The C-119 FLYING BOXCAR its REPLACEMENT and the DEVELOPMENT of the RCAF's AIR TRANSPORT CAPABILITY

摘要

They were keeping secrets from him. That, at least, was the conclusion that Paul Hellyer drew when his senior military advisors reportedly told him not to worry about the grounding of the RCAF's fleet of C-119 Flying Boxcars because of the detection of "hairline cracks." As the Minister of National Defence between 1963 and 1967, Hellyer claimed that he was accustomed to the military purposely hiding key details from "their 'political masters,'" and in his view "the transport capability of the RCAF was the classic case" of this type of obstruction. His allegations regarding the C-119, which was the RCAF's primary heavy bulk airlifter through-out most of the 1950s and early 1960s, were not only severe but also cut deep into the most senior levels of the RCAF's leadership. In essence, Hellyer was accusing the Air Staff of recklessly keeping the aging and worn out C-119s flying for the sole purpose of avoiding the purchase of a replacement transport aircraft. This they did simply because, in Hellyer's words, the senior staff "abhorred the thought of being seen as 'truck drivers for the army,'" and as such they wanted as little to do with air transport as possible.