No. 168 Squadron RCAF
168 Heavy Transport Squadron | |
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Lockheed Lodestar |
No. 168 Squadron RCAF was a heavy transport (H.T.) squadron of the
Before October 1943, the Canadian Government had sent mail to Canadian service personnel in the United Kingdom by ship. However, high ship losses and the importance of mail to service personnel prompted the government to switch to air mail. The Squadron's primary role was to deliver mail to Europe, initially using six surplus
The first scheduled mail flight was carried out by Fortress 9204 on 15 December 1943 with 2 passengers and 5,502 lb (2,496 kg) of mail after the aircraft intended for this flight, 9202 was grounded due to a mechanical problem.[2] On 2 April 1944, Fortress 9207 crashed shortly after take off from Glasgow Prestwick Airport, killing all five crew members.[2] In August 1944, the RCAF added the first of several
During its period of service the squadron completed 636
Once most Canadian troops deployed to Europe had been repatriated following the end of the
References
Citations
- ^ a b c Kostenuk, 1977, p.73
- ^ a b c d "RCAF Flying Fortresses". Rwrwalker.ca. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
- ^ "Daniel Lee". Thememoryproject.com. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
- ^ A History of the Rockcliffe Airport Site: Home of the National Aviation Museum, Ottawa, Canada, 1999 casmuseum.techno-science.ca/doc/research/casm/e_Rockcliffe.pdf
- ^ "No. 168 Squadron, Canadian Air Force". Canadianwings.com. Archived from the original on 20 June 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
Bibliography
- Kostenuk, S.; Griffin, J. (1977). RCAF Squadron Histories and Aircraft: 1924–1968. Toronto, ON: Samuel Stevens, Hakkert & Co. ISBN 978-0888665775.
- Christie, Carl A. (1995). Ocean Bridge: The History of RAF Ferry Command. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-8131-5.