Dafoe RCAF #5 Bombing and Gunnery School Traditional Cache

Many people - including us - have probably driven by this area many times without realizing the significance of this area. The fields to the southwest of this cache were home to the Dafoe RCAF #5 Bombing and Gunnery School, which was part of The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), the single largest aviation training program in history during World War II. Today, the airfields can still be seen in aerial photography, and a large wall which is all that remains of one of the large concrete hangers can still be seen about 700 metres to the south. Housing units from the Royal Canadian Air Force training school at Dafoe were moved into Humboldt for use as veteran’s living quarters.

Nearby the cache is a cairn & plaque describing the history of the area. The area is now a private grain farm, so please stay on the road to the east of the fields and do not enter the private drives. We were amazed at this little known history here, and thought this was a great time for a cache, being Remembrance Day 11/11/11. Friends of ours have commented that hunters and farmers have found shell casings and even unexploded bombs in the fields near the area from the training missions in the skies above.

We didn't realize this when we hid the cache, but thanks to navcomm we now know this was also the site of a previously archived cache.

RCAF Station Dafoe was a Second World War Royal Canadian Air Force station located near Dafoe, Saskatchewan, Canada. The station was home to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan's No. 5 Bomber and Gunnery School. The school opened January 1941 and closed January 1945. Aircraft used include the Westland Lysander, Bristol Bolingbroke, Avro Anson, and Fairey Battle.

The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP; "The Plan"), was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, during the Second World War. BCATP remains the single largest aviation training program in history and was responsible for training nearly half the pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, air gunners, wireless operators and flight engineers who served with the Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) during the war.

Some great additional reading can be found at Quill-Lakes.com

Join us on July 19, 2014 and experience Saskatchewan like you’ve never known. It’s not just the flat, boring prairie we’re famous for. Enjoy a warm welcome, incredible caching trails, rich history and beautiful scenery. We’ll bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised!