Page 13 - RCAF Centenary

passage to England to join the RAF but was rejected because he was
too thin and he returned home. The next step on his agenda was to
upgrade his pilot’s license to commercial which he did in June 1940.
Now 25 years old and married, he succeeded in enlisting in the RCAF
‘Special Reserve’. Excused from any formal military indoctrination
and after initial training in Trenton, he was assigned to the EFTS –
Elementary Flying Training School, a unit that gave those who had
never flown before 50 hours of flight time in DH Tiger Moths and Fleet Finches. As an instructor he was very popular and he was known to especially love flying the ‘Moth’. His teaching assignments took him and his wife across Canada to training assignments in St. Catherines, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Prince Albert, and Abbotsford. He loved what he was doing and whenever he was promoted or it was suggested he upgrade to multi-engine aircraft, he would deliberately do something foolish to get demoted in order to keep flying the biplanes.
Latimer was also one of the pilots who were tasked with driving to the US/Canada border where American airmen would land and taxi new aircraft from the factories up to the border, turn their backs as the Canadians attached
ropes to the aircraft, pull them over the border into Canada then fly them to dispersal bases - all part of the ploy to maintain American neutrality before they joined the war after Pearl Harbor. By late 1944 the program began winding down and he was honorably discharged in August, went off to university and resumed being a civilian, helping build Canada and raise a family. He was most proud of his contribution to the RCAF. Like so many others, he exemplified the commitment to Canada and dedication to the RCAF and the war effort. But ironically he chose not to pilot an airplane again. Now what could be more normal and non-descript than that? He stepped up, did the job and did it well and then continued on as a solid, productive and much loved Canadian.
But there were others, so read on.
CANADIAN WOMEN WARTIME PILOTS – The ‘ATTAGIRLS’!
Let’s not forget that 17,038 Canadian women stepped up to serve in the RCAF although not until 1941 when the Women’s Division was formally established. Most filled ground-based duties such as clerical work but a number became mechanics, armourers, wireless operators, and air traffic controllers. But
a few very determined and gritty women earned their wings and entered history as having a wartime flying career. But to do so, they had to leave Canada and join the British Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) as ferry pilots and flight instructors. In the role as ferry pilots, they were tasked with flying some 90 models from trainer aircraft to fighters and bombers. Although not under RCAF command and technically considered ‘civilian status’, they for all practical purposes were ad hoc RCAF. Here are two of the five remarkable Canadian women pilots in that service.
F. O. Violet Milstead Warren (1919-2014)
Born in Toronto, ‘Vi’ gained her private pilot’s license in 1939, commercial
license the next year, and Instructor’s Rating in 1941. In 1943 and in England,
she joined the ATA as First Officer flying 47 different types of single engine and
advanced multi engine war birds from factories to bases in England and in occupied Europe. Her most favored aircraft were Spitfires and the de Havilland Mosquito, obviously enjoying their speed and agility. As the war came to a close, she returned to Canada, resumed her flight instructor career and became Canada’s first female bush pilot. She was inducted into the Order of Canada, Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame and Bush Pilots Hall of Fame. At only 5’2” she was no doubt a challenging force in an all-male community.