Link to:
Commanding Officers | Chief Supervisory Officers | Photos & Maps | Sources
Opened in December 1940, this facility south of the City of Portage la Prairie, in the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie, was used for training of pilots during the Commonwealth Air Training Plan (CATP) of the Second World War. The site was home to two CATP schools: No. 14 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) and the No. 7 Air Observers School (AOS). Both schools operated side by side for a time, separated by a narrow road. They shared a 15-bed hospital on the AOS side of the base. The entire facility was built at a cost of $450,000 by the Claydon Construction Company, with Assistant Engineer E. H. Fleishman in charge of construction.
The EFTS base consisted of eight larger buildings including a hangar, ground-instruction school, officers mess and quarters, non-commissioned officers mess and quarters, airmens quarters, airmens mess, stores, and garage. The base also had a 25-yard machine gun range with a 28-foot-high concrete wall. From 28 October to 5 December 1940, it was based at the No. 5 Air Observers School in Winnipeg, under the control of the Central Manitoba Flying School Limited. Training was done with a fleet of 25 Tiger Moths supplied by the Winnipeg Flying Club. In the summer of 1942, the school transferred to Assiniboia, Saskatchewan and the entire site was taken over by the AOS.
The AOS had 12 buildings including a double-hangar (224 x 160 feet), standard hangar, headquarters, officers quarters, officers’ mess, airmen’s quarters, airmen’s mess, combined mess and quarters for non-commissioned officers, workshop, wireless building, direction-finding equipment building, motor garage, and stores. Beginning on 28 April 1941, pupils were given a 12-week regimen of training in air navigation, aerial photography, reconnaissance, observation, mapping, and description. Trainees were flown in aircraft operated by civilian-owned commercial flying companies, under Air Force supervision and instruction.
Closed after the war, the site was reopened in the early 1950s and used for training Royal Canadian Air Force and NATO pilots. It became CFB Portage la Prairie in 1966 and was closed, due to military cutbacks, in September 1992. The site is used for civilian aviation as the Southport Aerospace Centre.
On 8 September 2022, a CT-134 Muskeeter was dedicated in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Centre. One in a fleet of trainer that entered service here in the 1970s, it served as one of the final fixed wing aircraft used at CFB Portage la Prairie before its closure. Restored in June 2022, the aircraft was restored by Colin Craddock (The Restoration Hangar), painted by Lyndon Giesbrecht (Rocky Ridge Autobody) with graphics by William Burns (CanMilAirDecals), and donated by the Stevenson Campus of Red River College Polytech.
In October 2024, a plaque commemorating the site's role in the Commonwealth Air Training Plan was unveiled near the Musketeer by the Manitoba Historical Society.
Period
Commanding Officer
1941
Flight Lieutenant D. D. Rogers
1941-?
Flight Lieutenant G. H. Newsome
?-1942
?
Period
Chief Supervisory Officer
1940
Flying Officer D. J. Thomson
1941
Flight Lieutenant K. G. McDonald
1942
Squadron Leader Laurie Ellis
1942-1944
Wing Commander Henry Geoffrey Malcolmson
1944-?
