RCAF Western Air Command

Western Air Command
Active	15 March 1938 – 1 March 1947
Country	Canada
Allegiance	Canada
Branch	Royal Canadian Air Force
Engagements	Second World War Pacific Coast ; Aleutian Islands Campaign ; Fūsen Bakudan Campaign ;

Last updated May 04, 2019

Western Air Command was the part of the Royal Canadian Air Force's Home War Establishment responsible for air operations on the Pacific coast of Canada during the Second World War.

The Royal Canadian Air Force is the air force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2013, the Royal Canadian Air Force consists of 14,500 Regular Force and 2,600 Primary Reserve personnel, supported by 2,500 civilians, and operates 258 manned aircraft and 9 unmanned aerial vehicles. Lieutenant-General Al Meinzinger is the current Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force and Chief of the Air Force Staff.

History

Patrol operations

When Canada declared war against Germany in September 1939 the command consisted of only five squadrons. Four of them equipped with obsolete aircraft including a bomber squadron with aircraft from the Great War and there were no fighter aircraft at all for its only fighter squadron (113 Fighter Squadron was thus disbanded).

With the Japanese threat after Pearl Harbor it grew rapidly and played a critical role in fighter and anti-submarine operations in Canadian and American waters during the Aleutian Islands Campaign.^[1] It was there that Squadron Leader K.A. Boomer of No. 111 Squadron shot down a Rufe fighter, the RCAF's only kill in the Pacific Theatre.^[2] On 7 July 1942 a Bristol Bolingbroke pressed home an attack on the Japanese submarine Ro-32 the pilot F/Sgt. P.M.G. Thomas of No. 115 Squadron RCAF then led American destroyers to sink the damaged submarine.

The Aleutian Islands Campaign was a military campaign conducted by the United States and Japan in the Aleutian Islands, part of the Territory of Alaska, in the American theater and the Pacific theater of World War II starting on 3 June 1942. In the only two invasions of the United States during the war, a small Japanese force occupied the islands of Attu and Kiska, where the remoteness of the islands and the challenges of weather and terrain delayed a larger U.S.-Canadian force sent to eject them for nearly a year. The islands' strategic value was their ability to control Pacific transportation routes, which is why U.S. General Billy Mitchell stated to the U.S. Congress in 1935, "I believe that in the future, whoever holds Alaska will hold the world. I think it is the most important strategic place in the world." The Japanese reasoned that control of the Aleutians would prevent a possible U.S. attack across the Northern Pacific. Similarly, the U.S. feared that the islands would be used as bases from which to carry out a full-scale aerial attack on U.S. West Coast cities like Anchorage, Seattle, Portland, or Los Angeles.

440 Transport Squadron is a unit of the Canadian Forces under the Royal Canadian Air Force. It is part of 8 Wing and works closely with Joint Task Force (North) located in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

The Nakajima A6M2-N was a single-crew floatplane based on the Mitsubishi A6M Zero Model 11. The Allied reporting name for the aircraft was Rufe.

By January 1943 Western Air Command had expanded to include many bomber, fighter and operational units under its control. By the end of the war the command would involve some twenty squadrons when the last units to join were added in 1943. These were the 163 Army Cooperation Squadron in March flying Bristol Bolingbrokes and Hawker Hurricanes. In May the 160 Bomber-Reconnaissance Squadron was added flying Cansos (Catalinas) from Sea Island BC (before moving to Yarmouth, NS in July) and the 166 Communication Squadron formed in September flying various types. In addition to the new squadrons, new aircraft types came on line replacing the command's remaining Supermarine Stranraers and Blackburn Sharks with Cansos and the Bolingbrokes and Beauforts with the Lockheed Ventura. Countless training missions and operational patrols bolstered the air activity over the coastal areas but there was not much action until RCAF Western Command was on the look out for General Kusaba's fire balloons that the Japanese called the Fūsen Bakudan Campaign.

The Consolidated PBY Catalina, also known as the Canso in Canadian service, is an American flying boat, and later an amphibious aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s produced by Consolidated Aircraft. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other nations.

Yarmouth is a port town located on the Bay of Fundy in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. Yarmouth is the shire town of Yarmouth County and is largest population centre in the region.

In February and March 1945, P-40 fighter pilots from 133 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force operating out of RCAF Patricia Bay (Victoria, British Columbia), intercepted and destroyed two fire balloons, On 21 February, Pilot Officer E. E. Maxwell While shot down a balloon, which landed on Sumas Mountain, in Washington State. On 10 March, Pilot Officer J. O. Patten destroyed a balloon near Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. During another interception a Canso forced down a fire balloon which was examined at the army headquarters.

Sumas Mountain is a mountain located in Whatcom County, Washington, 15 miles northeast of Bellingham and southwest of Vedder Mountain. Located in the Skagit Range the mountain is notable for its high biodiversity and year-round hiking trails. It is sometimes referred to as American Sumas to distinguish it from an identically named mountain just to the north in British Columbia. It is largely owned by the Washington Department of Natural Resources, but some parcels are privately held. While the public land is open for recreation, it is managed primarily for timber harvest. Clearcuts are present on many slopes and most all the remaining forest is in varying stages of recovery and regrowth.

