RCAF Station Caron was a

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a large-scale multinational military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand during the Second Wo ...

(BCATP) station located near

Caron A caron or háček ( ), is a diacritic mark () placed over certain letters in the orthography of some languages, to indicate a change of the related letter's pronunciation. Typographers tend to use the term ''caron'', while linguists prefer ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It was operated and administered by the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

(RCAF).

History

World War II

The Station hosted No. 33 Elementary Flying Training School (Canada) RAF which opened on 7 December 1941 and was operated by Boundary Bay Flying Training School Ltd. It operated

de Havilland Tiger Moth The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary traine ...

s and

Fairchild Cornell Cornell University is a private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson White in 1865. Since ...

s It was redesignated as No. 25 EFTS RCAF on 14 January 1944. However the Canadian Department of National Defence says the school was opened by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

on 5 January 1942 with The Aero Club of BC taking over operation of the School on 25 May 1942 and the school was closed 14 January 1944.

Aerodrome Information

In approximately 1942 the aerodrome was listed as RCAF Aerodrome - Caron, Saskatchewan at with a variation of 18 degrees east and elevation of . The aerodrome was listed with three runways as follows: A review of Google Maps on 10 June 2018 shows that none of the former aerodrome remains. It appears that the old taxiway and 13/31 runway are now occupied by housing and the remaining runways have been completely reclaimed for agriculture. The coordinates from the c.1942 publication appear to be slightly north of the actual location of the former airfield a more likely coordinate would be based on the drawings in the reference.

Relief landing field – Boharm

The primary Relief Landing Field (R1) for RCAF Station Caron was located approximately south-east. The site was located approximately south of the unincorporated community of

Boharm Boharm is a rural parish in the Strathspey, Scotland, Speyside area of north Scotland, midway between Aberlour and Fochabers, and north of Dufftown. It lies on minor roads to either side of the A95 road, A95. The main settlements in the parish a ...

, Saskatchewan. The Relief field was laid out in the standard triangular pattern on a turf all way field. In approximately 1942 the aerodrome was listed as RCAF Aerodrome - Boharm, Saskatchewan at with a variation of 18 degrees east and elevation of . Three runways were listed as follows A review of Google Maps on 10 June 2018 shows a body of water at the location indicated, no trace of an airfield exists at this location, although the body of water is not possibly large enough to cover the whole airfield if it was at this exact location.

Present

The aerodrome is now the village of

Caronport Caronport (Canada 2016 Census, 2016 population: ) is a village in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the Rural Municipality of Caron No. 162 and Division No. 7, Saskatchewan, Census Division No. 7. ...

References

External links

Bruce Forsyth's Canadian Military History Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caron Military history of Saskatchewan Royal Canadian Air Force stations Military airbases in Saskatchewan Airports of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan Defunct airports in Saskatchewan