DOCSLIB.ORG

The Official History of the Royal Canadian Air Force Volume I1

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Official History of the Royal Canadian Air Force Volume I1 THE CREATION OF A NATIONAL AIR FORCE THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE VOLUME I1 PROPERTY 0 F CFAWC L I BRARY W.A.B. DOUGLAS The Creation of a National Air Force The Official History of the Royal Canadian Air Force Volume 11 Editor-in-Chief Norman Hillmer Published by University of Toronto Press in co-operation with the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Government Publishing Centre, Supply and Services Canada O Minister of Supply and Services Canada 1986 Printed in Canada ISBN 0-8020-2584-6 Government catalogue number ~2-6312-1985~ Printed on acid-free paper Main entry under title: The official history of the Royal Canadian Air Force Includes bibliographical references and indexes. Partial contents: v. I. Canadian airmen and the First World War 1 S .F. Wise - v. 2. The creation of a national air force 1 W. A.B . Douglas. ISBN 0-8020-2379-7 (v. I). - ISBN 0-8020-2584-6 (v. 2). I. Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force - History. I. Wise, S .F. (Sydney Francis), 1924- . Canadian airmen and the First World War. 11. Douglas, W. A.B . (William Alexander Binney), 1929- . The creation of a national air force. III. Canada. Dept. of National Defence. HI. Title. Illustrations in this book come from the Public Archives of Canada and the Department of National Defence; acknowledgment is hereby given for permission to reproduce them. Codes appearing at the end of captions represent negative numbers at the PAC (PL,PA, RE) and DND (RE, PMX, AH,REA, w). This volume will also be published in French translation. Note: In the writing of this volume the author has been given full access to relevant official documents in possession of the Department of National Defence. The inferences drawn and the opinions expressed are those of the author himself, and the depart- ment is in no way responsible for his reading or presentation of the facts as stated. Contents Preface ix Abbreviations xv Part I: Between the Wars I The Birth of the RCAF 37 2 The RCAF and Civil Aviation 65 3 Bush Pilots in Uniform 91 4 Towards a Military Air Force I 19 Part 11: The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan 5 Origins 193 6 Building the Plan 220 7 Mid-War Modifications 248 8 The Plan in Maturity 267 Part m: The Air Defence of Canada, 1939-45 9 Policy and Procurement 343 10 Eastern and Central Canada 373 I I The Pacific Coast 400 Part IV: The North Atlantic Lifeline I 2 The Beginnings of Anti-Submarine Warfare 468 13 The Battle of the St Lawrence 493 I 4 Ocean Operations, I 942 5 I 6 15 Defeating the Wolf Packs 537 16 Securing the Lifeline, 1943-4 568 17 The Dawn of Modem ASW, 1944-5 597 Contents Appendices A Principal Air Force Appointments in Canada, I 920-45 62 I B Defence Expenditures, I 9 I 9-47 629 c The Clayton Knight Committee 632 D Ferry Command 642 E Home War Operational Stations, 1939-45 652 Notes 667 Index 765 Maps and Illustrations colour maps I Pacific Coast Operations, I 939-45 front end plate 2 First Trans-Canada Flight, 7- 17 October 1920 between 76 and 77 3 British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, Pilot Training Facilities, 1940-5 between 236 and 237 4 British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, Aircrew (Other 'than Pilot) Training Facilities, 1940-5 between 236 and 237 5 The Home War Establishment (Western Hemisphere Operations) Stations and Operational Zones, 1939-45 between 348 and 349 6 Eastern Air Command Operations (North Atlantic Operations), I 939-45 back end plate sketch maps and charts I The Ship-to-Shore Air Mail Service, 28 June- I 7 August 1932 88 2 Principal Civil Government Air Operations to I 929 102 3 The Hudson Strait Expedition, 29 September 1927-3 August 1928 107 4 Arctic Exploratory Flight, I 930 I 14 5 British Commonwealth Air Training Plan - Aircrew Schools 226-7 6 Aircrew Training Flow to I 942 234 7 Aircrew Training Flow, I 942-5 265 8 RCAF Squadron Strength, 1939-45 345 9 Home War Establishment Operational Aircraft, Eastern and Western Air Command 352 10 