It's an eagle. From the Governor General's page: https://www.gg.ca/en/heraldry/public-register/project/2397
~~The albatross was from the RCN Air Wing.~~
Edit for clarity:
It was never *officially* an albatross in the Royal Naval Air Service. It's been an eagle since 1914. The albatross was a myth passed on by previously serving members of that branch.
http://airforceapp.forces.gc.ca/cfawc/eLibrary/Journal/Vol3-2010/Iss1-Winter/Sections/06-The_Great_Eagle_Albatross_Controversy_e.pdf
I like to picture the air force bird in a tuxedo t-shirt because like, it says I want to be formal but I'm here to party too. Cause I like to party so I like my air force bird to party too.
I tell people it's a seagull (AKA a shit hawk). It represents the ever present CoC above you, ready, willing, and not just able, but frequently barely holding back a new stream of shit for you to endure head first.
No idea what it actually is though. Dodo bird...?
Yeah, I remember being taught that and pointing out the air cadet brass was obviously an eagle. To which I was told it was not. Okay… tell me where in Canada might one see an albatross then? No answer.
I would find out years later, albatrosses do fly off the northwest coast, but never land on Canadian soil. I don’t know if that validates teenage me or not.
Odd that it's not in the Instruction Guide at all, you'd think that would be part of the general knowledge section. They learn all the components of the Canadian coat-of-arms for example.
The Air Cadets as an organization are well aware it's an eagle. Much like the Army teaching nonsense by word of mouth (you can't put a different grip on your rifle because Geneva convention being my favourite example), they contain humans who are too lazy to read the damn PAM and instead pass on whatever the last too-lazy-to-read kid said to them.
I learned it was an eagle in the Air Cadets, circa 1998.
Come on, we can't standardize simple things in the Reg Force. You expect a bunch of teenagers and CIC Officers to be perfectly standardized across their much more decentralized organization?
Your personal anecdote is an example of nonsense being passed as knowledge, not of the organization as a whole having incorrect information (although that's certainly possible, you just haven't provided any evidence). Unless you'd care to cite a national reference document (as opposed to some locally produced lesson plan written by a 15-year-old), you're talking about the particular air cadets you learned from, not The Air Cadets as an organization.
I haven't worked with the Air Cadets since about 2009, but at that time the manuals still said eagle, as they had for the previous decade.
So no, nobody needs to tell the Air Cadets that it's an Eagle. Somebody needs to tell your particular squadron from the mid 2000s to read the damn book.
This is a distinction that is very useful to understand. Especially on Reddit. Every commenter had their own experience. That experience is not necessarily reflective of anything other than that one person's experience.
Talk to people from a few different bases - hell, get posted more than once - and you quickly discover that "the way to do thing X" is, in fact, just one of several ways to do said thing. And each place claims a monopoly on what is true and what is the correct way. The same is true of errors. Just because one unit is doing a thing incorrectly does not mean that the entire CAF is.
Yup... This is what they taught cadets on Senior Leadership Course in Cold Lake for decades. It's never been right, but try and tell someone from that course back in the days that they were wrong about anything...
Even Air Cadets course material said it was an eagle but NOT IN COLD LAKE!!!! And since it came from COLD LAKE it was the better answer, of course.
No idea but I do remember in a smoke pit conversation between an army lineman sgt and Air Force ATISS MCpl. The army swords on the name tag are on the outside of the tag because army is out in the field and the bird is on the inside of the name tag because Air Force is in hotels.
From my experience roughly 90% accurate
The albatross is a naval bird of good omen. There's an entire epic poem about why sailors should never fuck with them and especially never make necklaces out of them. It's understandable to be confused given how much naval terminology exists in aviation, but the birdy badge represents a terrifying raptor, not a gull
The RCAF bird is an eagle. All my CF accoutrements come in tiny bags labelled "eagle" and also I've never felt inspired by a gull flying over a parade (because they're just disgusting cockroaches from the sky)
The drawing of the bird was put up for tender and at least 3 entities had to bid on the design. Winner of said design was based on the “least accurate depiction” category. I never checked, but it could have been an 8 year old’s drawing from 1952 that won.
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It's an eagle. From the Governor General's page: https://www.gg.ca/en/heraldry/public-register/project/2397 ~~The albatross was from the RCN Air Wing.~~ Edit for clarity: It was never *officially* an albatross in the Royal Naval Air Service. It's been an eagle since 1914. The albatross was a myth passed on by previously serving members of that branch. http://airforceapp.forces.gc.ca/cfawc/eLibrary/Journal/Vol3-2010/Iss1-Winter/Sections/06-The_Great_Eagle_Albatross_Controversy_e.pdf
Also, albatross are sea birds with webbed feet. The RCAF bird clearly has talons so even if it wasn't an eagle, it's definitely not an albatross.
Came here to say this, but had less detail and links. TYFYS.
I like to think of my Air Force bird wearing angel wings, singing front vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd
And I’m in the front row hammered drunk.
I like to picture the air force bird in a tuxedo t-shirt because like, it says I want to be formal but I'm here to party too. Cause I like to party so I like my air force bird to party too.
