Air Traffic Control

Historical Detail

Comments by Bruce Wellman

#1 SCHOOL OF FLYING CONTROL - RCAF DETACHMENT GRAND BEND

In early 1951, when the RCAF was reequipping with Sabres AFHQ realised that the new jet aircraft coming into service required a system of control for safety reasons and thus the Flying Control Branch was again instituted. This immediately meant that contact training of controllers at Centralia was no longer a feasible method of providing trained controllers so under AFHQ Org Order 14/51 of 20-3-1951, the #1 Flying Control School was reestablished, this time at RCAF Station Centralia (Relief Field #1) located at Grand Bend, Ontario. The School, opened on 5 April 1951 and trained Officers and Other ranks until 1957. The Officer training was aimed at graduating Aerodrome controllers with some training in conventional non-Radar control.

RCAF STATION CENTRALIA (Relief Field #1 Grand Bend, Ontario)

S/L WM French 1951-1957

Comments by Kenneth "KD" Macdonald

The School of Flying Control (Air Traffic Control) was originally located at Grand Bend. It was already in operation when we set up the GCA School at Aylmer in the spring of 1955. A decision was made to relocate the two schools (Grand Bend and Aylmer) to Camp Borden. I don't know the exact date that they moved from Grand Bend to Camp Borden, but we moved the GCA School from Aylmer to Camp Borden in the fall of 1957.

Comments by Barney Dunlevy

I took my ACOp course at Grand Bend from 10 January 1954 to about 15 March 1954. During the 8 weeks, we studied Morse Code, Meteorology, Navigation, Flight Planning and probably a few other subjects. We had a tower on top of the hangar and spent some time there observing flying operations performed by Harvards from Centralia. It is my understanding that the ATC School at Grand Bend had been there for some time before I arrived. Prior to Grand Bend, I spent 2.5 months on OJT at Portage la Prairie in the tower and flight planning. When I arrived at Grand Bend in January 1954, Gord Stockwell was one of my instructors along with Ray Hamlyn. In 1967 when I was posted to Camp Borden, it was S/L Gord Stockwell who got me out of the boring Flight Planning and into instructing radar at the school. It was also Gord who recommended me for commissioning. Many years later Ray Hamlyn was Tower Chief at Langley, BC and still later Ray's son, Chris, was my OJI during re-qualification at Boundary Bay. A small world.

Comments by Whip Watson

My RCAF time started in November 1953. Following Manning Depot at St Jean, PQ, I was posted to Moose Jaw for contact training 15 January 1954 - 15 May 1954, then to Grand Bend, for ACOp course. In brief, in response to your request for info, (taken from the site), the ATC school at Grand Bend operated from 5 April 1951 through 1957, when the school was moved to Camp Borden. The GCA school was at Aylmer from the fall of 1953 - 1957. The GCA school opened at Camp Borden, 2 Dec 1957. Some of the earlier, dare I say older folk, listed in the data base, should be able to fill you in with lots of detail.

Comments by Dave Anderson

You are making me feel old. Grand Bend was a great place. I was on the B stand course in the summer of 1956. I remember the officer's course following ours. I was told the only difference in the course was the officers got more weather. We did IFR seperation and played at being an ATC centre.

Comments by Robin Rousham

I was on the last Flying Control course at Grand Bend, in the summer of 1957, concluding at the end of July. (Grand Bend was a satellite airfield of RCAF Station Centralia, in support of ab initio pilot training conducted on Chipmunks.) Sqn Ldr SNE Beauchamp was the last OC of Grand Bend.