The 49 Squadron Plan, I 6 March 1942 357 I I East Coast Air Reconnaissance Areas, 1942 374 I 2 Eastern Air Command Order of Battle 376-7 13 Atlantic Coast Operational Flying Stations, 1939-45 396 14 East Coast Air Defence Radar Coverage, mid- I 944 397 15 Western Air Command Order of Battle 402 I 6 No I Coast Watch Unit, Royal Canadian Air Force, 1942-3 407 17 West Coast Patrol Areas and Radar Coverage, 1944 423 viii Maps and Illustrations I 8 U-Boat Activities in Newfoundland Waters, 25 October-4 November 1941 483 19 RCAF Operations in the Gulf of St Lawrence, 1942-5 499 20 sc 107, 30 October-2 November 1942 528 2 I ON 166, 12 February-;! March 1943 543 22 ONS~,I-6May 1943 552 23 Convoys ONS 18 and ON 202, 15-30 September 1943 563 24 ONS 236, 21-25 May 1944 589 . 25 Patrol of u- I 232, 3 I December 1944- 14 January 1945 605 26 Routes Flown by Ferry Command, 1940-5 648 illustrations Black and white photographs are placed on pages 2-34, 154-90.296-340, 430-64,612-20. Preface This book, the second of four projected volumes in the official history of the Royal Canadian Air Force, is about the origins and development of the RCAF as a national institution. The first volume, Canadian Airmen and the First World War, recorded a notably generous Canadian contribution to the war in the air from 1914 to 1918. Several failed attempts to create a national air force out of that contribution formed curious, but important, elements in the early history of Canadian military aviation. Two short-lived organizations, the Royal Canadian Naval Air Service and the Canadian Air Force overseas, both established in 1918, had no institutional links with the Canadian Air Fosce that came into being two years later. However, the CAF and later the RCAF had unmistakeable connections with the past; thousands of men, from Air Vice-Marshal Sir Willoughby Gwatkin to the youngest airmen qualified during the First World War, created a pool of knowledge, experience, and commitment from which to draw. Aircraft, facilities, and equipment left over from the war provided the initial resources for postwar aviation. Above all, 'air mindedness,' resulting from wartime experi- ence, was a vital prerequisite to winning Cabinet approval for government aviation services of any kind. Military necessity brought Canada into the air age. In the peaceful I gzos, civil more than military concerns governed the shape, size, and functions of the RCAF; in the following decade the rise of international tensions forced the service to concentrate on its military role. During the Second World War the RCAF grew from a few hundred airmen to a force of some eighty squadrons and nearly a quarter of a million people. RCAF squadrons, wings, and groups took their place beside other Allied air forces in many theatres of the Second World War, and in , the process acquired capabilities in virtually every phase of air warfare. But the roots of the RCAF'S growing reputation in overseas theatres - especially in the Northwest Europe campaign - were to be found at home. Responsible for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Canada, the RCAF trained large numbers of other Commonwealth and Allied airmen as well as Canadians. Charged with the air defence of Canada, it built up a big Home War Establishment which played a significant part in the defeat of enemy attempts to destroy Allied shipping, particularly in the Battle of the Atlantic. x Preface A number of RCAF maritime squadrons served on the other side of the ocean in the Royal Air Force's Coastal Command. Their anti-submarine operations have been included in this volume not only for theirown intrinsic importance but also to provide a coherent and balanced account of the air war over the 'Atlantic bridge,' which was fought from the United Kingdom and Iceland as well as from Canada and Newfoundland. Most of these overseas squadrons also participated in anti-shipping strikes over the English Channel and North Sea in 1942 and 1943, and in operations directly related to the invasion of northwest Europe in 1944 and 1945. However, those parts of their story have been left for Volume 111 of this history, which will deal with operations overseas. It must be remembered