Paul David Manson

Born in Trail, British Columbia, on August 20, 1934, to parents Robert and Mary, Paul David Manson was the second of four children in the family of two girls and two boys. Paul’s father was a graduate in Mining and Metallurgical Engineering from McGill University in 1930, employed by Consolidated Mining and Smelting at Trail, where he met his wife, a secretary with the company.

Before Paul was one year old, the family moved to Arvida, Québec, where his father took a position with the Aluminum Company of Canada, Limited. After three years the family moved to Montréal where Paul began his education. In 1947, as a nuclear engineer for Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories, Paul’s father took the family to Deep River, Ontario, a place Paul still regards as his home town. He attended high school at Pembroke, Ontario. As a boy, Paul was captivated by stories about the RCAF during the war years. In high school, he applied to attend the Canadian Services College at Royal Roads, Victoria, British Columbia, as an air force cadet. Paul’s acceptance was the beginning of a 38-year career in military aviation.

Paul took flying training while he was a student at Royal Roads (1952-54) and the Royal Military College (RMC) in Kingston, Ontario (1954-56). He graduated as the top cadet at both colleges, winning the H.E. Sellars Award at Royal Roads and the Sword of Honour at RMC. After graduation from RMC he attended Queen’s University in Kingston, receiving a B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering in 1957.

As a flight cadet with the Royal Canadian Air Force during his college years, Paul flew Harvards as a pilot trainee in 1953 at No. 3 Flying Training School in Claresholm, Alberta. The next summer he flew Harvards at No. 4 Flying Training School at Penhold, Alberta. In 1955 Paul was posted to 2 (F) Wing in Grostenquin, France, followed in 1956 by a refresher course on Harvards at Centralia, Ontario, and then went on to T-33 Silver Stars at the Advanced Flying School at RCAF Station Macdonald, Manitoba. There he received his wings in 1957 and was promoted from pilot officer to flying officer. Following operational training on the CF-100 Canuck all-weather jet fighter at RCAF Station Cold Lake, Alberta, he was posted in early 1958 to 440 AWF Squadron at 3 (F) Wing in Zweibrüecken, West Germany. There he began his years of operational flying on the CF-100, the F-86 Sabre, the CF-101 Voodoo, and the CF-104 Starfighter.

Posted to 1 Air Division Headquarters at Metz, France, in 1960 as the CF-100 pilot specialist, now a flight lieutenant, he then returned to Canada, and attended the Aerospace Systems Course in 1962-63 in Winnipeg. Afterwards, Paul spent three years at Canadian Forces Headquarters in Ottawa, serving with the Directorate of Systems Evaluation (Air) and the Defence Research Board’s Maritime Operations Research Directorate. During this period he was promoted to squadron leader and attended the new Canadian Forces Staff College in Toronto in 1966-67.

In 1967, Paul completed fighter refresher training before moving to Chatham, N.B. for F-86 Sabre transition training prior to undergoing CF-104 Strike/Reconnaissance operational training at 417 Squadron, Cold Lake Alberta, topping his course. Promoted to lieutenant-colonel, he returned to Europe as Commanding Officer of 441 Reconnaissance Squadron at 1 Wing in Lahr, West Germany, 1968-69. His next posting was as Base Operations Officer at 1 (F) Wing before becoming the Senior Staff Officer for Operations, Plans and Intelligence at Canadian Forces Europe Headquarters in Lahr, 1972.

Back in Canada as a colonel, Paul was named Executive Assistant to the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Jacques Dextraze, from 1972-73 and then attended National Defence College in 1973-74. This was followed by his appointment as Base Commander at CFB Chatham, New Brunswick from 1974-76. During that time he became combat ready on the CF-101 Voodoo, and logged over one hundred hours on helicopters, mostly in single-engine CH-118 Hueys. In 1977 Paul was promoted to brigadier-general and became Program Manager of the New Fighter Aircraft Program, leading to selection three years later of the McDonnell Douglas CF-18 as Canada’s new fighter jet aircraft.

His next appointment was Commander of 1 Canadian Air Group in Germany from 1980-81, his second Starfighter tour. From this point promotions and senior assignments came with increasing frequency, first as Chief of Air Doctrine and Operations at NDHQ from 1981-83 as major-general, then as Commander of Air Command (in effect the Air Force) headquartered in Winnipeg, 1983-85, as lieutenant-general. Finally, after serving as Assistant Deputy Minister (Personnel) and NDHQ for one year, in 1986 Paul was appointed by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney as Chief of the Defence Staff in the rank of general, a position he held until his retirement in 1989.

A year after retiring from the Canadian Forces, General Manson was president of Paramax, a large Montréal-based aerospace company,  then later retired from business in 1997 as chairman of Lockheed Martin Canada. Until 2005 he served as full-time volunteer chairman of the “Passing the Torch” campaign that raised $16.5 million in support of the new Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, which opened in 2005.  In December 2017, in recognition of  “his leadership and steadfast support,” the General Paul Manson Meeting Room was dedicated at the Canadian War Museum.

General Manson is a past chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada, and of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame. In 1980 he was decorated as a Commander of the Order of Military Merit (CMM) and in 1989 was named a Commander of the United States Legion of Merit. In 1992 he received The C.D. Howe Award from the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute, given for “achievements in the fields of planning, policy making, and overall leadership in Canadian aeronautics and space activities.”

In 2002 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, and he was the 2003 recipient of the prestigious Vimy Award, presented by the Conference of Defence Associations Institute to the “Canadian who has made a significant and outstanding contribution to the defence and security of Canada and the preservation of democratic values”. He has received honorary doctorates from both Royal Roads Military College and the Royal Military College.

Eminent Canadian historian Jack Granatstein has stated, “General Paul Manson has been and remains a key figure in Canadian military and aviation history. From his first days as a cadet to his time as an RCAF pilot, commander and Chief of the Defence Staff and as one of the key contributors to the creation of the new Canadian War Museum, his role has been absolutely critical.”

Since his high school days as a trombonist with a local swing band (in which his father was pianist), music has played a prominent part in Paul’s life. He has sung in numerous choirs over the years, and sang lead roles in two Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. For twenty years he was trombonist with Ottawa’s well-known Polished Brass Quintet, and until recently played in a concert band and a swing band. Enjoying retirement, Paul Manson and his wife, Margaret, are avid golfers. They have two sons and two daughters, and are proud grandparents of five grandchildren. They reside in Ottawa.