Hangar 4 has experienced better days.
Only fragments of the original white paint remained. The rest has been blown away by 80 years of wind blowing from the Rocky Mountains west of the town of Altakresholm.
Most windows are broken. The only occupant of the hangar appeared to be three pigeons perched on a closed door.
The building is surrounded by a twisted metal fence with barbed wire and “no entry” signs.
Originally there were seven hangars in Cresholm, 135 kilometers south of Calgary. They were built as part of Canada’s contribution to World War II.
In 1943, as part of the Commonwealth Aviation Training Program, Canada had 107 aviation training grounds. This was a major plan for the Allied crew during World War II.
The Claresholm training base trained pilots, and another airport 60 kilometers away, near Vulcan, trained pilots and flight instructors.
The Vulcan base was eventually purchased privately. Some hangars have been reused, but in other hangars, the roof has collapsed, allowing sunlight to flow into the building.
Hank Jackson, 100 years old, was the tail gunner of the Halifax bomber. He received training at No. 3 Bombing and Gunnery School near Portage la Prairie in Marne. He recently visited Cresholm Airport.
“I like to watch these. There is something about it. There are still some old buildings in some places. It brings back a lot of memories,” said Jackson, who has performed 32 combat missions. All his crew members received the Distinguished Flying Cross from the U.S. Armed Forces.
“That was a good time in my life. I liked it very much. Maybe I didn’t have it at the time.”
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Jackson also received the French Legion of Honor four years ago. He joined the Calgary Police Department after retiring and retired 35 years later.
He said that when he started the mission, he always knew that death was possible.
“I can’t leave that turret… and I’ve been thinking, if it does happen, let it happen quickly. I don’t want to fall in flames like most of them,” Jackson said .
“Someone was taking care of us, I guess God, we managed to survive.”
Carl Casgard, curator of the Canadian Bomber Command Museum in Nanton, Alta, said there are only a few aerial training grounds left. Many have been flattened by bulldozers and replaced by a simple monument.
He was very happy that Claresholm’s hangar was saved.
“The history here is great. What people in Canada need to know is that this base is like bases all over Canada. Without this facility, any major bombing in World War II could not be a major bombing,” Kjarsgaard Say.
“For me, as a historian, the Commonwealth Aviation Training Program is one of Canada’s greatest achievements in more than 150 years.”
Almost half of the crew members who served in British and Commonwealth flight operations during World War II were graduates of the program. Most of the graduates (nearly 73,000) are Canadians.
Murray Frame, manager of the Claresholm site, is proud that six of the seven hangars are still intact.
Four of Frame’s uncles served in World War II, including a pilot, two mechanics, and a tail gunner.
“We lost one hangar. It was badly dilapidated and was condemned and flattened. But there are still six left. Except for a few of them, all companies are restoring or rebuilding them into viable industrial buildings,” Frame Say.
“You can’t even get the beams like inside. They are more than 100 feet long and they are still there.”
© 2021 Canadian Press