that half of the Canadian airmen who served in Coastal Command were not even in Canadian squadrons. They flew with other Commonwealth and Allied units. Their duties were as onerous, the risks they took were as great, and their sacrifices comparable, but to recount the story of their war would involve a comprehensive history of every facet of martime air operations, an approach which constraints of space make impracticable in a volume devoted to the evolution of the RCAF as an institution. Regrettably, a number of other groups - for example, groundcrew, weather and radio technicians, and the Marine and Women's divisions - also deserve more attention than the few references it has been possible to make. They also served and played significant parts in the development of the air force, but economy dictates that their stories, too, give way to those operational functions of organization, strategy, tactics, and procurement that are most central to the thrust of this series. This book has been written from a wide variety of primary sources.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Lgen Maurice A. Pope Collection
    Maurice Arthur Pope Collection AN 20030022-001 Page 1 of 71 Canadian War Museum Finding Aid Maurice Arthur Pope Collection Accession number 20030022-001 Dates: 1852-1969 Extent: 2000 letters in 3 boxes, or 96.0 cm. Biographical Sketch: Maurice Arthur Pope was born 29 August 1889 at his parents’ summer home at St. Patrick, Temiscquata County, Quebec. He was the third son of Joseph Pope (who, at the time, was the private secretary of Sir John A. Macdonald) and of Henriette, the eldest daughter of Sir Henri Thomas Taschereau. Maurice received his early education in Ottawa at both the Model school and the Ottawa Collegiate Institute. Keen on sports, he ran with the Ottawa Harriers while attending high school. During the summer of 1905 he worked in a hydrographic party, which was engaged in surveying the route for the prepared Georgian Bay ship canal. During the summers of 1906 and 1907 he was employed in the construction of docks on the Louis embankment in Quebec City. He entered McGill University in the fall of 1906 to begin his studies in civil engineering and was an enthusiastic member of a fraternity. After a difficult second year at McGill, he decided to take a year off, during which he worked at Frankford on the construction of the Trent valley canal. He returned to McGill in the fall of 1909, worked for a contractor on a building extension in Montreal in the summer of 1910, and graduated from McGill in 1911. He then joined the Engineering department of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in Montreal.
    [Show full text]
  • By James Thompson
    WARBIRDS WARBIRDS INTERNATIONAL WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS WARBIRDS AS NOTED ELSEWHERE IN THIS ISSUE, THE COLLINGS FOUNDATION IS ON A ROLL AND HAS JUST ACQUIRED A CATALINA BY JAMES The unusual sight of a Catalina (Canso) moving down THOMPSON public streets. rivers on the main Although it will require considerable work, the Canso road leaving St. will be restored back to flying condition. Hubert, Quebec, January 1953, it was back at AIL for Don 13 June were a bit astound- repairs to an excessive leak in the star- ed to see the shape of what looked like board fuel tank. a large yellow boat being moved by By this time, the Canso was flying truck. What they were viewing was the with No. 103 Rescue Unit at RCAF latest acquisition by the Collings Station Greenwood, Nova Scotia. On 8 Foundation — Consolidated/ May 1953, it was again flown to No. 6 Canadian Vickers Canso A RCAF RD for unspecified repairs that were This is how C-FPQK looked when in active service 9830 (or PBY Catalina in American!). with Quebec as a water-bomber and transport. completed in January 1954. However, This vintage amphibian had been on on 29 October 1954 it was flown to AIL display with the Foundation Aerovision Quebec at St. Hubert for repairs to the electrical system, modifications, and upgrades. since 1994. When delivered to that organization, the aircraft was On 11 March 1957, it was flown to No. 6 RD for installation of still airworthy but is not currently flyable.
