Page 16 - William B. Lake

No. 8 Bombing & Gunnery School Lethbridge (Alberta)
(From 11 Oct ’42 to 10 Jan’43)
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The No 8 B&GS course at the Lethbridge Kenyon airfield was to be undertaken in combination
with the Air Observers (Navigation/Air Bomber) course No 2 AOS. (i.e., Air Observers School) at
Edmonton, Alberta. Completion of these courses which would lead to his graduation as an Aircrew
“Observer”, designated as an “O” with the half-wing badge on his uniform. This also meant that
they would be promoted to the rank of Flight-Sergeant - they were no longer tagged as trainee.

The Lethbridge airfield was located about 8 km south of the city and had been constructed as the
town’s airfield prior to the war. By the time Bill arrived it had had been reshaped into BCATP-style
layout with five main hangars and multiple “H-style” aircrew barracks plus mess hall, a parade
ground, many admin and services buildings and a gunnery practice butte (on the adjacent plot).

Layout of Lethbridge’s Kenyon Airfield No. 8 B&GS ca 1942

From Bill’s photos and airgraphs we know that he made some visits to the Waterton Park area of
the Southern Rockies and to Washington State U. S. These visits were taken during the “free”
days prior to the start of formal training. There is very little in the way of 8B&GS Daily Records that
directly references Bill’s aircrew group activities at Lethbridge. But there were many training
related entries, these were mentioned in the Daily Records and Appendices which provided
more details.

It appears that Bill’s group may have had some travel recovery time while waiting to be scheduled
into their course (the bad weather being a contributing factor). There are also some photos of Bill
with several of the course participants, during a break from the Lethbridge training. Bill along with
a group of the trainees travelled down to Okanogan in U.S. state of Washington (the far Northwest
of the U.S.) It is worth remembering that during the war it was compulsory for servicemen to be
always in their service gear. The white band in the cap signifies the person is an aircrew trainee.