History Browser

RADAR, the latest temporary exhibition presented at the Canadian War Museum, tells the story of 6,000 Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) radar experts who served during the Second World War.

This resource is a table of contents for an abbreviated history of communications, electronics, and signals in the Canadian Forces.

The 20th century saw a change in US-Canada relations from animosity to cooperation. Before and at the start of the Second World War, both Canada and the US publicly declared their active opposition to any nation attacking the other. With the appearance of the Soviet airborne threat to the North American continent, both nations cooperated to create jointly manned radar networks (the DEW, Pinetree and Mid-Canada Lines).

The dissolution of world communism which began in 1989 signaled an era in which the United Nations might act as the world's great arbiter of international conflict. To this aim UN peacekeeping operations continued to be a major occupation of Canada's armed forces and the role of military observation depended on effective signals intelligence, in which Canada was a world leader.

RADAR, which was to become one of the decisive military technologies of the Second World War, was used by Canadian services as early as 1939. Soon Canada earned the reputation of being on the forefront of its refinement, application, and manufacturing and Canadian specialists trained foreign troops in its use in places as farflung as Panama and Australia.

The decades of the "Cold War" were a time of dynamic change in the world order and the role of the Canadian Signals forces expanded and evolved significantly to adapt to various new challenges.

Late in the Second World War Canadian signalmen were mobilized to train with their Australian counterparts, considered the region's experts, and aid in the defeat of Imperial Japan. A chart depicting the Katakana Code, one of the phonetic writing systems representing Japanese, is included in this resource.

After World War Two the United States and Canada engaged in a defence agreement to counter Soviet air attack against North America. Consequently, an extensive network of radar stations was constructed across Canada's north to provide early warning of such an event. After various technological upgrades the present network continues to function as the DEW Line Warning system.