Four Canadian airmen were awarded Victoria Crosses posthumously for bravery during the Second World War. Three of them saw service in Europe—Andrew Mynarski and Ian Bazalgette while serving with Bomber Command, and David Hornell with Coastal Command. Naval Lieutenant Robert Hampton Gray of the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve was awarded the Victoria Cross while flying off Royal Naval aircraft carriers in the Far East against Japanese forces.

The Far East was also the setting for the dramatic story of Squadron Leader Leonard Birchall, hailed as the Saviour of Ceylon. On April 4, 1942, he was the pilot of a 413 Squadron Catalina flying boat that spotted a Japanese fleet intent on attacking Allied forces on the island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). He radioed a warning and kept up surveillance of the enemy until his aircraft was shot down. Although a number of his crew perished, Birchall was captured and held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese for more than three years under the most brutal conditions. Birchall stood up to his captors while in captivity, demanding humane treatment for his fellow prisoners, for which he was often beaten and abused. Awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions on April 4 and the Order of the British Empire for his tenacious struggle in support of other prisoners of war, Birchall had a long and distinguished career in the post-war RCAF.

Golden age

After demobilization, the RCAF numbered about 12,000 personnel by 1948. However, deteriorating relations between Western governments and the Soviet Union spurred Canada to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. It also led to the creation of the Canada-United States North American Air Defence Command (NORAD) in 1956 and increased Canada’s support for the United Nations. Born out of a desire for collective defence, these organizations had a profound impact on the RCAF and sparked an unprecedented level of peacetime growth.

By the end of the 1950s, there were 12 squadrons of Canadian fighters operating from NATO airfields in France and West Germany. In North America, the NORAD commitment resulted in the formation of numerous interceptor squadrons, as well as the building and manning of radar sites throughout the country and far north. Support for the UN ranged from the provision of a handful of fighter pilots and an air transport squadron during the Korean War to significant aviation support for peacekeeping missions in the Middle East and Asia. With all of these responsibilities, the RCAF had more than 50,000 personnel by the end of the decade.

The 1960s saw the RCAF introduce nuclear weapons—controlled by the United States—to equip the European-based CF-104 Starfighter, as well as to equip North American air defence CF-101 Voodoo squadrons and the two Bomarc missile sites in Canada. The use of these weapons was controversial in Canada, and in 1984, the last of the nuclear-equipped systems was retired.

The 1960s also ushered in two decades of financial restraint and the gradual decrease in the size of Canada’s military. Technological changes, spiraling defence costs, and budget reductions played havoc with the Canadian aerospace industry. The “golden age” of the RCAF in the 1950s—highlighted by the Canadian-built F-86 Sabre and CF-100 Canuck fighters—gave way to the cancellation of expensive projects such as the Avro Arrow interceptor and an increased reliance on US-built aircraft.

Unification and lean times

In an effort to save money and increase efficiency, Paul Hellyer, Canada’s Minister of National Defence from 1963 to 1967, unified the Canadian Army, the Royal Canadian Navy, and the RCAF to create the Canadian Armed Forces. Unification came into effect on February 1, 1968, and the RCAF, as well as the flight organizations of the army and navy, collectively became known as the Air Element. Its various parts were scattered among a number of Commands, and not until the stand-up of Air Command in 1975, with a strength of just over 23,000, would there be a recognizable “air force” in Canada. Virtually none of the national and international commitments had disappeared, but it was a much smaller military aviation establishment that had to deal with them.

Throughout the 1990s Air Command faced a number of challenges. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 generated demand for a “peace dividend” and the redirection of Canadian government funds to other priorities. The pressure to cut military spending, made worse by a downturn in the economy, resulted in lean times for the Canadian Forces and Air Command in particular. Between 1991 and 1999, the regular component of the Air Force shrank from just over 20,000 to 13,500 as whole fleets of aircraft were disposed of. Numerous bases, including those at Lahr and Baden-Soellingen, Germany, in 1993, were closed during this period.

The cuts led to a reorganization of the air force that saw the disbandment of functional commands in favour of an operational headquarters at Winnipeg, Manitoba, as well as the imposition of a numbered “Wing” structure to emphasize Air Command’s authority at air-heavy bases throughout the country. Thus, Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ontario, within Air Command, was now referred to as 8 Wing Trenton.

Amid these changes, the air force faced an unprecedented level of commitment at home and abroad. Canadian maritime, transport, and fighter aircraft and personnel found themselves in combat for the first time since the Korean War as part of the coalition during the Persian Gulf War over the winter of 1990–91. On the heels of this operation were deployments in support of the UN in Africa and the Far East and in support of NATO in the Balkans. That particular mission put Canada’s CF-18 fighters into combat—this time in the skies over Kosovo in the spring of 1999—for the second time in less than 10 years. In Canada, assisting Canadians during the Oka crisis, the 1997 Red River flood, and the 1998 ice storm combined with regular training, surveillance, and search and rescue duties to push the air force to its limit.