College of Knowledge

The No. 1 Technical Training School in St. Thomas, Ontario was affectionately called Collis' College of Technical Knowledge, after the officer in command, Wing Commander Reginald Collis.

But St. Thomas wasn't the only college Dad attended. Red River College (RRC) considers Murray Fraser one of theirs. His history is also their history, and they are proud of this alumnus.

Dale Oughton, Alumni Coordinator, honored Murray Fraser as RRC’s oldest living alumnus, June 2012.

Dad never quite understood that he was an alumnus, much less why that warranted a trophy. It’s because the College actually traces its history back to 1938. At that time, the Industrial Vocational Education Centre on Henry Avenue provided vocational training in several trades. According to Changing People’s Lives, Dave Williamson’s history of Red River College, a Winnipeg Free Press story shortly after the centre opened reported that “450 young men and women between the ages of 18 and 25 were enrolled” in trades as varied as “electrical shop, aircraft maintenance, dressmaking, printing and commercial art.“ 

The forerunner of Red River College: a warehouse at 831 Henry Avenue, Winnipeg
[Source: Google maps] 

Dad received training here from December 1940 to April 15, 1941. A mere 10 days after finishing at Henry Avenue, he began his Leading Aircraftman training with the RCAF in St. Thomas, Ontario.

Machine shop in Henry Avenue facility
[Source: Changing People's Lives by Dave Williamson]

By 1939, training centres all over the country shifted their focus under the federal War Emergency Training Program to meet new wartime demands. As Dave Williamson wrote, “By mid-1941, the Henry Avenue facility was operating three shifts of eight hours per day for soldiers. Courses for armed forces students usually lasted 12 weeks.” 

By 1942, the Henry Avenue facility introduced RCAF training for air-frame mechanics and wireless operators. By that time, however, Dad was already in Ontario.

As busy as he was, Dad was one of those continuous learners the College likes to encourage. After completing his training at St. Thomas and settling in at No. 6 Repair Depot, Trenton, Dad took extra classes in Machine Shop and Tool & Die at Belleville, 20 minutes east of CFB Trenton.

Dad admitted that one reason for taking classes at Belleville was to access their machine shop, where he could overhaul the motorcycle he bought. He left the engine’s valves on his counter, only to discover that the over-zealous nightly cleaning staff had whisked them away. Luckily, Dad had recorded the valve’s measurements. He got extra shop experience because he had to re-machine new parts. He chuckled to recall that his motorcycle was probably the only one in the country with Spitfire valves!

But Dad wasn’t done with his College connections after leaving Henry Avenue. Following his release from the RCAF on February 7, 1946, and a summer back at Pilot Mound, Dad returned to Winnipeg for more training.

By this time, the Manitoba Technical Institute on Portage Avenue was operating. The Manitoba government purchased the Ford assembly plant at 1181 Portage Avenue in 1942 to provide more vocational training space for war needs. The government was also anticipating retraining servicemen in peacetime occupations post-war.

Manitoba Technical Institute
[Source: Archives of Manitoba, c/o Manitoba Historical Society]

A July 24, 1943 story in the Winnipeg Free Press reported on the new Manitoba Technical Institute:

Technical Institute Prepares Men for Peace and War Work

Even as it trains thousands of young men for war, the Manitoba Technical Institute is preparing discharged veterans of this conflict, and hundreds of other civilians, for peacetime pursuits. 

Manitoba Tech., which occupies three stories of the Ford building on Portage avenue and Wall street, is an outgrowth of the Dominion-Provincial Vocational school which was formed to train skilled technical personnel. In November of 1943 the Manitoba department of education took over jurisdiction of the school, sharing the responsibility of its administration with the dominion . . . the name was changed, and the scope of the work was greatly enlarged so as to meet the demands of the armed forces. 

Now, as the province’s first and only publicly-operated technical training centre, it is serving in the dual capacity of preparing airmen and soldiers for important duties with the services, and teaching medically unfit men. 

The service men train as motor mechanics, airframe mechanics, aero-engine mechanics, wireless mechanics and wireless ground operators. They occupy the school from 8 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon. At 5 p.m. the civilians take over and are taught sheet metal and machine shop work until midnight. Included in these classes are the veterans of this war.

R.C.A.F. Students 

The R.C.A.F. provides the majority of the students. The largest class is for airframe mechanics. Young men, many of whom did nothing more strenuous than lift a ledger in an office, are conditioned to the rigors of mechanical careers by being put to work at filing joins in the first few days. 

