Vulcan Aerodrome
During World War Two the Royal Canadian Air Force constructed a number of air bases in Southern Alberta to be used by the Commonwealth Air Training Program. It’s here where pilots from all over the British Empire were instructed in flying fighters, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. The airport seen here near the town of Vulcan and is an example of one of those bases.
Actually it’s not really in Vulcan and instead is some 16km away nearer a town called Kirkcaldy (Vulcan, KIRKcaldy there is a pattern here – there is also a Kirk’s Tire in Vulcan – funny stuff).
Opps, I’m off topic…
This particular base opened in 1942 and closed by the spring of 1945. Afterwards it was used as a public airport and an industrial site, but over time fell into disrepair. Only recently has there been an effort to save or at least re-use this historical base.
Since my previous visit some fifteen years ago (no pictures) when the placed seem totally abandoned, now there is some activity. There is a sky diving operation and many of the hangers have been stabilized and seem to be used for storage and such. Plus the grounds have been cleaned up, for the most part anyway. The brush has been cut down and most old junk removed. There were lots of old tires around the site before.
This visit just one hanger seemed unused, but even it was not in terribly rough shape, save for many broken windows. Looking inside it appears as though some work was being done on it. We limited our exploration to this hanger and the immediate area.
At one corner of the base, an odd looking concrete structure is seen, looking much like a drive-in theatre screen. According to some limited information found it was used to line up sights on the aircraft (or maybe not – see comments), although how exactly that’s done was not made clear. I have seen these same exact looking structures at other Commonwealth Air Training Program bases elsewhere, so they were in some way an important feature.
In addition to this Aerodrome, there were other bases in this part of Alberta, including one in Calgary, DeWinton (or De Winton), High River, Claresholm, Fort MacLeod, Pearce and Ensign and maybe one or two others I have not yet heard of.
Of those mentioned the Calgary site has only a couple hangers left and the rest has been paved over and is an industrial park deep inside of town. High River’s is just a shadow in a field with one hanger left, used by an industry, and also for the most part obliterated, is the one at Ensign. The others however are still recognizable as air bases to one degree or another. The DeWinton one has a sign stating it’s the South Calgary Airport – we’ve visited it.
Nearly all these old airports have been used for other purposes after being decommissioned, the hangers that is, and they host or have hosted a number of business and industries over the years. These large hangers are well suited for this.
Those airports turned into industrial parks include Calgary, High River (only one building), and some of Claresholm’s and Fort MacLeod’s.
Those still functioning as a working airport to some degree include Vulcan, only recently reactivated and used today by a sky diving company for one. Fort MacLeod is also a working airport, albeit they had a new runway built over top of the old ones, and is also part industrial park. Claresholm is also half airport, half industrial park.
Those that appear totally abandoned or for the most part forgotten include DeWinton, Pearce and Ensign.
In additional to infrastructure to support the aircraft and their maintenance, for the people working here there were dormitories, commissaries, schools and sports fields. It was much like a small self contained town and they even had their own fire department. On my last visit in the 1990s many of these out buildings still stood, including one belonging to the motor pool, but these are now gone.
Notice the alignment of each airport and how all are similar in this respect. I am not sure the reason behind this, or if it was just the way it worked out. Perhaps someone can chime in?
Update November 2013: I have just learned of two more WW2 era RCAF airports, one of them in Pearce. For some reason I overlooked this one, perhaps because there is little information online or maybe that it was overshadowed by the nearby Fort MacLeod airport. These two things could have conspired to make it easy to miss – in any case, it’s on my to-do list to research.
The second new-to-me airport is in Ensign Alberta. This one is mostly gone and only some ghost outlines of the runways and some cement pads can be seen. The facilities at this airport seem smaller than the others and I have been told this was a “backup” airport, used for practice approaches and emergency landings only in support of the Vulcan (Kirkcaldy) facility. Only a hanger existed here from the looks of it, little else.
Satellite pictures courtesy of Google.
To see a World War Two era truck that may have worked at one of these airfields, refer to this report…
A treasure trove of old trucks.
If you wish more information on this place, by all means contact us!
Date of adventure: October 2011
Location: Near Vulcan AB.
One of the unused hangers.
Not sure what it is but it’s interesting.
The pictures don’t do it justice – the hangers are huge!
There are other hangers in use, and only this one appeared empty.
There were lots of broken windows.
This building dates from World War 2.
On old hydrant on the grounds.
A drive in movie screen perhaps? See comments on what this is.
Cue the 2001 A Space Odyssey music…
A number of out buildings once stood in this empty field.
Vulcan Aerodrome, the subject of this report.
Calgary Aerdrome. Two hangers can be seen just above the brown roofed buildings.
DeWinton (De Winton) Aerodrome aka the unused South Calgary Airport.
High River Aerodrome…or what little is left.
Claresholm Aerodrome, an industrial park and airport.
Fort MacLeod Aerodrome, part airport, part industrial park.
Pearce Aerodrome, forgotten and unused.
The Ensign Aerodrome is almost obliterated.
I was at the Vulcan Airbase today 10th July 2019. I was following signs for a memorial to RCAF personnel but did not find it. So went on line searching for info and found your article. Also found a great article on the Nanton bomber command museum’s website written by a fellow who lived there as a boy and played in the aircraft in the hangars.
