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We hope you enjoyed answering the Canadian Aviation Moments in February. We encourage readers to send in their responses to the Canadian Aviation Moments questions at: info@cahs.ca. Your responses will be included in the following month's newsletter. Here are the correct answers:

Question: The Vickers Wellington bomber was affectionately named the "Wimpy". What comic strip character was the bomber named after?

Answer: “The most successful of Bomber Command’s wartime starting stable was the Vicker’s Wellington. Affectionately nicknamed the “Wimpy” after J. Wellington Wimpy, Popeye’s corpulent hamburger-eating chum, the somewhat portly Wellington was a docile yet lively performer.”

Source: No Prouder Place, by David L. Bashow, Page 23

Question: What was the total number of personnel in the RCAF at the beginning of WWII and at the end of WWII? What was the authorized strength after WWII and how long did it take to reach that strength?

Answer: Around the end of 1939 “the RCAF had only 4,061 officers and airmen (including the Non-permanent Force).”

Source: Canadian Combat and Support Aircraft, by T.F.J. Leversedge, page 26

Answer: “At the cessation of hostilities the RCAF had 164, 846 all ranks (the peak was in 1944 with 215,200) serving; this was to be reduced to an authorized strength of 16,000 all ranks. This demobilization was to take place over two years.”

Source: Canadian Combat and Support Aircraft, by T. F. J. Leversedge, Page 32

Question: There was only one Canadian squadron named after a person. Which squadron was it and who was it named after?

This answer was submitted by Robert Nash of Winnipeg:

419 Squadron, was named after Wing Commander John "Moose" Fulton DSO, DFC, AFC.

"The high esteem in which the men of No. 419 Squadron held their missing leader was demonstrated by the adoption of his nickname as their own, thus immortalizing the first commanding officer of "Moose" Squadron for all time. No. 419 was the only Canadian squadron to be named after a person." Source

Answer: “419 Squadron was based at Mildenhall in 3 group territory and flew its first operational sorties in January 1942. Again, following what had become something of a tradition, the unit’s first commanding officer was a CAN/RAF, the highly capable and charismatic Wing Commander J. “Moose” Fulton, DFC, AFC, who had already completed a distinguished tour of thirty operations with 99 Squadron and an equally distinguished tour of duty with the Armament Defence Flight Experimental Section at Farnborough. Fulton was a tireless, fearless, and popular commander, who led from the front and fully shared the risks of his men, in spite of orders at the time to squadron skippers to minimize their operational flying. This combination of dedication and concern would lead the squadron into taking Fulton’s nickname for its own after his death in action, and eventually getting it officially recognized, so it became No 419 (Moose) Squadron, RCAF – the only Canadian squadron to be named after a person.”

Source: No Prouder Place, by David L. Bashow, Page 84

The Canadian Aviation Moments were submitted by Dennis Casper from the Roland Groome (Regina) Chapter of the CAHS.

The Canadian Aviation Moments questions for March are:

Question: What was the original strength of the Sea Kings – How many are left?

Source: Page 11 – Air Force Revue – Winter 08

Question: What was the single reason, caused by bureaucracy, that limited the Short Stirling bomber to a 15,000 ft ceiling?

Source: No Prouder Place: Page 39

Question: What was the name of the WW1 equivalent to the BCATP of WW2 – How many pilots were graduated and of those how many went overseas and how many fully trained observers graduated?

Source: From Baddeck to the Yalu: Page 31