About

CASPIR Data Archive Mission & Data Sources Our Team RCAF Assistance CASPIR Volunteering Canada Air Military Historians

CASPIR contains documents, images and history of Canada's military aviation. The personnel and aircraft data has been compiled using data provided by trusted Canadian military aviation historians and original source documents. Where possible source documents are linked.
Research

CASPIR Resources

RCAF Accident Cards (1939-1945) JA Griffin Documents 1968 and 2005 Obtaining a World War II Service File

External Resources

RCAF.info: Research Resources RCAF.info: Finding Your Family Records

Griffin Library, 17 Wing Winnipeg

John Griffin was a significant historian, documenting Canada's Military aircraft.
Aircraft

Military Aircraft Associated with Canadians Choose a Specific Aircraft Serial

Lancaster FM213

CWHM flies one of the two airworthy Lancasters in the world. FM213 is usually marked as KB726 honouring Andrew Mynarski, VC.
Personnel

Find a Person
Name or Home Town Search Browse by Letter

Casualties and Remembrance
War Status Search Catastrophic Losses (Ships Hotels Aircraft) Cemeteries (WW1 WW2 and Beyond) This Day in History

Units, Aircraft and Services
Unit (Squadron) Search Aircraft Type or Serial Search Choose Specific Military

Andrew Mynarski, VC

We Shall Remember Them.
Interactive Maps

Second World War Training

BCATP Training Schools BCATP Casualties 1939-45 Overseas Training Casualties 1939-45

Second World War Operations

Fighter Squadrons Maritime Reconnaissance Squadrons Transport Squadrons
Bomber Command
Bomber Squadrons RCAF Bomb Tonnage 1941-45

Cold War

Maps to come.

Other

Maps to come.
History

Education & History
Start Here Glossary Canada and the Second World War Combatants & First Airmen Casualties Air Force Operations Battle of Britain Women in War War Artists Canada in Korean Air War 1950-1953

Blogs & Articles
CASPIR Overview First World War Neighbourhood - Dufferin & Dupont Canada's First Military Aeroplane 1917

"A" Able flying through the Eiffel Tower? (although this event likely happened, this photograph is likely fake.) It is signed by the late Bill Bryant RAF who was the navigator of that aircraft piloted by Bob Boorman RCAF. The caption reads "This Stars Stripes photograph was taken on 14 September 1944 and shows a Mosquito Mk XIII of 409 Squadron RCAF. Pilot - W/O Bob Boorman RCAF Navigator F/S Bill Bryant RAF Flying through the Eiffel Tower."
Contact

Dessert, Leon Albert (Pilot Officer)

Killed in Flying Accident 1944-July-27

Pilot Officer Leon Albert Dessert RCAF

Birth Date: 1919-December-12

Born: Redpath, Saskatchewan

Parents: Joseph Emile & Delisca Dessert

Spouse: Irene Dessert, of New Westminster, BC

Home: Marcelin, Saskatchewan

Enlistment: Montreal, Quebec

Enlistment Date: 1940-May-31

Service

RCAF

Unit

4 (BR) Sqn- Squadron

Base

RCAF Stn, Ucluelet, BC

Rank

Pilot Officer

Position

Flight Engineer

Service Numbers

C/46828

Home

Google Map

Marcelin, Saskatchewan

Final Burial

Google Map

St Peter's Roman Catholic Cemetery
Block 4 Lot 35 Grave C

4 Bomber Reconnaissance Squadron, Ucluelet, British Columbia. Death by natural causes while in the Deer Lodge Hospital at Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Canada Source Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Commonwealth War Grave Commission Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Find-A-Grave Finadagrave.com

Canada Primary Source Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

Unit Desciption

4 (BR) Sqn ()

Lineage (excerpt)

Authorized as '4 (Operations) Squadron' 1 April 1925.

Redesignated 'No.4 Squadron (Training)' 1 April 1927. Disbanded 1 July 1927.

Redesignated 'No.4 (Flying Boat) Squadron' 1 November 1935.

Redesignated 'No.4 (General Reconnaissance) Squadron' 1 December 1937.

Redesignated 'No.4 (Bomber Reconnaissance) Squadron' 1 September 1939. Disbanded 7 August 1945.

Operational history

The Second World War

The squadron flew on anti-submarine operations on the Pacific Coast under 'Western Air Command'.

Government of Canada, The Insignia and Lineages of the Canadian Forces, Volume 4: Operational Flying Squadrons (A-AD-267-000/AF-004)