Warbird Information Exchange

I never realized how many Americans joined the RCAF before the US got in to the War. My wife is a stamp and old letter collector and she came across this letter from June, 1941. I don't know whether Mr. Hall was ever successful in his endeavor to join the RCAF but 9,000 Americans did join the RCAF before Pearl Harbor and 840 were killed. Quite a story, these men were indeed part of the greatest generation that would lay down their lives not only for their own Country but their friends Canada and England.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/ ... _wwii.html

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Yes, we had a lot of Americans in the RCAF.

One of the most well-known was John Gillespie Magee, Jr, who penned High Flight while serving in England just prior to his death at the age of 19 flying Spitfires.

Thanks for sharing that information.

I did a little research on Group Captain F.W. Trott who wrote the letter to Mr. Hall and he was awarded the Military Cross during WW I. He was most likely in his 40's by 1941.

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Bob Love, Reno race pilot and Korean war ace was one of them.

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Lt. Bob 'Tex' Schalit, 570 Sqdn. RAF

Tex was a drinking partner and fellow pilot with my Dad in the RAF. He was finally transferred to the USAF towards the end of the war. By the the time he'd joined the USAF he'd had a couple of years operational and hazardous flying with the RAF and I understand that sometimes the offer of his experience and advice to his American brothers on his new squadron was not always appreciated !

Hello L-4 Pilot and others,

Interesting initial post. I have a letter as well but from the RCAF back to an American hopeful enlistee dated May 23 1941. Unfortunately he did not qualify, as this letter must be a second reply - it states "your disappointment in not having the necessary educational qualifications for enlistment in the Air Force is understood, but you will understand the necessity for high mathematical qualifications for absorbing the high technical training for Air Crew. It is not possible to give you a guarantee that you would be enlisted after obtaining flying experience in the United States. After you carry out the suggestion in your letter, your qualifications could then be further considered by the R.C.A.F. Your keen desire to be of service is greatly appreciated."


This also came with 7 legal size pages titled 'INFORMATION RELATIVE TO ENTRY INTO THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE' and also included a page of R.C.A.F. recruiting centres from coast to coast. Further included was an uncut set of RCAF-USA shoulder flashes. I'm not sure if these were placed in the envelope by the man at some point, or if in fact they were part of the return envelope. I'm not sure what the RCAF's position would have been back then in giving away gratuities as such, but it nice to think that this may have been the case.

For your interest, the letter was addressed back to a Bernard N. Farnham, Esq. of KEOKUK, Iowa, U.S.A.

Would love to post scans of the letter, but can't seem to do so.



Also quickly coming to mind are a few other Americans that served in the RCAF.

Hollis Hills, an American serving with 414 Squadron and is credited with the first Mustang Victory - it was the RAF Mustang I at the time.
James Douglas Lindsay - Spitfire Ace
James 'Lou' Luma - Mosquito Ace

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Great story !

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If you want to read a great book about Americans in the RCAF, read "Terror in the Starboard Seat"

Canadian, Dave McCintosh was a navigator on Mosquitos with 418 Squadron. The book tells in terrifying detail his experiences of flying with a Jewish American Mosquito pilot, "h ell bent on single handedly defeating the Nazis"

Airline pilot, author and aviation book publisher Len Morgan was one, as was Charles Klessig, an AG pilot of the US govt in Africa and North Dakota farmer turned aircraft restorer whose J-1 is in the EAA collection. In his self published book, My Highway in the Sky, he talks a bit about his work in the US doing test flying for the Canadians.

Over the holidays I was reading Ernest K. Gann's excellent autobiography, Hostage to Fortune and he mentions he considered leaving American Airways to join the RCAF. He said it was a good thing that he didn't because the guys who joined about the time he would have had very high losses.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.
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I figure if you wanted my opinion on items unrelated to this forum, you'd ask for it.

I wrote my first book on this subject, "Remembering The Canadian Yanks", in 2012. It is available at amazon.com. A second book tentatively entitled "American RCAF Warriors" will be out before the end of this year. I have sufficient material to do several more down the road. These are fascinating stories that deserve to be told.

Cheers,


Tom Walsh.

These famous pilots, Godfrey and Gentile, never took off their RCAF wings, even when they transferred to the USAAC.

Great picture!!!! I would love to have it framed!

Bill

Dave,

Gentile, trained with the RAF at one of the six schools Britain operated in the US. The misconception that he was RCAF has been regurgitated incorrectly by many over the years. Here is additional information on some of the high scoring Americans aces who did go through the BCATP system:

United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Station F-356 in Essex, England was the home of the famous 4th Fighter Group (FG) in World War II. Known as the "Debden Eagles", the 4th became the Air Corps' highest scoring fighter unit, accounting for 1,016 enemy aircraft destroyed in the air and on the ground. When the 4th was constituted on September 29, 1942, the group's initial cadre of personnel was comprised of Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) trained pilots. These freedom loving Americans had willingly travelled to England and Canada in 1940/41 and in the process offered up their service to help fight German oppression that was sweeping the European Continent.

England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany in September, 1939. Throughout the first two years of the global conflict, the United States maintained a position of neutrality resulting in that nation not joining the war effort until Monday, December 8, 1941.

The 4th's initial aerial mount was the Mk Vb and Mk IX Supermarine Spitfire. This type was replaced on March 10, 1943 by the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. On February 14, 1944, the Thunderbolt was replaced by the Rolls-Royce Merlin-engined North American Aviation (NAA) P-51B, C and later D and K Mustangs.

Remarkably, eight of the top ten scorers at the 4th graduated and earned their wings in the RCAF in Canada. They were Colonel D. J. M. Blakeslee, Major J. T. Godfrey, Major J. A. Goodson, Major D. W. Beeson, Major F. W. Glover, Major P. W. McKennon, Major G. E. Montgomery and 1st. Lieutenant Ralph Hofer.

Together these eight pilots destroyed 194.66 German aircraft in the air and on the ground. This represented a phenomenal 19% of the group's overall total score.

Cheers,

Tom Walsh.