The Medicine Hat Chapter held a special event to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the RCAF and to honor all those who served in Canada’s air force. Through a group effort, the Chapter hosted a major celebratory event, which featured several public domain available video clips, plus a short narration on the history of the RCAF. The event was held at the oldest operating movie theater in Canada where many corporate and private sponsors stepped up to assist the chapter financially. Overall, the event was a resounding success as it was well attended and well-supported by the community from the Municipal Government through the Mayor’s office all the way to local citizens supporting the Chapter through personal donations. The entire cadre of No. 15 Squadron Royal Canadian Air Cadets attended providing usher assistance.

Local aviation events continued to be the Chapter’s focus in 2024. The bi-annual “Family Fun and Flight” was organized to highlight and promote the Dave Rozdeba South Alberta Flight Academy as conducted through the Prairie Rose Public School Division. This program enrolls interested students in a flight academy to gain their Pilot’s License along with their High School Diploma. Fantastic aviation displays were featured including Halo, local Radio-Controlled aircraft group, and invited aeronautics performers. This year was a great success, and we look forward to the next event in 2026.

The work we have done with the City of Medicine Hat’s Heritage Resources Working Group continues. Our Chapter was requested to provide a historical perspective on the RCAF/RAF British Commonwealth Air Training Plan’s No. 34 Service Flying Training School (SFTS) formerly located at the current Municipal Airport site. Inside the airport perimeter is the original No. 34 SFTS Wind Tee (Vane), which is located in a difficult-to- access area of the property. Our goal was to petition the City of Medicine Hat to preserve this important last remaining piece of equipment from the base. Our Chapter succeeded in having the Wind Tee granted Historical Significance Status, which is a huge step forward. Further collaborative work will continue to ensure this artifact is preserved.

All of what has been achieved is only possible through the support of our members, our sponsors, and the community. With this in mind, we will “Keep ‘em Flying” as we put together our 2025 meeting program of speakers, which will include dedicating the Fall portion of our program to hosting local aviation industry leaders as speakers, growing our membership and our generous local corporate sponsors, and continuing to serve our community with our important aviation-related initiatives.