The Commonwealth Air Training Plan (CATP) Museum at McGill Field (Brandon Municipal Airport) will host the presentation ceremony for the memorial of the September 15, 1946, RCAF crash near Estevan, SK.

Twenty-one airmen lost their lives that morning as they were returning from Minot, ND, to Estevan, this being one of the worst accidents involving the peacetime RCAF. 'They had been tasked with repatriating Cornell training aircraft to Fargo and Minot as part of the Lend Lease Agreement between Great Britain and the United States during WWII. From #124 (Ferry) Squadron, Rockcliffe near Ottawa, they had been stationed temporarily at the former #38 Service Flying Training School at Estevan,' states the news release.

The 'Forever in the Clouds Memorial Committee' spent more than two years searching for family members of the airmen and planning three days of remembrance activities in July, 2022. Marie Donais Calder gathered historical information and communicated with members of all twenty-one families in order to write, Together Forever in the Clouds*, the story of the crash and of each individual airman.

'Families and the community gathered, first at Government House in Regina and then at Estevan, to honour the airmen and to dedicate a memorial cairn at the crash site. Of the twenty-one families, fourteen were represented by over sixty people…..coming from Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Crete and Mallorca. Saskatchewan and the wider Estevan community supported and continue to support this initiative. Sincere gratitude is expressed to the CATP Museum for its assistance with the remembrance events, especially to those who provided rides in the Cornell and Harvard.'

As part of continuing events related to the crash, the Forever in the Clouds Memorial Committee has arranged for a framed photo of the memorial plaque to be presented to the CATP Museum, hoping to keep the story of these dedicated airmen alive by bringing it to a wider audience.

The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum is proud to be one of the seven Manitoba Signature Museums, a Manitoba Star Attraction and a National Historic Site.

The 1946 RCAF Estevan Crash Memorial Presentation will be held at the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum Canteen,  Brandon Municipal Airport on

Sunday, May 28, 2023, at 1:30 p.m.

Everyone is invited!

For more information about the CATPM’s event, please contact:

Stephen Hayter, Executive Director

Ph: 204-727-2444   

Email: airmuseum@inetlink.ca

Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum & RCAF WWII Memorial – Dedicated to the plan for training air force personnel for the Commonwealth in WWII (airmuseum.ca)