In addition, the “airframes” get frequent lectures on theory of flight and other theoretical aspects pertaining to their trade. As they progress in their work, they are taught carpentry, sheet metal, forging, fabric work, doping and all the other essentials. Then, they get to work on actual planes which have been loaned to the school by the R.C.A.F., and learn to rig, take apart and reassemble every part of the body of the plane. They have an important job, and upon their skill may often depend the lives of the men who fly the planes. It is a standing rule that airframe mechanics must be willing to go up in any plane they have worked on.  

Among the airframe instructors are men who have thousands of flying hours to their credit. One flew in the last war and later worked in large aircraft factories in the United States. Another, who has been flying since 1913, saw service in World war I and then put in years of flying over Canada’s bush country. 

Aero-Engine Mechanics 

Equally as important are the aero-engine mechanics. These boys are split up into groups of 18 and for eight-day stretches, delve into the intricacies of airplane engines. By the time they are finished they must know their engines almost as well as they know themselves. 

Up on the fifth floor of the school, the casual visitor might think that all is play, instead of work, for most of the time, radios are blaring loudly. But despite the swing music and soap serials which can be heard almost continually, the airmen in this department are not interested in what comes out of the radios, but how and why it comes out. They are the wireless electrical mechanics and their job is to study the fascinating field of radio. They build receiving sets and broadcasting stations and take an intensive course on the theory of radio. 

In the same department are the wireless ground operators, who learn to receive, send and understand the international Morse code. Although they do no practical work, the wireless operators must also study radio theory. 

All these courses last from 18 to 30 weeks, during which time the airmen write numerous exams. Their work at Manitoba Tech. is only preliminary, for after they graduate, they are required to take further training in their trades at R.C.A.F. stations in the east. 

Soldier Mechanics 

Soldiers attending the school are given a thorough 12-week training in motor mechanics. They tear auto and truck engines apart, put them together again, and then, for good measure, tear them apart again. Instructors estimate that some of the engines in the department have been assembled more than 500 times. 

That the school is turning out highly satisfactory tradesmen, can be evidenced by the fact that a number of the airmen have captured medals when they continued their studies at R.C.A.F. stations. Some of the airframe mechanics are now serving as inspectors in aircraft plants. One of the graduates has just completed a course in the United States for special work in the service. He was one of two men selected by the R.C.A.F. for the course. A letter from army authorities lauds the “most consistent standard of proficiency” of the school. 

As an incentive to greater effort, a trophy is offered to the graduating student from each flight who has the greatest proficiency. The trophies . . . model Spitfires mounted on marble . . . were made in the school. 

Although they have little time for play, the students have organized an inter-class softball league which is progressing favorably. The school’s first church parade was held a few weeks ago. 

Principal William Webb, satisfied that the province’s experiment in establishing a technical training school has been a success, now looks forward to the days after the war when young men will be trained at Manitoba Tech. for the arts of peace. The need for such a school was felt keenly even long before the war began, and Mr. Webb hopes that nothing will interfere with its progress in the future, for he believes that it is every bit as important to the people of Manitoba as the operation of the university.

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Manitoba Technical Institute (which Dad always called the Ford Plant) was the immediate precursor to Red River College. After the war ended, it provided vocational, commercial, and apprenticeship training to civilians as well as returning servicemen. 

A Winnipeg Free Press story dated January 20, 1945 explained plans for training ex-servicemen:

Veterans' Vocational Training Making Progress, Says Johns

Satisfactory progress is being made in establishing vocational courses and apprenticeship training for personnel released from the armed forces, according to R. J. Johns, regional director of vocational training for the federal department of labor, and director of technical education for the provincial government. Many applicants for courses are coming to the office of the director, and are being registered for training as rapidly as possible. 

The Manitoba Technical Institute, at Portage and Wall street, owned by the provincial government, is being used for rehabilitation training and courses will be expanded to meet the needs of servicemen and civilians. The fourth floor of the school is being used for instruction in building trades. It is expected that in the near future classes will be offered which will enable students to complete matriculation courses. 

The apprenticeship board of the provincial department of labor will soon be preparing rules to govern the apprenticeship training programme. Ex-servicemen and women will be entitled to financial benefits paid by the department of veteran’s affairs while learning as an apprentice on a job. The dominion government pays the full cost of training courses in all rehabilitation cases, Mr. Johns stated. Under provincial and federal legislation, learners are entitled to attend technical institute for three months out of each year of their indentured apprenticeship period. 

Referred for Retraining 

Under present regulations, men drawing unemployment insurance benefits may be referred to the department of labor for retraining. The provincial department of education is negotiating with the federal department of labor on sharing the costs. 

A course in agricultural engineering will be opened within the next six week, at Brandon technical school, he announced. In the St. Boniface vocational school, courses in upholstering, furniture design, construction and repair, shoemaking and other crafts will open in the near future. 

