Pilot Jim Thoreson is on a very special mission.
The retired Mountie and current president of the Red Deer Flying Club is busy enlisting the assistance of the public to ensure unsung heroes who were killed while training out of the former CFB Penhold base – now known as Springbrook – are properly commemorated.
“We are trying to gather as much information as we can about the people, and we are hoping the farmers and locals will tell us if they've got memories of planes crashing and people killed in their fields,” said Thoreson, a resident of Red Deer and a member of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA), which is a national volunteer aviation group that provides air search support services to the Canadian National Search and Rescue Program.
“They lost their lives in service and even though they were not overseas during the war they were still preparing for it and they gave their lives to the job that was required of them.”
Thoreson's idea of commemorating training personnel at the former military base goes back to 2008 when a CASARA pilot was killed during a training exercise.
“Even though he was a civilian we are contracted to the military,” said Thoreson.
He said he has also contacted several organizations to help with his project, including the Central Alberta Search and Rescue Association, the local Harvard Historical Aviation Society and the Royal Canadian Air Force Association.
Part of the project is also dedicated to finding people who worked at the base during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) years, said Thoreson.
He said about “30 or so” names have been collected so far from the Second World War days at CFB Penhold when it was an important centre for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. More than 1,500 students went through the plan at CFB Penhold before it ended on March 31, 1945.
“It is the NATO days where we are having trouble finding any information on,” noted Thoreson.
He said the project will culminate with the inscription of the names of all personnel etched on a plaque that will be mounted at the base of the North American Harvard 370 aircraft that is located near the terminal entrance of the Red Deer Airport.
Thoreson said he had first hoped his project would be completed this year but he's now looking to have it all done by Remembrance Day in 2015.
If anyone has relevant information for his project he or she can contact Thoreson at 403-346-6731 or email him at [email protected].
