The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) was founded in 1924 as a sort of federal air service, carrying out civilian-type operations for Ottawa. In the Second World War, the RCAF grew to more than 200,000 personnel in overseas squadrons and performed virtually every type of mission, including bombing and hunting submarines. Over the decades since, the RCAF has tried valiantly to carry out its mission of defending Canada, even when starved of funds by the federal government. Today, it is once again on the verge of becoming a modern, well-equipped air force.

In Canada’s Air Force, historian David J. Bercuson shares the history of the first one hundred years of the Royal Canadian Air Force, from its inception in 1924 to its centennial in 2024. Drawing on memoirs, diaries, unpublished histories, archival sources, interview transcripts, and standard reference works such as The Bomber Command War Diaries, Bercuson traces the history of the RCAF as not only a fighting force but also a human institution.

Canada’s Air Force analyses the first century of the RCAF through the clear-eyed perspective of a Canadian historian who has closely scrutinized one hundred years of the RCAF’s story.

DAVID J. BERCUSON has written, co-authored or edited over 30 popular and academic books, including One Christmas in Washington, The Patricias,The Destruction of the Bismarck and Blood on the Hills. He is a regular commentator for television and radio, and has written for The Globe and Mail, the Calgary Herald, the National Post and the Toronto Star, among many other newspapers. Since 1997, he has been director of the Centre of Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary. He is Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of the 33 Field Engineer Squadron, a Land Force Reserve military engineer unit of the Canadian Forces. Bercuson lives in Calgary.

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