Fred Harvey Hitchins

Fred Harvey Hitchins, CD.**, B.A., M.A., Ph.D, was born on July 10, 1904 in London, Ontario. He attended the University of Western Ontario, London, earning his BA in 1923 and MA in 1925. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1928 with a Ph.D in history. He then joined the faculty of New York University in 1928 where he taught European history. His deep interest in aeronautical history, particularly the Canadian operations of World War I, led him to publish articles on the subject as early as 1931.

Hitchins returned to Canada in 1940 and joined the RCAF. By this time he had a collection of about 350 books, thousands of notes on aviation history and a detailed record of the careers of the 'aces' of all the allied and enemy air forces.

His knowledge was put to use when he was sent to England in October 1941 as the first member of the RCAF's historical section to be attached to the Air Force's overseas headquarters. For two years he worked with the British Air Ministry's Historical Branch in Aberystwyth, Wales, where he monitored RCAF reports and collected information about Canadian fliers of the First World War. He also began to lay the groundwork for the history of the RCAF.

Hitchins returned to Canada in 1943 to continue his work at Air Force Headquarters. The first volume of his RCAF battle history, The RCAF Overseas: The First Four Years, was published in 1944. He was promoted to Wing Commander in 1945, and appointed Air Historian in December, 1945. In the final year of the war, he drafted the text of The RCAF Overseas: The Fifth Year. He had hoped that a 9-volume comprehensive history of the RCAF would be compiled. This massive undertaking would cover pioneering military flights, Canadians in the First World War, the peace-time between wars, and the RCAF wartime operations. Freed at last from military censorship, it could deal with the political and administrative aspects of the force as well as the purely operational.

Unfortunately, the Minister of National Defence, the Hon. Brooke Claxton, had been instructed to reduce postwar defence spending. He decreed that all work on wartime histories cease as of April 1948. Although the Army and Navy branches managed to save their historical sections from disbandment, successive Chiefs of the Air Staff showed no comparable interest. From 1947-1954, the office of Air Historian survived on a virtual shoestring - Hitchins and one clerk/typist. From 1954 until his retirement in I960, he never had more than three persons working with him.

In spite of these handicaps - and the indifference - Hitchins' indomitable spirit kept the candle of historical memory burning as he struggled to preserve RCAF records. The establishment of Roundel as a service magazine in 1948 gave him some outlet for his energies, even as he completed, almost single-handedly. the third volume of the RCAF battle history, The RCAF Overseas: The Sixth Year.

He went on to compose the first history of Canadians in the Battle of Britain, Among the Few, plus a chronology of RCAF history, published in 1949 and followed by two mimeographed supplements that brought the story up to 1959. He drafted histories for use in RCAF schools, from basic training to Staff College. He answered queries about service awards, squadron histories, battle honours, all the while encouraging units to continue submitting semi-annual historical reports, and preserving the mass of wartime records that he never had time or staff to catalogue.

In 1954 the RCAF finally approved the concept of a comprehensive, multi-volume service history, but gave no added resources other than one officer, F/L A. P. Heathcote. With that small amount of help, Hitchins began writing a scholarly history of the inter-war air force which he completed shortly before his retirement in 1960. It was subsequently published, not by the RCAF, which remained resolutely uninterested, but by the Canadian War Museum. Hitchins also assisted civilian authors in writing RCAF history. The help he gave to Leslie Roberts, for example, resulted in a book titled There Shall Be Wings, which broke new ground in popularizing stories about the air force.

Hitchins reached retirement age in 1955, but it was suddenly realized that he was not easily replaced. His service was extended repeatedly until 1960, when he finally retired and took a teaching position at the University of Western Ontario, London. His successor paid him generous tribute at the time when he wrote:

“When W/C Hitchins is formally retired in July, the RCAF will lose an officer who is undoubtedly the foremost authority in Canada on the history of military aviation. It would be regrettable if an effort were not made to preserve in some way a link with this talented man.”

In spite of these efforts to secure his services, at least part time, the former Air Historian never returned to military service. Nevertheless, his influence continued, in advice he gave to aspiring authors and inspiration he provided to the founders of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society. He served as professor of Canadian and European history at his alma mater for ten years, retiring in 1970.

Hitchins pursued many interests, equalling the passion he reserved for history. He spent much time with his family, and his family photo albums show him as an accomplished photographer.

He died in London, Ontario on November 3, 1972. The importance of his work has not diminished: his papers and books were donated by his family to the University of Western Ontario as the Beatrice Hitchins Memorial Collection of Aviation History, available for generations of aviation historians to follow.

During his career W/C Hitchins amassed a treasure trove of carefully tended documents - some of which were never typed but cursive in his beautifully legible handwriting - covering such subjects as military honours and awards, aerial victories and losses, inter-war force personnel and Canadians who had enlisted directly in the British Royal Air Force.

Fred Harvey Hitchins was inducted as a Member of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame at ceremonies held in Ottawa on June 6, 2007 at a ceremony held in Ottawa, Ontario.