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#1
29-08-13, 07:05 PM
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US citizens in the RCAF,post 7 Dec. 1941
On 7 December 1941, American aircrew serving in the RCAF totaled 6,129, with just over half, 3,886 under training [BCATP] in Canada. All Americans were given the opportunity to return to the US, and 3,797 requested transfer back to their own national forces. A special train left Washington stopping at every RCAF training base, and 1,759 Americans boarded the train. In total 5,263 Americans completed their service in the RCAF. From 1939-45 a total of 8,864 Americans served in the RCAF, and 704 were killed in training or combat.
More than 1000 Americans served in the RAF, only 224 were concentrated into the 3 Eagle squadrons, all of which had non-Americans in the squadrons as well. A number of British personnel were seconded to the USAAF in September 1942 when the three squadrons were transferred to the USAAF as the 334th, 335th, and 336th Fighter Squadrons of the new 4th Fighter Group. Spaatz, to some degree, then distributed the experienced personnel among other groups. After Pearl Harbour 1759 American members of the RCAF transferred to the armed forces of the United States. Another 2000 transferred later on and about 5000 completed their wartime service with the RCAF. Arguably the most illustrious of the Americans in the RCAF was Wing Commander Joe McCarthy DSO DFC and Bar of Long Island, New York. W/C McCarthy played a leading role in the well-known "Dambusters Raid" and completed a distinguished wartime and post-war career with the RCAF. Another renowned American in the RCAF was Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, author of the classic aviation poem, "High Flight". P/O Magee was killed in 1941 while serving as a Spitfire pilot with No. 412 Fighter Squadron RCAF. Another American in the RCAF was F/Lt. Charles Lesesne whose aircraft was hit by flak and then attacked by three enemy Me-262 jet fighters. F/Lt. Lesesne ordered his Canadian crew to abandon the No. 425 Halifax, struggling to hold the aircraft steady as they did. Sadly, he was badly injured in the attack and later died on the ground in the arms of his wireless operator. F/Lt. Lesesne's was one of 379 Americans whose names appear on Canada's Bomber Command Memorial. Courtesy of militaryhistoryonline.com
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"There truly exists but one perfect order: that of cemeteries. The dead never complain and they enjoy their equality in silence." - “There are things we know that we know,” “There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don't know.” Donald Rumsfeld, before the Iraqi Invasion,2003. Age is something that doesn't matter, unless you are a cheese. 
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