Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

MODEL AIRPLANE

Date Range From

1935

Date Range To

1950

Materials

WOOD

No. Pieces

1

Height

11.1

Length

24.2

Width

17.8

Description

MODEL PLANE IS REPRESENTATIVE OF A WORLD WAR ONE ERA BRITISH BI-PLANE (POSSIBLY A CAMEL) WITH GREEN AND BROWN CAMOUFLAGE COVERING IT'S FUSELAGE AND WINGS. THE TWO - BLADED PROP IS SILVER IN COLOR AND SPINS ON A NAIL. THERE ARE TWO BRITISH MILITARY INSIGNIA ON THE UPPER WING.

Subjects

ART

Historical Association

LEISURE

MILITARY

History

THE ARTIST RADFORD WHITT (THE DONORS EX-HUSBAND) MADE THESE MODELS AS A CHILD GROWING UP ON A FARM NEAR A POW CAMP IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA. AS AN ONLY CHILD HE WOULD VISIT THE POW CAMP AND THE PRISONERS OF WAR WOULD BUILD HIM SMALL MODELS OF GUNS AND OTHER MILITARY RELATED ITEMS. THESE MODELS GOT HIM INTERESTED IN MODEL BUILDING. RAD WHITT WAS BORN IN MAGRATH; HIS GRANDFATHER HAD HOMESTEADED THERE. RAD MET DONOR (STELLA WHITT) WHO WAS FROM CARDSTON AND MOVED TO LETHBRIDGE IN 1964. *UPDATE* IN 2014 COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT JANE EDMUNDSON DEVELOPED THE FOLLOWING BRIEF HISTORY OF PRISONER OF WAR CAMP 133 WITH INFORMATION FROM THE GALT MUSEUM BROCHURE "LETHBRDGE'S INTERNMENT CAMPS" AND THE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA WEBSITE. DURING WORLD WAR II THERE WERE 40 PRISONER OF WAR (P.O.W.) CAMPS CONSTRUCTED ACROSS CANADA TO HOUSE THE LARGE NUMBER OF INCOMING POWS - ENEMY MILITARY PERSONNEL THAT WERE CAPTURED IN COMBAT. CAMPS WERE BUILT IN ONTARIO, QUEBEC, THE MARITIMES AND ALBERTA. THE CAMPS IN LETHBRIDGE AND MEDICINE HAT WERE THE LARGEST, TOGETHER HOUSING 22,000 MEN. THE LETHBRIDGE CAMP, NO. 133, WAS BUILT IN THE SUMMER OF 1942, AND BY NOVEMBER OF THAT YEAR HOUSED 13,341 PRISONERS. THE CAMP WAS DIVIDED INTO SIX SECTIONS, EACH WITH SIX DORMITORIES, MESS HALLS, KITCHENS, AND ENTERTAINMENT FACILITIES. MEALS WERE IN SHIFTS WITH PRISONERS SERVING AS COOKS. TAILOR, BARBER AND SHOE REPAIR SHOPS WERE ALSO STAFFED BY PRISONERS, AND NON-COMBAT POWS PRACTICED THEIR PRE-WAR PROFESSIONS AS MEDICAL DOCTORS AND DENTISTS. HOUSING AND RATIONS WERE THE SAME STANDARD AS FOR THE CANADIAN ARMED FORCES, WHICH SOMETIMES CAUSED RESENTMENT AMONG LETHBRIDGE CIVILIAN RESIDENTS, WHO WERE UNABLE TO OBTAIN MANY OF THE SAME SUPPLIES ON THEIR STRICT WARTIME RATION ALLOWANCES. WITH MANY YOUNG LOCAL MEN AWAY AT WAR, LOCAL FARMERS BEGAN TO REQUEST LABOUR ASSISTANCE FROM THE CAMP, ESPECIALLY FOR THE SUGAR BEET INDUSTRY. BY 1943 AN AGREEMENT WAS REACHED AND SOME OF THE PRISONERS WORKED ON FARMS THROUGHOUT SOUTHERN ALBERTA. MOST OF THESE PRISONERS WENT FROM THE CAMP TO THE FARMS DAILY, BUT SOME WERE KEPT AT 'LODGES' AT THE MORE DISTANT FARMS FOR DAYS AT A TIME, WITH MINIMAL GUARDING. FOR THEIR LABOUR, THE PRISONERS WERE PAID 50 CENTS PER DAY. WITH WAR'S END, CAMP 133 CLOSED IN DECEMBER 1946 AND ITS PRISONERS WERE SENT BACK TO GERMANY. THE AREA WHERE THE CAMP STOOD EVENTUALLY BECAME AN INDUSTRIAL PARK AND PART OF THE FEDERAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTRE.

Catalogue Number

P20020033001

Acquisition Date

2002-07

Collection

Museum

Less detail