 RCAF lapel pin | |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Location | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Affiliation(s) | Royal Canadian Air Force |
| Championships | 1 |
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's ice hockey | ||
Representing  Canada
| ||
 |
1948 St. Moritz | Team competition |
The Ottawa RCAF Flyers were a Canadian senior ice hockey team from the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) base in Ottawa. The team was made up of active and former RCAF members and Canadian Army personnel. The team won the gold medal in the 1948 Winter Olympics and the 1942 Allan Cup championship. The team was inducted into the Canadian Armed Forces Sports Hall of Fame in 1971. In 2001, the 1948 team was honoured by the Canadian Forces when it was selected as Canada's greatest military athletes of the 20th century.[1]
In October 1947, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) announced that the senior ice hockey team from the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) base in Ottawa would represent the Canadian national team in ice hockey at the 1948 Winter Olympics.[2] At the time, the CAHA had ongoing disagreements with the Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace and the International Olympic Committee on the definition of an amateur, and the RCAF team was a compromise to meet the amateur eligibility requirements of the Olympics.[3] CAHA vice-president Norman Dawe and secretary George Dudley, liaised with the Canadian Olympic Committee and gain approval for the choice.[4]
After the Ottawa RCAF Flyers lost by a 7–0 score to the McGill University men's team, the Ottawa Citizen reported that multiple Canadian sports journalists called for a university team to represent Canada at the Olympics.[2] When the RCAF team lost its next game by a 6–2 score to the Ottawa Canadian Army hockey team, Norman Dawe held an emergency meeting and committed to retaining the team's management and coach, Frank Boucher.[2] Dawe also announced that the RCAF team would be bolstered from the best available players,[5] and retain the RCAF identity after six civilian players were added from the Ottawa Senior Hockey League.[6] Dawe recruited defenceman Henri-André Laperrière from the Université de Montréal, in addition to two more players from Toronto recruited by George Dudley.[7] The efforts to bolster the Ottawa RCAF Flyers resulted in the team winning every game at the Olympics and the gold medal.[2]
The IOC lists that all players, including reserves, were given an Olympic Gold Medal.
The book Gold Medal Misfits (Pat MacAdam, Manor House Publishing, 2008) chronicles the team's history with original articles from the area and interviews with surviving team members.
Murray Dowey was the last surviving member of the Flyers' 1948 Olympic team, dying in 2021.
The Winnipeg Jets' 2023–24 alternate uniform, commemorating the centennial of the RCAF, was based off of those worn by the RCAF Flyers at the 1948 Olympics.[11]
