C.W. Hunt's High-Flying Adventures 2-Book Bundle

Dancing in the Sky / Whisky and Ice

C.W. Hunt

• Publisher: Dundurn Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781459738140
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Canada's past is rich with high-flying adventures — whether it's pilots fighting in the skies or the King of the Rumrunners fleeing the feds! Read their stories in this two-book collection. Dancing in the Sky: The Royal Flying Corps in Canada
Dancing in the Sky is the first complete telling of the First World War fighter pilot training initiative established by the British in response to losses occurring in European skies in 1916. A valuable addition to Canada's military history, this book will appeal to all who enjoy an exceptional adventure story embedded in Canada's past. Whisky and Ice: The Saga of Ben Kerr, Canada's Most Daring Rumrunner
During the 1920s, Ben Kerr was known as the King of the Rumrunners and was put at the top of the most wanted list by the U.S. Coast Guard. Whisky and Ice takes the reader back to the Prohibition era, when Canada and the United States were obsessed with "demon liquor."

Dancing in the Sky

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Acknowledgements
2. Introduction
3. 1. Canada's First Air Force
4. 2. The Novelty of Flight
5. 3. Commander Above the Law
6. 4. Keeping Flyers in the Air
7. 5. Training Pilots Dangerously
8. 6. Canada's First Airplane Factory
9. 7. Finding Flyers
10. 8. The Making of a Fighter Pilot
11. 9. Social Life in Belle Époque Canada
12. 10. The Sine Qua None of Athletics
13. 11. Hijinks on the Ground and in the Air
14. 12. The Dancers: Vernon and Irene Castle
15. 13. How to Succeed by Breaking the Rules
16. 14. Forging an Historic Alliance
17. 15. Friction Between the Allies
18. 16. Frostbite Flying: Beating the Canadian Winter
19. 17. Surviving Training
20. 18. Pummelled by Typewriters
21. 19. Towards a Canadian Air Force
22. 20. Perfecting the Training Program
23. 21. A Pandemic Engulfs Canada
24. 22. Canada's First Airmail
25. 23. Winding Up the RAF in Canada
26. 24. The Legacy of the RAF in Canada
27. 25. The Lost Generation: An RAF Tragedy
28. 26. Epilogue
29. Appendix A: Training Fatalities
30. Appendix B: Meals and Pay in the RAF
31. Notes
32. Bibliography
33. List of Abbreviations
34. About the Author

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book began when RCAF Captain (Ret.) J. Alan Smith gave me material he had collected over twenty years of research. We agreed that I would write a book about it. Smith had interviewed former members of the Imperial Royal Flying Corps (IRFC), thereby preserving their experiences for posterity. As a result of our meeting, I set out on a journey that lasted a decade.

My brother, Pete Hunt, a detailed and thorough researcher, uncovered a great deal of information while combing through hundreds of newspapers. Many of the vignettes that flesh out the book are the result of his research.

I was always graciously assisted by Elizabeth Mitchell and Marie Wright of the Belleville Library. Marci Weese of Queen's University Library was particularly helpful. Euan Callender assisted in the early research.

Deseronto archivist Ken Brown guards his photos and documents more ferociously than any junkyard dog, but generously made several photos and documents available for use in the book. Master Warrant Officer Normand Marion at CFB Borden provided capable assistance on the material available there. He took me on a knowledgeable tour of a few of the original hangars that were built for temporary use in 1917 but still stand today.

Glen Martin of Fort Worth, Texas, researched the Texas camps over several years and provided information not available in Canada. The taped interviews of Texans long dead provided a useful insight into the social life of the British and Canadian airmen stationed in Texas during the winter of 1917-1918.

The National Archives, Canadian War Museum, and the Canadian Forces Directorate of History are treasure troves of information. The documents held by these institutions were essential in providing a detailed understanding of the Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force (RFC/ RAF) training scheme in Canada. My thanks also to The Hastings County Historical Society, which has a small but excellent collection of photos from the Rathbun and Mohawk camps.

My late son, William Taylor Hunt, read parts of the manuscript. An excellent stylist, he helped clarify the work. Professor (emeritus) Arthur Bowler read the entire manuscript and made many useful suggestions, all of which I acted upon. Ren Duinker provided invaluable assistance with the photographs.

If I have missed anyone who assisted with the project, I apologize. My only excuse being that a project taking a decade to complete challenges an imperfect memory. My wife, Milli, was unwavering in her support and never complained of her status as a writer's widow. My thanks for her generous forbearance.

Any errors or omissions are entirely those of the author.

INTRODUCTION

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.

The antipathy between the three nations had deep roots. During the American Civil War, Britain barely disguised its hope the American Union would break into two weaker nations; a divided America posed less of a threat to the hegemony of the British Empire. Canadians, on the other hand, were deeply suspicious of American expansionism. In the election of 1911, Sir Wilfrid Laurier proposed a reciprocity trading agreement with the United States. The proposed agreement was highly favourable to Canada, but the expression of annexationist sentiments by some American politicians so alarmed Canadians they defeated the popular Laurier, thereby killing a trade agreement that would have meant greater prosperity for the majority of the population. Canadians were so fearful of the United States that they threw out of office one of the most popular prime ministers in the nation's history because he had advocated a trading treaty that might have led to closer relations with the United States.