Squadron Leader R. H. Batty
?-1945
Squadron Leader M. S. Layton
Aerial view of the No. 14 Elementary Flying Training School & No. 7 Air Observers School (c1941) by Charles J. Gingras
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Charles J. Gingras collection #122
Aerial view of the No. 14 Elementary Flying Training School & No. 7 Air Observers School (1944) by Charles J. Gingras
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Charles J. Gingras collection #131
CT-134 Musketeer 134245 at the Southport Aerospace Centre (July 2024)
Source: George Penner
Commonwealth Air Training Plan commemorative plaque (October 2024)
Source: Lawrence ProutSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.91132, W98.27286
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Manitoba Business: Claydon Brothers Construction Company / Claydon Construction Limited
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 1 Air Navigation School (Wheatland, Municipality of Riverdale)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 1 Air Navigation School Monument (Municipality of Riverdale)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 5 Air Observers School (Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 3 Bombing and Gunnery School (Macdonald, RM of Portage la Prairie)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 7 Bombing and Gunnery School (Paulson, RM of Dauphin)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 14 Elementary Flying Training School / No. 7 Air Observers School / Southport Aerospace Centre (Southport, RM of Portage la Prairie)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 19 Elementary Flying Training School (RM of Wallace-Woodworth)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 26 Elementary Flying Training School (Municipality of North Cypress-Langford)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 26 Elementary Flying Training School, Eden Relief Field / Eden Airport (RM of Rosedale)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 10 Service Flying Training School / Barker Airport (RM of Dauphin)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 10 Service Flying Training School, North Junction Relief Field (RM of Dauphin)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 10 Service Flying Training School, Valley River Relief Field (RM of Dauphin)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 12 Service Flying Training School / Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum (Brandon)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 12 Service Flying Training School, Chater Relief Field / Chater Aerodrome (RM of Elton)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 12 Service Flying Training School, Douglas Relief Field (Municipality of North Cypress-Langford)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 17 Service Flying Training School (Municipality of Souris-Glenwood)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 17 Service Flying Training School, Hartney Relief Field / Hartney Aerodrome (Municipality of Grassland)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 18 Service Flying Training School / No. 2 Flying Training School / Canadian Forces Base Gimli / Gimli Industrial Park Airport (Municipality of Gimli)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 18 Service Flying Training School, Netley Relief Field / Netley Field (RM of St. Andrews)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 33 Service Flying Training School (Municipality of North Cypress-Langford)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 33 Service Flying Training School, Oberon Relief Field / Oberon Aerodrome (Municipality of North Cypress-Langford)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 33 Service Flying Training School, Petrel Relief Field / Petrel Aerodrome (Municipality of North Cypress-Langford)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 3 Wireless School (500 Shaftesbury Boulevard, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Brandon Winter Fair Building / Brandon Arena / No. 2 Manning Depot (Eleventh Street, Brandon)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 5 Release Centre / Jameswood Place South (Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 8 Repair Depot / Jameswood Place (Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: No. 2 Equipment Depot / No. 7 Equipment Depot / Carpiquet Barracks (Notre Dame Avenue, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: First Flight Monument (Memorial Park, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Cardale Air Crash Monument (RM of Oakview)
“Three air schools cost $1,280,000,” Winnipeg Free Press, 28 August 1940, page 3.
“Portage Air School will open Oct. 28,” Winnipeg Tribune, 17 October 1940, page 13.
“Portage race,” Winnipeg Free Press, 19 October 1940, page 3.
“Portage Elementary Flying School receives finishing touches,” Winnipeg Free Press, 19 October 1940, page 3.
“Flying School opens Monday in Winnipeg,” Winnipeg Free Press, 25 October 1940, page 4.
“Off to Portage,” Winnipeg Tribune, 5 December 1940, page 13.
“Air School to open soon at Portage,” Winnipeg Free Press, 18 April 1941, page 3.
“Portage Air School will open Monday,” Winnipeg Free Press, 24 April 1941, page 3.
“New Air School at Portage loses no time in starting,” Winnipeg Tribune, 28 April 1941, page 11.
“Busy Portage,” Winnipeg Free Press, 29 April 1941, page 3.
“Portage Air School contract awarded,” Winnipeg Free Press, 3 May 1941, page 22.
“War contracts for Winnipeg,” Winnipeg Tribune, 9 September 1941, page 16.
“Portage Flying School holds anniversary,” Winnipeg Free Press, 8 November 1941, page 3.
“Mediterranean pilot takes Portage post,” Winnipeg Free Press, 4 June 1942, page 3.
“Portage Air School moves,” Winnipeg Tribune, 22 June 1942, page 11.
“City briefs [Squadron Leader H. Geoffrey Malcolmson], Winnipeg Free Press, 18 November 1942, page 2.
“Portage Air School Club holds annual banquet,” Winnipeg Free Press, 3 May 1943, page 4.
“Malcolmson given Brandon Command,” Winnipeg Free Press, 31 July 1944, page 3.
“Last Portage Air class graduates,” Winnipeg Free Press, 30 March 1945, page 7.
We thank George Penner and Lawrence Prout for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 9 November 2024
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