    [Show full text]
  • Canada 1919 a Nation Shaped by War Edited by Tim Cook and J.L
    Canada 1919 A Nation Shaped by War Edited by Tim Cook and J.L. Granatstein Contents Timeline / viii Introduction / ! Tim Cook and J.L. Granatstein " #e Long "$"$: Hope, Fear, and Normalcy / "% Alan Bowker % Coming Home: How the Soldiers of Canada and Newfoundland Came Back / %& Dean F. Oliver ! “Playing with Fire”: Canadian Repatriation and the Riots of "$"$ / '! William F. Stewart ' New Battlegrounds: Treating VD in Belgium and Germany, "$"(–"$ / )& Lyndsay Rosenthal ) “L’honneur de notre race”: #e %%nd Battalion Returns to Quebec City, "$"$ / &% Serge Marc Dur!inger * Demobilization and Colonialism: Indigenous Homecomings in "$"$ / (* Brian R. MacDowall & Victory at a Cost: General Currie’s Contested Legacy / "+% Tim Cook ( Dealing with the Wounded: #e Evolution of Care on the Home Front to "$"$ / ""& Kandace Bogaert vi Contents $ In Death’s Shadow: #e "$"(–"$ In,uenza Pandemic and War in Canada / "!) Mark Osborne Humphries "+ #e Winnipeg General Strike of "$"$: #e Role of the Veterans / "'( David Jay Bercuson "" #e Group of Seven and the First World War: #e Burlington House Exhibition / "*% Laura Brandon "% Domestic Demobilization: Letters from the Children’s Page / "&& Kristine Alexander "! “At Peace with the Germans, but at War with the Germs”: Canadian Nurse Veterans a.er the First World War / "$+ Mélanie Morin-Pelletier "' A Timid Transformation: #e First World War’s Legacy on Canada’s Federal Government / %+' Je" Keshen ") Politics Undone: #e End of the Two-Party System / %%+ J.L. Granatstein "* Growing Up Autonomous: Canada and Britain through the First World War and into the Peace / %!' Norman Hillmer "& Past Futures: Military Plans of the Canadian and Other Dominion Armies in "$"$ / %'( Douglas E. Delaney "( #e Navy Reborn, an Air Force Created? #e Making of Canadian Defence Policy, "$"$ / %*% Roger Sarty "$ “Our Gallant Employees”: Corporate Commemoration in Postwar Canada / %&( Jonathan F.
    [Show full text]
  • January Cover.Indd
    Aircraft Detail In Action Armor Detail In Action Available in Both Hard & Softcover! NEW F8F Bearcat Detail in Action NEW M19-M20 Tank Transporter Detail in Action Doyle. The Grumman F8F Bearcat represents the pinnacle of US carrier-borne piston-engine fighter design. Marrying Doyle. Collectively known as the M19 Heavy Tank Transporter, this truck and trailer combination was conceived at the a compact, lightweight airframe with a powerful 18-cylinder Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp radial engine churning behest of British in 1941, and was later used by the United States Army as well. The prime mover for the combination out more than 2,000 horsepower produced an aircraft intended to be an interceptor that could operate from the was the Diamond T model 980 or 981 12-ton truck, known as the M20, while the 45-ton capacity full trailer it smallest escort carriers. While the Bearcat prototype first took to the air in August 1944, and the first squadron towed was designated the M9. The combination saw widespread use during World War II, and well into the postwar equipped with the new fighters was operational in May 1945, the war ended before the Bearcat actually saw combat years. Explores the development, use, and details of these wartime workhorses. Illustrated with 222 photographs (64 in World War II. The type would ultimately see combat in the First Indochina War. Visually chronicles this diminutive black-and-white vintage photographs in conjunction with 158 detailed full-color photos of immaculately preserved fighter with ample images and captures the nuances of this famed warbird.
    [Show full text]
  • Vol 17/3 ,1 Miniature
    Vol 17/3 ,1 miniature The magazine of IPMS New South Wales Editorial Volume 17 No. 3 This is the third issue of 'IN miniature' (previously known as 'News and 'Views' for Volume 17 (2003). As always we have a mixed bag of articles and another large issue this time with a total of 11 editorial articles. IN miniature (previously News & Views) is the official I had intended to make this issue a 'Middle East Conflicts' special with a mix of articles from WWII, plus magazine of IPMS New several articles from this years Operation Falconer, the ADF's operations in Iraq 2003. Unfortunately 3 South Wales. weeks before we were to go to print, Ken Bowes emailed me to say that the OPSEC people at the RAAF had denied him permission to publish the material that he was preparing for us on the Hornets, Hercules Contributions are warmly and ASLAVs in Iraq. invited. All due care is taken for material offered, how- As Ken is a serving RAAF Officer he cannot publish anything without getting permission first. This is de- ever neither the editorial spite the fact that everything in his article is already in the public domain, mainly released by Defence them- staff nor IPMS New South selves thru their website. Unfortunately this all happened at the time that there was a Security 'flap' over the Wales accepts any respon- break-in and theft of the two servers at Sydney Airport. Hopefully when the panic all blows over we can pub- sibility. Acceptance of mate- lish the material at some time in the future.
