Canadian Military Intelligence History: 1939-1945, Royal Canadian Air Force Intelligence

RCAF Intelligence Operations during the Second War

(RCAF Photo)

RCAF bomber crew receiving a briefing, and later being debriefed by the Squadron Intelligence Officer.

As of 23 May 1940, Squadron Leader R.L. Logan, a First World War pilot who spent the last years of that war in a German prison camp, was at work as the Director of Intelligence (Air) –hereafter referred to a DAI - in the Chief of the Air Staff organization in NDHQ. He was obviously doing good work because by November he had been promoted to Wing Cdr (W/C). It seems he had faced a challenge in raising an Air Force intelligence organization and, in common with the present author, found the records to be gaunt. In a lengthy attachment to a letter to the Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Eastern Air Command on 29 November 1941, entitled “Notes on the Organization of the Intelligence Service of the RCAF,” he started by declaring, “Up to the present time no written record has been found,by the writer, of any clearly defined policy governing the organization or activities of the Intelligence Service of the RCAF”[38] Although some officers did fill the established positions as “intelligence officers,” most of them, according to W/C Logan, “are not functioning as such, for the simple reason that neither they nor their Commanding Officers have been told what they are supposed to do.” (BGen (Retired) James Cox)

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3218424)

Squadron Leader R.A. Logan, CAF, c1922.

           Logan had sent a similar note to other subordinate air commands in his continuing effort to establish a comprehensive Air Intelligence network across the RCAF. Despite the times, Eastern Command did not reply to W/C Logan’s letter and he had to send a “polite hastener” on 19 December. The AOC then sent a supportive reply on 6 January 1942. Subsequent correspondence over the first three months of 1942 shows considerable staff activity, particularly on the east coast, to install Air Intelligence Officers at various stations and headquarters, in accordance with W/C Logan’s initiatives. For all he accomplished, it is interesting to note that W/C Logan received no credit for this work in Douglas’ The Creation of a National Air Force.

           Nonetheless, as mentioned above, Douglas does present a comprehensive discussion of RCAF operations in Canada throughout the war years. Of particular interest is the material dealing with joint RCN and RCAF operations on both coasts.  The defence of Canada and the anti-submarine campaign off the east coast is a main story and the archive files are filled with numerous memos and messages describing the tactical intelligence interplay between RCAF and RCN forces in the Northwest Atlantic area, in the hunt for enemy submarines.  Prominent in that material are intelligence reports that percolate to all levels of air headquarters and staffs. Logan had done wonders.

On 2 June, Col Murray was appointed the Chairman of the Y Sub-Committee of the Chiefs of Staff Committee[56] and solidified his position as the “main” intelligence appointment in NDHQ.  He was certainly involved, in one way or another, in all intelligence initiatives.  The minutes of that meeting show a list of members, among whom is found Squadron Leader H. Ronald “Ronnie” Stewart of the RCAF.  This is the first time his name appears as a representative of DAI.[57] (BGen (Retired) James Cox)

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4327385)

Squadron Leader H.R. Stewart, RCAF, 12 September 1940.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 5559130)

The target was Sterkrade, a strategic industrial town in the Ruhr, Germany, heavily defended with flak batteries and night-fighters. The trio from No. 431 Iroquois Squadron shown here, are telling an intelligence officer how they saw the objective pranged. Shown are (left to right) P/O Hal Phillips from Vancouver, BV,  F/O Gordon Dumville from Rocanville, Saskatchewan, and F/O R. W. Harrison from Lorlie, Saskatchewan. All had completed more than ten missions with the RCAF Bomber Group, 17 June 1944.

16/17th June 1944, bombing raid on Sterkrade in the Ruhr with 321 Aircraft, including 162 Halifaxes, 147 Lancasters, 12 Mosquitos – flown by Nos. 1, 4, 6 & 8 Groups to Attack the Synthetic-Oil Plant at Sterkrade/Holten despite a poor Weather Forecast. The Ruhrchemie AG Synthetic Oil Plant (“Oberhausen-Holten” or “Sterkrade/Holten”) was a Bombing Target of the Oil Campaign which pitted the RAF, the RCAF, and the USAAF against Facilities supplying Germany with Petroleum, Oil, and Lubrication (POL) Products.
The Target was found to be covered by thick Cloud and the Pathfinder Markers quickly disappeared. The Main Force Crews could do little but Bomb on to the diminishing Glow of the Markers in the Cloud. RAF Photographic Reconnaissance & German Reports agree that most of the Bombing was scattered, although some Bombs did fall in the Plant area, but with little effect upon Production. Unfortunately, the Route of the Bomber Stream passed near a German Night-Fighter Beacon at Bocholt, only 30-miles from Sterkrade. The German Controller had chosen this Beacon as the Holding Point for his Night Fighters. Approximately 21 Bombers were Shot Down by Fighters and a further 10 by Flak. 22 of the Lost Aircraft were Halifax’s, these losses being 13.6% of the 162 Halifax’s on the Raid.

(RCAF Photo)

RCAF bomber crew receiving a briefing, and later being debriefed by the Squadron Intelligence Officer.

(IWM Photo)

Women knitting together a terrain model used for briefing RAF and RCAF aircrews, c1942.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3353839)

RCAF Intelligence Room, Boundary Bay, British Columbia, 26 Jan 1943.

(IWM Photo, CH 17127)

Flight Lieutenant J. M. Maclennan, the Intelligence Officer of No. 406 Squadron, RCAF, hanging aircraft recognition models in his office at Acklington, Northumberland.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 5085632)

Operations monitoring at the Eastern Air Command HQ, Halifax, 9 January 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3583690)

Processing of prints for tri-metrogon mapping, No. 1 Photographic Establishment, RCAF, Rockcliffe, Ontario, Canada, 1 March 1945.

Trimetrogon is an aerial photographic survey method that involves the use of three cameras in one assembly. One camera is pointed directly downwards, and the other two are pointed to either side of the flight path at a 30° depression angle (60° from vertical). The images overlap, allowing the use of stereographic interpretation of the topography. The name comes from the Metrogon cameras used in the original montages.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3583720)

Processing of prints for tri-metrogon mapping, No.1 Photographic Establishment, RCAF, Rockcliffe, Ontario, Canada, 1 March 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3583694)

Processing of prints for tri-metrogon mapping, No. 1 Photographic Establishment, RCAF, Rockcliffe, Ontario, Canada, 1 March 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3574066)

Preliminary indexing of prints for tri-metrogon mapping, No.1 Photographic Establishment, RCAF, Rockcliffe, Ontario, Canada, 1 March 1945.

Captured German Aircraft and Equipment, 1945

German aircraft taken as war prizes in 1945 and flown by RCAF test pilots at Farnborough in the UK.  For more information on these aircraft see the sections on Axis Warplane Survivors and Canadian War Trophies.

(DND Photos)

German V2 rocket taken as a war prize in 1945 and brought to Canada by Capt F.M. Mowat's Intelligence Collection team.  The V2 is shown here on display at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto in 1950.  This V2 is believed to have been buried near Picton, Ontario, ca 1960.  For more information on this rocket see the section on Canadian War Trophies.

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