TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Some minor changes to the text are noted at the [end of the book.]

AVIATION
IN CANADA

AVIATION
IN CANADA

1917–1918

Being a brief account of the work of the ROYAL AIR FORCE CANADA the Aviation Department of the Imperial Munitions Board and the Canadian Aeroplanes Limited

COMPILED BY
ALAN SULLIVAN, LT., R.A.F.

PRINTED BY
ROUS & MANN LIMITED
TORONTO..............CANADA

While the contents of this volume present an accurate history of the R.A.F. Canada, it is to be understood that the Air Ministry is not responsible for any statements made herein.

Copyright, Canada, 1919,
by Alan Sullivan, Toronto

[CONTENTS]

[AERIAL CONDITIONS ON THE WESTERN FRONT, 1916.]

The battle of the Somme in the latter half of 1916 was the principal factor leading to the formation of the Royal Flying Corps, Canada. Aerial conditions on the Western Front were at this period of so tense a nature that they may well be noted before proceeding to the actual history of the Canadian brigade.

The following sketch makes no pretence of absolute accuracy. The data available at the moment are not official, but are compiled from the memories of several flying officers serving on the Western front at the time. They may, however, be taken as fairly presenting not only the development of the Royal Flying Corps, but also that of opposing enemy aircraft at the period under consideration.

The British Expeditionary Force commenced operations in 1914 with a flying arm of four squadrons or some fifty machines, of which no less than thirty were destroyed during a severe storm at Christmas time by the collapse of a large hangar at St. Omer, leaving on the following day approximately 14 serviceable machines. At this time all aeroplanes in both forces were unarmed.

It is difficult to say whether British or German made the first aerial attack on an opposing machine, but it is undoubted that this type of combat, coming how it may, found both sides unequipped with the exception of such offensive power as might be secured with rifle or revolver. British machines had been thus armed for months, probably in anticipation of forced landings behind the German lines and, without question, enemy aircraft were similarly provided. There ensued a series of sporting encounters out of which grew the necessity of arming aeroplanes with rapid-fire guns mounted mostly on the top of the centre section so that bullets might clear the propeller blade. This gun was operated by the pilot, who supplied the sole method of forward shooting, while the observer, who was at that time placed in the front seat, fired to the rear. A year and a half afterwards, the method of shooting practically through the propeller was evolved, which, gradually developing, has long since reached mechanical perfection.

In the early summer of 1916, the British strength had grown to some 28 or 30 squadrons in France. These numbered approximately 450 machines, distributed fairly equally along the entire front. A view of our aerial equipment as contrasted with enemy aircraft in the battle of the Somme gives the following data, but it must be understood that this was a period during which every effort was strained on either side and type followed type in rapid succession.

In addition the British had a squadron or so of Sopwith 1½ Strutters, very fast and handy 2-seater tractors with observer in rear. Also some Bristol Scouts, Vickers pushers and Martynsydes.

ONE LESS HUN!
RICHTHOFEN’S CIRCUS.

GERMAN “ALBATROSS.”
GERMAN “HALBERSTADT.”

The German was in 1916 provided with a gun which did fire through the propeller. This was on the Fokker. The advantage thus held by the enemy was also increased by the fact that their two-seaters carried pilots in front, thus affording the observer a better opportunity of firing to the rear. Our BE2C, for instance, found itself under a handicap in this respect. The downfall of the Fokker rests with the DH2, a pusher machine, which gave the forward-seated pilot a clear field of fire to the front. The DH2, in turn, yielded supremacy to the German Albatross Scout, a fast and efficient fighting machine. Thus went the battle, till in December, 1916, the Nieuport, Spad and Sopwith Scouts were our kings of the air.

In April of this year began a concentration of British aerial force on the Somme, where artillery observation was for the next three months carried to the utmost in preparation for the great offensive staged to commence in July. At first it seemed as though our machines had the air to themselves, for up till the first week in June our registration proceeded with practically no counter-battery work. So quiet was this front, that one pilot reports that he cannot remember seeing more than two German aeroplanes for six weeks.

In June came greater activity on the part of the enemy, but it is without question that we held superiority until September, if at considerable cost. From September, however, to the middle of October, the Royal Flying Corps had its work cut out to cope with the increase in numbers and efficiency of German pilots, and the introduction of two fast and improved fighting scouts, the Halberstadt and Albatross D3 and D5.

On the Somme front, approximating twenty-five miles, we had about twenty squadrons, equalling about 300 machines; these constituting the majority of our aerial force in France. Twelve were disposed for artillery work, the remainder for photography, reconnaissance and fighting.

GERMAN PARABELLUM MOUNTING.
FIRST “FOKKER” MONOPLANE WITH SYNCHRONIZED GUN BROUGHT DOWN ON WESTERN FRONT.

LOADING POSITION.
LEWIS GUN ON NIEUPORT SCOUT.

