Moncton was 'Air Force Blue' during the war
Diary chronicles successes and tragedies of Moncton flight training from 1940 to 1944
By Alan Cochrane/ Transcribed by G. Christian Larsen

Don McQuinn was just a youngster, but he'll never forget the thick, rumbling sound of the Harvards, Ansons and even the twin-engined Mosquito bombers that roared over Moncton at all hours of the day and night between 1940 and 1944.

"The sky was much busier than it is now. The skies were always full of planes. Of course the sound was much heavier than what you hear now. They had a real distinct, throaty sound," Don recalls of the single-engined Harvards and twin-engined Anson bombers that were a regular sight over Moncton during the war years. Watching the planes inspired the dreamer in the young Don, who grew up to be a pilot himself.

This fall marks 70 years since 1940, when Canada became one of the main training grounds for young pilots and air crew members from all over the world as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Britain realized that air power would be an important factor in the war effort but Britain was also under siege by Nazi Germany, so Canada was seen as ideal training ground for the pilots, navigators, bombers, radio operators, air gunners and flight engineers.

Over a four-year period more than 130,000 personnel from Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries in the Commonwealth graduated from 107 training schools across the country. Moncton, which already had an airport and was along the main railroad line, was selected not only pilot training but also a main processing station for airmen who landed in Halifax and were en-route to other schools by train. Most of them were in their late teens or early 20s and found themselves a long way from home learning a trade that would prove to be very dangerous.

Moncton was home to the No. 8 Service Flying Training School, the No. 1 Wireless School, the No. 1 Y Depot, the No. 31 RAF Personnel Depot, the No. 18 Equipment Unit, the No. 15 Recruit Depot, In the summer of 1941, a large piece of land by the CN Shops (near the present location of the YMCA on Vaughan Harvey Boulevard) was turned into a "town within a city" to accommodate the incoming flyboys. Some of those buildings built in haste still stand today. Other New Brunswick communities affected by the training plan included Salisbury, Chatham and Pennfield Ridge near Saint John. Planes based in nearby Debert, N.S., also made regular runs over Moncton.

"Mosquitoes were based mainly in Debert and they used to do cross-country trips where they'd come up the Petitcodiac River above the marsh at about 350 miles an hour, come right over the barn roof and over our house. Then they'd head down toward Nova Scotia," McQuinn says. "In May of 1945 one of them crashed at the mouth of the Petitcodiac River near Grindstone Island by Fundy Park. One pilot was killed and the other one got out on his life raft, so a Canso from Scoudouc went down and picked him up."

Everett McQuinn, Don's older brother, says the bright yellow Harvards and Ansons were a familiar sight, along with flyboys from England, Ireland, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and Caribbean. In the days before the United States entered the war, quite a few Americans came north to join the RCAF.

Everett says the foreign flyboys enjoyed their time in Moncton.

"The YMCA on Alma Street was a popular place. There was bowling, socializing and dances with local big bands like the Mark Kenny Orchestra. The restaurants were always filled with the airmen and the public, and a lot of families would invite them into their homes for Sunday dinners," Everett recalls. "And people in Moncton would complain that they couldn't get service at stores like Eatons or Woolworth's or Zellers because the young female clerks were too busy serving the flyboys who were buying articles to send home to their families."

The flight training plan provided many jobs for local people providing various services to the air force. Students at local schools like Moncton High and Edith Cavell got involved by selling bonds and raising enough money (approximately $100,000) to purchase a Harvard trainer plane. The plane was named the "City of Moncton" and presented with great fanfare. Everett's scale model of the plane can now be seen in the Don McClure Aviation History Gallery at the Greater Moncton International Airport.

Everett describes the mood in Moncton during the war years as "hospitable and patriotic," as most people got behind the war effort and welcomed the flyboys from around the world.

From October of 1940 to June of 1944, the Daily Diary of the No. 8 Service Flying Training School kept track of the goings-on at the base, which was located on the site where the new terminal of the Greater Moncton International Airport stands today.

The diary makes note of the problems, the fun, the various royal visits and the tragedies that occurred at the base.

The first test flight of an Anson was made on Jan. 16, 1941 and about 3,000 people attended the official opening on Jan. 23. The opening was marred by four civilians working in the mess who were fired but refused to leave without pay. They were escorted to the guard house where they spent the night.

The first reported accident was on March 8, 1941, when a group of security guards on the ground were struck by a plane. The first reported fatality was on March 12 when two training aircraft collided in mid-air.

There were several fatal accidents involving training planes and student pilots. Some were the result of mid-air collisions. In the air force, a Class A crash is one where the aircraft is extensively damaged and someone is killed. The diary makes mention of at least 11 fatal crashes, but there may have been more.

There were also many crashes where young student pilots were able to walk away from the wreck. One such incident is reported in the diary entry of April 2, 1943:

"At 1600 hours 42 members of course 70 were presented with their wings at wings parade in the drill hall by G/C JC Huggard. Of the 42 members, 22 were RAF and one Australian. The Australian was a survivor of a crash in September in which he was dangerously injured. Anson Mk II Number 7144 crashed near Meganic Lake. Word was received when one of the student pilots phoned from a filling station five miles from the scene of the crash."

Mechanic Lake is located in Albert County between Moncton and Sussex.

