Ottawa RCAF Flyers
RCAF lapel pin
SportIce hockey
LocationOttawa, Ontario, Canada
Affiliation(s)Royal Canadian Air Force
Championships1
Olympic medal record
Men's ice hockey
Representing  Canada
Gold medal – first place1948 St. Moritz Team competition

The Ottawa RCAF Flyers were a Canadian senior ice hockey team from the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) base in Ottawa. The team was made up of active and former RCAF members and Canadian Army personnel. The team won the gold medal in the 1948 Winter Olympics and the 1942 Allan Cup championship. The team was inducted into the Canadian Armed Forces Sports Hall of Fame in 1971. In 2001, the 1948 team was honoured by the Canadian Forces when it was selected as Canada's greatest military athletes of the 20th century.[1]

1948 Winter Olympics

Black and white photo of a team hockey players holding their sticks in the air and dressed in jerseys adorned with the Royal Canadian Air Force logo
Ottawa RCAF Flyers at the 1948 Winter Olympics

In October 1947, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) announced that the senior ice hockey team from the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) base in Ottawa would represent the Canadian national team in ice hockey at the 1948 Winter Olympics.[2] At the time, the CAHA had ongoing disagreements with the Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace and the International Olympic Committee on the definition of an amateur, and the RCAF team was a compromise to meet the amateur eligibility requirements of the Olympics.[3] CAHA vice-president Norman Dawe and secretary George Dudley, liaised with the Canadian Olympic Committee and gain approval for the choice.[4]

After the Ottawa RCAF Flyers lost by a 7–0 score to the McGill University men's team, the Ottawa Citizen reported that multiple Canadian sports journalists called for a university team to represent Canada at the Olympics.[2] When the RCAF team lost its next game by a 6–2 score to the Ottawa Canadian Army hockey team, Norman Dawe held an emergency meeting and committed to retaining the team's management and coach, Frank Boucher.[2] Dawe also announced that the RCAF team would be bolstered from the best available players,[5] and retain the RCAF identity after six civilian players were added from the Ottawa Senior Hockey League.[6] Dawe recruited defenceman Henri-André Laperrière from the Université de Montréal, in addition to two more players from Toronto recruited by George Dudley.[7] The efforts to bolster the Ottawa RCAF Flyers resulted in the team winning every game at the Olympics and the gold medal.[2]

Team members

1948 Ottawa RCAF Flyers
Players

The IOC lists that all players, including reserves, were given an Olympic Gold Medal.

Staff

Legacy

The book Gold Medal Misfits (Pat MacAdam, Manor House Publishing, 2008) chronicles the team's history with original articles from the area and interviews with surviving team members.

Murray Dowey was the last surviving member of the Flyers' 1948 Olympic team, dying in 2021.

The Winnipeg Jets' 2023–24 alternate uniform, commemorating the centennial of the RCAF, was based off of those worn by the RCAF Flyers at the 1948 Olympics.[11]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 "Athletes Of The Century Chosen By The Military". Legion Magazine. 2001-01-01. Retrieved 2010-07-03.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Koffman, Jack (April 7, 1948). "Olympic Hockey Team Is The Toast Of All Canada Today". Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ontario. p. 17.Free access icon
  3. "Canada Six May Miss Olympics". Winnipeg Free Press. Winnipeg, Manitoba. February 26, 1947. p. 17.Free access icon
  4. "Dawe C.A.H.A. Man At Olympic Meeting". The Gazette. Montreal, Quebec. December 4, 1947. p. 18.Free access icon
  5. "Will Bolster RCAF Six for Olympics". The Gazette. Montreal, Quebec. December 17, 1947. p. 16.Free access icon
  6. "Air Force Drops Six Players From Its Olympics-Bound Team". The Gazette. Montreal, Quebec. December 19, 1947. p. 19.Free access icon
  7. "3 New Players For Olympics". Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ontario. December 29, 1947. p. 1.Free access icon
  8. 1 2 "The Hougen Group of Companies - A Yukon Tradition". Hougengroup.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-12. Retrieved 2010-07-03.
  9. "Frank Boucher's Minor League Photograph Collection". Classicauctions.net. 2005-05-31. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
  10. "History-1948 Winter". Tsn.ca. 1948-02-09. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
  11. "It's time to Fly the 'Forty-Eight'!". Winnipeg Jets. September 23, 2023. Retrieved September 23, 2023.

Bibliography

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