During the second world war, Dauphin was home to Royal Canadian Air Force Station Dauphin, which housed the No. 10 Service Flying Training School. Through the Commonwealth Air Training Plan, Dauphin saw around 9,000 pilots trained at the school. The station is now the Lt. Col W.G. (Billy) Barker VC Airport, just south of Dauphin.
It's a big part of Dauphin and the area's rich history, one that several groups look to preserve. On August 23rd from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum in Brandon will be flying a few of their WWII trainer aircraft north to Dauphin for the day.
Event organizer Darrell Inkster helped put on the event last year, and it went fairly well, and he's looking forward to having Dauphin's history on display again.
"They're second world war era, they're trainers, some of which were stationed here in Dauphin when the commonwealth training airport was going here...I've been in touch with the Brandon museum for quite a few years, and got this idea last year to do this, and we went ahead full bore and it was very successful. We had a lot of people show up, no complaints, everything went pretty good other than the weather," said Inkster.
From his side, Inkster's job has been pretty simple: find a place for the planes to land, and spread the word. Last year had a bit more than just the planes, including what Inkster called a 'fly-in breakfast', so you can expect a full-fledged event from the day.
"[The Museum has] it all planned out pretty good at their end, I just have to give them a place to land, and look after getting people in, and feed everybody, and it's just like a big picnic sort of thing, that's what we're looking to do again," said Inkster.
In a Facebook post, the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum said there will be a few different trainers in Dauphin for the day, including the DeHavilland Tiger Moth, the Boeing Stearman, and the main event according to Inkster, the Harvard Mk II.
"[The Harvard is] the main attraction, I went up in it myself last year, and yeah, that big girl is gonna be here for sure," said Inkster.
The event is very much dependent on the weather. You are able to book flights in each of the trainer aircraft by contacting the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum.
