RCAF Station Saskatoon
General Information
Base / Station: Saskatoon
Province: Saskatchewan
Dates of Operation or Period of Information:
- 16 September 1940 – 30 March 1945
- 1 January 1952 – September 1964
Units:
- No 4 Service Flying Training School
- Role: Intermediate training to wings level on multi engine aircraft.
- Formed effective 16 September 1940.
- Reformed as a shadow/ reserve training school 30 March 1945
- Disbanded 14 June 1945
- Aircraft Flown
- Anson,
- Crane
- 1 Instrument Flying School
- Role: instrument flying training and development
- Closed: – 23 Jan 56, combined with 1 AFS
- Aircraft Flown:
- Expeditor
- 1 Advanced Flying School
- Role: advanced jet training
- Moved to Rivers – 1 October 1962
- Aircraft Flown:
- T-33
- Primary Relief Landing Field (R1) – Vanscoy
- Secondary Relief Landing Field (R2) – Osler
Private Married Quarters (PMQ’s) Community: McNabb Park
Commanding Officers:
Financial Impact:
Date / Reason for Closure:
Site Evolution:
- The Publication On Track…the Pilot’s Air Travel Guide (First Annual Edition – 1978) lists the Aerodrome as “Saskatoon” – See photos on this page.
Current Status: civil airfield, CYXE
Image from the
RCAF Pilots Manual of Aerodromes and Seaplane Bases
circa 1942.
On Track – 1978
Site Plan
Site Plan – 1941
(Circa 1941) (Source 1 Canadian Air Division)
If you would like a PDF Copy Please Click to Download.
Location – Google Map
Photo Gallery
Thank you to Mike Anglin for sharing this photo with me (National Defence Image)
Station Magazine
“Reconnaissance”
School Daily Diary – Links – No. 4 Service Flying Training School
The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, Brandon, Manitoba has created a transcription of this Daily Diary.
Their web site is AirMuseum.ca
1941
1944
Historical Reports – RCAF Station Saskatoon
Organization / Formation Orders
Disbandment Order / Organization Orders (Part 2)
May 1951 – May 1952 – Missing
Fatalities
This list was compiled from the entries in the Daily diaries of No. 4 Service Flying Training School and other sources. The list may not include all fatalities of personnel who died while stationed at RCAF Station Saskatoon(Airport). With input from various sources, so far there were 27 deaths of service personnel that were stationed at Saskatoon(Airport).
30 January 1941
12 March 1941
8 April 1941
25 May 1941
1 July 1941
16 July 1941
22 August 1941
30 August 1941
12 December 1941
2 February 1942
11 February 1942
24 February 1942
7 March 1942
- Flight Sergeant Hugh Charles Campbell
- Leading Aircraftman Benjamin Dean Cook
- Leading Aircraftman Hubert Vernol Ford
2 June 1942
5 June 1942
15 July 1942
31 July 1942
- Pilot Officer Arthur Archibald Currie
- Leading Aircraftman Ernest Albert Seeds
- Leading Aircraftman Gordon Gray
30 May 1943
Aircraft List
Course List
No 4 Service Flying Training School
Notable Alumni
For More information – External Links
- Wikipedia
- MilitaryBruce.com – Canadian Military History by Bruce Forsyth
- Aerodrome Disposal File:
I was born there in July 1953 while my dad, Peter Duggan-Smith was an instructor. He had been part of New Zealand’s first squadron to enter WW2 and was subsequently absorbed into the RAF, receiving one of the first DFC’s as pilot on a bombing raid. After the war ended he came to Canada after a stint in Japan. My godmother was First Nations and married to one of the other pilots on the base and my mum’s best friend. I tried to track her down for my mum years ago but to no avail.
I checked out relief field Osler in a topographic map and you can barely see a triangle that would fit the runway dimensions, tilted slightly to the right of true north like the in the diagram. I also checked the surrouding area, but couldnt find anything, so I believe this is the location of the aerodrome. https://en-ca.topographic-map.com/map-s4hcz/Saskatoon/?center=52.37135%2C-106.5188&zoom=15&lock=15%2C504%2C519
Tony, I was born August 1953 and my dad, Gordon Webster MacDonald J099 82 Sq ldr/ and DFC, He was a farm boy from Wanham, Alberta who learned to fly at Saskatoon in 1940, He also flew with the RAF in WW2, flying Blenheims in England and Gibralter and Vultees in India and Burma.His w/o, gunner throughout the war was a Kiwi named David Vincent Starr Berrington, and though there were a few close calls, both men came home safely. Back in Canada he married my mother and turned to civil aviation. He died flying a Polio patient from Grande Prairie Alberta to Edmonton to be supported in an iron lung. He encountered a massive winter storm that took the C170 down approximately 50 Km from his boyhood farm. It took the Canadian Search and Rescue nine months to find the wreckage making it their longest search at the time. Unfortunately I was 84 days old at the time of the crash and never got to know him. In his honour I have been researching and writing his biography for my grand children to know how brave their great grand father was. Tonight I was searching for the flight school he attended and discovered the RCAF aerodrome in Saskatoon. Some of us older folk need to share our family stories and keep their memories alive.