Date of birth:

April 29th, 1893 (Walkerton/Ontario, Canada)

Date of death:

July 31st, 1948 (Ottawa/Ontario, Canada)

Service number:

C.40

Nationality:

Canadian

Norman Russell Anderson enlisted in April 1916 in 168th (Oxford) Battalion. In the Fall he transfered to No.19 Squadron Royal Flying Corps. In the spring of 1917 he went on operations in France, and six months later he was brought back to the United Kingdom to be an instructor with the RAF. When the Armistice came in 1918, he was on staff of the RAF Flying Instructor's School at Ayr, Scotland. Anderson returned to Canada in 1920 to become one of the original members of the Canadian Air Force, and later served on the Air Board as Inspector of civil aircraft and flying personnel. In 1923 he returned to the Canadian Air Force and was given command of the Flying Training School at Camp Borden. He was selected to attend a Flying Instructors' course at RAF Central Flying School at Uphaven, England in 1925, and to attend the RAF Staff College at Andover, England in 1927. During the next eighteen years after 1925 he held commands at Camp Borden, Winnipeg and Ottawa, as well as at RCAF Headquarters. In 1938 he became Air Officer Commanding Eastern Air Command with headquarters at Halifax and played a major part in the organization of Canada's Atlantic coast air defences. In 1941 he went to RCAF Headquarters in Britain and spent several months there before returning to Halifax to resume his command. Anderson retired in 1945 and died in 1948 of leukemia.

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Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Air Vice-Marshal

Unit:

HQ, RCAF Eastern Air Command, Royal Canadian Air Force

Awarded on:

December 11th, 1943

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Air Vice-Marshal

Unit:

Air Staff, HQ, Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ), Allied Forces

Awarded on:

January 1st, 1944

Citation:
"Air Vice-Marshal Anderson, with outstanding organizing ability, energy and initiative, for many years very successfully filled a position of great responsibility as Air Officer Commanding, Eastern Air Command. As Air Member for Air Staff for the past twenty months, this conscientious and very thorough officer has efficiently and judiciously undertaken the responsibility of all Home War planning and operations. He also very capably fulfils the duties of Deputy Chief of the Air Staff and is a member of the Permanent Joint Board on Defence, Canada-United States."

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Air Vice-Marshal

Awarded on:

September 12th, 1947

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Air Vice-Marshal

Awarded on:

September 12th, 1947

With "Palme".

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Air Vice-Marshal

Unit:

HQ, RCAF Eastern Air Command, Royal Canadian Air Force

Awarded on:

February 14th, 1948

Citation:
"Air Vice Marshal Anderson has held various important operational appointments on Canada's east coast, including Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Air Command during the war. Together with his American counterparts, he was responsible in no small measure for the effective air operations which were carried out against enemy U-Boats which were then operating so extensively in Atlantic sea lanes. He has, at all times, shown the utmost willingness and enthusiasm in his association with members of the United States Army Air Force."

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Air Vice-Marshal

Awarded on:

March 5th, 1948

• Photo 1: Judy Anderson
• - Second Supplement to The London Gazette Issue 36310 published on the 31 December 1943
  - Air Force Association of Canada
  - Archeion