First World War (1914 – 1918)
Canada did not have an air force at the outbreak of the First World War. The officials seemed to ignore the idea of developing an air element. In 1909, when the Aerial Experimental Association attempted to interest the Department of Militia and Defence, the Deputy Minister Eugène Fiset (1874 – 1951) expressed his reservations, saying “who knows what these aeroplanes can do?”
This attitude, however, eventually did change. On 16 September 1914, the Minister of Militia and Defence Colonel Sir Samuel Hughes (1853 – 1921) authorized the creation of the Canadian Aviation Corps (CAC) as a small unit in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. It was short-lived and consisted of just three members and one aircraft, the Burgess-Dunne floatplane.
In spite of the lack of a Canadian air force, Britain’s Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) viewed the Dominion as a fertile source of recruits and enrolled many Canadians into their services. In the early period of the war the two services accepted only applicants who were qualified pilots. There were very few of these and the hundreds of young Canadians who sought to volunteer for the RFC and RNAS were first required to enter a civilian flying school and obtain the necessary certificate at their own expense. In 1917 the RFC set up its own training establishment in Canada with headquarters in Toronto and training wings at Camp Borden, and Deseronto, both in Ontario. The total number of Canadian personnel trained in Canada during 1917-18 was 3,135 pilots and 137 observers.
In 1918, there had been many Canadians enlisted with the British air services, prompting military leaders to create a Canadian Air Force. While this had been an official organization, it had accumulated just two all-Canadian squadrons and by February 1920, it had ceased to exist.
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