The battle proceeded with unprecedented intensity, and with it a never-ending aerial warfare. Pilots were rushed from England with a few hours’ solo work and absolutely no gunnery practice, to find themselves instantly in the thick of the combat. It is, therefore, not astonishing that the wastage of our fighting men ran up to twenty-five per cent. per month.

The filling up of the Royal Flying Corps combatant strength was made additionally difficult, as the Corps could no longer draw from regimental officers now needed for the coming offensive by which it was proposed to relieve the tremendous pressure on the French at Verdun.

It is true that the strength of the Force was, in anticipation, more than doubled during the three weeks which preceded the Somme, but this largely exhausted the available supplies of fighting personnel.

How reasonable, therefore, that the established success of Canadian pilots, and the fact that in Canada lay an almost untapped reservoir of future strength, should turn the eyes of the War Office to that Dominion. Double operations were planned for the Spring of 1917. The need was instant and imperative.

[OFFICIAL PRELIMINARIES.]

Authority for the Royal Flying Corps, Canada, was given at the War Office in December of 1916, and shortly after, on December 21st, an important meeting took place at Adastral House, the headquarters of the Air Board. Representatives from various branches of the service were present, and the situation in Canada was fully discussed with the following results.

Formation of squadrons was to be pushed at once, and personnel sent out as opportunity offered. Recruiting offices were authorized, also one large aircraft park, its location to be fixed later. As to equipment, Curtiss machines had already been ordered and delivery would commence almost at once from Buffalo. An establishment of 400 engines with a monthly wastage of 100 was considered reasonable.

The use of other machines was discussed but left in abeyance for the meantime, and the meeting closed with the opinion that training could be carried on in Canada the year round except in February, the weather in that month being doubtful.

It was decided at the outset that everything of a business nature, such as the erection of buildings, preparation of aerodromes, purchase of supplies, etc., was to be handled by the Imperial Munitions Board, through a Department of Aviation. This conclusion was largely influenced by the fact that in correspondence with the Ministry of Munitions, the Imperial Munitions Board had placed itself at the disposal of the War Office to aid in the formation of a Canadian training wing. Two engineer officers would be detailed to act as advisers on buildings and aerodromes.

Such was the formal birth of the Royal Flying Corps, Canada. It may be asked why it was purposed to recruit and train in Canada by the agency of an Imperial wing, but it suffices to say that the work of this unit has been only one of the countless instances of coöperation between the mother country and the Dominion, that furthermore all arrangements entered into carried not only the consent and approval of the Canadian Government, but also the promise of every assistance, and that the utter fullness of the discharge of this promise is known best to those who are personally conversant with the various phases of the history of this unit of the Royal Flying Corps.

At the further meeting of the Air Board, held at Adastral House, January 1st, 1917, the personnel of the advance party was selected. The administration section consisted of the Officer Commanding, at that time lieutenant-colonel; two squadron commanders—a major and a captain; one flight commander—a captain; one flying officer—a lieutenant. The supply section consisted of one park commander, one first-class equipment officer and two second-class equipment officers; these a major, captain and two lieutenants. Two engineer officers, both majors—one of whom was of the Canadian Engineers and the other from the Royal Engineers services—followed a little later. The recruiting section, composed of a captain and three lieutenants, completed the party. Mechanical transport of 21 vehicles was also sent.

At this meeting the general premises governing the future operations of the wing were outlined, such as the intention to give only lower training in Canada, and liaison between the unit and the Imperial Munitions Board. It was further determined to organize twenty training squadrons. Owing to conditions in England at the moment, the question of personnel for the formation of the Canadian wing was difficult of solution, and it was stated quite frankly that the Royal Flying Corps, Canada, would be obliged to do its utmost to train both officers, non-commissioned officers and airmen for the various duties to be performed.

General and personnel equipment was arranged to be sent from England, but all machines and additional transport were to be obtained locally. The general purport of the meeting was, in brief, to provide the skeleton of a training unit, put this scanty personnel under the direction of the O.C. and trust to their united efforts to provide for that expanding output of partially trained pilots for which at the time there was such insistent demand.

Coincident with all this, matters in Canada had already begun to take shape. There was in Toronto a small aeroplane factory, which for the past year or two had been turning out machines used at a private flying school some nine miles from the city. Authority was received by the Imperial Munitions Board from the Air Board to acquire this organization, which, although its output was necessarily limited, afforded an opportunity for future expansion, once suitable premises were secured. The machinery and equipment of this undertaking were forthwith moved into much larger buildings leased from a local engineering works, and took shape as the Canadian Aeroplanes Limited, an organization owned by the Imperial Government, whose product was intended primarily to meet the requirements of the new Canadian wing.

Simultaneously there was formed the Aviation Section of the Imperial Munitions Board, to which section detailed reference is made elsewhere. Such, in short, were the arrangements which had been completed when on January 22nd the advance party of the Royal Flying Corps, Canada, arrived in Toronto.

OBSERVERS’ GUN MOUNTING.
GERMAN GUN MOUNTINGS.

R.A.F. Can.—Flying Duty of Machines.

