Browse "Air Force"

Adélard Raymond, pilot, businessman and politician (born 10 July 1889 in Saint-Stanislas-de-Kostka, QC; died 23 February 1962 in Montreal, QC). Raymond was a French-Canadian pilot who served in the First World War and then in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) from 1934 to 1945. He was the second French Canadian to be appointed air vice-marshal. Raymond was also involved in the hotel industry and in various commercial operations. He was elected mayor of Senneville, on the west island of Montreal, serving from June 1951 to June 1959.

Alan Arnett McLeod, VC, pilot (born 20 April 1899 in Stonewall, MB; died 6 November 1918 in Winnipeg, MB). During the First World War, McLeod was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) for his heroic actions during and after an aerial battle with enemy fighters. He died shortly after returning to Canada, a victim of the 1918 influenza pandemic that claimed the lives of millions worldwide, including some 50,000 Canadians.

Joseph Lionel Elphege Albert de Niverville, pilot (born 31 August 1897 in Montreal, QC; died 14 June 1968 in Montreal, QC). During the First World War, de Niverville served in the Royal Air Force (RAF). He also served during the Second World War and was one of the few French-Canadian officers in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) at the time. He rose to the rank of air vice-marshal, the first French Canadian to do so.

Andrew Charles Mynarski, Royal Canadian Air Force pilot officer, Victoria Cross recipient (born 14 October 1916 in Winnipeg, MB; died 13 June 1944 in Cambrai, France). Mynarksi served as a gunner on bomber aircraft during the Second World War. While on a mission on 12 June 1944, his plane was attacked and on fire when, rather than jumping to safety, he ran through flames to try to rescue his fellow crewmember who was trapped in the rear gun turret. Unable to extricate his friend, Mynarski parachuted safely to the ground but later died due to severe burns. His bravery earned him many posthumous commendations, including the Victoria Cross.

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Arthur Roy Brown, fighter pilot and ace, businessman, civil aviation pioneer (born 23 December 1893 in Carleton Place, Ontario; died 9 March 1944 in Stouffville, Ontario). Brown is credited with killing Germany’s top First World War ace, Manfred von Richthofen, the famed “Red Baron.” Richthofen may, however, have been shot down by two Australian army machine-gunners.

Bertha Clark-Jones (née Houle), OC, Cree-Métis advocate for the rights of Indigenous women and children (born 6 November 1922 in Clear Hills, AB; died 21 October 2014 in Bonnyville, AB). A veteran of the Second World War, Clark-Jones joined the Aboriginal Veterans Society and advocated for the fair treatment of Indigenous ex-service people. She was co-founder and first president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada. Clark-Jones devoted her life to seeking equality and greater power for women in Canada.

Public interest in the military training of young Canadians has waxed in time of wars and threat of wars, and waned in peacetime.

During the Cold War, Canada stationed army and air force units abroad for the first time during peacetime. Soldiers and airmen began to arrive in the early 1950s, shortly after the Cold War began, and remained until 1993, after it ended. In total, more than 100,000 Canadian military personnel served in France and West Germany in that period.

Since 1990, peacekeepers from the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and civilian police forces, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), have served in Haiti on various United Nations (UN) missions. The purpose of these missions was to help stop the internal violence and civil unrest that had plagued the country for years and help promote and protect human rights and strengthen police and judicial systems.

From 1993 to 1995, Canada was a leading contributor to a series of United Nations peacekeeping missions in the African nation of Rwanda. However, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), led by Canadian Major-General Roméo Dallaire, was powerless to prevent the slaughter of 800,000 Rwandans in 1994. Following the genocide, a new contingent of Canadian troops returned to Rwanda as part of UNAMIR II, tasked with restoring order and bringing aid to the devastated population. Hundreds of Canadian soldiers, including Dallaire, returned from their service in Rwanda deeply scarred by what they had witnessed.

In 1992–93, Canada contributed military forces to UNITAF, a United Nations–backed humanitarian mission in the African nation of Somalia. The mission was hampered by the fact that some of the warring factions in the Somalia conflict attacked the international forces that were trying to restore order and deliver food to a starving population. The Canadian effort was also clouded by the murder of a Somali teenager by Canadian troops. The crime — and alleged cover-up by Defence officials in Ottawa — became one of the most infamous scandals in Canadian history.

From 1991 to the present, members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and civilian police forces, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), have served in peace operations in the Balkans. Their mission was to provide security and stability following the breakup of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Nearly 40,000 Canadians have served in the Balkans, and 23 CAF members died while deployed there.

In 1949 he airlifted construction material, equipment and personnel to the mountainside Palisade Lake Dam. In 1951 he performed a similar task for the Aluminium Co of Canada's giant smelter complex at Kitimat, BC.

Charles Roy Slemon, air marshal (b at Winnipeg 7 Nov 1904; d at Colorado Springs, Colo 12 Feb 1992).