Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 17 Everett was born on January 14, 1919 in Stellarton N.S. He was in his late teens when he left his native Stellarton in 1939, before the war had even begun, to join the Royal Air Force in Britain. “I started flying when I was 17, and I knew from my earliest days that aviation was going to be where my life was,” he said in May 2005. “At that time, in the Depression years, the opportunity to get involved in any sort of aviation that could provide you with any sort of a living was very scarce. I applied anywhere in Canada I thought would have me.” The Royal Canadian Air Force told a young Baudoux that he would be accepted if he passed all of his certifications, but it could be 18 to 24 months before he would receive training. For Baudoux, that seemed “like forever.” At the time, there was an agreement in place that would see the RAF in England accept pilots from other Commonwealth countries so Baudoux applied and was told he’d be accepted into the RAF immediately. More than 2,500 Canadians were enlisted with the RAF and not even half that number was in the ranks in Canada. Eventually, over half of the Canadians in the RAF were killed over the next five years as war broke out in Europe. More than one-third of those pilots also received decorations for their extraordinary bravery - an extremely high percentage compared to the other branches of the military. During the course of the war Baudoux was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for his bravery. Over the next few years, Baudoux piloted flights that dropped bombs on enemy shipping ports and airfields. The Hudsons he flew typically had a crew of four or five men, and were armed with machine guns and bombs, but, quite often, pilots would never come back from their missions into Norway and Holland, their planes no match for the German fighters. Baudoux, however, never bailed out, instead making the choice to bring back airplanes that were badly damaged by enemy fire. By age 23, Baudoux had become a fairly senior fellow and took command of his squadron. Over the next three months, nine of his crews - about 40 men - were lost as they fought to keep supply lines open to Malta as the Allies prepared for Operation TORCH. In 1941, he became one of the first Canadians to pilot an aircraft across the Atlantic to the UK as a member of the British War Purchasing Commission. After two and a half tours, Baudoux was put on a rest tour so he applied to the Empire Test Pilot School, where the British government began training test pilots in March 1944, to fly state of the art machines. He was the first Canadian to graduate in 1944. He was still doing testing when it was announced that VE-Day had finally arrived. Baudoux participated in the scrapped Avro Arrow project and, in 1946, flew the Gloster Meteor MK3 at RCAF Station St. Hubert, Quebec, to become the first Canadian to pilot a jet aircraft in Canada. Baudoux had a lifetime career in aviation and flew some 140 different types of aircraft and accumulated over 8,000 flying hours. For his service to the armed forces, Captain Baudoux was awarded the 1939-45 Star, France and Germany Star with clasp, Africa Star, Defence medal, Canadian Volunteer Service medal and clasp and CD with clasp, DSO and DFC. A Featured Veteran Story EVERETT BAUDOUX
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