BRITISH COMMONWEALTH AIR TRAINING PLAN

• TRAINING OF PILOTS, NAVIGATORS AND OTHER AIRCREW FOR COMMONWEALTH NATIONS IN A SAFE PLACE

• EVENTUALLY 130,000 GRADUATES• MACKENZIE-KING HOPED

THAT THIS WOULD FORMTHE BULK OF CANADA’SCONTRIBUTION– REQUIRED FEWER

PERSONNEL– PUMPED INVESTMENT

INTO CANADA– DEVELOPED CANADA’S

AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY– AIRPORTS BUILT ACROSS

CANADA

NORTH AMERICAN ‘HARVARD’ MADE UNDER LISCENCE IN CANADA

CANADIAN AIR OPERATIONS

• CANADA PROVIDED AIR FORCE PERSONNEL FOR BOTH THE ROYAL AIRFORCE (RAF) AND ROYAL CANADIAN AIRFORCE (RCAF) BUT THERE WERE NO COMPLETELY CANADIAN SQUADRONS UNTIL LATER IN THE WAR

• ALL TYPES OF AIRCRAFT AND MISSION WERE FLOWN, INCLUDING: FIGHTER, BOMBER, TRANSPORT, RECCONAISSANCE, ANTI-SUBMARINE

• BY END OF THE WARCANADA HAD 48SQUADRONS SERVINGOVERSEAS

• BY THE END OF THE WARCANADA HAD THE 4THSTRONGEST AIRFORCE

AVRO ‘LANCASTER’, LARGEST AIRCRAFT BUILT IN CANADA IN WW2

STRATEGIC BOMBING

• CANADA’S LARGEST CONTRIBUTION WAS IN THE BOMBING OF GERMANY

• DURING THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN GERMANY HAD BOMBED BOTH MILITARY AND CIVILIAN TARGETS IN BRITAIN

• IN THE ALLIED AIR OFFENSIVE THAT FOLLOWED BOTH MILITARY AND CIVILIAN TARGETS IN GERMANY WERE TARGETED RESULTING IN OVER 1 MILLION DEATHS WITH LITTLE BENEFIT TO THE WAR EFFORT

• IN ONE NIGHT OF BOMBING OVER DRESDEN, MORE PEOPLE WERE KILLED IN EITHER OF THE ATOMIC BOMBINGS IN JAPAN