Salt Spring Island is one of the Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia between mainland British Columbia, Canada and Vancouver Island.

Operational training units

Patrol activity was joined by the Operational Training Schools (OTS) operated by Number 4 Training Command of the BCATP. They were the No. 3 OTS flying the Canso and Catalina and No. 32 OTS with Ansons, Beauforts and Swordfish at Patricia Bay. In April, 1944 the No. 5 OTS Heavy Conversion unit stood up at Boundary Bay when 16 B-24 Liberators arrived fresh from American factories. By the end of September 1944 RCAF 5 O.T.U. had grown to a sizeable force of some 87 aircraft including 38 B-24 Liberators, 35 B-25 Mitchells, 5 Bolingbrokes, 8 P-40 Kittyhawks and a single Norseman.

Boundary Bay is situated on the Pacific coast of North America on the Canada–United States border between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington.

The Noorduyn Norseman, also known as the C-64 Norseman, is a Canadian single-engine bush plane designed to operate from unimproved surfaces. Distinctive stubby landing gear protrusions from the lower fuselage make it easily recognizable.

Post war

With the end of the war in Europe these aircraft were joined by a number of Victory Aircraft Lancaster X bombers which were to be used to train the British Commonwealth's Very Long Range Bomber Tiger Force that would soon be sent to bomb the Japanese mainland from Okinawa. With the unconditional surrender of Japan the RCAF's Tiger Force bomber squadrons were disbanded before they flew overseas and the total draw down of the Western Air Command was suddenly undertaken. Within several months almost all the flying squadrons would be completely stood down.

Victory Aircraft Limited was a Canadian manufacturing company that, during the Second World War, built mainly British-designed aircraft under licence. It acted as a shadow factory, safe from the reach of German bombers.

Tiger Force, also known as the Very Long Range Bomber Force, was the name given to a World War II British Commonwealth long-range heavy bomber force, formed in 1945, from squadrons serving with RAF Bomber Command in Europe, for proposed use against targets in Japan. The unit was scheduled to be deployed to Okinawa in the Pacific theatre in the lead-up to the Allies' proposed invasion of Japan. The unit was disbanded after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria ended the war.

Order of battle

1 January 1943

HQ Vancouver, British Columbia.

No. 2 Group. HQ Victoria, British Columbia

Squadron	Type of Aircraft	Station
No. 4 Squadron RCAF	Consolidated Canso	RCAF Station Ucluelet
No. 14 Squadron RCAF	Curtiss Kittyhawk	RCAF Station Sea Island
No. 120 Squadron RCAF	Supermarine Stranraer	RCAF Station Coal Harbour
No. 122 Squadron RCAF	Various	RCAF Station Patricia Bay
No. 132 Squadron RCAF	Curtiss Kittyhawk	RCAF Station Tofino
No. 133 Squadron RCAF	Hawker Hurricane	RCAF Station Boundary Bay
No. 135 Squadron RCAF	Hawker Hurricane	RCAF Station Patricia Bay
No. 147 Squadron RCAF	Bristol Bolingbroke	RCAF Station Sea Island
No. 149 Squadron RCAF	Bristol Beaufort	RCAF Station Patricia Bay

No.4 Group. HQ Prince Rupert, British Columbia

Squadron	Type of Aircraft	Station
No. 6 Squadron RCAF	Supermarine Stranraer	RCAF Station Alliford Bay
No. 7 Squadron RCAF	Blackburn Shark	RCAF Station Prince Rupert
No. 9 Squadron RCAF	Supermarine Stranraer	RCAF Station Bella Bella

Detached operations
"X" Wing. HQ Anchorage, Alaska.

Squadron	Type of Aircraft	Station
No. 8 Squadron RCAF	Bristol Bolingbroke	Anchorage, Alaska- transferred to Sea Island 26 Feb
No. 14 Squadron RCAF	Curtiss Kittyhawk	Anchorage, Alaska- replaced 8 Sqn 2 Mar
No. 111 Squadron RCAF	Curtiss Kittyhawk	Kodiak, Alaska

"Y" Wing. HQ Annette Island, Alaska.

Squadron	Type of Aircraft	Station
No. 115 Squadron RCAF	Bristol Bolingbroke	Annette Island, Alaska
No. 118 Squadron RCAF	Curtiss Kittyhawk	Annette Island, Alaska

^[3]

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References

↑ "The Japanese Attack: Air Force, Part 31" (Canadian Military History in Perspective: Air Force)
↑ Juno Beach Centre
↑ Canadian Wings: RCAF Orders of Battle 1 January 1943

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[1] "The Japanese Attack: Air Force, Part 31" (Canadian Military History in Perspective: Air Force)

[2] Juno Beach Centre

[3] Canadian Wings: RCAF Orders of Battle 1 January 1943