Canadian Warplanes 4: Northrop Nomad

Northrop Nomad

(DND Archives Photo, PL-6224)

Northrop A-17A Nomad, RCAF (Serial No. 3508), painted with target towing stripes, RCAF Station Rockcliffe, Ontario, 21 Nov 1941.

Northrop A-17A Nomad (32), (Serial Nos. 3490-3521).

The Royal Canadian Air Force received 32 Nomads that had been part of a French order of 93 aircraft.  When France fell in 1940, this order was taken over by Great Britain who transferred 32 of the aircraft to Canada where they were used as advanced trainers and target tugs as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.  All were assigned to No. 3 Training Command RCAF.

Nomads were never used operationally overseas.  Initially, the aircraft were used at Camp Borden to check out qualified civilian pilots who were offering their services to the air force. In 1941, the aircraft were modified to a target-towing configuration to allow for air-to-air gunnery training at various schools in Quebec and Ontario.  In addition to being used by the RCAF in Canada, the Royal Norwegian Air Force trained some aircrew in exile on the A-17A at airports in Toronto and Muskoka.  The RCAF Nomads were retired with the cessation of hostilities. The Nomads were not particularly outstanding aircraft, but they did provide reliable training service logging an average of approximately 3,000 flying hours each in their four and a half years of service. (Wikipedia)

Nomad RCAF (Serial No. 3521), ex-A-17A, crashed in Lake Muskoka, Ontario on 13 Dec 1940.  Its wreckage was found in July 2010.  The remains of the crew were recovered, and salvage and recovery of aircraft by the RCAF has taken place.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4327297)

A visitor being shown a Northrop Nomad by Wing Commander F.S. McGill at Uplands, Ontario, 23 Aug 1940.

(DND Archives Photo)

Northrop Nomad (Serial No. 3508),20 Nov 1941.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4315395)

Northrop A17A Nomad, ca 1940.

(RCAF Photo)

Northrop Nomad, Camp Borden, 1940.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3990278)

Northrop A17A Nomad, RCAF (Serial No. 3490), ca 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3581707)

Northrop A17A Nomad, being set up with a target towing installation for test purposes, c1943.

(DND Archives Photo, PL-6225)

Northrop A-17A Nomad, RCAF (Serial No. 3495), RCAF Station Rockcliffe, Ontario, 20 Nov 1941.

(RCAF Photo)

Northrop A-17A Nomad, RCAF (Serial No. 3509).

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3205788)

Northrop A-17A Nomad aircraft on the line at Little Norway Training Centre for Norwegian Air Force, 18 Nov 1940. Officially Flyvåpnenes Treningsleir (FTL, "Air Force Training Camp"), was a Norwegian Army Air Service/Royal Norwegian Air Force training camp in southern Ontario during the Second World War.

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