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The First of the Many

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The First of the Many THE FIRST OF THE MANY: CANADIANS IN THE ROYAL AIR FORCE, 1920-1945 by Hugh A. Halliday This paper was first presented at the 6th Annual Air Force Historical Conference, Cornwall, Ontario, June 2000. It has since then undergone some revision and expansion. www.bombercommandmuseumarchives.ca 1 The histories of the RAF and RCAF were inextricably linked until the 1950s. One manifestation of this was a group of men known as "CAN/RAF" - Canadians who spent all or part of their air force careers as enrolled members of the Royal Air Force. Delineating this circle is difficult, largely because until 1947 there was no such thing as distinct Canadian citizenship. In the absence of such a yardstick, defining a Canadian in the RAF is sometimes perplexing. Some persons identified as CAN/RAF had only the most tenuous connections with this country, and categorizing them has been inconsistent. For example, Percival Stanley Turner is generally accepted to have been CAN/RAF; although he was born in England, he was raised and educated in Canada, and following six years as a member of the RAF he returned to make his life in Canada. By the same token, however, Max Aitkin, though born in Canada, must be considered as British, for his upbringing, education and postwar activities were centred entirely upon Britain. An example of how vaguely the CAN/RAF people have been defined is the case of John Alexander Powell. He was born in Maidstone, Kent in 1909, educated at St.George's School (Quebec), Lachine High School (Montreal) and Mauro College (Jamaica). Powell was commissioned in the RAF on graduation from Cranwell, 27 July 1929. He rose to the rank of Group Captain, winning an OBE, DSO and American DFC before his death in action flying a Mustang over Yugoslavia (August 18, 1944). A true citizen of the Empire, he had earned his OBE for work connected to the organization of the Rhodesian Air Force. Do his schoolboy years in Canada make him a Canadian ? Or was he multinational ? One may quibble over other cases; for purposeswww.bombercommandmuseumarchives.ca of this paper the point need not be taken further.1 The first CAN/RAF personnel were First World War veterans who staked out postwar careers in the Royal Air Force. Of these, the most famous was Raymond Collishaw. In the years between the wars he flew in various Imperial conflicts and held assorted staff positions, rising steadily in 2 rank. As of June 1940 he was commanding RAF front line forces in Egypt as an Air Commodore. When Italy declared war on Britain, "Collie" threw his weak and obsolescent forces into a campaign in Libya that put the Regia Aeronautica on the defensive. He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) and soon promoted to Air Vice-Marshal. However, RAF triumphs in North Africa were frittered away as resources were diverted to help Greece in what turned out to be a disastrous 1941 operation. Collishaw appears to have been made a scapegoat for others and was retired in 1943. Collishaw was not the only CAN/RAF officer among senior RAF ranks. Harold Spencer Kerby had been born in Hamilton, raised in Calgary, and attended the University of Toronto. He joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915. During the First World War he was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross and an Air Force Cross. Like Collishaw, he chose to make the RAF a full time career. As a Group Captain Kerby commanded a bomber wing of the Advanced Air Striking Force (Battles and Blenheims) during the Battle of France (May-June 1940). That defeat could not be blamed on him, and he was successively promoted as he passed through assorted staff and command positions in East Africa and Coastal Command until he had risen to Air Marshal. His wartime services earned him a CB and appointment to the American Legion of Merit (Degree of Officer). Archibald James Rankin of Edmonton had joined the British flying services in 1917 and has an undistinguished late-war career including seaplane time in North Russia. In 1923-24 he was one of a small flying party embarked with Fairey III floatplanes on HMS Pegasus to survey the lower part of the Malay Peninsula; this was connected to preparations of the fortress at Singapore.www.bombercommandmuseumarchives.ca For that work he was awarded an AFC. He received an OBE in 1937, was Mentioned in Despatches in 1942, and retired as an Air Commodore. Yet another distinguished CAN/RAF officer was John Baker of Winnipeg. A First World War veteran, he won a DFC in Waritistan in 1925. He continued with the RAF until 1953, rising to Air 3 Marshal. Victor H. Tait (also from Winnipeg) became a signals specialist in the RAF and rose to Air Vice-Marshal. Both men gathered assorted high-sounding honours; Tait's included a 1937 appointment as a "Commander, Order of the Nile" for work with the Egyptian Air Force (which was then something between a puppet of and a flying club for the RAF); and both were eventually knighted. The Royal Air Force Cadet College, Cranwell, had been established in 1920. The constitution of this institution had been communicated to the Canadian government, via the Governor- General, on 1 September 1920, together with an expressed hope that Canada would recommend candidates for the college. It was suggested that each self-governing Dominion (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa) would recommend two candidates per year; more limited numbers would be entertained for protectorates and colonies with less autonomy. Curiously, one self-governing entity, Newfoundland, was overlooked. Potential cadets were to be between 17½ and 19 years of age, physically fit, unmarried and "of unmixed European descent".2 The number of candidates allowable from the Empire was subsequently enlarged; as of 1932 it stood at 33 annually, with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Irish Free State, Northern Ireland, Newfoundland, and Southern Rhodesia each being allowed four candidates per annum (two per entry) while "other territories" were allowed one yearly Cranwell candidate. It is evident,www.bombercommandmuseumarchives.ca however, that Air Ministry would have considered it a nightmare had all the Dominions and colonies simultaneously filled their quotas. In 1932 the number of reserved places for colonial cadetships was cut in half.3 4 The reduction came just when an unusually large group of well-qualified Canadians sought entry to the RAF. Two RMC graduates - Paul Davoud and A.J. Kennedy - were seeking RAF commissions. A letter of 21 December 1932 from the Adjutant General to the Chief of the General Staff outlined the problem: The 1932 arrangement was four vacancies allotted to Canada, which included nominations to Cadet College, Cranwell, Permanent Commissions and University Graduates. These were considered filled by the following: D.G. Keddie, RMC, 1931 C.H.B. Bullock, University Graduate (Dalhousie) J.G. Bigelow, RMC, 1932 H.R. Coventry, Cranwell, January 1932 The fact that Bigelow had actually graduated 29th in his class, below both Davoud (10th) and Kennedy (22nd) further complicated the matter. Fortunately, the RAF itself had provided a solution with a communication on 22 July 1932: Canada could not normally expect more than one assured vacancy a year; but if more than one eminently suitable candidate were available in any year an effort www.bombercommandmuseumarchives.ca would be made to allocate an additional vacancy from total number available. In this instance the rules were waived, and both Davoud and Kennedy were accepted by the RAF.4 5 This incident aside, the reduced allotments appear to have caused no difficulties for Dominion applicants to find space. On 9 February 1938 the Under-Secretary of State for Air reported to the British House of Commons that it was unnecessary to increase the number of Cranwell vacancies for Dominion and colonial applicants because, in recent years, there had been "a considerable margin between the number of vacancies available to Dominion and Colonial Cadets and the number of nominations received."5 No Canadians were nominated for several years. Meanwhile, in February 1922, a new programme was announced. For two years the RAF had been enrolling "boy mechanics" from British schools. They now proposed to extend recruiting to the Dominions. They hoped to enlist twelve youths from each of the Dominions; Newfoundland was recognized with a suggested annual recruitment level of two. A letter to the Governor General, dated 6 February 1922, outlined the goals and procedures of the system as defined by the Air Council: The Council are of the opinion that such a scheme would have the effect of further promoting in the self-governing Dominions the interest already felt in aviation, and they thing that it is possible that the life of the Royal Air Force would make a strong appeal to many boys of a type who are likely to acquit themselves well and make good in the Service. They represent that the advantages which the proposed scheme offers to such boys are the following: (i) Theywww.bombercommandmuseumarchives.ca will receive at the outset a good general technical education; boys enlisted under the scheme are intended to supply the skilled craft necessary for the efficiency of the Royal Air Force and all unskilled labour will be obtained by the recruitment of adults. 6 (ii) They will have an opportunity of seeing the world; of the 10 years' active service with the Royal Air Force the first 3 years would be passed at the training establishment; about one-half of the remaining 7 years would normally be spent in England and the remainder with a Royal Air Force unit overseas (Middle East or India).
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