Empire Air Training Scheme
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, also known as the Empire Air Training Scheme, the Empire Air Training Plan or "The Plan", was a massive World War Two air-training program set up in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Southern Rhodesia by the British Air Ministry.
Canada was the main location for this effort, due to ample supplies of fuel, wide open spaces suitable for navigation training, and a lack of Luftwaffe and Japanese fighter planes. Over 167,000 students, including over 50,000 pilots, trained in Canada under the program from May 1940 to March 1945. Canada was referred to as "the Aerodrome of Democracy" during this period, a play on the United States being "the Arsenal of Democracy".
Today, all that is left of the plan in Canada are a number of triangular airbases scattered across the country. Many of these have been turned into general aviation airports, while others have been used for drag racing.
