How Did Mackenzie King Support Canada

Canada’s calls to war have never been because of attacks on its home soil but calls from Britain to support its war effort. During World War I, Canada’s contributions to air forces were as part of the Royal Flying Corps and Canadian accomplishments part of the Royal Flying Corps’. Because Canada had no real air force during the First World War, any Canadian that wanted to be a pilot would join the Royal Flying Corps due to lack of options in Canada. After World War I, Canada slowly began building a small air force of its own that was mostly used for training. This force was small before World War II because the need for an air force was not as visible during peacetime as it was during wartime. Before the war started the Royal Canadian Air Force

Mackenzie King like Prime Ministers before him had to balance the needs of Britain with the demands of his citizens. Quebec would be harder to convince after the Conscription Crisis of World War I. So, Mackenzie King had a Canadian solution that would allow Canada to support Britain and appease most Canadians. He would support Britain in a Canadian manner by sending as few Canadians overseas as possible. Mackenzie King signed the Air Training Agreement, on his birthday the 17 December 1939, that would start the British Commonwealth Air Training Program. On the announcement over the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation King stated that Britain described the plan as “’the most effective assistance toward ultimate victory’ that Canada can render.” The program would train over 130,000 Dominion citizens as aircrew for service in the war in over 100 training schools. This paper will argue that the British Commonwealth Air Training Program was Canada’s most important contribution to the British war

The mid-Atlantic gap known as the “black pit” was where the U-boats were most successful because the Allied aircraft were not capable of making the round trip there until newer long-range aircraft were produced during the war. To make the trip from Britain to America the support of the Allied air forces was necessary for enough ships to bring supplies to Europe. Because U-boats were so susceptible to being spotted by the aircraft the inclusion of aircraft to the convoys gave the Allies the ability to spot more of the U-boats before they could sink the merchant ships bring essential supplies to Britain. The Leigh Light further increased these capabilities, so U-boats would also be susceptible to being spotted at night. Without the RCAF, and RAF Coastal command supporting Allied supply efforts Britain would not have received enough supplies and would have lost in a war of attrition to Germany. The mustering of the capabilities for this effort came from the BCATP training so many of the Allied forces