On the question of guidance theory, Mr. Johns stated his belief that counseling is inadequate without actual training which involves performance. Where such training is given, the aptitudes, interests, and needs of the learner are revealed. With such training, the individual follows a path of self discovery which can lead to a happy occupational adjustment, said Mr. Johns.

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One instructor was so impressed with Dad’s machining skills that he asked to keep one of his pieces. Dad agreed, but even years later he was sorry he had given away his dovetail sample. He wondered what became of the showpiece that once adorned his instructor’s desk.

Dad wanted to show me that the real test of good dovetails is that they still fit perfectly when you turn the pieces around. These days, technology allows absolute precision that would have astounded 1940s students. 

By 1948, Manitoba Technical Institute was serving the general public as Winnipeg’s first, permanent, post-public-school vocational institution. It offered technical courses, apprenticeship trades, and commercial subjects.

By 1950, Manitoba Technical Institute was a comprehensive facility, as reported by Cory Kilvert in a Winnipeg Free Press story of September 9, 1950:

'Learn to Earn' is this School's Aim

Everything From ‘Soup to Nuts’ In Courses 

The practical know-how in every trade from curling milady’s hair to taking wrinkles out of a mangled car-fender, is being taught daily at a fast-growing provincial educational plant located in Winnipeg. 

Graduates from this school, the Manitoba Technical Institute, Portage avenue and Wall street, are no text-bookworms who wouldn’t know a lathe from a monkey-wrench when they get finished any one of the approximately 50 courses offered. 

The students, either qualified high school graduates or adults, are taught up-to-the-minute techniques with the standard tools of their chosen grades. Emphasis is on practice rather than theory, and the aim of the school is to fit students for positions in every-day industry. 

Best and briefest explanation of the school’s purpose is its motto – “Learn to Earn.” 

Testimony to the practical-mindedness of its founders is the variety of courses offered including: 

Automotive body and fender repair, business machines, bricklaying, short order cook, watchmaking, hairdressing and beauty culture, waitress, farm mechanics, upholstering, radio servicing, lineman, tool and die making, mechanical refrigeration, stenography, elementary surveying, meat cutting, shore repairing, practical nursing, dressmaking, secretarial, diesel mechanics, factory woodworking and many others. 

‘Almost Painless’ 

As well as instructing post-high school students in trades of their choice in a manner that makes the transfer from training to employment almost painless, the school provides courses for those aiming at the designated apprenticeship trades.

In addition, it offers yearly refresher courses for indentured apprentices, courses for training of public school industrial arts instructors, re-training of unemployed and also evening classes for adults during fall and winter months.

At present, the school has 25 permanent force army men taking their automotive course to fit them for their army trade of driver-mechanics. Two more army groups are to come this year, each taking a six-month course at the school.

Starting its third year Tuesday, the school has already enrolled 300 students. Now in the process of expansion, it will have a total capacity of about 750. 

Youngest students admitted are 16 years of age, but there is apparently no limit on the other end of the age scale. One enrolment last year was a 65-year-old retired banker, who has taken training in cabinet making and upholstery. 

Full-time day students, either city high school grads looking for advanced technical training, or those from rural municipalities who had no opportunity for vocational training in their own districts, take courses ranging in length from three months to two years. 

The pre-apprentice courses, fitting young people for indenture as apprentices to employers, run eight months. Apprentice training, taken by those in their second to fourth year of apprenticeship, lasts four to eight weeks depending on the trade.

Fees are small but doubled for those who are not residents of the province of Manitoba. The school is financed partially by an annual grant from the dominion government in connection with supplies, equipment and staff salaries.

Administration is directly under the Manitoba department of education.

The school plant, formerly the Ford Motor company building and later used for training of service tradesmen in war years, and as a post-war vocational training centre for ex-service men and women, was taken over in September, 1948.

Five storeys high, it has a total floor area of 155,000 square feet plus a newly constructed annex for construction trades with facilities for construction of bungalows and other smaller type buildings.

In the main building are a large modern cafeteria for students and instructors, where meals are provided at low cost, and a library and reading room stocking technical books and periodicals. 

A student council, composed of representatives of the various departments, is spokesman for the entire student body. 

Other phases of student extra-curricular activity include a bowling league and periodical social evenings. 

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By 1961, demand for vocational training outgrew the space and a new campus was begun at 2055 Notre Dame Avenue, north of Winnipeg’s airport.  The new campus was opened in January 1963, and its name was changed from Manitoba Technical Institute to Manitoba Institute of Technology (MIT).  MIT contained two divisions: Trades and Technologies.

