joni mitchell's father, bill anderson, was stationed in Fort Macleod, Alberta
at one of the many air bases of the (British) Commonwealth Air Training Plan,
a mammoth project of the Second World War, preparing thousands of pilots and
flight crews from all over the world for bomber and fighter service in the
european war theatre...during his time there, in 1943, joni mitchell was
born...
there are many interesting websites which describe this huge project and even
a couple of movies...
1) an overview of the plan,with photos and a list of the prairie bases,
including Fort Macleod:
http://www.ualberta.ca/EDMONTON/CONTRIB/airmuseum/aambcatp.html
2) the biggest of the plan air museums, from brandon manitoba, with a virtual
tour of the kind of atmosphere and equipment bill anderson was involved with:
http://www.airmuseum.ca/
3)a wartime jimmy cagney film about the plan
http://www.ualberta.ca/EDMONTON/CONTRIB/airmuseum/aamcagney.html#bcatpreturn1
4) a modern film, For the Moment, with russell crow, about life and love at
these bases - the story describes the lives of a couple resembling that of
close friends of my family...the plot is very real and happened alot in those
days...the andersons took part in this environment and culture...
http://www.airmuseum.ca/moments.html
these sites are worth seeing in that they help the joni mitchell fan
understand a big part of her origins...
shane