A word about local conditions will not be amiss. The country was, of course, deep in snow, and the winter period in its most trying phase. Recruiting, for which methods had still to be formulated, was complicated by the fact that no Military Service Act was in force in Canada, and the country had been apparently combed bare of those who desired to enlist voluntarily. It is true that the Royal Naval Air Service had for months been drawing excellent material from Canada, but this unit offered the inducement of a commission on enlistment, while the R.F.C. held no commissions in its outstretched hands, but merely the promise of months of arduous work before qualifying for the distinction. That the Corps was authorized to recruit in Canada was due to an Order in Council passed by the Canadian Government. Application was also made to the Department of Militia and Defence that the unit might be rationed, clothed and medically attended to by that Department.

An excerpt taken from an early report on Canadian conditions to the Air Board notes that the Royal Flying Corps, Canada, was an Imperial unit, paid for by the Imperial Treasury and wholly independent of local military command. Also that instructions in the first instance were very indefinite regarding a host of important details, but that this fact was in the long run a blessing in disguise.

A credit of four millions sterling had been established with the Imperial Munitions Board for the purposes of the wing, and it now remained to take action as quickly as possible.

That no time was lost may be gathered from the fact that the large C.E.F. Camp at Borden, some seventy miles north of Toronto, was inspected on January 26th, and on the following day a contract was let under supervision of the Aviation Department of the Board for the construction of the first Canadian aerodrome on an outlying portion of this area. It was to comprise fifteen flight sheds, with all necessary buildings and equipment. Simultaneously, recruiting got under way. Ground was also provided by the Department of Militia and Defence at Long Branch, some nine miles west of Toronto, where was formed the first flying unit of the Royal Flying Corps, Canada.

During the last week of the month, a contract was let for the construction of a large factory for the Canadian Aeroplanes Limited, supplies of engines and machines were secured from the Curtiss Manufacturing Company at Buffalo, and sites for additional groups of squadrons were selected at Leaside, three miles north of Toronto; Armour Heights, four miles still farther north; Rathbun and Mohawk, 130 miles east of Toronto.

Such was the record for nine days’ work. Thus the first of February found the unit with all major features of its programme settled, and on the threshold of a development which, as it progressed, was destined to realize every anticipation.

TRENCH SYSTEM ON WESTERN FRONT.

G. A. MORROW, ESQ., O.B.E., DIRECTOR OF AVIATION, IMPERIAL MUNITIONS BOARD.

SIR JOSEPH FLAVELLE, BART., CHAIRMAN, IMPERIAL MUNITIONS BOARD.

SIR FRANK BAILLIE, K.B.E., PRESIDENT, CANADIAN AEROPLANES LIMITED.

[AVIATION DEPARTMENT—IMPERIAL MUNITIONS BOARD]

This Department formed a many-sided organization, by means of which the physical and financial wants of the Royal Air Force, Can., were provided. It secured funds from the War Office, spent and accounted for them; designed, built, and equipped innumerable structures; purchased all supplies from the sailmaker’s needle to the aeroplane and bought materials from countless sources for a vast variety of needs.

It delved into electrical and mechanical problems, sowed grass, bored wells, built railways, leased land, secured labour of all descriptions, engaged lawyers and advanced money. If the Royal Air Force was an Imperial brigade, this section of the “I.M.B.” was no less a Canadian civilian battalion, composed of members representing an officer commanding, paymasters, quartermasters, engineers and sappers, etc., and maintaining a constant and helpful liaison, without which a certain history of mutual accomplishments would be the acme of brevity.

The Department, for purposes of efficiency, was subdivided into the following sections: Executive, Purchasing, Construction, Transport, and Aeronautical Supply—all responsible to the Director of Aviation, and through him to the Imperial Munitions Board proper. The officers were:

The first section, composed of the Secretary and accountants, was responsible for all expenditures, and made weekly detailed returns to the Auditor of the Board in Ottawa. They dealt in millions, and submitted vouchers for all disbursements, as well as reporting all executive transactions. The advantage of this coöperation with the parent organization which dealt in hundreds of millions, is obvious.

The Purchasing Section was manned by expert buyers in various branches, and furnished the entire needs of the brigade with the exception of rations, pay and medical service. Machinery, tools, boots, oil—there were some ten thousand articles in Stores Depot—all of which were secured by this section of the Department.

The Construction Section, since the autumn of 1917, erected all buildings used by the brigade, and overhauled and remodelled other premises secured for their use. At the outset of operations, various contractors were employed—but, this practice terminated, the Construction Section was organized under careful supervision of competent engineers of the Aviation Department to perform these and added duties. It purchased its own supplies and was responsible for prices and quantities, as well as for a Commissary Department which supplied employees with meals and accommodation.

Transportation—always a problem and especially so in wartime—was entrusted to an expert railwayman, skilled in harassing railway companies into good delivery. The moving of thousands of men to and from Texas, with hundreds of carloads of supplies, came under this section with most creditable results.

