Page 3 - RCAF Centenary

THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE
The Canadian Aviation Corps (CAC) may be considered the earliest forerunner of the RCAF. Formed in 1914, it consisted of one Dunne D.8 and two pilots. Although shipped off to England, neither the aero plane nor pilots flew in action and the CAC was disbanded a year later.
But the idea of air combat wasn’t abandoned. In 1918 the Canadian Air Force (CAF) was formed consisting of two squadrons, one a fighter squadron flying Royal Air Factory S.E.5As and Sopwith Dolphins, and the other a bomber squadron flying AIRCO DH.9As under the command of the legendary Lt. Col.
‘Billy’ Bishop serving under the RAF. There is no record of any combat roles and both units were disbanded in 1920, although the CAF Air Board continued until the RCAF was formally created on May 1st, 1924.
WORLD WAR II and the RCAF
Fast forward to the declaration of war on September 10th, 1939. On that date the fledgling RCAF had only 11 squadrons, most designated for home defence. Its total strength was 3,048 regular and 1,033 auxiliary officers and enlisted men. Only 235 were pilots flying 251 vintage 1920’s aircraft and another 19 aircraft some considered ‘modern’. All training was outsourced to private flying clubs and there were only 24 airfields identified as ‘usable’.
Expansion began almost immediately under the BCATP - British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Under it, 107 schools and 184 auxiliary units were created, staffed by 104,113 men and women and operating a total of 10,906 aircraft. It graduated 131,553 pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, wireless operators, and flight engineers. 72,835 were Canadians.
They went on to serve in fighter, bomber and coastal commands, home defence, transport and ferry services.
By war’s end, the RCAF was the 4th largest Allied air force having had 232,000
men and 17,038 women in service operating in 86 squadrons. Approximately
17,101 air force personnel of all ranks died including 9,209 in battle, another
2,367 students and instructors died in training and 3,063 died in accidents
overseas. Thousands became prisoners of war and 670 of those died before
being liberated. Most returned home, many with life-altering physical and psychological injuries, when hostilities ceased both in Europe and in the Pacific. In total, air force operations represented nearly 40% of all the Canadian war- related fatalities during a war that consumed the direct efforts of 1.1M Canadians. They all, to a man and a woman, earned the right to be called Canada’s Greatest Generation.