Clayton Knight Committee
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Eventually known in Canada as The Canadian Aviation Bureau, the Clayton Smith Knight Committee, established by Billy Bishop, Homer Smith, and Clayton Knight, was a recruitment agency, which helped place 8,200 Americans in the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Air Force during a period of U.S. neutrality, prior to the U.S. declaring war on Germany and Japan.
The seeds of the Clayton Knight Committee were planted as Hitler imposed his expansionist policy upon Europe. Britain and her Commonwealth countries realized they would have to create a major air force to stop him. To do this, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada developed the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan or BCATP, also known as the "Empire Air Training Plan". It was an ambitious undertaking, which sought to train 130,000 aircrew, of which 50,000 would be pilots.
Though not known at the time, the success of the BCATP would depend largely on the efforts of the renowned Canadian WWI ace Billy Bishop. It was Bishop who conceived of, and established, the Clayton Knight Committee – and allowed the BCATP to flourish.
Six months before World War II commenced on September 3, 1939 with Germany’s attack on Poland, Bishop recognized the need for instructors to train pilots in support of the grand aspirations of the BCATP. He knew first-hand the inadequacies of the RCAF to husband the enlistment and in-house personnel needed to train so many airmen.
Bishop’s solution was to tap the rapidly maturing U.S. aviation industry for BCATP flying instructors and pilots. A political roadblock stood in his way, however: “American Neutrality.”
Bishop contacted an American friend about his concerns. His name was Clayton Knight. These two World War I pilots formed a bond that would forever echo through the personnel records of RAF Commands – Fighter, Bomber, Transport, and Air Reconnaissance – and culminate in the enlistment of more than 8,200 American “Volunteers” in the Royal Canadian Air Force in the period prior to the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941.
At the same time that Bishop was in contact with Knight he also sought the aid of another ex-pilot, Homer Smith. A Canadian veteran of the British Royal Naval Air Service in World War I, Smith was heir to an oil fortune. Bishop obtained the offer of financial support from him with an aim to recruit the Americans for the BCATP.
A week after finalizing his collaborations with Knight and Smith, Bishop was sufficiently prepared to organize a meeting with American President Roosevelt.
The meeting was held at the White House in March 1939, Bishop accompanied by Knight and Smith. While there, they outlined their requirements.
The President expressed some of his personal feelings with respect to Germany’s unlawful undertakings.
Resolute in his support of the Bishop cause, President Roosevelt declared on September 3rd, 1939, in one of his “fireside chats,” “The United States will remain neutral, neither expecting nor demanding that every American remain neutral in thought. Even a neutral has the right to take account of the existing situation.”
Following this pivotal meeting with President Roosevelt, Bishop, Knight, and Smith put a name to their U.S. recruitment effort: The Clayton Knight Committee. Knight would serve as director and coordinator.
Knight was initially quite sensitive to the public nature of the endeavour, and sought to carry out the program covertly, so as not to risk upsetting a large number of Americans.
Homer Smith was opposed to the idea of secrecy for such a worthwhile objective. He wished to, and did set up, headquarters in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York and organized other branch offices in other high-profile locations across America.
This move guaranteed the success of the program and made it easier for inquiring instructors to sign up for service with the BCATP.
The Clayton Knight Committee went on to open enlistment offices in New York, Spokane, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Kansas City, Cleveland, Atlanta, Memphis, and San Antonio, all in first-class hotels with ample room and staff. Committee expenses were met through a revolving bank account, which the RCAF set up in Smith’s name.
One week before Britain and France declared war against Germany in September 1939, Billy Bishop contacted Clayton Knight at the Cleveland Air Races and advised him that it was time to show the results of their work.
The following week, Defense Minister Ian Mackenzie of Canada granted Homer Smith a commission in the RCAF, with the senior officer rank of Wing Commander and delegated him with the responsibility of advising on the fruitful aspects of the Clayton Knight Committee and other venues of enlistment.
At the subsequent meeting of the Air Council in Ottawa, the representatives of the two Canadian commercial airline companies, Trans-Canada and Canadian Pacific, advised they could allow three dozen pilots (36) to join the ranks of instructors needed by the RCAF.
It was with bated breath and high hopes that the men at this meeting turned to Homer Smith as he reported to the attendees on the activities of the Clayton Knight Committee.
Having conducted their recruiting within the United States in a refined but active manner, Smith now revealed that the Committee had accumulated a list of 300 American instructors. Experienced pilots with Instrument Flight Rules qualifications and many with multi-engine time, eager to come to Canada. They would dress in civilian clothes, absolutely no uniforms, and would be under contract as civilian pilots to the Canadian Aviation Bureau.
The Canadian Air Staff accepted these bounties with alacrity. Even the potential obstacle of recruits having to pledge allegiance to the British monarch upon joining the RCAF, something that could result in forfeiture of citizenship for the young Americans, was removed when the Canadian government passed an Order in Council replacing this “oath” with a temporary agreement to obey RCAF rules and discipline for the duration of their service.
Finding instructors and smoothing political processes, however, was not the sum total of the efforts of the Clayton Knight Committee. The “CKC” effectively steered thousands of young American volunteers into the RCAF, where they served with distinction throughout the war.
During November 1940, a note from the American State Department was released stating that the Clayton Knight Committee was openly spending Canadian government funds to lure Americans to Canada to serve in the RCAF and that this was in violation of American law.
In response, the Canadian government created the Dominion Aeronautical Association (DAA) as a buffer between the Clayton Knight Committee and the RCAF.
Correspondence by the Committee with potential U.S. recruits was directed to the DAA office in Ottawa where they were told, "We really haven't anything for you right now but maybe the R.C.A.F. does. Their office is right next door."
These young American men were readily received in Canada and following the Pearl Harbor attacks by Japan, many were seen in the uniforms of the United States Army Air Force wearing R.C.A.F. pilot’s wings on their right breast pocket and U.S.A.A.F. wings on their left.
The United States declared war against Japan and Germany without delay. Concurrent with this new situation a “Recruiting Train” crossed Canada and picked up those Americans who wished to transfer to the United States Armed Services.
Of 8200 Americans serving with the R.C.A.F. at the time, 2000 transferred to the United States services while the remaining 6000 stayed in the R.C.A.F. throughout the war.
A letter of gratitude for the services these Americans rendered to Canada was sent to the United States by Air Ambassador C.G. Power that read as follows: “It is with sincere regret, but pride in the role that they played, that we part with the Americans who fitted into our organization and formed such a formidable team with our own Canadian airmen.”
REFERENCES:
G. Gordon Symons, The Boys of Spring: An autobiography from World War II (2006)
W.A.B. Douglas, The Creation of a National Air Force: The Official History of the Royal Canadian Air Force (1986)
Brereton Greenhous ... [et. al.], The Crucible of War, 1939-1945 (1994)