Aeronautical supplies were in charge of an expert in aeroplanes and their parts, who stood between the aeroplane factory and the aircraft equipment section of the brigade. Through him were followed up all machines, engines and spares ordered by the Purchasing Section. Contact was maintained hereby with American factories, to which periodical visits were made when the brigade was dependent on these extraneous sources of supply.

OFFICERS, AVIATION DEPARTMENT, IMPERIAL MUNITIONS BOARD

J. R. HAGELIN, ASST. CHIEF ENGINEER

J. B. CARSWELL, B.Sc., CHIEF ENGINEER.

GEO. E. WISHART, SECRETARY.

G. A. MORROW, O.B.E., DIRECTOR OF AVIATION

W. B. CLELAND, SUPT. AERONAUTICAL SUPPLIES.

A. H. MULCAHEY, PURCHASING AGENT

A. S. McNINCH, ASST. PURCHASING AGENT

FLYING BOAT HULL CONSTRUCTION—CANADIAN AEROPLANES LIMITED.

Such in brief are the fundamentals, but without further detail the service given by the Aviation Department could not be realized. The following notes therefore, should prove of interest.

Accounts were under the immediate direction of the Secretary. So speedily was the Department organized that time did not afford to investigate either the system to be adopted or the number of accounts to be opened. Flexibility was in consequence desirable, and when in October, 1918, a new set of ledger headings were called for by the Air Ministry, there was neither difficulty nor delay in remodelling the existing accounts to the new form.

The Department was authorized to make disbursements from an imprest fund when immediate payment was necessary, but this method was only used when unavoidable, as for instance, outlay in staff payrolls, initial payments for leases, and in cases where a discount period had nearly lapsed. For such outlay repayment cheque to the fund was always subsequently issued.

The standard method of meeting obligations was by sending certified bills to the Finance Department, Imperial Munitions Board, at Ottawa, where cheques were issued therefor. These bills were listed in alphabetical order, and also chronologically under each creditor’s name. Confusion of any kind was entirely avoided.

During those months when contractors were employed in the erection of buildings and other work, the Aviation Department was continually represented at the contractor’s office by an auditing staff. These officials checked all time worked, and all disbursements of every nature on the part of the contractor. Such obligations were paid by the latter, who then forwarded the receipted bills to the Department. There they were recorded and sent on to Ottawa for payment.

Extraneous accounting was done in the United States. When a large part of the brigade went to Texas in November, 1917, the omnipresent “I.M.B.” accompanied in the person of the Chief Purchasing Agent, fortified with an imprest fund. This, deposited in the National City Bank, permitted local payments, which in turn were submitted to the Toronto Office with the necessary vouchers. In addition to all the foregoing, the Board at Ottawa was represented by a travelling auditor who checked all expenditure before it was submitted to Ottawa. Thus the Chief Auditor was kept constantly informed, and enabled to make regular reports to the Ministry of Munitions in England of all disbursements by the Aviation Department.

On [page 58] will be found a monthly total of these amounts, as apart from expenditure by the brigade. It is impossible to make comparisons, but it is nevertheless believed that in no section of any military organization has better value been secured for the amount involved.

The Purchasing Section, up to January 1st, 1919, issued 15,700 orders and handled 37,300 invoices. Business of this magnitude demands system, and in this case got it. On [page 35] is a diagram showing not only the procedure of purchase, but also the history of invoices when received, reflecting the coöperation between consumer and purchaser to secure assurance of the delivery of what has been ordered, before payment.

Mention has been made of the variety of the purchases arranged by this section, and to this might be added the fact that extremely large quantities were involved.

BARRACK BLOCKS—CAMP MOHAWK.

TAPPING A SPRUCE FOR AEROPLANE TIMBER.
(Note axe swinging from belt).

IN FLIGHT.
FLYING BOAT HULL UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

GETTING IT OUT.

(Procedure of Purchase)

(History of Invoices)

Fuel requirements for the current year, for instance, were estimated at nearly 30,000 tons, and, in spite of certain official privileges extended to the Department, shipments of this magnitude called for very special attention, particularly at a time when great public anxiety was felt in securing fuel supply.

Gasoline requirements comprised about 16,000 gallons per month, and this, owing to the limited storage capacity at the various wings, was very carefully watched and traced in transit. It speaks well for the Department that during a period when the railway system was congested with freight, flying was not at any time interfered with owing to shortage of this supply.

The Transportation Section was indebted to the wonderful coöperation of contractors and railway companies for assistance in overcoming delays due to this congestion, as well as to the great shortage of raw material.

Business between the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corporation and the British Ministry of Munitions was carried in the Section’s purchasing ledgers, as well as records of all shipments from the Canadian Aeroplanes Limited to the Signal Service of the U.S. Government. The amount of material shipped to Texas in 1917 from the factory amounted to not less than four and a half million dollars. This was a mutually acceptable arrangement by which training in the U.S. was carried out most successfully and the output of the factory maintained at a satisfactory point.

