On April 15, 1940, the No. 1 Initial Training School opened in Toronto, welcoming the first students of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). Trainees came from as far afield as Ceylon and New Zealand, Greece and the Netherlands, all eager to serve in the skies during the Second World War.
Throughout the war, aircrews from across the globe trained under what became known as “the Plan.” U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously dubbed Canada “the Aerodrome of Democracy” for its central role in preparing Allied airmen.
The BCATP was born from an agreement signed on December 17, 1939, between Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. Canada was designated the principal, though not the only, location for the Plan. Its vast, secure territory allowed aircrews—pilots, air gunners, navigators, and bomb aimers—to train safely, far from enemy fighters, yet close enough to the European and Pacific theatres and American industry.
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) administered the program in Canada. Robert Leckie, a Scottish-born veteran who had commanded an RAF squadron in Malta, was posted to Ottawa in 1940 to direct training. For Leckie, returning to Canada was something of a homecoming; he had first learned to fly in Toronto before serving in the First World War.
The BCATP faced early challenges. Aircraft, instructors, and completed airfields were in short supply, hampering training. But after the fall of France in June 1940, the Plan accelerated. RAF aircrew schools began transferring to Canada, and by 1942 all British units in Canada were formally integrated into the BCATP.
The Plan continued until March 31, 1945, and at its peak included 107 schools and 184 ancillary units spread across 231 sites, supported by 10,906 aircraft and 104,113 military and administrative personnel.
Over the course of the war, the BCATP produced 131,553 graduates, roughly half of whom were Canadian. These included pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, wireless operators, air gunners, and flight engineers. Nearly half of all aircrew serving in British and Commonwealth operations had trained under the Plan. Canadians alone graduated 72,835 personnel, providing crews for 40 home defence squadrons and 45 overseas RCAF squadrons, while also constituting approximately 25% of RAF squadrons.
While Canada produced the largest number of graduates, training under the BCATP also took place in Australia, New Zealand, Southern Rhodesia, South Africa, and the United States, reflecting the truly global nature of this ambitious wartime program.
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