The Canadian Aviation Moments were submitted by Dennis Casper from the Roland Groome (Regina) Chapter of the CAHS. Spoiler alert - if you read any further than each question, you will find the answer to the questions directly below. Good luck and have fun!
The Canadian Aviation Moments questions and answers for April are:
Question: Which American four- engine bomber was a huge disappointment for the RAF Bomber Command in 1941? What were some of its many faults and how long did it last with the RAF?
Answer: “Another huge, early, four-engine disappointment for Bomber Command, Boeing Fortress I, the RAF’s designation for the B-17C, a much inferior precursor to the formidable B-17E, F, and G models, which later were mainstays of the US Eighth Air Force in England and elsewhere. Twenty Fortress Is had been flown to England in the spring of 1941, and they served in Bomber Command briefly with 90 Squadron in 2 Group.” “Their many faults included manually operated versus power turreted machine guns for defence – which did not cover a vulnerable blind cone astern – inadequate amour plating, extreme physiological discomfort for their crews at the higher operating ceilings, shortcomings associated with the early Sperry bomb sights, a limited radius of action, and defective engines exacerbated by operations at rarefied altitudes. Daylight bombing operations with this disappointing aircraft were abandoned by the RAF after September 1941, by which time they had flown only 51 operational sorties. Fewer than half of these had been deemed effective.” “The surviving Fortresses were soon relegated to patrol duties with Coastal Command.”
Source: NO PROUDER PLACE – Page 40
Question: Where was Canada’s first school of aeronautics? Why and when was it created? What types of aircraft were used to illustrate its lessons?
Answer: “Consequently, virtually all the recruits who travelled to Toronto did so by train. When they arrived, they were billeted at the University of Toronto where they studied at Canada’s first school of aeronautics. Created specifically for the training of RFC flight cadets, the school’s instructors had only one type of aircraft with which to illustrate their lessons; the JN-4.”
Source: Dancing in the Sky – Page 25
Question: What was the military relationship like between Britain, the United States and Canada before the implementation of the Royal Flying Corps’ plan to train pilots in Canada?
Answer: “The Royal Flying Corps’ plan to train pilots in Canada marked a dramatic turning point in the military relationships between Canada, Britain, and the United States. Today, that close alliance is taken for granted, yet, for over a century, both Britain and Canada regarded the emerging American giant with a mixture of envy and foreboding. In the last decade of the nineteenth century, relations had deteriorated to the point where the United States was threatening to go to war against Britain over an obscure boundary dispute in Venezuela.”
Source: Dancing in the Sky – Page 11