Twenty-year-old Alan Scott Light of Battleford was just one week away from earning his wings at the RCAF Flight Training School in Saskatoon on June 5, 1942.
Ranked as one of the best pilots in his class, Light was killed that day when his Cessna aircraft hit the cable at the Hague Ferry, sending the plane into the South Saskatchewan River.
His body was never recovered, but his memory lives on in a loving tribute in the lobby of the Fred Light Museum in Battleford. A photo of the young pilot in his flight suit, a dramatic painting of the aircraft moments before it hit the ferry cable, and a tribute plaque tell his story to thousands of visitors who pass through the museum doors every summer.
Alan Scott Light was born May 24, 1922. He was the son of Charles and Veronica Light of Battleford, and a nephew of Frederick Light, whom the museum is named after.
Alan Light graduated from Battleford Collegiate Institute and worked in the Battleford Post Office for a year with his father, Charles, who was postmaster. He was a gifted athlete who excelled in football, tennis and hockey. He was an “outstanding member of the Juvenile hockey team that reached the provincial final,” according to the plaque in the museum.
He served four years with the Prince Albert and Battleford Volunteers, eventually attaining the rank of Sergeant.
He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in August, 1941, and was about to complete his training at Number 4 Service Flight Training School in Saskatoon. His instructors singled him out as one of the top students.
His tragic death hit close to home during some of the darkest days of the Second World War, as the conflict spread from Europe across the Atlantic all the way to the shores of North America.
Throughout 1942, German submarines were torpedoing civilian and military vessels along Canada’s east coast, resulting in hundreds of deaths.
German U-boats sank a British freighter and Dutch freighter in close succession at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River off Anticosti Island in June, 1942. In July, three freighters went down off the Gaspé Peninsula. In September, a Canadian warship was torpedoed off the Newfoundland coast while escorting a convoy, and in October, a Newfoundland Railway passenger ferry was sunk in the Cabot Strait.
Over the course of the war, about 200 vessels were sent to the bottom within 10 miles of the North American coast.
For young people preparing to do their part for their country, the danger started long before they ever reached a battlefield.
Light wasn’t the only student pilot to die on a training mission over Canadian skies.
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) was one of the single largest aviation training programs in history, training 131,500 personnel from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Some 856 BCATP participants lost their lives during training.
The BCATP had 231 facilities across Canada, with many located in Saskatchewan communities, including: Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Davidson, Yorkton, Caron, Moose Jaw, North Battleford, Swift Current, Weyburn, Estevan, Dafoe, Mossbank, Boharm, Buttress, Vanscoy, Osler, Hamlin, Halbrite, Outram, Ralph, Rhein, St. Aldwyn, and Sturdee.
The BCATP trained nearly half the pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, air gunners, wireless operators and flight engineers who served with the Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) during World War II.
Under a parallel agreement, the Joint Air Training Scheme, South Africa trained 33,347 aircrew for the South African Air Force and other Allied air forces.
Although it didn’t officially declare war until late 1941, the United States operated a similar plan known as the Civilian Pilot Training Program, which was already underway by the end of 1938.