Aircraft Identity Corps

Last updated • 2 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Aircraft Identity Corps
Active1940–1945
CountryCanada
Branch Royal Canadian Air Force
Type Civil defence organisation.
Role Aircraft recognition and reporting (1940–1943)
Size1945 - circa 30,000 personnel
Engagements World War II

The Aircraft Identity Corps was a Canadian civil defence organization operating between 1940 and 1945. The corps' mission was to report suspicious aircraft and guard against German, Japanese, and Italian attack. The use of observers was deemed important because radar was not yet in widespread use. It was rebuilt as the Long Range Air Raid Warning System in 1950.

The Aircraft Identity Corps was formed in 1940 by Air Vice Marshal George Croil for service during World War II. By the war's end in 1945 it had over 30,000 members.

Among the corps' responsibilities was a system of 266 observation posts extending from the Sault Ste. Marie locks in northern Michigan to Hudson Bay, to protect the strategically important locks against a possible long-range German air attack. The joint US and Canadian defence of these locks was coordinated by the US Army's Central Defense Command. [1]

In the then-separate Dominion of Newfoundland, there was an Aircraft Detection Corps Newfoundland. At the behest of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), the Commissioner of Defence for Newfoundland, L. E. Emerson, amalgamated the Aircraft Detection Corps Newfoundland with the Canadian Aircraft Detection Corps. On March 15, 1942, Emerson circulated a communiqué stating the "Aircraft Detection Corps Newfoundland" would be organized by the RCAF as a unit of the Canadian Aircraft Identity Corps. One of the letter's recipients was Newfoundland public figure P. W. Crummey, an Aircraft Detection Corps Newfoundland volunteer. Attached to the communique was a letter from Flight Lieutenant H. H. Graham, commanding officer of Torbay Airport, No. 1 Group RCAF, St. John's; glossaries of airplanes and ships; an identity card; and procedural instructions.

At war's end, Aircraft Identity Corps volunteers in Canada and the Dominion of Newfoundland received a brass Volunteer Aircraft Observer button and certificate of thanks from Canada's Department of National Defence. Some Aircraft Detection Corps Newfoundland volunteers qualified for the United Kingdom's Defence Medal. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Commonwealth Air Training Plan</span> Joint military aircrew training program during World War II

The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), or Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, during the Second World War. BCATP remains one of the single largest aviation training programs in history and was responsible for training nearly half the pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, air gunners, wireless operators and flight engineers who served with the Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) during the war.

Corps is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies greatly, but two to five divisions and anywhere from 40,000 to 80,000 are the numbers stated by the US Department of Defense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CFB North Bay</span>

Canadian Forces Base North Bay, also CFB North Bay, is an air force base located at the City of North Bay, Ontario about 350 km (220 mi) north of Toronto. The base is subordinate to 1 Canadian Air Division, Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is the centre for North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) operations in Canada, under the Canadian NORAD Region Headquarters, also in Winnipeg. It is also home to the 1 Air Force, Detachment 2 of the United States Air Force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada and weapons of mass destruction</span>

Canada has not officially maintained and possessed weapons of mass destruction since 1984 and, as of 1998, has signed treaties repudiating possession of them. Canada ratified the Geneva Protocol in 1930 and the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty in 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auxiliaries</span> An organized group supplementing the military or law enforcement

Auxiliaries are support personnel that assist the military or police but are organised differently from regular forces. Auxiliary may be military volunteers undertaking support functions or performing certain duties such as garrison troops, usually on a part-time basis. Unlike a military reserve force, an auxiliary force does not necessarily have the same degree of training or ranking structure as regular soldiers, and it may or may not be integrated into a fighting force. Some auxiliaries, however, are militias composed of former active duty military personnel and actually have better training and combat experience than their regular counterparts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. John's International Airport</span> Airport in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

St. John's International Airport is in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is located 3 nautical miles northwest of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador and serves the St. John's metropolitan area and the Avalon Peninsula. The airport is part of the National Airports System, and is operated by St. John's International Airport Authority Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naval Station Argentia</span> Former US Navy base

