Unnamed personnel stationed at RCAF Clinton, c.1945. Collections of the Secrets of Radar Museum
The RCAF was the first Canadian armed service to actively recruit women. During the Second World War, the RCAF Women’s Division (originally called CWAAF) began admitting women to fill many different roles, from clerks and telephone operators, to parachute riggers and intelligence officers. Most WDs were located at British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and RAF training stations (such as RAF/RCAF Clinton) across Canada and Newfoundland, many served in Canadian operational stations, some served in the United States and many were posted overseas with RCAF Overseas Headquarters and No. 6 (bomber) Group. A total of 17,038 women served with the Women's Division before it was discontinued in December 1946. In 1951, when the RCAF was expanding to meet its NATO commitments during the early Cold War, women were officially permitted to join the RCAF. Thousands would serve at Pine Tree Line stations across Canada. Women were accepted as military pilots in 1980, and Canada became the first Western country to allow women to be fighter pilots in 1988.