The memory of America's invasions into Canada during the War of 1812, the Fenian raids, plus the American desire to absorb Canada was etched deeply into the national consciousness. Despite Canada's fears and American resentment of British imperialism, Canadians and Americans joined in an Air Force Training Plan run by the British on both Canadian and American territory. The Plan was the beginning of the close alliance between the three nations that is now taken as a fundamental principle of their respective foreign policies.

At the outbreak of the conflict in Europe, both Canada and the United States had fallen far behind the British and the Europeans in aircraft technology. The Plan was the primary agent in dragging both Canada and the United States into the age of modern aviation.

While the Canadian government was a reluctant participant in the training scheme, its passive participation resulted in so many Canadians mastering the art of flying that it was Canadians and not Americans who mapped and pioneered the North American Arctic, thereby ensuring that this vast territory would fly the Maple Leaf rather than the Stars and Stripes.

There were benefits for America, as well. In 1917, the United States, while an industrial powerhouse, was militarily weak, lacking both the weapons and the trained manpower necessary for the creation of a modern military establishment. Although capable of raising a powerful citizens' army, the U.S. air force existed largely on paper. The RFC/RAF Training Plan jump-started the American Air Force, enabling it, in just a few months, to compete with the world's major air powers. Now the world's most powerful military nation, the United States trained many of its early military pilots at the aerodromes of Canada under British command. Its first aviation schools were modelled directly from the Aeronautical School set up by the RFC at the University of Toronto.

Curiously, the single most important individual to the success of the Training Plan was a British colonel who had spent most of his career in India. A graduate of Harrow and a professional soldier, Cuthbert Gurney Hoare was born into the rural gentry of Norfolk County. Fortunately, he had an appreciation for the practical mindset of Canadians and Americans, as well as a high regard for the talents of North American youth. He was able to wheel and deal with the Americans, to pick their pockets and leave them smiling. He was also a brilliant administrator and one of the first officers in the British Army to master the art of flying.

The First World War brought flying into the realm of the practical while endowing it with a unique glamour and romance. Pilots of the Royal Flying Corps held a status similar to the early astronauts. Climbing into the open cockpit of those flimsy crates - wood and fabric held together with piano wire - held a powerful appeal to the adventurous and strong of heart. Not surprisingly, flying attracted the most talented young men from both countries. Although their country was not yet in the war, large numbers of young Americans flocked north to join the ranks of the niggardly paid Royal Flying Corps. Among those who rose to distinction were several American generals and naval officers. U.S. Naval Cadet James Forrestal, who learned to fly in Canada, rose to secretary of the Navy and was America's secretary of defence at the close of the Second World War.

The RAF in Canada also had its share of cadets who later excelled in the arts. The Nobel prize-winning author, William E. Faulkner, learned to fly with the RAF in Canada. While working as a nurse in Toronto, the most famous aviatrix in history, Amelia Earhart, was inspired by the RAF to take up the challenge of flying. But the most famous member of the Imperial Royal Flying Corps (IRFC) at the time of his enlistment was Vernon Castle, an instructor posted to Canada after a tour of France. British by birth, Castle immigrated to America, where he gained fame as a Broadway actor. He and his New England bride, Irene Castle, went on to popularize ballroom dancing and became international stars of the dance floor.

In subsequent years, the most prominent Canadian associated with the RAF in Canada was Lester B. "Mike" Pearson. Pearson began his post-war career as a University of Toronto lecturer and went on to become a prominent diplomat and minister of foreign affairs. In that capacity he brokered a United Nations agreement at the height of the Cold War that prevented a crisis in the Middle East from triggering a nuclear war. For his efforts, Pearson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He subsequently became prime minister of Canada and was responsible for the Canada Pension Plan and the nation's universal health-care system.

Another prominent Canadian who trained with the IRFC in Canada was Roland Michener. He became speaker of the House of Commons and, eventually, governor general of Canada. Another cadet, Mitchell Hepburn, later became the eleventh premier of Ontario.

This is the story of the men and women of the RFC/RAF in Canada and Texas; how they trained, the risks they took, their often tragic love affairs, and the sudden death that came so unpredictably.

It is also the story of the incredible challenges facing those who had to organize and build the Royal Flying Corps in Canada, and who did so almost overnight. The impact on the three nations involved in that long-ago training plan was significant and enduring. Its effects are still being felt and are manifest in all three nations, even to the present war on terror as well as in various military alliances and trade arrangements.

CHAPTER ONE
CANADA'S FIRST AIR FORCE

To us who have only armies and navies, it must seem strange that the sky, too, is about to become another battlefield no less important than the battlefields on land and sea. But from now on we had better get accustomed to this idea and prepare ourselves for the new conflicts to come. If there are any nations which can exist untouched by the sea, there are none which can exist without the breath of air. In the future, then, we shall have three instead of two separate and well-defined fields of battle.

- Guilio Douhet, Italian theorist, addressing his countrymen, 1909

Only a few Canadians believed that air power would be crucial to the outcome of the Great War; most thought the war would be fought almost entirely by the infantry, artillery, and cavalry. Navies would play their usual role of bottling up ports, disrupting supplies, and slowing or preventing the movement of troops. Navies would be important but the real battle would be fought on land, using the same weapons that had triumphed in South Africa against the Boers. Only a few "eccentric" inventors and airplane enthusiasts had any inkling that air power would play a critical role in the conflict; almost no one gave serious thought to air power as a n...