The RCAF's 1924-2024 Centennial has been highlighted by airshows, dedications, commemorative coins and book launches. Adding to the list and having produced the RCAF 60th Anniversary history in 1984, CANAV Books introduces Volume 1 of its 2-part Centennial set The Royal Canadian Air Force: 100 Years of Service. The authors?Member of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame, Larry Milberry has published nearly 40 aviation books. Hugh A. Halliday is a retired Canadian War Museum historian renowned for his meticulous RCAF research and authorship.
Beautifully produced, "100 Years" Volume 1 begins with Canada's earliest aerial experiments, covers WWI where young Canadians excel in the air (great coverage of Canada's first fighter pilots), then moves to the birth of the RCAF in 1924. The RCAF gains renown in photography, forestry and fisheries patrols, and daunting northern expeditions. Like today's Snowbirds, its 1930 "Siskins" flight demo team spotlights Canada's small but impressive air force.
Our story moves through the 1930s, when events see the RCAF modernize just as war re-erupts in Europe. Happily, its ancient 140 mph Siskins finally give way to shiny new 300 mph Hurricanes. Vol. 1 covers everything about the RCAF at war from the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan to the U-boat war, then everything overseas from the UK to the Far East. All the action and heroism are here, many episodes for the first time in any book. The "fighter scene" is covered intensely from Hurricanes and Kittyhawks to Spitfires, Typhoons, Thunderbolts, Beaufighters and Mosquitoes. Everything else is here, bombing, coastal and transport included. With war's end, the RCAF shrinks to a shadow of its wartime self, but new world troubles arise — a hint of things to come in Volume 2 (due for publication by the end of Centennial Year in April). "100 Years" is based on archival records, aircrew logbooks, scrapbooks, photo albums, authoritative histories and interviews. Anyone keen on Canada's great military heritage will revel for years in this incomparable tribute to the RCAF!
Our readers have their say: *Best tribute to RCAF 100th that I have seen. Congrats to you, Hugh and the team. *I have no idea how you manage to do a book like this. It is an incredible achievement " Your book arrived today - it looks fantastic! Im impressed as always by the richness and diversity, and the abundance of photos you come up with! Unbelievable! *The perfect antidote to wean aviation enthusiasts off their smartphones for the written word - CANAV style. *Having spent my career in aviation, I appreciate the dedication and talent you have put in to producing the book which details such an important part of Canada's aviation history.
Specifications (Volume 1)
- 384 pages, large format 9 x 12 inches hardcover
- Dust jacket, 20 chapters, 300,000 words and 800 photographs
- Maps, Glossary, Bibliography, Index
- ISBN 978-0-921022-46-6