No. 38 Service Flying Training School:

by Bruce Forsyth (www.militarybruce.com), with permission

Opened on 1 April 1942 near the city of Estevan by the Royal Air Force as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Relief landing fields were constructed near Shand, Outram and Chandler. The school closed 14 January 1944 due to the reduced need for pilots overseas.

Plans were made to convert the aerodrome into a RCAF Air Navigation School, but this never came to be. Instead No. 201 Holding Unit was established at the aerodrome, later changed to No. 204 Equipment Holding Unit. No. 204 EHU closed on 30 November 1944.

The final chapter in the military history of the airport came with the founding of No. 4 Surplus Equipment Holding Unit on 1 April 1945, for the purpose of disposing of surplus RCAF war equipment. The unit closed on 1 December 1945 and the aerodrome was turned over to the City of Estevan for use as a municipal airport. The Estevan Flying Club was also formed at the airport.

In 1989, the former No. 38 SFTS aerodrome closed and the property was sold to the Saskatchewan Power Corporation for a coal mine. A new airport was built north of Estevan. Nothing remains of the aerodrome today.

As for the relief fields, the faint outline of the airfield at the former RCAF Detachmnt Outram is all that remains.

Source material: The City of Estevan web site – http://cap.estevan.sk.ca/community/history/index.html, information provided by Vintage Wings – www.vintagewings.ca & “Wings For Victory” by Spencer Dunmore.

The following perished while serving at No. 38 SFTS:  CP Anken, JW Bancroft, JR Boiston, W Cant, B Cox, F Lawton, E Lucas, NK Riley, PR Sayers, J Stewart, WD Thomas and S Walker.