Collection search - Wilfred Austin Curtis fonds [multiple media]

Record information – Brief
1
Wilfred Austin Curtis fonds [multiple media]

Hierarchical level:

Fonds

Date:

1900-2004.

Reference:

R4052-0-6-E, MG31-G9

Type of material:

Textual material, Photographs, Stamps and stamp products, Moving images, Maps and cartographic material

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

103806

Context of this record:

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Wilfred Austin Curtis fonds
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Record information – Details
Fonds includes:

38 lower level description(s)
View lower level description(s)

Date(s):

1900-2004.

Place of creation:

No place, unknown, or undetermined

Extent:

0.85 m of textual records.
1411 photographs : 1388 b&w and 23 col.
8 postal covers.
1 film reel (22 min).
5 maps : col.

Language of material:

English

Accession:

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Wilfred Austin Curtis fonds [textual record, graphic material]

Scope and content:

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Fonds consists of correspondence, speeches, scrapbooks, flying logbooks, diaries, RCAF weekly intelligence summaries, RCAF monthly activities summaries, subject files, clippings, photographs, a film, a memoir, maps, and postal covers documenting Wilfred Curtis's career and personal life. The fonds consists of records documenting Curtis' military career during the First and Second World Wars and the post-war period, as well as his post-RCAF career including work with A.V. Roe Canada Ltd. and York University. Subject files include: York University, the Toronto Scottish Regiment, Toronto Flying Club, the World War One Flyers' Association, unification of the Canadian Armed Forces, A.V. Roe Canada Ltd., the first graduation ceremony of navigators of countries of NATO, the RCAF dedication of Curtis Hall at the RCAF Staff College, the 50th anniversary reunion of the RCAF and others.

The fonds contains photographs related to aspects of Curtis' personal, military and aviation career, 1900-2004. There are several albums documenting Curtis's time as Chief of Air Staff, many official military portraits of Curtis and other Senior RCAF Officers, and photos of Curtis as Vice-Chairman of A.V. Roe Canada Ltd. (later Hawker-Siddeley Canadian Ltd.), and first Chancellor of York University.

Fonds contains First World War and post-War era postal covers including 1917 censored cover with cut out address components, addressed to Flight Lieutenant (later Captain) W.A. Curtis Distinguish Service Cross (D.S.C.), Royal Naval Air Service, 1917-1919.

The fonds also contains a film, "Supersonic Sentinal-The Story of the Avro Arrow", showing building and testing of components of the CF-105, Avro Arrow, 1958.

Provenance:

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Curtis, Wilfred Austin, 1893-1977

Additional name(s):

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Curtis, Wilfred Austin, 1893-1977

Biography/Administrative history:

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Curtis, Wilfred Austin, 1893-1977 : Wilfred Austin Curtis was born at Havelock, Ontario August 21, 1893 and was educated in Toronto Public and Technical Schools. He joined the 99th Canadian Infantry Battalion in 1915, and transferred to the Royal Naval Air Service in 1916 after training at the Curtiss Flying School at Long Branch, near Toronto. Curtis served as a fighter pilot in France from 1917 to 1918. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and Bar. He was involved with the formation of the Toronto Flying Club. In 1924 he joined the Toronto Scottish Regiment before joining the Royal Canadian Air Force Auxiliary. Beginning in 1932, he helped organize No. 10 Toronto Squadron (which became No. 110 in 1937). Shortly thereafter Curtis became Commanding Officer of the squadron with the rank of Squadron Leader. In 1938, he was promoted to Wing Commander for Toronto, Hamilton and London squadrons. In addition, during the interwar period Curtis operated a general insurance business, W.A. Curtis Insurance Co. of Toronto.

