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Royal Canadian Air Force: 100 Years of Service: Volume 1 hardcover
September 2024 publication, 384 pages, 800+ photographs and illustrations, glossary, bibliography, index. hardcover, large format, 9 1/4" x 12 1/4" inches
The RCAF’s 1924-2024 Centennial is being highlighted by airshows, dedications, mess dinners, commemorative coins and book launches. For its part, CANAV Books (which produced the RCAF 60th Anniversary history in 1984) 40 years later is publishing a 2-volume Centennial set, The Royal Canadian Air Force: 100 Years of Service– by far the very best such history ever.
Volume I … A Book to be Treasured
Beautifully produced and authoritative, Vol.1 of “100 Years” begins with Canada’s earliest aerial experiments, then covers WWI where Canadians excel in the air war (Bishop, Barker, etc.). The story moves to the Royal Canadian Air Force formed in 1924. The RCAF begins with photography, mapping, coastal patrols, etc., and some daunting northern expeditions. There’s even a flight demonstration team “The Siskins”, similar to today’s Snowbirds, which exemplifies Canada’s small but impressive RCAF.
Our story moves through the 1930s, when troubling world affairs see the RCAF modernize just as war erupts in 1939. Volume 1 covers it all from the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan to the U-boat war to everything overseas from the UK to the Far East. Never has so much of this period been so impressively compacted into one RCAF volume. You’ll enjoy every page!
At war’s end, the RCAF stands down. It’s suddenly a shadow of its wartime self, but troubling global developments arise, so the RCAF again must expand to defend civilization. This is a hint of things to come in Volume 2, which is taking shape “as we speak”. “100 Years” is based on the official record, aircrew logbooks, scrapbooks, photo albums, published histories, and many interviews. Anyone with a love of RCAF heritage will revel for years to come in this spectacular “once in a lifetime” book.
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