Air Chief Marshal Frank Miller – a Civilian and Military Leader
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HISTORY MILITARY DND Photo PL-52817 In 1951, Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh inspect RCAF Station Trenton and the commemorative gate to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, a wartime initiative of which Frank Miller was very much a part. Air Chief Marshal FranK Miller – A CIVILIAN AND Military LEADER by Ray Stouffer Introduction that such an exercise has not been undertaken previously says much about the lack of scholarly interest in the Cold War n Thursday, 28 April 1960, the Ottawa Citizen RCAF generally, and the dearth of biographies of senior wrote that Frank Miller, the former air marshal, Canadian airmen specifically. As remarkable as Miller’s career and, more recently, the Deputy Minister (DM) was is the fact that it is today largely unknown and therefore of National Defence, had become the unappreciated. Comprehending Miller’s military and civilian Diefenbaker Government’s choice as Chairman service not only explains why he was selected as Chairman of ofO the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC), replacing General the COSC, it also addresses the larger question of military Charles Foulkes. Miller’s 24 years of service in the Royal leadership in peacetime. It is proposed that those responsible Canadian Air Force (RCAF) “…[had] given him a valuable for Miller’s selection felt that he possessed the requisite store of knowledge of all aspects of defence.” 1 As DM, Miller leadership capabilities and understanding of the needs of a was “…hailed as one of the keenest and most incisive minds in peacetime military better than his peers. the Defence Department.”2 In the same article, it was implied that changes were necessary in Canada’s military that demanded To support this argument, this article focuses upon two Miller’s experience, management skills, and leadership. Miller aspects of Frank Miller’s career. First, his ascendancy through was “…believed one of the very few men suited to take the ranks and increasingly senior appointments will be Canada’s military element through the ultimate transformation described in the context of the evolution of a peacetime and to a unified force.”3 Frank Miller’s return to uniform therefore wartime RCAF. Second, Miller’s professional accomplish- came with solid credentials and high expectations. He was to ments will be compared to those of two other successful sen- become Canada’s highest-ranking military officer, but few ior officers and contemporaries – Air Marshal Roy Slemon Canadians knew him at the time, and fewer still today. and Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes. Slemon was four The purpose of this article is, in part, to bring to light the public life of Frank Miller to better understand who he was, Major Ray Stouffer, CD, PhD, an air force logistics officer, is currently an and why he was chosen as Foulkes’s replacement. The fact Assistant Professor of History at the Royal Military College of Canada. Vol. 10, No. 2, 2010 • Canadian Military Journal 41 years older than Miller and had joined the RCAF earlier than Frank Miller was born in Kamloops, British Columbia on Miller. However, these two airmen would share similar flying 30 April 1908. He attended public and high schools there, and and command postings for over three decades. Their at times from 1925 to 1931, he completed a Bachelor of Science degree meteoric rise in the wartime and postwar RCAF made them in civil engineering at the University of Alberta. During his professional rivals. Ultimately, Slemon would ‘get the nod,’ university years in Edmonton, Miller was a member of the and become Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) in 1953. Seven years Canadian Officer Training Corps (COTC),5 and upon gradua- later, Miller would reach even higher rank as Chairman of the tion, he aspired to become a service pilot. Similar to Roy COSC and Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS). Slemon’s career path a few years earlier, Miller was accepted into the RCAF because interwar air planners “…considered an One historian has argued that Charles Foulkes understood engineering degree an essential qualification to be a pilot.”6 better than his competitors that military leadership during the Further, both men had demonstrated their desire to be in the Cold War required special skill sets. Foulkes was sensitive to military as members of the COTC. the reality that the existence of expensive peacetime forces-in- being challenged Canadian governments that had to balance Frank Miller was commissioned in the RCAF Regular domestic and international political interests.4 This article will Force on 15 September 1931. The following month, Pilot argue that Frank Miller was as good as, if not better than, his Officer Miller was posted to No. 1 Squadron at Camp Borden, predecessor in meeting the challenges of leading a Canadian Ontario. By December 1931 he had obtained his pilot’s