    [Show full text]
  • Temagami Times – Summer 2019
    VOLUME 49 . NUMBER 2 . CIRCULATION 1,200 A FREE PUBLICATION Temagami Times THE VOICE OF THE TEMAGAMI LAKES ASSOCIATION (TLA) SUMMER 2019 A Curious Pine Marten on Island 210 – August 2018 (photo by Heather Reid) Bush flying has played a key role in TH 1919, the US government donated Canada’s north – enabling access to 100 a number of surplus Curtiss HS-2Ls remote areas in hours, where travel seaplanes in Halifax to the Canadian previously took days or even weeks. Government. The St. Maurice Forest My first floatplane flight was at the age ANNIVERSARYof Protection Authority in Quebec took of five, when my father (a prospector an interest in the concept of using and mining-exploration contractor) aircraft for forestry support, and were took me to a mining property where able to secure two of the HS-2L aircraft he was working. Bush Flying in Canada from the government of Canada. Stuart 2019 is the 100th anniversary of the By Rob Corcoran signed on as their pilot. inception of bush flying (and of peace- time, professional flying) in Canada – which would certainly seem to be an event worth Naval Air Station, celebrating this year. Stuart Graham was Canada’s first and in 1917, Stu- bush pilot and first professional peacetime pilot. His art decided to sign wife, Marguerite (Madge), was Canada’s first, female, up for flying, rather aircraft crew-member. She flew as a navigator to ferry than return to the two Curtiss HS-2L, single-engine, flying-boats from trenches. After six Halifax, Nova Scotia to Grand-Mère, Quebec in June hours of training, he and July of 1919.
    [Show full text]
  • Bombardier Challenger 605
    The Conklin & de Decker Report Bombardier Challenger 605 Created on August 21, 2019 by Doug Strangfeld © 2019 Conklin & de Decker Associates, Inc PO BOX 121184 1006 North Bowen, Suite B Arlington, TX 76012 www.conklindd.com Data version: V 19.1 Bombardier Challenger 605 RANGE 3,756 nm SPEED 488 kts PASSENGERS 10 people Cost ACQUISITION COST ANNUAL COST VARIABLE COST FIXED COST $15,000,000 $2,235,337 $3,218/hr $948,127 MAX PAYLOAD 4,850 lb ENGINES 2 General Electric CF34-3B TOTAL CABIN AREA 1,146 cu ft AVIONICS Collins Pro-Line 21 WINGSPAN 64.3 ft APU Standard Assumptions This report uses custom assumptions that differ from Conklin & de Decker default values for Annual Utilization (Hours), Fuel Price (Jet A). ANNUAL UTILIZATION (DISTANCE) 165,600 nm FUEL PRICE (JET A) $4.45/gal ANNUAL UTILIZATION (HOURS) 400 hrs LABOR COST $136/hr AVERAGE SPEED (STANDARD TRIP) 414 kts ACQUISITION COST $15,000,000 Bombardier Aerospace year production run. Canadair, later acquired by Bombardier Aerospace, originated in 1911 as a subsidiary In 1976, General Dynamics sold Canadair to the Canadian government following a of the British shipbuilding company, Vickers, Sons and Maxim. They were initially slowdown in defense and military contracts. Canadair was eventually sold by the known as Canadian Vickers and the company was established to contract with the Canadian government to Bombardier in 1986. After acquiring Canadair, Bombardier Royal Canadian Navy to build large ships, including many that were used by the acquired the Ireland-based Short Brothers aircraft manufacturing company in 1989. Canadian and British during World War I.
