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The Early Cold War
Naval Aviation

Between 1946 and 1970, Canada's navy operated three aircraft carriers to help fulfil its anti-submarine mission and to help protect ships against enemy aircraft. These carriers required specialized equipment, procedures, and training for their crews.

HMCS Warrior
HMCS Warrior

Seen here in 1948, HMCS Warrior was the first aircraft carrier to be commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN).

Between 1946 and 1948, the RCN used Warrior, originally built for Britain's Royal Navy, to gain experience with naval aviation. Operations soon revealed that Warrior was unsuited to the North Atlantic's cold climate without extensive modifications. While Warrior was the first aircraft carrier in the RCN, during the Second World War, the escort carriers HMS Nabob and HMS Puncher had largely Canadian crews, but remained ships in the Royal Navy.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 19900321-015





HMCS Warrior
HMCS Magnificent
HMCS Bonaventure
Fairey Firefly Aircraft and Plane Guard Destroyer, HMCS Warrior
Grumman Avenger aboard HMCS Magnificent
Grumman Tracker Launch, HMCS Bonaventure
Grumman Avenger Landing Aboard HMCS Warrior
Hawker Sea Fury Landing on HMCS Magnificent
Supermarine Seafire
Supermarine Seafire Crash, HMCS Warrior
Fairey Firefly Crash, HMCS Warrior
Landing on HMCS Bonaventure
McDonnell F2H-3 Banshee
Flight Deck and Island, HMCS Bonaventure
McDonnell Banshee, HMCS Bonaventure
Grumman Tracker, HMCS Shearwater
Bell HTL-4 Helicopter
Personnel Delivery by Helicopter
Life Raft and Emergency Supplies
Petty Officer, HMCS Magnificent
Triangular Bandage
Canadian Sailors Board HMCS Bonaventure
From School to Sea!
Robert N. McKinley Medal Set, HMCS Bonaventure