Conjointly with the Purchasing Section, there must be considered its kindred bureau, the Traffic Branch. This body traced and delivered all materials to their proper destination, checked all freight and express bills, and applied them against their proper invoices and orders. Investigation of conditions governing freight rates was a special study, and in one instance the Traffic Branch was able to prove to the Canadian Freight Association that the minimum carload weight previously required on shipments of aeroplanes and spares was in point of fact unjustified considering the light nature of the material. This was subsequently increased, resulting in a marked saving in the transportation of such material to and from the various camps. The Texas movement involved 375 cars and 5,000 men. This was an admirably managed undertaking, so successful that within five days from the date of leaving Canada our machines were climbing into the air above Texas aerodromes.

CONSTRUCTION OF SWIMMING POOL, CAMP BORDEN.
(Under Direction of Aviation Department.)

RANGES CONSTRUCTED BY AVIATION DEPARTMENT AT BEAMSVILLE.

The Section of Aeronautical Supply, as has been stated, maintained liaison between the Aircraft Equipment Branch of the brigade and the factory; also it acted as a buffer state between the brigade and the manufacturer of such technical equipment as cameras, wireless instruments, machine guns, etc., and the tremendous number of spare parts involved.

The progress in the training of pilots has from time to time demanded new equipment of multitudinous variety. The advanced nature of the work of both aeroplane and engine repair park called for a steady stream of those individual members which when assembled constitute the completed machine. The selection, purchase, and delivery of the technical equipment of the brigade, fell in short to this section, which executed the business transactions involved as required by the Aircraft Equipment Branch at headquarters.

Liaison between the two has been admirable, and the result, therefore, eminently satisfactory.

The Construction Section has, in the course of its strenuous existence, carried out the following work:

It had, furthermore, put in five thousand plumbing fixtures; cleaned, rolled and seeded nearly four thousand acres of land for flying purposes, and done a commissary business which touched forty thousand meals a week.

In these activities it spent five and a half million dollars.

From all of which it may be seen that what was accomplished equals the building of a modern town with streets, sanitation of every description and every physical equipment.

Had it been a town the work had been easier, but as it was there were many areas, with two hundred miles between extreme points.

In dispensing with contractors and assuming itself all obligations the Department was swayed by but one fact. The requirements of the brigade were so varying and so subject to training considerations, that it seemed impossible to adequately provide for all contingencies by contract. The change took place in the autumn of 1917, and in the months that followed the Munitions Board profited by unity of control, by the opportunity of large bulk purchases of material, and by every consequent advantage accruing to a single organization which directs many scattered operations.

R.A.F. Can.—Employes on Construction Work Superintended by I.M.B.

Canadian Aeroplanes Limited—Monthly Value of Output
Grand Total $13,577.000.00

The Chief Engineer of this section directed executive work, his assistant supervised construction. With them were the heads of the draughting room, the estimating section and the construction purchasing department, together with the chief electrician, the plumbing superintendent, the heating superintendent, road superintendent and the head of the commissary and transport section. In the section office a staff of fifty was employed, when in the middle of October, 1918, there were 2,200 men on the payroll. The following diagram illustrates the organization:—

The Construction Section was, in fact, pivoted so that it might at any moment turn its attention to new work without departing from its main and central programme, and to this flexibility is attributable the unquestionable success it achieved.

[CANADIAN AEROPLANES LIMITED.]

This organization saw the light officially in December, 1916, and in twenty-one months had turned out some 2,900 aeroplanes, valued at nearly fourteen million dollars. Incidentally, the factory covered about six acres, and employed something over two thousand hands.

It was some time before Canadians realized that the undertaking was that of the Imperial Government acting through the Imperial Munitions Board, more familiarly known as the “I.M.B.” The primary purpose was that of supplying aeroplanes for the Royal Flying Corps, but actually some four and a half millions’ worth of output went to aid training in the United States.

The officials of the Company were:—

Work commenced in leased premises, where the plant of a small factory which had a year or so before turned out a few experimental machines was for three months utilized. This, admittedly a makeshift, expanded in April into permanent premises on Dufferin Street, covering ultimately some six acres of floor space, with innumerable mechanical appliances specially designed for the work. The building of this factory proved something of an achievement, being completed in about two and one-half months, a notable record even in a country where quick construction was the rule of the day. The site, carefully chosen, lay surrounded by the homes of large numbers of technical tradesmen, and this helped in no small degree to ensure at all times a full force of highly skilled employees.

OFFICIALS AND EXECUTIVE STAFF OF CANADIAN AEROPLANES LIMITED.

FUSELAGE ASSEMBLY.
SAILMAKING ON WINGS.

The machine adopted for use by the Royal Flying Corps was the Canadian JN4, of simple design and presenting no unusual difficulty in manufacture. As work progressed, however, it became apparent that the type could be largely improved by change of design and fabrication, and there was evolved a machine which, while presenting the same appearance as its predecessor, contained nevertheless certain fundamental and radical alterations. Among other points remodelled were the landing gear—the substitution of the “joy stick” for the former control wheel, the adoption of split trailing edge instead of flattened tubing, and, most important, tail units made principally of metal instead of wood, resulting in an increased factor of safety, especially in the rudder and vertical stabilizer. Progress without change is impossible, and thus it proved in this undertaking.