    [Show full text]
  • The Transition to Safety Management Systems (SMS) in Aviation: Is Canada Deregulating Flight Safety?, 81 J
    Journal of Air Law and Commerce Volume 81 | Issue 1 Article 3 2002 The rT ansition to Safety Management Systems (SMS) in Aviation: Is Canada Deregulating Flight Safety? Renè David-Cooper Federal Court of Appeal of Canada Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.smu.edu/jalc Recommended Citation Renè David-Cooper, The Transition to Safety Management Systems (SMS) in Aviation: Is Canada Deregulating Flight Safety?, 81 J. Air L. & Com. 33 (2002) https://scholar.smu.edu/jalc/vol81/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at SMU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Air Law and Commerce by an authorized administrator of SMU Scholar. For more information, please visit http://digitalrepository.smu.edu. THE TRANSITION TO SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (SMS) IN AVIATION: IS CANADA DEREGULATING FLIGHT SAFETY? RENE´ DAVID-COOPER* ABSTRACT In 2013, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) adopted Annex 19 to the Chicago Convention to implement Safety Management Systems (SMS) for airlines around the world. While most ICAO Member States worldwide are still in the early stages of introducing SMS, Canada became the first and only ICAO country in 2008 to fully implement SMS for all Canadian-registered airlines. This article will highlight the documented shortcomings of SMS in Canada during the implementation of the first ever SMS framework in civil aviation. While air carriers struggled to un- derstand and introduce SMS into their operations, this article will illustrate how Transport Canada (TC) did not have the knowledge or the necessary resources to properly guide airline operators during this transition, how SMS was improperly tai- lored for smaller air carriers, and how the Canadian govern- ment canceled safety inspections around the country, leaving many air carriers partially unregulated.
    [Show full text]
  • Royal Canadian Air Force's Managed Readiness Plan
    Royal Canadian Air Force’s Managed Readiness Plan Major Marc-André La Haye JCSP 47 PCEMI 47 Master of Defence Studies Maîtrise en études de la défense Disclaimer Avertissement Opinions expressed remain those of the author and do Les opinons exprimées n’engagent que leurs auteurs et not represent Department of National Defence or ne reflètent aucunement des politiques du Ministère de Canadian Forces policy. This paper may not be used la Défense nationale ou des Forces canadiennes. Ce without written permission. papier ne peut être reproduit sans autorisation écrite. © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as represented by the © Sa Majesté la Reine du Chef du Canada, représentée par le Minister of National Defence, 2021. ministre de la Défense nationale, 2021. CANADIAN FORCES COLLEGE – COLLÈGE DES FORCES CANADIENNES JCSP 47 – PCEMI 47 2020 – 2021 MASTER OF DEFENCE STUDIES – MAÎTRISE EN ÉTUDES DE LA DÉFENSE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE MANAGED READINESS PLAN By Major M.A.J.Y. La Haye “This paper was written by a candidate « La présente étude a été rédigée par un attending the Canadian Forces College in stagiaire du Collège des Forces canadiennes fulfilment of one of the requirements of the pour satisfaire à l'une des exigences du Course of Studies. The paper is a cours. L'étude est un document qui se scholastic document, and thus contains rapporte au cours et contient donc des faits facts and opinions which the author alone et des opinions que seul l'auteur considère considered appropriate and correct for appropriés et convenables au sujet. Elle ne the subject.