Why I’m commenting here is that one of the hangers has obviously had some refurbishment for some purpose. There are various flags in the windows at road level and some large ‘last we forget’ posters in the large upper windows. I’ve not been able to find info about this
I live in Red Deer and am familiar with the Penhold site. It has a Harvard gate guardian as they flew a lot there.
Peter
Thank’s for passing this along Peter. I’ll ask around to see what’s going on and maybe drop by to see for ourselves. We’ll be going into Penhold, or Springbrook as it’s called now, to shoot a piece about the base there soon.
After WWII, my Dad worked there mothballing RCAF aircraft, and preparing some surplus RCAF aircraft for sale to private individuals. In November 1946 there was a heavy snowfall that blocked access to the airport. Vulcan refused to clear the road until the RCAF threatened to commandeer the plows. While the roads were blocked, my Father came up to Edmonton, and married my mother on November 30th.
Wow, that’s interesting. What a very cool connection to the place. Thanks for adding to the story!
Great article. Forgot one neat aerodome, the Airdrie Aerodome became home to Atco structures after ww2 and then was bought by Alberta Pallet. Alberta Pallet still operates out of the building to this day.
Oh goodness, didn’t know about Airdrie. More and more of these are coming to light here. Thanks for sharing!
I have set up a web page locating most of BCATP fields in Canada.
Some are approximate location and I need more info about them.
This is the link.
http://bcatp20170202051342.azurewebsites.net/
Any info to update the locations would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Roger
Great resource. Thanks for taking the time to compile it. Good job!
Hi, Thanks for your interest in Canadian history.
I was in the military for 30 years. “The Wall” looks like a standard issue Canadian Armed Forces 25 yard small arms range wall to me. Keep up the good work. Thanks again.
Thanks. That chunk of concrete has sure stirred up a hornet’s nest of controversy. Some say as you did, others completely different purposes. I think this post need a revisit then a rewrite. Thanks for commenting!
I travel a lot on the prairies. Old, repurposed and abandoned commonwealth air training plan stations are a favourite.
To which end, the concrete structure you suggest was used to align aircraft sights is in fact a 25 yd rifle/ pistol range backstop.
Also, if you go a bit north, check out Penhold (Red Deer industrial airport)
It remained as a CF Base until the 80s, but started its life as a BCATP station. Sask and Manitoba are filled with similar sites. Brandon site is a museum. Many of the barracks and support buildings were actuslly dismantled and recycled after the war because of lumber shortages. Oddly, Hutterite colonies were often the beneficiaries because they had the human resources to tear it all down.
Thanks for dropping by! I’ve heard from a good number of experts, in respect to those concrete thingys, and heard numerous different answers as to their purpose, including what you said and what I wrote. So confused! I’ve been to Penhold, cool old base. Yes, I knew there were more across the plains. Have a good one!
Would it help yo know I was “qualified” on small arms on one of those concrete ” thingys” at Penhold in the 70s and in Winnipeg in the 80s?
Trying to help clarify the discussion.
Similarly, I have aligned gunsights on CF5 and CF104 aircraft. That requires any old wall or moveable screen. Usually the concrete butt is nowhere near the aircraft operating areas.
Hope this helps
Btw. Like your adventures.
Sad about that Dak in the mountains, but not uncommon. We found a B24 Liberator on a search up by grande prairie in 1980 that had thundered in and was lost to time from 1944. At least it was still “sacred” ground. Sad to see graffiti where people have lost their lives.
Oh it does. Not questioning what you said, just terribly confused why so many experts are saying so many different things. Perhaps they had multiple uses? I’ll be speaking with some new contacts on this shortly and will update the article once done. Yes, graffiti. We’ve seen it on the DC3 crash in the Crowsnest Pass as well. Sadder still is people taking souvenirs, which we know is happening. Thanks for commenting and be sure and drop by often. We’re so happy you like our adventures.
I can attest to the nature of the large concrete structure to hold the sand inside the two support beams on each side. The sand was used for absorbing the lead from small arms target practice. I can vouch for this as our family lived on this Air Base in the 1950’s as farmers who had a lease on the property. Our father was a WO1 during WW11.
See some of my story at http://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/s,stayoutofhangars.html
Thanks for your input. I wonder why so many others are insisting, often with great passion, that those concrete things served that different function? Hmm, interesting. Great story, a fantastic read.
thanks I have also been researching these bases and other abandoned place. my youtube channel is called ” The Bearded Canucks” I have a couple rcaf vids up.
Interesting, looks like you do the same stuff as us. Those possible first nations pictographs are interesting. I know someone who can verify them – I’ll fire off an email to you.
ok awesome thanks. I do abandoned places and or hikes weekly any help is much appreciated. let me know if my email didn’t show up. email me your cell number to so i can text you seems we have the same interest in these kinds of places
we should catch up for a beer, I’m sure we can help each other out, there’s a couple things i’d consider showing you something in the future
You had me at beer! You bet, we talk some time.
Yes, we have your email and we’ll chat sometime.
Hey do you guys know if the Vulcan hangers have any old tunnels.? thanks
Underground cisterns and the like, but no tunnels that we know of.
I’ve just learned a bit of Alberta history. Thank you.