wings peacetime military during the early Cold War. Miller’s mil- after completing a series of flying training courses. On 16 itary and civilian careers not only distinguished him from his December he was promoted to flying officer (lieutenant).7 peers, but ultimately from Foulkes as well. Those in political Although Miller joined the RCAF because he wanted to fly, he authority deemed that Frank Miller, not Charles Foulkes, was neither appreciated the national scope of the service, nor its the best military leader to guide the Canadian military through nascent military capabilities. Prior to enlistment, he had the the turbulent years of integration and unification. impression that the RCAF was limited to carrying out non- military roles. He expected to be assisting other government departments in activities such as aerial mapping, fire-fighting, and communication and transportation flight duties.8 For the most part, Miller’s preconceptions about the interwar RCAF were correct. His own experiences would confirm that for much of the interwar period, Canadian airmen were “bush pilots in uniform.” However, he was nonetheless impressed by the range of air power roles practised by the RCAF in the early 1930s. For example, at Camp Borden, the RCAF taught courses on army cooperation in addition to aerial combat.9 Unfortunately for Frank Miller and his air force contem- poraries, they joined the RCAF just at the commencement of the Great Depression. Desperate to fund relief programs, the Bennett Government slashed the military budget in 1932, and the RCAF was forced to make drastic cuts in personnel. As Miller later recalled: “The earth fell in … I was kicked out [of the RCAF]!”10 Luckily for Miller, his ‘temporary leave’ from the air force was short-lived. By July 1932, he was employed at Air Force Headquarters (AFHQ) in Ottawa, and, in January 1933, he was back at Borden to continue his flying training, this time at the School of Army Cooperation. Frank Miller was one of the lucky few to have been availed of the opportunity to continue his training during DND Photo RE66-1426-1 these years of the “Big Cut.” During the period 1932-1933, the RCAF saw its personnel strength drop from 906 officers Air Chief Marshal Frank Miller and men to 694 personnel all told. The budget was slashed by Life in the RCAF – Part One over a million dollars from the pre-Depression years to a mere $1,405,000. As Miller himself experienced, airmen were ne major challenge in writing about Frank Miller is that released, and pilot training was drastically curtailed. In some Oof working with scarce sources. Due mainly to the fact instances, flying training came to a complete stop. Furthermore, that Miller did not keep a personal diary, there are few pri- RCAF expansion was impossible due to lack of funds for mary sources available describing his professional career, and base construction, operational and training flights, and new fewer still that mention his early life. Secondary sources are of aircraft purchases.11 Budget cuts also forced a reduction in little help. Fortunately, sufficient evidence exists from ancil- professional development for the more experienced person- lary sources from which a reasonable picture of his life and nel. This training was expensive. The only staff courses avail- career emerges. able for senior Canadian airmen to learn the latest in air 42 Canadian Military Journal • Vol. 10, No. 2, 2010 power theory, as well as command and staff ence and semblance of flying activity. On duties, were taught overseas by Britain’s “Between 1935 the west coast, the RCAF operated out of Royal Air Force.12 RCAF Station Vancouver, home to No. 4 and 1938, Frank Miller Flying Boat (FB) Squadron and two mobile Although flying activity at Camp filled various billets as detachments. Flying Officer Miller was Borden was severely curtailed at the time, posted there in January 1934 to begin his a flight and air HISTORY Flying Officer Miller was able to complete first operational tour. In addition to his pri- his army cooperation course during the per- navigation instructor.” mary duty as a squadron pilot, he was iod 1 February-31 May 1933. In so doing, appointed unit adjutant.15 In 1934, ‘clouds of he logged 34 hours in the Avro 621 Tutor and a single hour war’ in Europe were still several years away. Therefore, No. 4 on one the RCAF’s three Consolidated O-17 Courier aircraft. (FB) Squadron continued to perform non-military functions in This course was clearly designed to train RCAF pilots how support of other federal and provincial departments. Miller to operate with the army, and in that vein, he was taught aer- and his fellow squadron pilots flew Vickers Vedette, Vickers ial photography, map reading, air reconnaissance, artillery Vancouver, and Fairchild 51/71flying boats on anti-smuggling observation, and Morse code.13 and aerial photography missions.16 MILITARY Devoting precious training time to sup- porting the army was anathema to Canadian airmen who closely followed air power developments in Britain.