American Flying Instructor

January 5th, 1941 was the first that I ever flew and Mr. Brown was my instructor because what they had started with flying clubs took on a contract to train. And Mr. Brown was an American and I’d like to get this point across because with everything here. During the wartime, 8800 Americans came up and joined the air force. Some of them because of connections like Jake Robertson, very close friend from Indiana, his grandfather had been Canadian. And the Americans weren’t in the war. Others came up for those reasons but others came up because they had flying experience. They had instructors, commercial tickets and so they came up through the underground which was actually operated by the British Council from New York to Montreal, from Chicago to Windsor, from Seattle to (inaudible). And without the help of the Americans, the British Common Wealth Air Training Plan would have had difficulty getting off the floor. And Mr. Brown was my instructor. The big thing about this is that when they came into the war in 1941 for higher pay, benefits and so on, 2200 went back into the army air corp. They didn’t have the air force then. Army air corp. Six hundred stayed until the end of the war in the RCAF and that’s something I stress when I’m giving some talks.

Mr. Fox discusses the role of American pilots in the Royal Canadian Air Force

Charley Fox

Mr. Fox was born in Guelph, Ontario in 1920. He signed up in March, 1940, and was called up the following October. Mr. Fox excelled during pilot training, but a bout of scarlet fever prevented him from accompanying his squadron overseas. Once returned to health, he became a flight instructor, during which time he married. A short time later, he was sent overseas and joined the 412 Spitfire Squadron. He was involved in air support for D-Day and flew many follow-up missions destroying “targets of opportunity” in France and Holland. After the war, Mr. Fox returned home and became a retailer. He now resides in London, Ontario.