RCAF Station High River

RCAF Station High River

Location in Alberta

Site of RCAF Station High River. Remains of the main hangar can be seen in the upper left.

RCAF Station High River was a station of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) located at High River, Alberta, Canada. The Canadian Air Board began operating the High River Air Station in January 1921 after having moved the station from Morley, Alberta, where the weather was discovered to be too erratic and dangerous for flying. In the early days, the station had an entirely civil function and was the largest in Canada with ten war-surplus aircraft. In late 1922 when the Air Board and the fledgling Canadian Air Force was reorganized, operations at High River became the responsibility of the Canadian Air Force. And when the Royal Canadian Air Force was formed in 1924, the station became a Royal Canadian Air Force station: RCAF Station High River.

DH4 aircraft at the High River Air Station, 1922.

Most of the flying consisted of fire-spotting forestry patrols over the mountains and foothills to the west. The aircraft used was the DH.4. Late in 1924 Avro Vipers began to be used, and in 1928 De Havilland Cirrus 60 Moths were added. Initially, two patrols were made daily, to the Clearwater, Bow and Crowsnest Forest Reserves. One patrol flew north as far as the Clearwater River, and one south to the International Boundary. Eventually substations were built at Pincher Creek in the south and Eckville in the north to increase patrol efficiency. In 1928, a substation was constructed at Grande Prairie to enable the patrolling of the Peace River Country. Of the early Canadian air stations, High River was the most active, with 215 flights flown on forest patrols.

Other responsibilities of the station included aerial photography, parachute experimentation, aircraft testing, and aerial pesticide spraying. In the early 1920s the station became involved with experimenting with radio. The most powerful radio transmitter in North America began operating from the High River Air Station in 1922. After jurisdiction for natural resource management was transferred to the Province of Alberta in 1930, fire towers were built and spotting aircraft were no longer necessary. Fire-spotting patrols gradually ceased. Other activities such as aircraft testing continued until the station closed on March 31, 1931. The station did, however, remain as an aircraft storage facility until the beginning of the Second World War when the station was reactivated to train pilots for wartime service.

RCAF Station High River was a major participant in British Commonwealth Air Training Plan aircrew training during the war. No. 5 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) was established at High River in 1941 using civilian instructors from the Calgary Aero Club. De Havilland Tiger Moths were the first aircraft used. They were later replaced by Fairchild Cornells. An unprepared emergency and practice landing field was located on the then dry lakebed of nearby Frank Lake.

The High River aerodrome closed in October 1944. The site is no longer a functioning airport and is used for private commercial purposes. It should not be confused with the present High River Airport, which is in a different location.

References

• Milberry, Larry (General Editor). Sixty Years - The RCAF and CF Air Command 1924 - 1984. Toronto: Canav Books, 1984. ISBN 0-9690703-4-9.
• Roberts, Leslie. There Shall Be Wings. Toronto: Clark, Irwin and Co. Ltd., 1959. No ISBN.
• Smith, D. Western Geography, 7 (1997). Western Division, Canadian Association of Geographers. pp. 73–96.
• Fencelines and Furrows Historical Book Society. Fencelines and Furrows. First Edition, 1969. No ISBN. Retrieved: 2010-04-21
• Bruce Forsyth's Canadian Military History Page - No. 5 Elementary Flying Training School (High River) Retrieved: 2009-12-14

External links

• Air station description from bombercommandmuseum.ca
• Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Aerial Reconnaissance in the Canadian Rockies During the 1920s