October 5, 1970

British Trade Commissioner James Cross was kidnapped in Montreal, Quebec. Ransom demands from the Liberation cell of the FLQ included the release of 23 “political prisoners”; $500,000 in gold; broadcast and publication of the FLQ Manifesto; and an aircraft to take the kidnappers to Cuba or Algeria.

What happened next?

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James Andrew Watson: WW II bomber pilot sacrifices life to save crew

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

It was the night of April 27-28, 1944, and Lancaster R-ND 781/G of 622 Squadron, Royal Air Force, piloted by Flight-Lieutenant James Andrew Watson of Hamilton, Ont., was on a bombing mission to Friedrichshafen, Germany.

R-ND would never reach its target, but Watson’s heroic actions that black night over occupied territory would inspire an unsuccessful campaign to award him a posthumous Victoria Cross.

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Eyes in the sky

Story by Sharon Adams

Squadron Leader William Isaac Clements is credited as the first Royal Canadian Air Force member to fly a wartime sortie over enemy territory during a reconnaissance trip into Germany at the end of September 1939.

In 1939, he was among many Canadian air force personnel seconded for duty or to study with the Royal Air Force prior to the war. He was promoted to squadron leader a week after he was attached to the Royal Air Force on March 24, 1939, and served as a flight commander in No. 53 Squadron, which was sent to France in September as the strategic reconnaissance unit of the Advanced Air Striking Force.

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September 30, 2009

Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil, becomes the world’s seventh, and Canada’s first, space tourist.

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The mystery of the Thames Victoria Cross

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

In December 2015, a “mudlark” treasure-hunting along the bank of the Thames River in southern England found a corroded metal cross buried in the ooze exposed at low tide. His name was Tobias Neto, and the hunk of rusty metal was none other than a Victoria Cross.

Or was it?

“It was covered in mud,” Neto recalled. “I kept it and carried on detecting. Only when I got home did I realize I had a VC medal in my hands—I could read the writing ‘For Valour’ below the crown.

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Armoured vehicle serves as a working memorial

Story by Sharon Adams

A contingent of Canadian tanks and armoured vehicles set out before dawn on Sept. 24, 2007, to push insurgents from a trouble spot in the Panjwaii district in Afghanistan.

The move was in aid of Operation Sadiq Sarbaaz (Honest Soldier), a joint operation with Afghan troops to build police stations throughout the area, in hopes a permanent police presence would provide some stability to one of the most dangerous districts in the country.

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September 23, 1958

Prime Minister John Diefenbaker announces the RCAF is to be equipped with BOMARC missiles.

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