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             Figure 1: Distribution of BCATP Air Accidents according to the stages of flying, 1940-1944.
             Some comparative statistics will serve to illustrate the magnitude of BCATP activity. Before the war, Royal Canadian Air Force airplanes logged only about 27,000 flying hours per year. In contrast, those of the BCATP logged four times more hours every week during the summer of 1942.3 Between October 1942 and September 19434, when BCATP training reached its peak, the hundred schools spread across Canada logged on average 500,000 flying hours every month " the equivalent of seven airplanes flying 24 hours a day at each school. Almost 7,000 aircraft flew an average of 17 hours a week throughout 1943.
             Inexperienced students piloted most of these aircraft, so take-offs, landings and flying manoeuvres were not always carried out with great success. During 1942 and 1943, BCATP aircraft averaged one accident for every 900 hours of flight, most of them, fortunately, having no serious consequences. There were over 6,000 accidents at BCATP schools between October 1942 and September 1943. Serious accidents, even if they represent a very small portion of the total, were nevertheless frequent: there were slightly more than 300 fatal accidents during this period. There was, however, a tendency to underestimate these losses, as well as those that occurred in Canada in general during the war. This underestimation comes from a misinterpretation of the data, coupled with a general tendency to consider only casualties that occurred in foreign theatres. The defence of Canadian soil has never really captured the interest of military historians, who usually prefer to contrast the peaceful lives of those who remained in the country with the courage of those who left to face the dangers of combating the enemy abroad.
             UNDERESTIMATED LOSSES.
             Examinations of BCATP losses are usually based on numbers given by F.J. Hatch in his book, The Aerodrome of Democracy: Canada and the BCATP, 1939-1945, published by the Department of National Defence in 1983.