McLeod, Ken

Ken McLeod was an officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Construction Engineering Brach (CEB). He was one of the main individuals involved in writing the CEB history. The Construction Engineering Branch (CEB) of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) was established in 1922 when the Canadian Air Force began acquiring more air stations in Canada. It was responsible for building and expanding air stations, the construction of wireless telegraph, direction-finding and radar sites in isolated communities. As a result of the fact that the CEB was a part of the RCAF, it also played some role in all tasks and engagements undertaken by the RCAF. Throughout its existence, the RCAF operated both as a military force and as an aid to the civil power, performing a variety of tasks for departments other than the Department of National Defence. Its principal duty in the inter-war years was the aerial mapping of the Dominion but it also undertook such assignments as crop dusting and suppression of smuggling. When the Second World War began, the RCAF was organized along more orthodox military lines. Following the war, the RCAF resumed many of its pre-war operations including aerial photography. In addition, the RCAF became a major element in a complex defence system with commitments to NATO, NORAD and the United Nations.