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 September are:
Question: What donation of what planes and by who was considered to be an important asset of the small Canadian Air Force established in 1920?
Answer: “The new Royal Canadian Naval air Service had been quickly disbanded after the war, but the U.S. Navy left the flying boats it had operated in Nova Scotia, and these became an important asset of the small Canadian air force established in 1920, which in 1924 received the King’s permission to use the prefix royal.”
Source: War In The St. Lawrence – Page 09
Question: When did the first delivery of bombers to Britain take off from Gander, how many were delivered and what type were they?
Answer: “Aircraft urgently required by the RAF were being lost at sea as a result of submarine attacks on shipping carrying aircraft from America. Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Aircraft Production in England was looking for solutions. Someone asked him why he didn’t have the bombers flown to England. While he seized on the idea, senior staff officers in the RAF laughed at the suggestion: they said it could not be done because of the weather and particularly icing conditions over the ocean. Most of the aircraft would be lost in the sea.” “A group of seven Lockheed Hudsons, led by Captain D.C.T. Bennett of BOAC, took off at 22;33 GMT (19:03 local time). The Atlantic Bridge was thus established and, by the end of the war, thousands of aircraft had been flown from North America to the war zones of Europe. It was very successful operation and was accomplished with surprisingly low losses. Those who said the Atlantic could not be flown in winter were proved wrong in the first two months of the operation.”
Source: Atlantic Air Ferry, by T.M. (Tom) McGrath, CAHS Journal, Fall 1993, Page 100
Question: Which squadron provided the first 24 hrs support out of Halifax to shipping in approaches to ports in Canada and was considered the only modern maritime patrol aircraft in the RCAF’s inventory. What planes did they use and how many did they have?
Answer: “The greatest danger of submarine attack was in coastal waters where the concentration of shipping in approaches to ports enabled the enemy most readily to find targets. For the first forty-eight hours (about 740 kilometres) out of Halifax, the convoys were escorted by two of the RCN’s destroyers. There was support for the first twenty-four hours by Supermarine Stranraer twin-wing flying boats operated by 5 Squadron RCAF at the Dartmouth air station. There were only five Stranraers in the squadron, and these were the only modern maritime patrol aircraft in the RCAF’s inventory.”
Source: War In The St. Lawrence – Page 22