CANADIAN PSYCHOLOGISTS AND THE AERODROME OF DEMOCRACY

Some of Canada's most prominent psychologists were deeply involved in the field of aircrew selection and training between 1939 and 1945. E. A. Bott, S.N.F. Chant, C.R. Myers, E.I. Signori, and D.C. Williams all worked on various human resource aspects of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) or the Royal Air Force (RAF). Some of their most significant work was the development of selection procedures that culled, from hundreds of thousands of applicants, over 150,000 aircrew candidates of which 131,553 graduated as qualified aviators. By introducing scientific methods based in the behaviourial sciences to the RCAF and RAF, Canadian psychologists had a profound effect on the Commonwealth's aircrew production system. This paper, using mainly archival sources, describes the role these psychologists played in the BCATP and suggests possible effects on post-war Canadian psychology.