Dignitaries visiting the base included Lord Beaverbrook, the Governor General and Princess Alice (an aunt of Queen Elizabeth) and Queen Wilhelmena of the Netherlands. The popular Dutch Queen arrived in Pointe du Chene aboard a Pan-Am Clipper flying boat and made a two-hour visit to the Moncton station while waiting for the plane to take them to England.

The diary makes note of the Transcript Motorcade on Oct. 6, 1943, when the newspaper arranged a visit to the station by local business and professional men for a tour. A few days later, the Moncton Daily Times carried a first-hand account written by reporter D. Ryan-McNeille, who flew aboard an RCAF Harvard on a training flight to Barachois Cape, where he dropped a couple of bombs on the practice range.

Besides the flying, there were dances and romance between the local girls and flyboys from around the world. There is a mention of a dance at the recreation hall when about 200 girls from the Eaton's Bowling Club were invited out to the base. There were also baseball games, hockey games and lots of aircraft spotting as big B-17 Flying Fortresses from the U.S. made stops in Moncton en route to England. The Moncton training centre was shut down in late June of 1944 and the remnants moved to Weburn, Sask.

Today, there are few reminders left standing of Moncton's role in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. A memorial plaque unveiled by Queen Elizabeth can be found at Leger Corner and some of the old buildings used during the war are still standing. There is also a crumbling concrete bunker at the edge of the runway just inside the fence. This is the place where the machine guns on the fighter planes were adjusted. The graves of some pilots killed can also be found in local cemeteries, while most of them were sent to the home towns for burial.

Everett McQuinn says one of the crashed planes - with the pilots still inside - wasn't discovered until several years after the war ended. And because there were so many crashes, he believes there are probably some wrecked planes still lying quietly in the woods and water around southeastern New Brunswick, still waiting to be discovered.

The diary of the No. 8 Service Flying Training School in Moncton records several fatal crashes between 1940 and 1944. There were also many non-fatal crashes that involved landing accidents, stalling, spinning, flying too low, smashing into trees or hillsides, getting lost, running out of fuel and losing control. While most of the aircraft were recovered, historians say there may still be some wrecked planes in the woods and water in the region surrounding the Moncton airport:

* March 12, 1941: Two aircraft collided and crashed. One passenger parachuted to safety. Aircraft located after extensive search. Two student pilots killed.

* Aug. 3, 1941: Hudson bomber en route from Montreal crashes in woods near the airport. Two civilians killed, on New Zealand pilot seriously wounded.

* Aug. 7, 1941: Two Anson bomber trainers collide on final approach to runway. Two student pilots killed.

* June 26, 1942: Two pilots killed in a mid-air collision near Cocagne. One plane went down while the other one, badly damaged, managed to land safely.

* Sept. 1, 1942: [LAC] John Richard Vogt [(R/237415), Pilot] of Inglewood, Calif., is killed when his plane [Harvard 3228] crashes near Dawson Settlement outside of Moncton.

* Oct. 21, 1942: Mid-air collision between a Harvard and an Anson. The student pilot in the Harvard is killed, while the instructor and lookout in the Anson are also killed.

* March 1, 1943. A Hudson bomber crashes on the ice of the Northumberland Strait near Cape Tormentine. The flyers are rescued by an icebreaker ship and taken to hospital in Moncton.

* April 2, 1943: An Anson bomber crashes in the forest near Mechanic Lake. The occupants are injured and one of the students walks five miles to a gas station to call for help.

* June 17, 1943: Two pilots - [Pilot Officer]  L.R. Bisson [(J/24582)] and student [LAC] Lawrence [Russell] Babkirk [(R/174607)] - are killed when a Harvard [3056] trainer crashes onto the railway tracks at Pacific Junction outside Moncton.

* Sept. 14, 1943: Student pilot LAC Nathrope is killed when his Harvard goes into a spin and crashes into the Northumberland Strait near Shediac.

* Nov. 11, 1943: Student pilot [LAC] Roy G[eorge] Schnarr [(R/197131)] [from Waterloo, ON] is killed when his Harvard [FE983] crashes near Lutes Mountain.

* Dec. 4, 1943: Instructor [Flying Officer] Joseph [Kenneth] McMorris [J/23760)] of [Lewvan,] Saskatchewan and student pilot [LAC] John [Kenneth] Murphy (R/194169] of Montreal are reported missing and presumed dead after their plane [Harvard FE995] fails to return to base. It is presumed the plane crashed in remote woodlands or in the water. [The aircraft wreckage was found 31 May 1946 in some timberland one and one half miles off a road near the village of Anderson].

* Dec. 8, 1943: Instructor [Pilot Officer John Lawton] Thornton [(J/27200) from Toronto, ON] and student pilot [LAC C.H.} Hyndman [GB431208] are killed when a Harvard [FH120] crashes 275 yards south of base runways while making final approach for landing.

* Dec. 29, 1943: Harvard [FS859] training plane with the body of pilot [LAC] Francis Cyril Dalton [(R/190229)] of Newcastle is found by a ground search party about five miles from Barachois. Cause of crash is undetermined. Dalton, 19, was out for a solo flight after returning home from Christmas leave at his parents home in Newcastle.

SOURCE: Times & Transcript (Moncton, NB) - November 11, 2010.