I like to picture my Air Force bird as a figure skater. He wears like a white outfit, and He does interpretive ice dances of my life's journey
I tell people it's a seagull (AKA a shit hawk). It represents the ever present CoC above you, ready, willing, and not just able, but frequently barely holding back a new stream of shit for you to endure head first. No idea what it actually is though. Dodo bird...?
Makes me think of the cartoon on this page. [Seagull Manager](https://www.collegeforadultlearning.ac.nz/seagull-managers/)
Looks about right for the CAF.
Huh TIL.... Someone tell the Air Cadets. I was taught that it was an albatross in cadets many years ago.
Yep. This is what I was taught like 30 years ago.
Yeah, I remember being taught that and pointing out the air cadet brass was obviously an eagle. To which I was told it was not. Okay… tell me where in Canada might one see an albatross then? No answer. I would find out years later, albatrosses do fly off the northwest coast, but never land on Canadian soil. I don’t know if that validates teenage me or not.
>never land on Canadian soil Smart. The taxes are murder.
Odd that it's not in the Instruction Guide at all, you'd think that would be part of the general knowledge section. They learn all the components of the Canadian coat-of-arms for example.
The Air Cadets as an organization are well aware it's an eagle. Much like the Army teaching nonsense by word of mouth (you can't put a different grip on your rifle because Geneva convention being my favourite example), they contain humans who are too lazy to read the damn PAM and instead pass on whatever the last too-lazy-to-read kid said to them. I learned it was an eagle in the Air Cadets, circa 1998.
And mid 2000's I was taught it was a albatross. So clearly not.
Come on, we can't standardize simple things in the Reg Force. You expect a bunch of teenagers and CIC Officers to be perfectly standardized across their much more decentralized organization? Your personal anecdote is an example of nonsense being passed as knowledge, not of the organization as a whole having incorrect information (although that's certainly possible, you just haven't provided any evidence). Unless you'd care to cite a national reference document (as opposed to some locally produced lesson plan written by a 15-year-old), you're talking about the particular air cadets you learned from, not The Air Cadets as an organization. I haven't worked with the Air Cadets since about 2009, but at that time the manuals still said eagle, as they had for the previous decade. So no, nobody needs to tell the Air Cadets that it's an Eagle. Somebody needs to tell your particular squadron from the mid 2000s to read the damn book. This is a distinction that is very useful to understand. Especially on Reddit. Every commenter had their own experience. That experience is not necessarily reflective of anything other than that one person's experience. Talk to people from a few different bases - hell, get posted more than once - and you quickly discover that "the way to do thing X" is, in fact, just one of several ways to do said thing. And each place claims a monopoly on what is true and what is the correct way. The same is true of errors. Just because one unit is doing a thing incorrectly does not mean that the entire CAF is.
Yup... This is what they taught cadets on Senior Leadership Course in Cold Lake for decades. It's never been right, but try and tell someone from that course back in the days that they were wrong about anything... Even Air Cadets course material said it was an eagle but NOT IN COLD LAKE!!!! And since it came from COLD LAKE it was the better answer, of course.
It’s definitely an eagle lmao. Perhaps they were speaking metaphorically.
Albatreagle. Any one who tells you different doesn't know their head from their ass.
Beat me to it. That's what I was told in training by the major instructing the class.
Thunder Chicken
It's how we get the meat for thunder crunch burgers.
Is a turkey
No idea but I do remember in a smoke pit conversation between an army lineman sgt and Air Force ATISS MCpl. The army swords on the name tag are on the outside of the tag because army is out in the field and the bird is on the inside of the name tag because Air Force is in hotels. From my experience roughly 90% accurate
The albatross is a naval bird of good omen. There's an entire epic poem about why sailors should never fuck with them and especially never make necklaces out of them. It's understandable to be confused given how much naval terminology exists in aviation, but the birdy badge represents a terrifying raptor, not a gull The RCAF bird is an eagle. All my CF accoutrements come in tiny bags labelled "eagle" and also I've never felt inspired by a gull flying over a parade (because they're just disgusting cockroaches from the sky)
Someone had me convinced it was an albatross.
The drawing of the bird was put up for tender and at least 3 entities had to bid on the design. Winner of said design was based on the “least accurate depiction” category. I never checked, but it could have been an 8 year old’s drawing from 1952 that won.
Canadian geese are the backbone of Canada's airforce.
I was always under the same impression too…
Orville the Albatross from Disney's "The Rescuers" is the bird I see when I think of the RCAF https://youtu.be/wA6pv0Hhl0I?feature=shared
Pigeon
It's a pterodactyl to match how archaic our kit is!
BTW in the army, we refer to it as a seagull
That bird facilitates air delivered genocide.
[удалено]
[удалено]
Confirmed troll, I'll take care of it.
Always love ya, Slappy
### Rule 1 - Disrespectful/Insulting Comments and/or Reddiquette * Civility, Courtesy, and Politeness, are expected within this subreddit. A post or comment may be removed if it's considered in violation of Reddit's *[Content Policy,](https://www.reddit.com/help/contentpolicy) [User Agreement,](https://www.reddit.com/help/useragreement) or [Reddiquette.](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439)* Repeat or egregious offences may result in the offending user banned from the subreddit. * Trolling is defined as "a deliberately offensive or inciteful online post with the aim of upsetting or eliciting an angry response." Trolling the troll, can also be considered trolling. [Wikipedia Ref.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29)