A Remembrance Day open house in Prince Albert brought families, seniors, and young cadets together for a presentation on the community’s role in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. The presentation room at the Prince Albert Historical Museum filled quickly, and more chairs were needed when Captain Clayton Letendre arrived with the Air Cadets. A group of cadets stepped forward to help set up seating before settling in for the presentation.
Bob Spracklin delivered the talk, supported by a video that traced how Canada became a central training ground during the Second World War. He walked the crows through the early use of Tiger Moth aircraft and the history of the No. 6 Elementary Flying Training School, which operated in Prince Albert from 1940 to 1944.
Spracklin said Prince Albert became one of the first active flying training sites in Western Canada because it already had an airfield and people with the experience to run it.
“This was an airfield before the Second World War, but it had very little in the way of buildings,” he said. “They brought in the extra infrastructure and turned it into a flying training school.”
He explained that Tiger Moths were the first aircraft used by new pilots throughout the Commonwealth and remained in use here until the end of the war. The hangars that once stood on the site lasted for decades afterward before aging, burning, or collapsing. Today, Spracklin said the only visible remnant from that period is the wind T at the airport entrance.
Much of the presentation focused on the young instructors and students who died during training. Spracklin said their names are listed on a plaque at the airport, the only place many of them are remembered.
“Some people who didn’t make it, the people who perished here, the only way they’re commemorated is that one plaque at the airport,” he said.
The presentation also included rare film shot in Prince Albert showing Tiger Moths flying, spinning, and training on winter skis. Spracklin told the cadets that the footage came from a camera operated during flights.
During the question period, one of the Air Cadets asked how the wartime footage was brought back to the ground after being filmed. Spracklin explained that the camera crews used simple onboard movie cameras, and the film was later developed and assembled into a reel. A few cadets reacted to the word “reel,” and one murmured that you couldn’t exactly upload it like a YouTube Short, which drew a quiet laugh from the room. Spracklin added more detail and clarified that the footage was made up of short film segments shot over several days and then pieced together after processing.
Some cadets also asked about training times, aircraft design, and where navigation fits into wartime flying. Spracklin spoke about Saskatchewan’s advantages as a training region.
“Saskatchewan is a nice, big, flat area, great for student pilots,” he said. “There’s nothing to bump into, and if you get in trouble, you can land in all kinds of places.”
He said he hopes younger people come away with an understanding that they are part of a long aviation tradition.
“A sense of connection and history,” he said. “They are part of a long tradition.”
After the presentation, visitors moved through the building to view military displays, with coffee and snacks offered inside the presentation room.
