After years of solid research and writing, Hugh Halliday and I finally have finished Vol.1 of our spectacular history honouring the RCAF in its Centennial Year.
Here's a bit of background… 40 years ago CANAV introduced Sixty Years: The RCAF and CF Air Command 1924-1984. This by-now beloved title has become the No.1 general source in a single volume of fact-based RCAF history. A special feature is “Sixty Years’” wonderful gallery of RCAF art commissioned by CANAV and subsequently donated to the air force by me. This year the collection was on public display for the first time in 40 years at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada. So… “Sixty Years” itself has quite the heritage of its own.
Now comes "100 Years", Vol.1, which you'll be pleased to see on your RCAF bookshelf beside Sixty Years. "100 Years" also is massive, beautiful and authoritative. At 384 pages, this is our 5th largest (of 39) books since 1979. Text and captions exceed 300,000 words and there are more than 800 photos (expect the same in about 8 months for Vol.2 RCAF 1945-2024). No other Canadian book publisher would dare publish such a book. Firstly, there's little interest, since Canadian publishing houses rarely can make their numbers work. Luckily, numbers never deter CANAV, where it's primarily about the book, not the numbers.
In a nutshell, "100 Years" Vol.1 covers the RCAF to the end of 1945. The opening chapters provide the preliminaries leading to the birth of the RCAF in 1924, including some dramatic chapters about Canada's part in the air war 1915-18. Typically, we have found much new material for this era (CANAV shies away from re-ploughing all the usual old furrows no matter the theme or era). Then, we describe the RCAF through the interwar years, emphasizing how it achieved so much with so little in funding, men and aircraft. Finally, just before WWII erupts, the RCAF gets the green light to modernize and expand.
Then come all the main WWII themes — BCATP, Home War Establishment, the U-boat War, early fighter action (Battle of Britain, etc.). Then we get into Bomber Command, Day and Night Fighters (a special history of 412 Sqn + Canadians on the Whirlwind), Coastal Command, the Desert War, "The Med" and the Far East. All the basics are there supported by new perspectives and personal profiles. You'll find nothing like this in word and photograph in any recent RCAF history book.
Finally, victory is achieved, the war ends and the RCAF largely stands down. Most of its members are sent home – they're happy to get back into their civvie clothes and jobs. Meanwhile, nearly all RCAF equipment is disposed of as cheap war surplus matériel. But there also are hints of things to come. The first RCAF jets are taken on strength amid rumblings from Russia and China with new threats to free society. Suddenly, the RCAF again is in re-building mode! So ends Vol.1 and that's where Vol.2 begins (watch for it in about 8 months).