The RCAF in Newfoundland

' ' J ,., ... THE RCAF IN NEWFOUNDLAND l\tJ. H.• M: MACKINNON THE major contributions of the RCAF in the war just ended wer~ the provision of training facilities in Canada for many thousands of Allied airmen, and the maintenance of a large overseas air force, as part of -the RAF and in the form of RCAF squadrons·~ Quite rightly most of the publicity has been given to these enterprises, since they were of first-line importance. Some notice should be taken· however of the "home war" commands, on the East and West Coasts. The airmen and airwomen who served in these less dangerous areas had all volunteered for serv]ce any- \where in the world; they had no choice.in the matter of where·they went and consequently they often feel themselves unfairly discriminated against~ for having no overseas service. In addition to. giving proper cre4it to them,·.this article is intended to help keep the reco;d straight by describing exactly what the Canadian Air Force accomplished' in one particular area of operation ~. There is no desire to disparage the work of other services or other nations; it is clear however that the RCAF will not be given due credit unless .C~nadians w'rite about the subject. FinaJly, it is felt that the Ca- · , , nadian taxpayer is entitled to a better understandingof the use that was· made of his money. With these general purposes in mind, the. work of the RCAF in Newfoundland and Labrador will be outlined. Many of the activitie's carried on in this area were also carried on throu.ghout the Maritimes , and) .with certain differences> on the West Coast also. The New- \ Iound.land-Labrador area is selected because the writer spent two years· there with the RCAF,. and because the Canadians there were working in· partnersh1p with American and British forces, and can th~s be compared· with those forces. The RCAF of Eastern Air Command carried three main responsibilities: defence, an:ti-Uboat warfare, and the provision of bases for th.ese and other allied purposes. The first of these, defence, was shared with the Army and. the Navy. The Air Force provided fighter squadrons, and an elaborate :fighter defence system involving radar stations, direction-finding stations, plotting rooms, and VHF (v.ery high frequency) communications, modelled· -on the RAF system which.saved Britain in 1940-41. Fortunately) this organization was never needed for its original purpose, which was to defend the vital ports and industries of th~ East Coast from enemy air or surface raiders. However, the squadrons were maintairied until late in· the war, ' and they provided op~rational training for fighter pilots preparing' for overseas. The radar stations~ which were constructed in a chain from the northern tip of Newfoundland to near the American border, were intended to provide early warning of enemy forces; not being needed for. this.purpose) they were employed to keep track of all aircraft-flying within their range) and they soon became the greatest single aid to safety in flying ·on the foggy 213 1 , ·, .) ;' \ .. \ I • l 214" TH~ UNIVE-RSITY OF 'TORONTO QUARTERLY .East Coast. Many a lost .plane was guided to· its airport by instructions based on radar i'plots." On one occasion an aircraft whi,ch had lost-its bear-·ings was headed out into the Atlantic with gas running low~ the flying control officer at St. John's·, Newfoundland, was able-to iJass by radio an order to fly a certain course; within two minutes the reports from radar stations, plotted on a huge map, showed that the plane was safely headed to base. The fighter d~fence organization was a wise precaution against an attack that never came. If long-range enemy planes had tried to-cripple the steel plant at Sydney, to catch a convoy in Halifax harbo~r, to destroy an antiUboat squadron in Newfoundland; or to slow up the flow of aircraft to Britain through Goose Bay and Gander, the Hurrican· es would have been ready for them. Aggressive fighter aircraft, c-oupled wirh extensive anti- .. aircraft fire, would haveprevented anything like ~c~urate bombing: . The second responsibility of Eastern Air Command, the anti~Uboat warfare...