It will be understood that given soundness of design there remains to be provided good workmanship and the best and most suitable materials. The former was procured without much difficulty, but the supply of the latter involved much thought and experiment, it being always remembered that the ideal machine combines a maximum strength with a minimum weight.

Linen for the covering of wings, etc., was imported first from Ireland, but submarine activity made it imperative that a substitute be secured. It was found at the Wabasso Cotton Company’s mills in Three Rivers, Quebec. Here was secured, for the special purpose required, a cotton fabric of remarkable strength. One inch in width is able to support some eighty pounds, and this with a weight which does not exceed four and a half ounces a square yard. Its adoption was at once successful, and it proved capable, when treated with “dope”—a waterproof and windproof solution with celluloid-like finish—of performing the same service as that of the most expensive Irish linen.

After fabric came wood, the quality of which was required to be above anything hitherto known in the lumber trade. Free from knots, of extreme length, with no “wind shakes,” swirly grain or “pitch pockets,” it seemed at first unprocurable. Ash for the longerons or longitudinals of the fuselage, and spruce for wing beams, wing edges, etc., was of imperative necessity. The market was searched, but what material was available proved to yield but a fraction of its total in satisfactory timber. Then, driven by urgent need, the “I.M.B.” organized a department in Vancouver and began to buy for itself on the shores of the Pacific. That its first purchase was rushed by express in carloads from the Western Coast will indicate how extreme was the pressure for sound material. The illustrations on [pages 32] and [34] give some idea of the magnitude of the operations required to produce that exact quality of lumber which the modern aeroplane demands.

It is interesting to note that even with this admirable supply secured, it was found that certain members were so long that it proved necessary to build them up, and, in the building, the Canadian Aeroplanes Limited evolved a scarfed, saw-toothed splice, since adopted as standard by Britain and the United States. Repeated tests proved that greater strength was thus secured than that of solid lumber of the same dimensions.

The Canadian Aeroplanes Limited propeller is five-ply white oak, glued, compressed and formed up by machinery that is almost human—and took its origin from a lathe designed by Peter the Great to make gun stocks. It is a far cry from Russia to Toronto, but the principle is identical. No “C.A.L.” propeller has shown manufacturing or engineering defect. The successor of Peter’s lathe carves them, four at a time, to one thirty-second of their finished form, and the final touches and balancing are hand work. To anyone who has seen a nine-foot propeller running at 1,500 revolutions per minute, its blade points cutting the air at the rate of eight miles a minute, it will be apparent how fine a workmanship and accurate a design is embodied here.

From wood pass to metal. Fuselage and internal wing bracing is with piano-wire which will stand a pull of a ton, though the members to which it is anchored weigh but a few pounds. Inter-plane bracing will live up to a ton and a half, and the control wires will stand the same test. So accurate are these latter that in process of their manufacture the heated metal is drawn through a forming die made of an aperture in a diamond.

In the autumn of 1918 it was decided to undertake the manufacture of a faster and more modern type of machine—the Avro—and to this object the factory diverted its energies. At the date of the armistice two had been turned out. These machines, equipped with 130 horse-power Clerget engines, promised excellent service, and underwent all tests to the complete satisfaction of all concerned. No less than one hundred additional had been fabricated and were ready for assembly when hostilities ceased.

Design—material—workmanship—inspection! These are the four cardinal features of the modern machine. That all have been amply provided in the output of the Canadian Aeroplanes Limited is best evidenced by the fact that not a single one of nearly three thousand aeroplanes turned out has been charged with any accident attributable to any fault in design or manufacture.

From aeroplane to flying boat was a natural transition in an organization so finely balanced and completely equipped, and in April, 1918, the Canadian Aeroplanes Limited undertook to build for the United States navy a fleet of 30 F-5 flying boats, the largest produced to date on this side of the Atlantic. The contract involved competition with two other companies. The latter had been in the business from two to four years, and had on hand not only ample material but also a large staff of assembling mechanics. In the race that followed, the Canadian Aeroplanes Limited finished three weeks ahead—an illustration of the fact that the best type of organization is that which is not so wedded to one class of output as to be unable to adapt its methods and its plant to kindred, if varying, undertakings. So satisfactory was the work to the U.S. authorities, that it called forth the following letter from the American admiral in charge:—

“On account of the excellent workmanship of Canadian Aeroplanes shown in the construction of navy flying boats, the bureau is glad to recommend the facilities of your plant, and it is hoped that additional work in aircraft construction may be secured elsewhere.”

