The Down Under Club of Winnipeg began when members of the New Zealand and Australian air forces came to Canada to train as pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, wireless operators, air gunners, and flight engineers. 

More than 130,000 crewmen and women were trained between 1939 and 1945, making the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (also known as the Empire Air Training Scheme) one of Canada’s great contributions to Allied victory in World War II. It led US President Franklin Roosevelt to call Canada the “aerodrome of democracy”.

Now in our 75th year, we are still going strong and looking forward to the next 75 years.

Click on the links below to learn more about our early years, milestones and activities:

ANZAC Day, April 25, 2015. Photo: Brian Hydesmith.

• The first 50 years
• A Retrospective Update – 1997 to 2002
• A Retrospective Update – 2002 to 2008
• A Retrospective Update – 2008 to 2014
• A Retrospective Update – 2015 to 2021