Naval Station Argentia is a former base of the United States Navy that operated from 1941 to 1994. It was established in the community of Argentia in what was then the Dominion of Newfoundland, which later became the tenth Canadian province, Newfoundland and Labrador.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Observer Corps</span> British military unit

The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defence organisation intended for the visual detection, identification, tracking and reporting of aircraft over Great Britain. It operated in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 December 1995, when the Corps' civilian volunteers were stood down. Composed mainly of civilian spare-time volunteers, ROC personnel wore a Royal Air Force (RAF) style uniform and latterly came under the administrative control of RAF Strike Command and the operational control of the Home Office. Civilian volunteers were trained and administered by a small cadre of professional full-time officers under the command of the Commandant Royal Observer Corps; latterly a serving RAF Air Commodore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada in World War II</span> Situation of Canada during World War II

The history of Canada during World War II begins with the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. While the Canadian Armed Forces were eventually active in nearly every theatre of war, most combat was centred in Italy, Northwestern Europe, and the North Atlantic. In all, some 1.1 million Canadians served in the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Canadian Air Force, out of a population that as of the 1941 Census had 11,506,655 people, and in forces across the empire, with approximately 42,000 killed and another 55,000 wounded. During the war, Canada was subject to direct attack in the Battle of the St. Lawrence, and in the shelling of a lighthouse at Estevan Point in British Columbia.

Pepperrell Air Force Base, previously known as Fort Pepperrell, is a decommissioned United States military base located in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada which operated from 1941 to 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CFB Gander</span> Canadian Forces base in Newfoundland and Labrador

Canadian Forces Base Gander, is a Canadian Forces base located in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador. It is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force and is home to search and rescue operations that cover a vast swath of the western North Atlantic and southern Arctic and a Canadian Coastal Radar station amongst other things. It is home to 9 Wing Gander.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">P. W. Crummey</span>

Pleaman Wellington Crummey JP (1891–1960) was a public figure in the Dominion of Newfoundland and the Province of Newfoundland. He was born at Western Bay, Conception Bay.

The Ground Observer Corps (GOC), sometimes erroneously referred to as the Ground Observation Corps, was the name of two American civil defense organizations during the middle 20th century.

The Aircraft Detection Corps Newfoundland was created by the Commission of Government of the Dominion of Newfoundland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CFS Armstrong</span> Former General Surveillance Radar station

Canadian Forces Station Armstrong is a former General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 1.1 miles (1.8 km) east of Armstrong, Thunder Bay District, Ontario. It was closed in 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Article XV squadrons</span> World War II air force squadrons

Article XV squadrons were Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand air force squadrons formed from graduates of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (1939) during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northeast Air Command</span> Military unit

The Northeast Air Command (NEAC) was a short-lived organization in the United States Air Force tasked with the operation and defense of air bases in Greenland, Labrador and Newfoundland. It was formed in 1950 from the facilities of the United States established during World War II in Northeast Canada, Newfoundland and Greenland. It was discontinued in 1957.

<i>Canadas Air Defence</i> 1957 Canadian film

Canada's Air Defence is a 33-minute 1957 Canadian documentary film produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). The film depicts the role of air defence over Canada and the United States by following the training and operational exercises of a RCAF squadron.

When the Second World War broke-out, the Dominion of Newfoundland was a Dominion governed directly from the United Kingdom via the Commission of Government. As Newfoundland was being administered by the Commission of Government, and had no functioning parliament, the British declaration of war on Germany automatically brought Newfoundland into a state of war with Germany on 3 September 1939.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Bride's Radar Station</span> USA WW2 Radar Station

St. Bride's Radar Station was a United States Army General Surveillance Ground Radar Early Warning Station in the Dominion of Newfoundland. It was built during World War II and responsible for monitoring air traffic from Naval Station Argentia to RCAF Torbay and into the Atlantic Ocean. It was located in St. Bride's, 135 kilometres (84 mi) southwest of St. John's. It was closed in 1945.

References

  1. Conn, Stetson; Engelman, Rose C.; Fairchild, Byron (2000) [1964]. Guarding the United States and its Outposts. United States Army in World War II. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army. pp. 102–105. Archived from the original on 2007-12-25. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
  2. "St. John's couple honoured for civil defence during WWII". CBC News. 14 January 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2015.