Page 6 - March 2018
P. 6
Transport Canada as Regional Director of Aviation Safety.
In addition to delivering the Junkers to its door,
figuratively speaking, he has served the museum in a
number of volunteer capacities including a term on its
Board of Directors.
ONE OF THE FEW
by Will Chabin
The young man was Pilot Officer Camille
Bonseigneur, who came from rural southwest
Saskatchewan to Regina in the late 1930s and
worked briefly for a car dealership, living briefly in
at 1827 Osler St. Then (as was quite common in
those days), he enlisted in Britain's Royal Air Force,
when it was considerably ahead of our own air
force in preparing for the European war that
everybody knew was coming. When the war broke
Here is CF-ARM on a stop in Prince Albert in 1939. As can be seen in
the photo, it is bearing the Canadian Airways paint scheme and logo. out, young Camille was training as a pilot.
By the summer of 1940 he was flying Hurricane
fighters with the RAF's 257 Squadron, one of "the
few" who saved Britain from the rampaging,
previously undefeated Luftwaffe. Had Britain fallen,
then what? America was not in the war. Hitler
would have had a free hand against Russia and
might have won the Second World War.
The people seeking information on him, and others
who fought in this epic battle, are historians aware
of its enormous significance. Incidentally, on Sept.
3, 1940, young Camille Bonseigneur -- thousands of
The Prairie Heritage Air Show Society has starting miles away from home -- was shot down and killed.
planning for the future and a special event this summer
He was 22.
at Glass Field in Prince Albert.
Touched and intrigued, I put PO Bonseigneur's
name into an Internet search engine and looked for
references.
Immediately, I found this one:
http://homepages.tesco.net/~colin.wingrave/p351
8.htm
This is the site of the Thameside Aviation Museum
at East Tilbury in Essex, which bills itself as the
Watch for more information and dates in the near future! home of archeology in Essex. Its website (it has
With this and many more new acts, 2018 is starting to another at http://www.aviationmuseum.co.uk)
shape up to be another stellar year for Saskatchewan. picks up this story:
We hope to see you all at an event near you!
"On the morning of 3rd September 1940 at
10.00hrs, a 257 squadron
