MacDonald, Alexander Joseph

Killed in Flying Accident 1945-03-26

Birth Date: 1925-November-13

Born:

Son of Dr. Hugh Gillis MacDonald and Ella Patricia MacDonald MacDonald, of North Sydney, Nova Scotia.

Home: North Sydney, Nova Scotia

Enlistment:

Enlistment Date: Unknown

Service

RCAF

Unit

1 WS- Wireless School

Base

Mount Hope, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Rank

Flying Officer

Position

Flying Officer

Service Numbers

J/44939

Home

North Sydney, Nova Scotia

First Burial

Holy Cross Cemetery, Sydney, Nova Scotia

1 Wireless School, Montreal, Quebec. Flying Officer MacDonald was the pilot of Yale aircraft 3421, was flying low during routine wireless training and was killed when the aircraft hit some trees three miles north of Elnora, Ontario.

Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

www.findagrave.com

Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

This incident involved multiple aircraft:

Yale Serial: 3421

All the above aircraft in the above list are referenced in this report.

Findagrave.com

Yale 3421

Flying Officer MacDonald, Alexander Joseph (RCAF)
Pilot
Killed in Flying Accident
1945-March-26
Holy Cross Cemetery, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada

North American Yale

Source: CWHM

North_American_Yale_135.jpg image not found

The North American NA-64 (NA-64 P-2 or NAA-64 P-2 in French service, Yale in Canadian service) is a low-wing single piston engine monoplane advanced trainer aircraft that was built for the French Air Force and French Navy, served with the Royal Canadian Air Force, and with the Luftwaffe as a captured aircraft during World War II.

Ordered as a follow-on to the NA-57 as a two-seat advanced trainer, the NA-64 P-2/NAA-64 P-2 represented a major structural improvement, with a longer all-metal fuselage replacing the fabric covered fuselage of the NA-57. As well as metal skin replacing the fabric on the fuselage, the fin was changed from having a corrugated skin to being a smooth stressed skin structure and was moved slightly aft, lengthening the rear fuselage while the engine was moved forward to maintain the center of gravity. The rudder was also changed from the rounded shape used previously to one with a roughly triangular shape with the broadest part being at the bottom to improve handling at high angles of attack. In one respect however, it was a step backwards from its immediate predecessor, the BT-14, with which it is often confused, in that the earlier straight wings were used with the result that in RCAF service, when compared to the later and more powerful Harvard II it was flown alongside, it had different handling characteristics and lower performance.

The British Purchasing Commission bought the 119 aircraft that had not yet been delivered to France in 1940, and transferred them to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan between August and September 1940, and all were operational by November. The type was named the Yale Mk.I following British naming practice of naming trainers after education institutions and US-supplied aircraft after American locations, in this case, Yale University, and were used initially as intermediate pilot trainers taking pilots from the de Havilland Tiger Moth and Fleet Finch to the much faster and more complex North American Harvard, until this category was dispensed with as being unnecessary. They were then relegated for use as airborne wireless radio trainers, along with the contemporary Fleet Fort intermediate trainer in 1943. Prior to service entry, the throttle and engine mixture controls were modified from the system used by the French whereby the throttle was pulled back to increase power, and the mixture control pulled back to lean out the mixture, to the system used on the Harvard.Wikipedia

Wikipedia North American Yale

YouTube YouTube North American Yale

General Harold A Skaarup Web Page

1 WS (1 Wireless School)

Trainees in the "Wireless Air Gunner" (WAG) stream spent 24 weeks at a Wireless Schoo learning the theory and application of wireless communications. This included signalling with lights and flags as well as radio. Their "WAG" training was completed with four weeks at a Bombing & Gunnery School.