Engineering 'the aerodrome of democracy', Canada 1939–1944

The British Commonwealth air training plan was created to address the critical shortage of trained flyers that existed at the outbreak of World War II. As the expansion of existing training facilities in areas likely to be subject to enemy attack was unlikely to be satisfactory, an agreement was reached between Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to provide training facilities in Canada. Initial requirements were for 58 airfields, one to be complete by May 1940, 37 by the end of 1941 and the remaining 20 by April 1942. The extent of this civil engineering challenge is highlighted by the fact that, in 1939, the Royal Canadian Air Force possessed only five airfields. However, not only were the original targets achieved, they were surpassed in both scope and time. On completion, 88 'main' airfields were in use; as most of these airfields required at least one ‘satellite' field with many of the facilities of the main fields, the grand total was 176 airfields. In the words of President Roosevelt, Canada had become ‘the aerodrome of democracy'. As airfields were constructed in every province of Canada, planning and logistical problems were immense. Standardisation of design for airfield layout, prefabrication of components for hangars and other airfield structures, a centralised management organisation and the application of what, today, we would describe as modern construction project management techniques all helped Canada's civil engineers to successfully complete this Herculean task.