The Royal Canadian Air Force

The History of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force (CAF). In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) when it was granted the royal title by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968. Prior attempts at forming an air force for Canada were the Canadian Aviation Corps that was attached to the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and a two-squadron Canadian Air Force that was attached to the Royal Air Force.

The outbreak of the Second World War saw the RCAF fielding eight of its eleven permanent operational squadrons, but by October 1939 15 squadrons were available (12 for homeland defense, three for overseas service). Twenty types of aircraft were in service at this point, over half being for training or transport, and the RCAF started the war with only 29 front-line fighter and bomber aircraft. The RCAF reached peak strength of 215,000 (all ranks) in January 1944. By the end of the war the RCAF would be the fourth largest Allied air force.^[28] Approximately 13,000 RCAF personnel were killed while on operations or died as prisoners of war. Another 4000 died during training or from other causes. During the war, the RCAF was involved in three areas: the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), home defense, and overseas operations.

The Service Dress Uniform

The common uniform coat of the Royal Canadian Air Force of World War Two is a carry over from a World War One coat used by most branches. The commonly issued "Other Ranks" Service Dress, or winter dress can best be described as a business suit in today's terminology. The most notable change from the WW1 era coat was the open lapel single breasted design, that accommodated the wearing of a tie, as well as other service or rank insignia. This also allowed many variations in its use as requested by a Commanding officer ranging from very formal to informal day to day work. The blue wool became standardized for air services during the First World War and carried on into World War Two. There were also Khaki Drill coats intended for tropical climates, as well as a brown Service Dress usually reserved for but nor restricted to Officers in the post war era. The Canadian made Service Dress are generally of a higher quality wool then the English made coats, which were a rougher finished wool.

The Working Dress Uniform

The Working Dress was developed along the lines and cut of the "undress" utility uniform and is very close to civilian work wear. Since the jacket is a much shorter design it was intended to be worn by personnel performing physical work where the clothes may become soiled worn or damaged. The Working Dress closely resembled the Army Battledress and was commonly referred to as that. The jacket became popular with aircrew as it was much closer fitting uniform for wear in the tight confines of an aircraft. It has been said that it was the design followed in the U.S. Military E.T.O. jacket which became the very popular Eisenhower (Ike) jacket. It would fitting to mention that this style of jacket was worn by me during my time with the local Air Cadet Squadron as the standard jacket they were issuing did not fit me even in the largest size. During that time I was issued a men's WW2 RCAF Working Dress, which drew the attention of my Commanding Officer, when I paired it with a WW2 RCAF Greatcoat.