Called up for active Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) duty on September 1, 1939, Curtis was placed in charge of selecting aerodrome sites in the Western Ontario area for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. From 1940 to September 1941 he served as Director of Postings and Records. Curtis was later Commanding Officer of No. 2 Service Flying Training School at Uplands Air Station, and then Director of Recruiting at HQ. In November of 1941, Curtis was posted as Deputy Commander in Chief of the RCAF Overseas. In 1944, he returned to Canada to become the Air Member for Air Staff and Deputy Chief of Air Staff in charge of operations and training, at headquarters in Ottawa. From 1944 to 1947 he served as the Senior RCAF member of the Permanent Joint Board on Defence between Canada and the United States. In 1946, Curtis was created a Companion, Order of Bath. Effective September 1, 1947, Curtis was appointed Chief of Air Staff (CAS) and promoted to Air Marshal. As CAS, he guided the RCAF through the difficult stages of reorganization which followed the war and through the expansion of Canada's participation in the Korean War and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). During his term as Chief of Air Staff, the Air Force built up from 12,000 to 49,000 personnel. Curtis retired from the RCAF in the spring of 1953.

In 1953 he became Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of A.V. Roe Canada Ltd (which became Hawker Siddeley Canada Ltd. in 1962). In 1964 he relinquished his duties as Vice-Chairman of the Board, although continued to serve as a Director of Hawker Siddeley Canada thereafter. In 1957, he became Chairman of a small group of citizens working to form a new university in Toronto. One of the founders of York University, Curtis was appointed the university's first Chancellor on 19 October 1961, a position he held until 1968.

Curtis was invested with the Order of Canada on 24 November 1967. He died in 1977.

See also: The Canadian Encyclopedia, 1985, and Encyclopedia Canadiana.

Finding aid:

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Textual records (Electronic) The finding aid is a descriptive list. MSS1050 (90: Open)
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000002756.pdf

Moving images (Electronic) See MISACS for item-level descriptions. (Restrictions not set)

Additional information:

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General note:

Received in 1975 from Air Marshal Curtis. One letter from Brooke Claxton, [ca. 1951] was received in 1985.

The accession to the fonds was received from Mr. Glenn Curtis in 2004.

Arrangement note:

Philatelic material is arranged chronologically by postmark.

The fonds is arranged in the following three series: Personal Series, Aviation Series, and Other Activities Series.

Many of the photographs are contained in the albums which provide context, but also in the loose photographs with captions which provide details.

Availability of other formats note:

Copy negative number of accession number 1978-114 (NPC) is PA-117801 (DAPDCAP).
Subject heading:

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World War, 1939-1945

Guerre mondiale, 1939-1945

World War, 1914-1918

Guerre mondiale, 1914-1918
Source:

Private

Related control no.:

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(1975-12-12)
1975-0247 MISA
1975-339 NPC
1978-114 NPC
1992-064 DAP
2012-00386-9
767/71 CA
89-069
MG31-G9

Former archival reference no.:

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MG31-G9
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

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Textual records

[Consultation90 Open]

Volume [MG31 G 9] 1--2

[Consultation 90 Open]

Finding aid box [FA 1050] 94

[Consultation 10 Closed]

Graphic (photo)

[Consultation90 Open]

Volume [R4052] 8--16

[Consultation 90 Open]

Box [CURTIS, WILFRID AUSTIN 1975-339]

[Consultation 90 Open]

5554;

[Consultation 90 Open]

PAN 0018;

[Consultation 90 Open]

Box [CURTIS, WILDRID AUSTIN 1975-339] RV4 160

[Consultation 90 Open]

Philatelic records

[Consultation90 Open]

Box [1992-064] C58

[Consultation 90 Open]

Moving images (film)

[Consultation90 Open]

Cartographic material

[Consultation90 Open]

Terms of use:

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Photographs: No restrictions. Various copyrights. Credit: Name of photographer / Library and Archives Canada
Postal covers: No restrictions. Copyright is unknown. Credit: National Archives of Canada.
Moving images: Reproduction and use in any form requires the written permission of the copyright holder.

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