RCAF Station Carberry, Manitoba

[David Dunlop]

The Gun Butts at the BCATP airfields were all quite tall, with two buttresses at the back with a small storage shed attached. A couple of photos attached. The one at former RCAF Station Winnipeg is still alive and well, just across the street from the ESSO Avitat Terminal. The one at RCAF STation Yorkton, Saskatchewan was recently still used by a local Cadet Sqn as the backstop for their rifle range using .22 cal Enfields.


David

[Robert Bergeron]

That picture exactly captures my intent David .

Thanks .

[Phil Waterman]

Hi All

So I can look at the area on Bing maps anybody got latitude and longitude for the base? Interesting to look at the Bing areal oblique view.

Cheers Phil

PS The only way I could qualify with a pistol was get with throwing range, didn't need rain shelter. So a large concrete wall was a suitable target for me.

[Ewen B]

I have seen some photos of these concrete walls being used by aircraft to protect others from the backblast of jet engines at air bases in later years.

I don't recall seeing a wall at Rivers AFB which is now tragically a hog barn. Two of the hangers long since burned down, and many of the PMQ were moved to local communities. Not all CATP locations probably taught gunnery, so that could account for these walls not being everywhere.
Ewen

[David Dunlop]

Correct assumption, Ewan.

RCAF Station Rivers started out in 1942 as a Navigation School, so the Gun Butt was not a required construction component.


David

[Darrell Zinck]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Correct assumption, Ewan.

RCAF Station Rivers started out in 1942 as a Navigation School, so the Gun Butt was not a required construction component.


David

Hi David

RCAF Pennfield Ridge also was built as an Air Nav School (No.2) in 1940 but it has butts:

http://carlykb.com/blog/?tag=pennfield-ridge

As it later became No.34 OTU maybe the butts were built later. More likely, every BACTP airfield included rifle calibre buttstops as part of a common building plan.

Couple of possibilities there. I'm also not sure what the longer lower concrete wall was for.

regards
Darrell

[Marc Montgomery]

I can remember as a kid there was such a wall at St Catharines...my dad said it was to calibrate plane guns.

I remember someone- angrily- saying that they took down the wall later because they wanted to remove the -poisonous- lead from the dirt underneath....but they only found about a small handful of lead and fragments in total