RGS-IBG archive

Royal Canadian Airforce, 1944

Though the records don’t make it explicitly clear, it is likely that this photograph, taken by the Royal Canadian Airforce in 1944, depicts the Mackenzie River Basin, Canada’s longest river, which originates in the Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories, and flows freely for about 1,700 kilometres before draining into the Arctic Ocean. We do know that at this time, the Royal Canadian Airforce resumed aerial photography operations on its native territory after concentrating on Second World War operations. One of its first tasks was to map the Mackenzie River Basin in order to aid the development of the Alaska Highway. To this end, 15 April 1944, saw a day of meticulously planned aerial photography. The crew of the recently formed No.13 Survey Squadron had an early breakfast, checked the weather forecast, and filled up the fuel tank of their Lancaster aircraft. As 5am rolled round, the first Lancaster lifted off, climbing to around 10,000 feet above Canada’s boreal forests, river basins and mountain ranges. Their mission: to produce accurate and detailed maps of Canada’s vast landscapes in order to guide the development of post-war infrastructure.

The country’s aerial photography project was launched in 1921 and early attempts were a success. Progress came to a halt by 1939 as the needs of the war took over, but by 1944 plans to construct the Alaska Highway, connecting the US to Alaska across Canada were well under way. The Royal Canadian Air Force was called upon once again to map Canada’s landscapes, with special attention on the Mackenzie River Basin and the waterways surrounding Toronto, a swelling city that would become the epicentre of Canada’s post-war economic boom.

To create images such as this, the aircraft travelled along contiguous lines of the landscape below. Tri-camera operators produced regular fans of triplicate, overlapping photographs, which were later stitched together by the Department of Mines and Technical Surveys. In the years following 1944 the airforce amassed some 3,750,000 negatives, contributing to the surveying work that underscored Canada’s post-war economy.