Ernest Charles Hoy

Prisoner of War 1918-September-28

Captain Ernest Charles Hoy RAF

Birth Date: 1895-May-06

Born: Dauphin, Manitoba

Parents: Charles Theophiles James Hoy & Eliza Lavinia Elizabeth Amelia Kitchener

Spouse: Marjorie Day

Home: Toccoa, Georgia, USA

Enlistment: Victoroa, BC: CEF

Enlistment Date: 1915-March-03

Decorations: DFC

Service

RAF

Unit

29 (F) Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Impiger Et Acer Energetic and Keen

Base

France

Rank

Captain

Position

pilot

Service Numbers

430191 CEF

Home

Toccoa, Georgia, USA

Hoy enlisted in the CEF, joining the Canadian Engineers as a Sapper. He transferred to the RFC in mid 1917 and was posted to 29 Sqn in January, 1918. Hoy was missing in SE5a, C-1914; last seen South-East of Menin at 12,000 feet in combat with Hun Scouts on offensive patrol. Capt EC Hoy missing, later confirmed as POW, repatriated 1918-11-18. Post war, in an historic flight on 1919-08-07 Hoy made the first airmail flight over the Canadian Rockies. The flight in the Curtiss JN-4C (c222), from Vancouver to Calgary, lasted 16 hours and 42 minutes.

Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

JN-4 Canuck serial: C222

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3390046)
(Source Harold A Skaarup Web Page) Curtiss JN-4 Canuck, Imperial Royal Flying Corps, over Camp Borden, Ontario, 1917

The JN-4 Canuck was a significant upgrade from the Curtiss JN-3. Canadian Aeroplanes Limited was formed in December 1916 and bought Curtiss Canada including the rights the rights to build the JN-4 as well as the OX.5 engine (they never produced the OX.5). On Februray 1 1917, CAL began building a 240,000 square foot building on Dufferin Street near current day Dupont in Toronto which they moved into on April 1, 1917.

CAL produced the JN-4, with orders from both the Aviation Section, Signal Corps (later US Army Signals then USAAC) and an order in December 1916 from the Imperial Royal Flying Corps (aka RFC Canada) for a training aircraft to be based in Canada. The Canadian version, the JN-4 (Canuck) had some differences from the American version:

lighter airframe
control stick is stead of control wheel
ailerons on upper and lower wings
bigger stronger and more rounded rudder
and differently shaped wings, stabilizer, and elevators

The Canuck features did not appear in the USA built Curtiss version until the JN-4H.

1,260 JN-4s were built by Canadian Aeroplanes Limited in Toronto for the RFC in Canada and Aviation Section, Signal Corps (US). Its use by the Signal Corps was curtailed as the lighter structure was claimed to cause more accidents than the US-built aircraft, although no air fatalities were attributed to the structural integrity of the type.

Recruiting Poster in Canada 1917

The RFC used the JN-4 (Canuck), along with the Avro 504, for their primary First World War trainer using the Canadian Aeroplanes Limited variant. Many Royal Flying Corps pilots earned their wings on the JN-4, both in Ontario (Borden, Mohawk, Deseronto, Armour Heights, Leaside, Long Branch and Beamsville) and later in winter facilities at three fields at Camp Taliaferro, near Fort Worth Texas (Hicks Field, Barron Field, Carruthers Field). Although ostensibly a flight training aircraft, the Jenny was extensively modified while in service to undertake additional training roles.

Due to its robust but easily adapted structure able to be modified with ski undercarriage, the Canadian Jenny was flown year-round, even in inclement weather. The removable turtle-deck behind the cockpits allowed for conversion to stretcher or additional supplies and equipment storage, with the modified JN-4s becoming the first aerial ambulances, carrying out this role both during wartime and in later years. Most of the 6,813 Jennys built were unarmed, although some had machine guns and bomb racks for advanced training. With deployment limited to North American bases, none saw combat service in the First World War. Harold Skaarup web page and independent research

YouTube JN 4 Canuck