construction of the facilities began in the spring of 1940 on a site a few kilometres north of Yorkton, with two relief stations located nearby in the two communities of Rhein and Sturdee. By November, the project was sufficiently advanced to allow for the first official plane to bring Air Vice Marshall G. M. Croll and his party for an inspection. While readying the school for the formal opening, some accidents occurred. On March 28, an Avro Anson crashed three miles east of Yorkton. The Pilot, F.O.W. Miller, was uninjured. At the same time, seven Harvards arrived from Winnipeg, with seven more arriving in April. The school opened for operation on April 10, 1941.
The official opening was held on June 11, 1941. It was an impressive complex consisting of 40 buildings, including a large mess hall, a 35-bed hospital, and hangars to shelter some 200 planes. The Harvards were gradually being replaced by the twin-engine Cessna Cranes.
-City of Yorkton Archives
Contact Terri Lefebvre Prince,
Heritage Researcher,
City of Yorkton, Box 400
37 Third Avenue North
Yorkton, Sask. S3N 2W3
306-786-1722
[email protected]
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