Question One: After which comic strip character was the RAF’s Wellington bomber named?

Answer: The most successful of Bomber Command’s wartime starting stable was the Vickers Wellington. Affectionately nicknamed the “Wimpy” after J. Wellington Wimpy, Popeye’s corpulent hamburger-eating chum, the somewhat portly Wellington was a docile, yet lively, performer.

Question Two: What was the total number of personnel in the RCAF at the beginning, and at the end, of the Second World War? What was the authorized strength after the war’s end, and how long did it take to reach that strength?

Answers: At the Beginning: Around the end of 1939 the RCAF had only 4,061 officers and airmen (including the Non-permanent Force).

At the End: At the cessation of hostilities the RCAF had 164,846 all ranks (the peak was in 1944 with 215,200) serving; this was to be reduced to an authorized strength of 16,000 all ranks. This demobilization was to take place over two years.

Question Three: There was only one Canadian squadron named after a person. Which squadron was it, and after whom was it named?

Answer: No. 419 Squadron was based at Mildenhall in No. 3 Group territory and flew its first operational sorties in January 1942. …following what had become something of a tradition, the unit’s first commanding officer was a CAN/RAF, the highly capable and charismatic Wing Commander John “Moose” Fulton, DFC, AFC, who had already completed a distinguished tour of thirty operations with No. 99 Squadron, RAF, and an equally distinguished tour of duty with the Armament Defense Flight Experimental Section at Farnborough.

Fulton was a tireless, fearless and popular commander, who led from the front and fully shared the risks of his men, in spite of orders at the time to squadron skippers to minimize their operational flying.

This combination of dedication and concern would lead the squadron into taking Fulton’s nickname for its own after his death in action, and eventually getting it officially recognized, so it became No. 419 (Moose) Squadron, RCAF – the only Canadian squadron to be named after a person.