It was 100 years ago today that Canadian Defence Minister Sam Hughes established the Canadian Aviation Corps; the first Canadian military air service and forerunner of the RCAF.
According to history website www.canadianchannel.ca, the service acquired the American-built Burgess-Dunne biplane, and shipped the aircraft to Europe with two officers and a mechanic. The plane was inferior to British and French planes and never saw action.
Hughes disbanded the Canadian Aviation Corps in 1915, and the few pilots who signed up were sent to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). Then in 1917 he set up the Royal Flying Corps Canada (RFC Canada) as a training organization of the British RFC, with stations at Camp Borden (main site), Beamsville, Hamilton (armament school), North Toronto (Armour Heights, Leaside and Long Branch), and Deseronto (Mohawk and Rathburn).
The Curtiss JN-4 (Jenny) was used for training.
A second attempt in creating an air force began with the creation of the Canadian Air Force in 1918.
Canada Post has issued a number of stamps over the years, as highlighted below, paying tribute to Canada’s military and aviation history.
