Fairchild Cornell

Fairchild Cornell Mk. II
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

In early 1942, an agreement was signed between the Canadian Government and Fairchild Aircraft, which licenced Fleet Aircraft of Fort Erie, Ontario to construct the PT-26 Cornell in Canada. The first 800 Cornells used by the RCAF were supplied from Fairchild, until production commenced at Fort Erie in November 1942. By the end of the war in 1945, 2,853 Cornells had been built by Fleet - 1,565 for the RCAF and 1,288 for the RAF.

PT-26 Cornells were flown at many of the Elementary Flying Training Schools (EFTS) of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, where they replaced the Fleet Finch and the de Havilland Tiger Moth biplane trainers. After the Second World War, many Cornells were sold to the civilian market, but some were retained by the RCAF, where they were finally retired in 1948. CWPHM

Cornell Trainer

Wikipedia Cornell Trainer

Harold A Skaarup Web Page

Cornell Mk. I FH923

23 EFTS (23 Elementary Flying Training School)

An Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) gave a trainee 50 hours of basic flying instruction on a simple trainer like the De Havilland Tiger Moth, Fleet Finch, or Fairchild Cornell over 8 weeks.Elementary schools were operated by civilian flying clubs under contract to the RCAF and most of the instructors were civilians. For example, No. 12 EFTS Goderich was run by the Kitchener-Waterloo Flying Club and the County of Huron Flying Club.The next step for a pilot was the Service Flying Training School.

Formed at Davidson, Saskatchewan on 1942-10

More Information on RCAF Station Davidson can be found here

RCAF.Info - RCAF Station Davidson Saskatchewan

RCAF.Info - Relief Landing Field Davidson (West) Saskatchewan

Vintage Wings - Ghosts of Saskatchewan

Moved to Yorkton, Saskatchewan 1945-06-29

More Information on RCAF Station Yorkton can be found here

RCAF.Info - RCAF Station Yorkton SK

RCAF.Info - Relief Landing Field Sturdee SK

RCAF.Info - Relief Landing Field Rhein SK

Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial

YouTube - Abandoned Saskatchewan

Unit was disbanded on 1945-09-15.