Thomas Albert Lawrence

Thomas Albert Lawrence, C.B., C.D.*, was born in Creemore, Ontario, on June 11, 1895. He was educated at Cookstown Continuation  School and Barrie Collegiate Institute in Ontario. After graduation in 1912, he worked for the Ford Motor Company at Windsor, Ontario, to earn his university tuition fees.

He joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force on August 25, 1915, and served with the 4th Infantry Battalion in France from May 1916 until January 1918, when he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps as a flight cadet. On completion of training in England he was brevetted as a pilot and posted to No. 24 Fighter Squadron, Royal Air Force (RAF) in France, flying SE-5A aircraft.

Lawrence returned to Canada in July 1919, and in April 1920, joined the Canadian Air Board as an air engine fitter. In July of the same year he was reclassified as Air Pilot Navigator, receiving Commercial Air Pilot Certificate No. 101. His flying duties with the Air Board involved forestry timber cruising and fire patrols, aerial photography, mapping and other civil government air operations. He served in the Non-Permanent Canadian Air Force from May 22, 1922, until the birth of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) on April 1, 1924, as a Flying Officer with Regimental No. C7.

The Canadian Air Board was established in Ottawa in 1919 as a separate department of government to organize, administer, operate and control civil aviation in Canada. This was largely a result of a large post-war donation of air stations, surplus aircraft and other equipment, from the British Munitions Board and the United States, both of whom had operated in Canada during World War I. The government adopted a policy of providing air services for government departments and the provinces by way of aerial photography, forest fire and customs patrols, timber surveys and mapping. In order to subsidize the overall Air Board operations. Since some 20,000 Canadians had served in the British Air Services during WWI, trained personnel were readily available.

In 1926 the Canadian government planned the development of an ocean port on Hudson Bay in response to the need for a new shipping route to Europe that would be shorter than the Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence River. An important question needed to be answered: how many days of each season were safe for conventional freighters to move in and out of Hudson Bay through the Hudson Strait? The Hudson Strait Expedition of 1927-28 was authorized to find the answer.

In 1927 Lawrence, now a Squadron Leader, was selected to organize and command the air operations of the Canadian Government Expedition to the Hudson Strait over a period of sixteen months. This expedition was commissioned to make a visual and photographic survey of the ice conditions as related to marine navigation of the Strait from freeze-up to break-up and was associated with the project of developing an ocean port at Churchill, Manitoba. It also served to test aircraft as an aid to marine navigation, locate air bases and report on the feasibility of detached air operations in sub-Arctic conditions. Despite the obstacles presented by the generally hostile environment, inadequate navigation and communication equipment, and other operational facilities, the operation provided much-needed information.

Among air operations conducted by Squadron Leader Lawrence following the expedition, was a six week experimental air mail service between Ottawa, Ontario, Montreal, Quebec, St. John, New Brunswick, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. This was completed in January and February 1929, in association with Dan McLean.

Lawrence was appointed RCAF Liaison Officer to the RAF Air Ministry in 1932 in London, England. On his return to Canada he was given command of a number of Squadrons, at Camp Borden and Trenton, Ontario, and later at Ottawa. In 1938 he was commanding No. 2 Army Cooperation Squadron, and when war in Europe seemed to be inevitable, led that squadron to an operational base at Halifax, preparing for submarine patrol off Halifax harbour.

During World War II Lawrence held a number of senior air force appointments, rising in rank to Air Vice-Marshal. From June 1942, he was Air Officer Commanding, No. 2 Training Command of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), with headquarters in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was then appointed to organize and command the North West Air Command at Edmonton, Alberta, in May 1944. In this role he was responsible for coordinating, with the United States Air Force, the movement of aircraft and supplies over the North West Staging Route in Canada, following the route of the Alaska Highway. As well, he provided liaison with the American forces on the Canol Pipeline Project between Whitehorse, Yukon, and Norman Wells, Northwest Territories.

In 1945, for his contributions to aviation, Lawrence was named a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (C.B., Military). He was also awarded a King's Commendation for valuable services in the air. Later the same year he was awarded the Legion of Merit of the United States in the degree of Commander for his services to that country while with the RCAF in World War II.

Lawrence retired from the RCAF in April 1947. From 1950 to 1954 he served as Director of Civil Defence for Toronto and York County, Ontario. In 1956 he was appointed Manager, Maintenance and Operations of the Eastern Region of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line, a position he held for two years. From 1958 to 1962 he served as the Ottawa representative for International Telephones and Telegraph of Canada. Lawrence considered himself fully retired in 1962. He died in Toronto on February 19,1992.

Thomas Albert Lawrence was inducted as a Member of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 1980 at a ceremony held in Edmonton, Alberta.