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A little under a century ago, Canada’s military leadership looked to Calgary for similar reasons that commercial airline executives have selected it as their headquarters: its blue skies.
“Alberta’s contribution was very significant because of the weather,” says Bob Wade, a former member of Canada’s aerobatic team and retired air force pilot who now works at the Air Force Museum of Alberta.
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The Canadian militia established in the early 1930s the Currie Barracks, still known as such, becoming a facility housing several corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
Air-force activity in the area peaked during World War II when a triangular air strip was built to train Commonwealth pilots. “Here in Calgary, we get more days of sunshine than in most places, and it was deemed to be the best area in which to do that training,” Wade said.
While Calgary’s role in Canada’s air force has sharply dwindled for various reasons since the 1950s, that history is part and parcel with the RCAF’s early footprint in Canada — one that will be highlighted over the coming months as the air force celebrates its 100th anniversary.
Those celebrations will begin Monday at Calgary’s Air Force Museum in Currie Barracks — an area familiar to most Calgarians that, despite its unique architecture, makes its history with the RCAF known through historic artifacts planted around the neighbourhood.
Starting at 10:30 a.m. Monday, the museum will celebrate the opening of the RCAF Centenary exhibition in the Founders’ Gallery — an exhibit that will celebrate “human experience in Canadian military aviation over the past century,” which will include interactive elements, and combine personal narrative and material culture, according to the Air Force Museum Society of Alberta.
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Later on Monday at 1:50 p.m., Mayor Jyoti Gondek and Col. Andrew Abbott will raise the RCAF flag shortly after a flyover by an RCAF Gonzo, a heavily modified De Havilland Dash 8 aircraft based out of Winnipeg that the RCAF uses for training. (De Havilland is currently building a major campus just outside of Calgary that’s expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.)
Dan Rossi, chief training pilot at RCAF who will be flying the plane over Calgary, said Calgarians should look upwards at exactly 2:01 p.m. on Monday. However, due to legal limits on how low he can fly, the plane won’t be larger than one’s thumb pointed at the sky, he said.
“It’s not going to be all that exciting,” Rossi said jokingly. Rossi will fly in from Winnipeg on Monday, dropping his altitude to 1,000 feet when he reaches Medicine Hat and will hold that height along Highway 3 until he reaches Crowsnest Pass.
“I’m just happy to do it … I serve this country to try and give something back because I’m proud of it,” he said.
While Calgary’s direct involvement with the military has shrunk since the Second World War, the city has landed several contracts that make it a contributor to Canada’s national defence efforts.
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Most recently, Calgary-based Arcfield Canada Corp. was awarded a $211.6-million contract from Canada’s Department of National Defence. The contract will allow the company to continue providing maintenance for Canada’s aging CF-18 fighter fleet.
Last January the federal government ended a long-standing debate over how to phase out its CF-18s when it announced it’s buying 88 Lockheed Martin F35 jets for $19 billion.
Canada’s CF-18s will be about 50 years old when they’re fully phased out in 2032.
The new F35s will be based out of Cold Lake, Alta. — one of Canada’s largest fighter jet bases.
Monday’s celebrations won’t be the last commemorating the RCAF’s centennial: The museum has five more events planned over the next year, Wade said, including one at Calgary Stampede and the Little Britches Rodeo in High River.
The Stampede celebration will include a flyover during the parade while an old decommissioned RCAF plane will be towed through the procession, Wade said.
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