To commemorate the successful organization and operation of the wartime British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), representatives of the governments of the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, met at the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Station on September 30, 1949 and presented the Memorial Gates to Canada. It is a permanent memorial to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and serves as a token of their gratitude to the Government and the people of Canada for the generous part they played in the training and care of thousands of Commonwealth airmen during the war.
Representatives, The Right Honourable Arthur Hendesron (British Secretary of State for Air), The Right Honourable Francis Forde (High Commissioner for the Commonwealth of Australia), and The Honourable James Thorn (High Commissioner for the Dominion of New Zealand), were presented with gold keys to unlock the gates. Each gate bears the crest of their countries. After the gates were opened, their keys were presented to The Right Honourable Louis St. Laurent, Prime Minister of Canada who received them on behalf of the people of Canada. The key to one of the gates bore the Australian Coat of Arms.
Members of the RCAF’s first post-war fighter squadron, 410 Squadron, gave a display of formation and single plane aerobatics flying Vampire jets. Harvard aircraft also performed a fly-past and formed the letters “R C A F” in the skies above Trenton.
The gates were designed by R. L. Luke, the architect of the Royal Air Force and are a false entrance to the base used only on ceremonial occasions. The gates originally incorporated a line of oak trees which have been replaced mostly by maples. Each crest of the four BCATP countries were mounted one of the four gates.
More than 130,000 air crew from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom trained under the BCATP from 1940 to 1945. The plan’s success was praised by leaders such as Sir Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who gave Canada the proud title “the aerodrome of democracy”.
The gates received Royal dedication when Princess Elizabeth entered the RCAF Station during a Royal tour of Canada in October, 1951 and were rededicated as part of the BCATP's 60th anniversary, during a military ceremony on Saturday, July 4, 2009.
