Yanks in the RCAF

PRIOR TO THE ENTRY OF THE UNITED STATES INTO WORLD WAR

TWO, MANY A AN OPPORTUNITY TO FIGHT NAZI

AGGRESSION IN EUROPE BY VOLUNTEERING WITH THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE

Idealistic young Americans that wanted to combat Nazi aggression in Europe went "north" to join the Canadians in the Allied fight against the Germans. For other individuals, the draw to adventure and excitement was enough to send them across the border to the nearest Royal Canadian Air Force recruiting office. Still others, turned down by the American military would be given a second chance to fulfill their dreams in an RCAF uniform.

United States Army Air Force fighter ace Don Gentile, unable to meet the educational requirements of the prewar Air Corps, took his high school diploma to Canada and was accepted in the RCAF. Prior to becoming famous flying the Bell X-1 and many other experimental aircraft, test pilot Charles "Slick" Goodlin signed up with the RCAF. In August 1941, John Gillespie Magee Jr. traveled north from his home in the United States and enlisted in the RCAF. He would later become internationally known for his poem High Flight. American Joe McCarthy would join the RCAF and later participate in the famous "dam buster" raids with No. 601 Squadron. fellow pilot trainees as a "crazy American." Vance Chipman was in the final stage of his pilot training prior to receiving wings. At one point in the senior course's training the students were ordered to get many of their solo hours during the mid-day lunch break - when instructors were eating. This became an opportunity to attempt unauthorized aerobatics away from the eyes of an instructor. Fellow RCAF course member Tony Ward described the situation:

"One day, someone landed and when he came into the flight room he said he had seen an Avro Anson doing loops. Shortly afterwards, Chipman came in and said he had managed to loop an Anson, "For the next few days, it was possible to see Ansons looping like mad things all over the sky as everyone used their lunch hour flying to join the act.

"It was too good to last. A notice appeared on the squadron board: Course 63 to parade in a hangar at 1830 hours. "When we were all present and in order, the Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) appeared and took us to an Anson standing in the corner of the hangar and we were told to crawl underneath the wing by the port engine nacelle and look up. There, stretching from the leading edge to the aileron hinge, was a crack in the plywood skin about an eighth of an inch wide.

"We were told that the crack had been caused by badly executed loops.

"We spent all our spare time for the next two weeks cleaning aircraft."

On another occasion, after a particularly hectic night enjoying some beverages in the canteen, Chipman went down to the hangars and took one of the towing tractors and drove it round and round the parade square - hotly pursued by the station police in cars, trucks, etc.

Chipman drove the tractor down a narrow alley between the barrack blocks, abandoned it, and managed to get back to his bunk, undress and get in before the barrack search reached his block. When they finally reached his barrack, Chipman was in pajamas like the rest of his coursemates. He got away with that one.

Chipman would eventually wind up flying de Havilland Mosquitos with the 25th Bomb Group where he continued to entertain In the air and on the ground. While stationed at Watton, England, his pet monkey managed to get hold of a flare and light It inside the officers' mess - resulting in quite a mess!

Joe Hartshorn was a flying instructor at Centralia. Like other Americans, he signed up to train as a pilot in the RCAF. After completing his flight training, he was posted to flying instructors' school, then to Centralia. After Centralia, he was posted overseas and flew Avro Lancasters with No. 419 Squadron. When many fellow Americans were transferring to the USAAF, the RCAF wanted to keep him as they had made a substantial investment in his training. The compromise reached kept him in the RCAF, but he would wear a USAAF uniform and collect more lucrative American pay.

Hartshorn completed an operational tour and, as the result of bringing a damaged aircraft and crew back to base from one of the many wild missions, was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross.

John Birky left his home in Valparaiso, Indiana, an joined the RCAF. After completing elementary flying training in de Havilland Tiger Moths, he was posted to Centralia for his advanced service flight training. Upon completion of this stage of his flight training, he would receive his wings.

On the evening of 20 September 1942, Birky took off in Anson 7573 to practice solo night flying. Not far from the station, the aircraft crashed and burst into flames. Farmers living nearby jumped a creek then reached through the flames to pull Birky from the burning aircraft. He died from his injuries the next day. His body was escorted back to his home town by fellow coursemate Bill George who lived near Birky in Indianapolis.