    [Show full text]
  • The Search for Continental Security
    THE SEARCH FOR CONTINENTAL SECURITY: The Development of the North American Air Defence System, 1949 to 1956 By MATTHEW PAUL TRUDGEN A thesis submitted to the Department of History in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada September 12, 2011 Copyright © Matthew Paul Trudgen, 2011 Abstract This dissertation examines the development of the North American air defence system from the beginning of the Cold War until 1956. It focuses on the political and diplomatic dynamics behind the emergence of these defences, which included several radar lines such as the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line as well as a number of initiatives to enhance co-operation between the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). This thesis argues that these measures were shaped by two historical factors. The first was several different conceptions of what policy on air defence best served the Canadian national interest held by the Cabinet, the Department of External Affairs, the RCAF and the Other Government Departments (OGDs), namely Transport, Defence Production and Northern Affairs. For the Cabinet and External Affairs, their approach to air defence was motivated by the need to balance working with the Americans to defend the continent with the avoidance of any political fallout that would endanger the government‘s chance of reelection. Nationalist sentiments and the desire to ensure that Canada both benefited from these projects and that its sovereignty in the Arctic was protected further influenced these two groups. On the other hand, the RCAF was driven by a more functional approach to this issue, as they sought to work with the USAF to develop the best air defence system possible.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Canadians in the Air, 1914–1919, 1939–1945
    Canadians in the Air, 1914–1919, 1939–1945 Paul Goranson Anchoring the Kite cwm 19710261-3180 Beaverbrook Collection of War Art Canadian War Museum warmuseum.ca/learn Canadians in the Air 1 Canadians in the Air, 1914–1919, 1939–1945 Introduction Large-scale military aviation began with the First World War, not long after the 1909 flight of the Silver Dart marked the start of aviation in Canada. As no Canadian Air Force yet existed, thousands of Canadians fought the First World War in British flying units. Canadians first served with the Royal Flying Corps (rfc) or with the Royal Naval Air Service (rnas). These two services amalgamated on 1 April 1918 into the Royal Air Force (raf). In total, an estimated 13,000–22,000 individuals from Canada joined the British flying services. In 1924, the Royal Canadian Air Force (rcaf) was created. With the outbreak of war in September 1939, the rcaf was able to draw on an existing cadre of officers and airmen and also attracted experienced personnel from private enterprise. By 1945, close to 250,000 men and women had served in the rcaf at home and abroad. This guide will illustrate the process of researching an individual’s service, from the essential starting point of service documents to supporting resources for detail and further discovery. Helpful hint See lac’s Military Abbreviations used in Service Files page. warmuseum.ca/learn Canadians in the Air 2 Photo album of Flight Lieutenant William Burt Bickell, Royal Air Force cwm 19850379-001_p14 George Metcalf Archival Collection Canadian War Museum First World War, 1914–1919 While some recruitment and training were done Royal Flying Corps: For airmen who died or were in Canada, the flying services were British in discharged before 1 April 1918, their service records organization, administration, and operation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Canadian Militia in the Interwar Years, 1919-39
    THE POLICY OF NEGLECT: THE CANADIAN MILITIA IN THE INTERWAR YEARS, 1919-39 ___________________________________________________________ A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board ___________________________________________________________ in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY __________________________________________________________ by Britton Wade MacDonald January, 2009 iii © Copyright 2008 by Britton W. MacDonald iv ABSTRACT The Policy of Neglect: The Canadian Militia in the Interwar Years, 1919-1939 Britton W. MacDonald Doctor of Philosophy Temple University, 2008 Dr. Gregory J. W. Urwin The Canadian Militia, since its beginning, has been underfunded and under-supported by the government, no matter which political party was in power. This trend continued throughout the interwar years of 1919 to 1939. During these years, the Militia’s members had to improvise a great deal of the time in their efforts to attain military effectiveness. This included much of their training, which they often funded with their own pay. They created their own training apparatuses, such as mock tanks, so that their preparations had a hint of realism. Officers designed interesting and unique exercises to challenge their personnel. All these actions helped create esprit de corps in the Militia, particularly the half composed of citizen soldiers, the Non- Permanent Active Militia. The regulars, the Permanent Active Militia (or Permanent Force), also relied on their own efforts to improve themselves as soldiers. They found intellectual nourishment in an excellent service journal, the Canadian Defence Quarterly, and British schools. The Militia learned to endure in these years because of all the trials its members faced. The interwar years are important for their impact on how the Canadian Army (as it was known after 1940) would fight the Second World War.
    [Show full text]