William Mackay is a member of The Harvard Historical Aviation Society which has been studying their lives. He says:
We do know something of the sorts of lives the airmen lived when they were here but not specifics for many individuals. There were dances in the nearby towns several times a week and it seems like many of the trainees travelled to the nearby cities (Calgary and Edmonton) during their free time and it seems like many of them were able to visit Banff and Lake Louise as well. Many were hosted by local families during holidays like Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving. During Christmas half the men were given a one week off and the other half were given time off the next week. The trainees were only at the base for about 4 months and when they were there the training schedule was pretty demanding so they didn't have lots of free time. We have quite a few letters home that provide some perspective on their lives when they were here. In the case of No. 36 SFTS the entire base, save for the nurse, were RAF personnel. At any one time there were a little over 1,000 men on the base. The population of the nearest town (Red Deer) was around 3,000. The village of Penhold had a population of a little over 100 and the next town south, Innisfail, near where I live, was about 1,200. Then there was another RAF base (No. 32 EFTS, Bowden) about 10 miles south of Innisfail. The village of Bowden had a population of about 300 and the base (No. 32 EFTS) would have had a population of maybe 500 during the few years it operated. Most of the time No.32 EFTS operated the support staff was civilian and about half of them were women. The instructional staff were, of course, male RAF personnel. So there was a fair amount of interaction between RAF personnel from the two bases and locals. Even some reverse war brides - RAF men who married local women.
The Society would be pleased to hear from any interested readers who either want to learn more or have something to offer. The hyperlink is below.
The following article about Christmas 1943 was written by Bill Mackay for The Harvard Flyer. He has allowed us to reproduce it here: