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Women Mechanics

Members of the Women’s Division of the RCAFAs the need for trained men increased during the war, more help was needed to keep the massive schools of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan going. The first Women’s Division members Members of the Canadian Women’s Auxiliary Air Force met this need for workers in the trades. This women’s auxiliary air force was renamed in 1941 as the Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division (RCAF WD).

Members of the Women’s Division could be found carrying out everything from aircraft mechanics to packing parachutes and ferrying aircraft between airfields. They played important roles in servicing aircraft and getting them into the air. The motto of the Women’s Division was, "They service that men may fly." Much of the division of labour that once existed between men and women evaporated during the time of war.


Source: Myers, Patricia A. Sky Riders: An Illustrated History of Aviation in Alberta 1906-1945. Saskatoon: Fifth House, 1995.

 

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