Royal Canadian Air Force Women's Division
| Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Women's Division | |
|---|---|
.svg) Royal Canadian Air Force Ensign | |
| Active | 1941-1946 |
| Disbanded | December 1946 |
| Country | Canada |
| Allegiance | Canada |
| Branch | Element of the Royal Canadian Air Force |
| Role | Operational support. Various duties. |
| Size | Approx. 17,400 personnel |
| Nickname(s) | "WD" |
| Patron | HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone |
| Motto(s) | We Serve That Men May Fly |
The Royal Canadian Air Force Women's Division was an element of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) which was active during the Second World War.
The Women's Division was originally called the Canadian Women's Auxiliary Air Force (CWAAF), which formed in July 1941. The change to Royal Canadian Air Force Women's Division occurred in February 1942. Women's Division personnel were commonly known as WDs.
WDs supported the war effort by taking over more mundane wartime responsibilities from men, who were made available for overseas operational duties and to instruct in British Commonwealth Air Training Plan schools across Canada. The original 1941 order-in-council authorized "the formation of a component of the Royal Canadian Air Force to be known as the Canadian Women's Auxiliary Air Force, it's function being to release to heavier duties those members of the RCAF employed in administrative, clerical and other comparable types of service employment." Duties, however, expanded as the war progressed. Among the many jobs carried out by WD personnel, they became clerks, drivers, fabric workers, hairdressers, hospital assistants, instrument mechanics, parachute riggers, photographers, air photo interpreters, intelligence officers, instructors, weather observers, pharmacists, wireless operators, and Service Police. Many WDs served overseas with No. 6 (bomber) Group. Over 17,400 women served with the Women's Division before it was discontinued in December 1946.[1] Thirty WDs died during the war.[2] The WD motto was We Serve That Men May Fly.
During the war Princess Alice, the then viceregal consort of Govenror General Alexander Cambridge, Earl of Athlone, served as Honorary Air Commandant of the Women's Division.
Notes
References
- Greenhous, Brereton; Halliday, Hugh A. Canada's Air Forces, 1914–1999. Montreal: Editions Art Global and the Department of National Defence, 1999. ISBN 2-920718-72-X.
- Granatstein, J.L.; Morton, Desmond. A Nation Forged In Fire - Canadians and the Second World War 1939-1945. Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys Ltd., 1989. ISBN 0-88619-213-7
- Ziegler, Mary. We Serve That Men May Fly - The Story of the Women's Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Hamilton: RCAF (WD) Association, 1973. No ISBN.