As 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.
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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