The feat was not without effort. The thirty boats contracted for have been delivered, the first being turned out within three months from receipt of order. The shipments included spares to the extent of one additional boat in every three, exclusive of hull. It was not necessary to engage any additional staff, but it was necessary to give the training required to convert the aeroplane builder into the boat builder. This construction filled in a period between orders for machines for the Royal Air Force, but it involved the purchasing of special material from the United States, in which market the U.S. competitors of the company were already firmly established.

TEST OF FIRST C.A.L. MACHINE.
FIRST AVRO MACHINE OF C.A.L.

FINISHING PROPELLERS.

Boat building was, however, but a side issue of the primary purpose of the organization. It was formed to supply an Imperial brigade with ample and satisfactory aeroplanes. That this was done is unquestionable; but it is questionable whether those responsible for its organization and those under whose guiding hands it grew so amazingly foresaw the proportion the business was to assume or the peculiarly intimate relationship it established with the work of the brigade. The various reports of the General Officer Commanding on this subject pay unstinted tribute to the excellence of the service rendered. More than this, it is due to the qualities of the Canadian JN4 machine as manufactured in Toronto by the Canadian Aeroplanes Limited that training in flying by the Royal Air Force was so advanced that it covered the practice of all aerial manoeuvres and “stunts” possible on any machine.

In the graphs on [pages 54] and [55] will be found certain data of interest giving the progress of manufacture, etc., but the essential figures are those not written. They are to be found, if computable, in the service rendered to the Empire by some three thousand pilots who first took to the air in machines made by this great national plant.

Canadian Aeroplanes Limited—Monthly Output of Machines
In Addition 30 Flying Boats for U.S. Navy

Canadian Aeroplanes Limited—Monthly Strength of Employes

A WOODLAND SCENE.
A COMFORTABLE CRASH.

[THE COST OF TRAINING]

Herewith is given a diagram presenting the net cost of the work of the brigade in Canada. The disbursements indicated include the total of all sums paid out both by the Corps and the Aviation Department of the I.M.B.

This cost, being $9,835 per pilot trained, will, it is estimated, be reduced to $9,660 when the various assets of the brigade have been liquidated. It will be seen that no amount has been apportioned against the complete training of 137 observers, and the partial training of 3,500 cadets who were on the strength and in various stages of ground tuition in November, 1918.

From December, 1917 to April, 1918, both brigade and Imperial Munitions Board expenditures show a decrease. This is due to the fact that for these months the cost of aeroplanes, engines, spares, etc., were met by the U.S. Signal. Service, for whom the Corps trained a large number of pilots. The amount thus saved by the Corps may be considered as approximately equal to that spent on the partial training of 3,500 cadets and included in the gross sum mentioned.

The increase in outlay by the Imperial Munitions Board in the autumn of 1918 was occasioned by a large building programme, designed to accommodate the entire brigade in winter quarters, no further move to Texas being contemplated. When hostilities ceased this accommodation was practically finished.

It will be noted that the winter of 1918 found the brigade with its capital expenditure complete, and subject only to such maintenance charges as rations, pay, repairs, etc. Had training, therefore, been continued, it is without doubt that pilots would have been turned out at a cost very much less than that above indicated.

R.A.F. Can.—Monthly Disbursements and Training Costs

OFFICERS, 81ST SQUADRON, CAMP RATHBUN.

HEADQUARTERS OFFICERS AND STAFF.

[HEADQUARTERS STAFF.]

The duties undertaken by the headquarters staff of the Corps were, in many respects, much more onerous than those which fall to the lot of a similar establishment in Great Britain, and comprised not only the routine work of the brigade, but also very many functions which under home conditions would have been assumed by either the War Office or the Air Ministry.

Looking back at the past two years, it appears that although the headquarters burden was thus increased, the arrangement proved distinctly to the advantage of the Corps, resulting as it did in the centralization of authority and a constant unity of purpose and procedure which otherwise would have been difficult of achievement.

To make the matter perfectly clear, the Royal Air Force, Canada, must be considered as a unit operating outside the boundaries of the usual activities of the Air Ministry, and endowed with special authority and freedom of action, but handicapped, nevertheless, by certain limitations, which, although greatly alleviated by the helpful attitude of the Canadian authorities, made it imperative that extreme care should be used both in policy and action.

It is obvious from the chapter which deals with the [matter of recruiting], that particular judgment had to be used in the means adopted to bring the Corps up to the necessary strength, and it was doubly important that every precaution be taken to avoid enlisting men who were subject to the provisions of the Canadian Military Service Act.

Only in very special cases where the applicant’s qualifications made the enlistment desirable, was any recruit signed on who came under the provision of this Act.

The organization and formation of units was, of course, constantly subject to fluctuations in recruiting, and that these units were so soon brought up to workable strength, speaks well for the care given in this respect.

The arrangements made between Brigade Headquarters and the Department of Militia and Defence in Ottawa were all important; and negotiations for medical service, rations, etc., etc., having been completed with satisfaction to the Canadian government, it fell to headquarters staff to maintain a constant and careful liaison with the various departments involved. In addition there were also many important conferences at Washington, these resulting in a complete understanding between the U.S. Signal Service and the brigade, which understanding took admirable shape in the reciprocal training agreement so successfully carried out by the Corps in Canada and Texas.

