Fonds 2004/10 - Norman Hillmer fonds

George Norman Hillmer (1942- ) was Senior Historian at the Directorate of History in Ottawa, President of the Canadian Committee for the History of the Second World War, Professor of History at Carleton University, and Visiting Professor of Modern Commonwealth History at Leeds University. He attended the University of Toronto, graduating in 1966 with a B.A. (Hon.) in Modern History and in 1967 with an M.A. in History. Hillmer received his Ph.D. in History at Cambridge University in 1974 and has been published prolifically since 1972. He was awarded the Canadian Historical Association Distinguished Service Award in 1981, and an Honorary Life Member award from the Canadian Historical Association in 1982. William Alexander Binny Douglas (1929- ) was Senior Historian and Director-General at the Directorate of History, and an author on naval and aviation history. Born in Southern Rhodesia, he was educated in England and Canada, and spent 1940-1943 in Canada as a war guest. He returned to Canada in 1947 and attended the University of Toronto, graduating in 1951 with a B.A. in Modern History. He also joined the University Naval Training Division in 1947, and transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in 1950. After serving on many ships between 1954 and 1964, he was appointed to the Royal Military College in Kingston as the Naval Staff Officer and an Associate Professor in Military Studies. He was posted to Canadian Forces Headquarters (CFHQ) in 1967 as an historian on the staff of the Directorate of History, was promoted Commander and appointed Senior Historian in 1970, and was appointed Director, later Director-General, of History in 1973. With his M.A. from Dalhousie University, Halifax, and Ph.D from Queen's University, Kingston, he has published articles on naval and aviation history in Canada, England and the United States. He retired as Director-General in 1994, but continues to contribute to Naval history. Dr. Douglas accepted a teaching appointment at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, as of September 2001. The Creation of a National Air Force (The Official History of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Volume II) was written by W.A.B. Douglas and published in 1986 by the University of Toronto Press in cooperation with the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Government Publishing Centre. This second volume of the RCAF's official history covers the years from 1918 to 1945. Douglas chronicled the Force's rapid growth and provided a portrait of the Battle of the Atlantic as it was fought from the eastern shores of Canada. This account of the RCAF incorporated new information on personalities, technology, and intelligence. The four divisions of the book are 'Between the Wars', 'The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan', 'The Air Defence of Canada, 1939-45', and 'The North Atlantic Lifeline'.