In 1969, after an arts and science complex was added to the campus, the name was changed again, to Red River Community College. By then the College had a student population of about 10,000 annually. 

The name was changed in 1998 to its current name: Red River College of Applied Arts, Science, and Technology (or Red River College, for short). 

The rest is history. RRC remains the largest institute of applied learning in the province and continues to grow. It has nine campuses in the province and offers more than 200 full-time and part-time programs.

Dad at his May 2012 birthday party, sporting the Stevenson Aviation Campus T-shirt received at the Air Show.

This alumni jacket Dad received for his birthday was well earned.

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The clothes make the man

Manning Depot No. 2, Brandon, Manitoba
[Source: Manitoba Historical Society]

Brandon's Manning Depot No. 2 was part of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan. New recruits from across western Canada assembled at this depot, originally the city's Winter Fair Building, on Eleventh Street at Victoria Avenue. During their two to four weeks there, the young men learned precision drills, and received physical training and general outfitting before being sorted into three training classes: Pilots, Air Observers, or Air Gunners.

An article entitled "Aviation Types" published in the Depot's The Airman's Post of May 1941 explains why colourblind recruits (like Dad) would be unfit for aircrew:

The eyes should be perfect or rendered so by a slight lens correction. There can be no color blindness, for keen vision is essential in determining terrain for landing, night flying, bombing, and in distinguishing military objectives at high altitudes. The glare of the sun from desert, water, and snow; rapid variations in oxygen tension; extremes in temperature and weather; and the roar of the motor all tend to aggravate any weak condition in the near-well individual and may even affect the normal pilot. This stress is tremendously increased during wartime flying.

Another article, in a January 1941 edition, explains to recruits the process of being outfitted with their RCAF uniforms:

From Civilian Into Airman

I would like to give your readers a picture of the transformation of a civilian into an airman.

After passing through the Record and Pay Offices where the civilian signs his documents, he is directed to the Clothing Stores, where he will receive his complete kit, comprising thirty-nine pieces in all. Nine at a time is how we work our production line, that is nine men are issued with boots, uniforms, etc., but this is where the recruit makes his first breach. Not accustomed to discipline they crowd around the counter, each trying to be outfitted first and are heedless to the frequent requests of the N.C.O.'s to keep in line, stop talking and pay attention. Yet it must be admitted the results are generally poor as most of them go on ignoring the N.C.O.'s and the only ones that are quiet are so by nature.

Ads for shoes and tailored officers' uniforms from retailers like Eaton's and Holt Renfrew were plentiful in RCAF publications. This one is from a Brandon retailer.

I will give you a daily occurrence in the main departments. The recruits are first issued with their boots and our very capable boot fitters very often do not like to have their judgment doubted. It is to be admitted of course that there is a difference between issue boots and what is required today for jitterbugging. The fitter will reassure himself the boots fit by having the recruit walk about in them. The recruit invariably asks if he must wear those boots and he gets the inevitable answer that they are more comfortable for eight hours daily drill than patent leather shoes.

"Ouch, my feet!" rang true for Murray Fraser, who was issued footwear that was too small. An ingrown toenail -- his only war wound -- required surgery.

After gathering some of his minor effects such as a housewife [sewing kit], holdall for his brushes, comb and razors, come the shirts.

We have a wide range of shirts from size fourteen to seventeen and a half inclusive and the usual question asked the recruit is what size he wears. A good percentage will say they don't know and here again they have to be fitted. As a rule they express doubt as to the fit of the shirt, some even stating they always had theirs tailored but always leave satisfied with two warm flannel shirts a half size large to allow for shrinkage.

You may notice by this time that the recruit is changing rapidly as he seems quicker when he is reminded to remain in line and more willing to co-operate.

At this point the eager recruit is fitted with his uniform which is the biggest problem faced by the Stores personnel. Sometimes the recruit is unhappy, thinking his uniform is not snug enough. However after a few weeks of regular hours, good food and outdoor exercise he wishes his uniform were a little larger to allow for the extra weight he has added. Not infrequently he will return to the Stores and request an exchange for a larger uniform.

Lastly the recruit receives his great coat and his kit is now complete and each piece is stamped with his regimental number.

He is now fitted out for his new life in the R.C.A.F. and will go proudly on his way, probably playing a direct part in smashing the little German Corporal and his henchmen.

Flgt. Sgt. Racine
Brandon, 1940

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New recruit R101661 dwarfed by his great coat.

"Discipline have to wear shoes."
September, 1945. The war is over, but you're still in the Air Force, Corporal.

By the time he sailed home in December, 1945 an older and stronger Murray Fraser looked quite at home in his RCAF uniform.

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