Responsibility for training in Canada lay with the officer of headquarters staff on this duty, and constant touch was maintained with Great Britain in order that the methods of the Canadian unit might always reflect every recent advance in the system adopted.

Reference has been made elsewhere to the excellent service given by the Curtiss engine and Canadian JN4 aeroplane. This machine became out of date a little later, but such were its qualifications of strength and manoeuvring capacity, that, during the more recent period of the work of the brigade all pilots were sent overseas with flying instruction practically complete, needing only an introduction to machines, which although faster and more modern, were able to perform few manoeuvres which had not already been done on the JN4.

80TH SQUADRON, CAMP BORDEN—OFFICERS AND MECHANICS.

READY FOR THE AIR.
THE TAKE-OFF—WINTER FLYING.

SCHOOL OF AERONAUTICS—CANTEEN.
DINING HALL.

Owing to the fact that one-half of the personnel of the brigade was in a constant state of flux, and moving forward from unit to unit, additional work was thrown upon both the Records and Quartermaster’s department, and the prompt manner in which these organizations adapted themselves to the changing needs is worthy of mention. The move to Texas created an involved situation which was made workable only by a very special effort and complete coöperation with the Imperial Munitions Board, and, in spite of the strain thus occasioned, the success of this move must always be recalled with particular satisfaction by those responsible for its arrangement.

The Quartermaster branch discharged, as well, the duty of a Quartermaster-General’s department, this being but one instance out of many in which the obligations of individual sections of the brigade were enlarged till they paralleled the work elsewhere performed by the Air Board or the War Office.

The composition of the Canadian units decided upon by the War Office, varied considerably from that of units already established in England, and, in consequence, the mobilization and equipment tables heretofore in use proved in most respects inapplicable to Canadian requirements. Thus there was thrown upon the Aircraft Equipment branch the almost unprecedented duty of compiling all the data determining every item of equipment to be supplied for carrying on the work of the Corps.

It was provided from the first that responsibility for price and point of purchase would be borne by the Aviation Department, and the burden of the A.E. branch ceased when requisitions were handed to the former. This, however it eased the situation, still left upon the A.E. branch the constant onus of working out in detail the entire list of engines and aeroplanes, with their multitudinous spares, and the complicated list of stores, technical and otherwise, requisite for the training of a continuous stream of pilots.

The records of the branch show that while the supply of machines from the Canadian Aeroplanes factory was invariably dependable, considerable difficulty was experienced in securing deliveries of engines, and, on occasions, machines were sent to the wings without engines, the latter to be installed when received.

Motor transport being carefully considered, the original orders proved practically sufficient for all needs, and there was purchased only about one half of the equipment officially authorized. Had not the units at Beamsville and Hamilton been organized, the provision made early in 1917 would have proved sufficient. In the supply of aeroplane spares, the excellent service rendered by the repair sections of the various flying units in making broken parts serviceable, steadily reduced the monthly proportional outlay.

It is not possible in the scope of a page to go into the innumerable details, the solution of which rested with the A.E. branch. Sufficient funds were of course available, and an admirable coöperation with the Aviation Department of the I.M.B. always saved the situation—even sometimes at the last moment—but the difficulties overcome were very serious, and there were times when the imperative demands of the flying wings seemed almost impossible to satisfy. Added to this, there was increased difficulty in securing supplies after the United States entered the war and placed embargoes on many classes of goods. In spite of all, however, flying was never practically affected by any lack of material.

Since it is desired only to give an outline of headquarters duties, it is asked that the diagram on [page 71] be referred to. The various subdivisions were found to be satisfactory and workable, and to reflect with accuracy those administrative needs on the fulfillment of which depended both the progress of the unit with its co-related branches, and the quality of the pilots it was privileged to turn out.

GERMAN AERODROME, WESTERN FRONT.

BARRIE, ONTARIO.

Brigadier-general C. G. Hoare, C.M.G.
General Officer Commanding

A.O. 1
Lt.-Col. J. Rubie

General Staff duties.
Organization and formation
of units.
Discipline.
Establishments.
Arrangement for movement
of troops.

Records—Major H. B. Denton

Recruiting all cadets and airmen and records
of all non-commissioned members of the Force.

Works Section—Major O. C. Macpherson

Supervision of all structural and aerodrome work.

Discipline—Major C. R. Huggins

Courts martial.

Courts of enquiry re absentees.

Capt. J. L. Langmuir

Assistant Provost Marshal.

A.O. 2
Maj. J. M. Mitchell

General routine.
General administration.
Headquarters orders.
Officers’ records.
Posting and employment
of officers.
Promotions.

Medical Boards }
Dental Services } Maj. O’Reilly

Organization and control of all medical services.

A.O. 2A.—Capt. F. D. Williams

Pay and allowances.

Examination of unit orders.