1918 letter from RAF pilot at Long Branch Ont. to pilot Clyde Tite

Three-page letter from pilot at Long Branch (Ont.) on RAF letterhead to his friend Clyde Tite #76289 R.F.C. stationed at Camp Borden (Ont.). (Other letters to him also on sale.)

Mention of "inoculation" (Spanish Flu?).

Armistice was declared 5 days before this letter was written.

3 separate sheets, each with ‘RAF Per Ardua ad Astra’ letterhead.

 Folded horizontally.

The Royal Flying Corps Canada was established by the RFC in 1917 to train aircrew in Canada. Air Stations were established in southern Ontario at the following locations:

• Camp Borden 1917–1918
• Armour Heights Field 1917–1918 (pilot training, School of Special Flying to train instructors)
• Leaside Aerodrome 1917–1918 (Artillery Cooperation School)
• Long Branch Aerodrome 1917–1918
• Curtiss School of Aviation (flying-boat station with temporary wooden hangar on the beach at Hanlan's Point on Toronto Island 1915–1918; main school, airstrip and metal hangar facilities at Long Branch)
• Camp Rathbun, Deseronto 1917–1918 (pilot training)
• Camp Mohawk (now Tyendinaga (Mohawk) Airport) 1917–1918 – located at the Tyendinaga Indian Reserve (now Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory) near Belleville 1917–1918 (pilot training)
• Hamilton (Armament School) 1917–1918
• Beamsville Camp (School of Aerial Fighting) 1917–1918

Alfred Clyde Tite #76289

Clyde, who lived in Edmonton, first enlisted on 19^th September 1914, then enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps on the 19^th June 1917 in Vancouver. His enlistment was a ‘Short Service’ i.e. for the duration of the War. On 1^st April 1918 he was transferred to the R.A.F. On 1^st April 1919, he was transferred to 44^th Wing R.A.F. (Camp Borden). He was discharged on the 6^th January 1919.

He was unmarried, 25 years old, and listed his trade as carpenter.

(British RAF Service Records)