Early Canadian Military Aircraft
Acquisitions, Dispositions, Colour Schemes and Markings, Volume 1: Aircraft taken on strength through 1920
Why this particular topic? Why the incredible detail, the result of such painstaking research? Because, I am convinced, that the subject is a part of the central core of Canadian history. In the two decades between the World Wars, Canada developed greatly, building upon the sense of solidarity gained in the first of these conflicts. Much of this was facilitated by the development of technology, of which aviation was a major part. Oddly enough, for such a laisser faire society it was the Canadian government that played a leading role in this, and the RCAF and its predecessors was its instrument. Not only did the "bush pilots in uniform" pioneer myriad aspects of aviation in all parts of Canada, but despite a miniscule budget and a suspicious parliament and populace they maintained the nucleus of a military air arm which slowly developed into the framework of the wartime RCAF. But, whatever honour is due to the men (and it is great), it is the aircraft that provide the visual impact and the structure of the narrative.
Reviews
"Our official history offices are chronically under-resourced to take on the gargantuan tasks of writing and producing accurate service histories, and most other writers instead prefer to focus on either entertaining popular accounts or detailed academic scholarly works, resulting in a serious gap in the literature that must be filled by someone in order to effectively connect the two. Those who undertake the incredibly time-consuming task of presenting knowledge on a Canadian military subject with such totality are therefore to be commended for their efforts, for it is no small task to produce a work such as the one reviewed here....Will very likely become the reference on aircraft taken into Canadian service between the two world wars. Using the tremendous research archives and personal library of Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) pilot and aviation historian John Griffin (1922-2008), the authors, editors, and illustrators have undertaken a labour of love to give Griffon's lifelong work a permanent place in Canadian aviation history. Reference books of this nature often have a wide appeal and this volume will undoubtedly deliver. For the historian and general reader the book offers a complete technical and development history of these aircraft; for the aviation enthusiast, there are endless seldom-seen and some never-seen-before pictures of these aircraft in service. For the museum conservationist or modeler, the colour references offer unprecedented detail regarding schemes and markings, as well as a nearly endless number of variants from which examples could be built and represented. It is a remarkable collection of historical data, fused into information in a manner that provides quality analysis of early Canadian military aviation told through the machines upon which it was built....A magnificent start to what promises to be one of the best Canadian military aviation references ever produced, and this reviewer looks forward to the next release."-The Royal Air Force Journal
"The aircraft chapters are profusely illustrated with an aggregate of 122 pages of color scheme information and profiles, 125 mostly rare photographs, and detailed technical and serial tables. Everything is well laid out such that you aren't dozing through a half-dozen pages of text nor is the text interrupted by seemingly random placement of photos and captions or excessive white-space. After the aircraft chapters come several appendices which cover general information on finishing materials, colors and markings, including reproductions from original documentation, 15 pages of scale drawings (with fuselage cross-sections if you still build your own), maps of bases and of the 1920 Trans-Canada Flight, references, and full indexes."-IPMS
"The easy to follow format breaks each aircraft type-oriented chapter into two distinct parts: The first features a year by year operational summary, and the second (which is likely to be of most interest to modelers) a thorough study of the colour and markings schemes worn by the type during its Canadian Service. In the first part, every page is loaded with related photos. All are beautifully presented and many have been painstakingly restored just for this project. In the second part, illustrator Andrew Tattersall provides lavish schematic-type colour multi-views to graphically communicate the authors' finish and markings interpretations. These include all pertinent views with colour callouts on each page. Adjacent to the colour art for each distinct scheme are the authors' extensive notes on the origin of the finish depicted, the paints used and the markings sizes."-Hyperscale
