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Do you know what this object is and what it was used for?

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Presented by Lethbridge living and the Galt Museum & Archives.
visit the Galt Museum
Drogue Target, "R.C.A.F."
c. 1942-1945

Lethbridge was the site of a British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (B.C.T.A.P.)
school that, from 1942 to 1945, trained future aircraft crews in bomb aiming and
gunnery (B&G).

In order to facilitate the training of gunnery crews, drogue targets such as this
were pulled by "tug" Lysander aircraft and shot at by students flying in trainer
aircraft.  After the target practice, the target was released over the base,
recovered and evaluated to determine the students' firing accuracy.

This target drogue was gifted to 15 year old, Lethbridge resident Lloyd Trone in
1943 by an Australian who was a student at the Lethbridge No. 8 B&G School.  Trone's
father Lawrence was employed as a civilian guard and cook at the School and
befriended the Australian because of their shared love for playing music.

Donated by Lloyd Trone
P19920057003
 
1 Vote

13 Comments

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  1. John ZoBell makes this comment

    Monday, 01 February 2010

    I believe this is a picture of a wind sock used by the RCAF.

  2. Brooklyn makes this comment

    Sunday, 31 January 2010

    I think it is a mailbag since it says Messenger and I think it was hung at the post office and was used to deliver mail to the people of town.

  3. Janet makes this comment

    Saturday, 30 January 2010

    I think it's a mail bag that used to be hung on a pole at the side of the railway. The train would have a hook to catch the bag and collect the mail along the route.

  4. Barb makes this comment

    Thursday, 28 January 2010

    Perhaps it holds water for a mobile shower in the field?

  5. Evelyn makes this comment

    Wednesday, 27 January 2010

    It is a mail bag, since it has messenger on it. Maybe for the RCMP??? or RCAF???

  6. karen makes this comment

    Thursday, 21 January 2010

    mail bag or whatever it was made from, it's now a jelly bag used to drain the juice from fruit for jelly

  7. Melvin Long makes this comment

    Friday, 15 January 2010

    Now that I've looked I see it's RCAF but it still looks like a feed bag.

  8. Melvin Long makes this comment

    Friday, 15 January 2010

    I think it's a feed bag for one of the RCMP's horses.

  9. Kim Siever makes this comment

    Monday, 11 January 2010

    I think Tim is right about it belonging to the Royal Canadian Air Force, but the bag has the word “messenger” on it, so I think it was an RCAF mail bag.

  10. Tim O'Grady makes this comment

    Monday, 11 January 2010

    I think this was a wind sock used by the Royal Canadian Air Force in Lethbridge at Kenyon Field in WWII.

  11. Kim Siever makes this comment

    Monday, 11 January 2010

    A mail bag that would hang at the train station. Train employees would snag it as they rode past the station.

  12. Carolla makes this comment

    Monday, 11 January 2010

    A mail bag.

  13. Desiree makes this comment

    Monday, 11 January 2010

    Is it for carrying water?

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