Cold War Fighters

Wakelam (military history and leadership, Royal Military College of Canada) documents how Canada procured aircraft fighters during the early days of the Cold War, between 1945 and 1954. He examines the decisions that led to the procurement and introduction into service of two fighter aircraft (the CF-100 and the F-86), illustrating the complexity of the procurement cycle and how decision makers across government, the military, and industry are involved. He provides the historical context of Canada's aspirations in the postwar years and Ottawa's preoccupations in foreign, economic, and security and defense policy, as well as Canada's experience with designing and building aircraft for civil and military needs before 1945, then discusses the actions of the Royal Canadian Air Force and its leaders in shaping postwar procurement and force structure and their successes and failures. US distribution by U. of Washington Press; Canadian distribution by U. of Toronto Press. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Colonel (ret'd) Randall Wakelam, PhD, teachesmilitary history and leadership at the Royal Military College of Canadaand is author of The Science of Bombing: Operational Research inRAF Bomber Command. A pilot in his service career, he also workedin aircraft procurement.