Year of the Korean veteran: honouring MGen (ret'd) Claude LaFrance

News Article / January 31, 2013

By Holly Bridges

This year has been designated “Year of the Korean War Veteran” by the Government of Canada in honour of the 26,000 Canadian men and women in uniform who came to the aid of South Koreans during the conflict. Altogether, 516 Canadians gave their lives in service to defend the values of peace and freedom on the Korean peninsula.

Today, we pay tribute to a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force who served as a fighter pilot in the skies over Korea, Major-General (ret’d) Claude LaFrance.

It was almost three years after the Second World War when the Royal Canadian Air Force trained its first group of post-war fighter pilots. Among them was a young French Canadian named Claude LaFrance, fresh out of Laval University in his hometown of Quebec City, Que.

He enrolled in the RCAF in 1947 and, after receiving his wings in 1948 at Centralia, Ont., flew the DH-100 Vampire – Canada’s first jet fighter. When the Korean War broke out he was instructing on that aircraft at the fighter school in Chatham, N.B.

The Americans were flying F-86 Sabres in Korea and the school switched to the Sabre in early 1952. So the young instructor was seconded to the U.S. Air Force to gain combat experience.

“Before going to Korea, I had to meet the USAF requirement of gaining flying experience on the Sabre for 50 hours and had to do so in one month because I had never flown it before being selected for that secondment,” recalls MGen LaFrance.

“At that time the Sabre was the only aircraft that had a chance against the Russian MiGs.”

By May 1952 the young pilot was in Korea, flying as a wingman with 39 Fighter Interceptor Squadron in a Canadian-built Sabre.

By the time he returned to Canada in October 1952, he had flown 50 missions, been promoted from flying officer to flight lieutenant, commanded a patrol of four aircraft and later a flight of 16 aircraft and shot down a MiG-15 (the pilot bailed out).

According to an account in the publication, Loyal Service: Perspectives on French-Canadian Military Leaders, the assault occurred on Aug. 5, 1952.

“While element leader in a patrol of four Sabres, he encountered a pair of MiGs and attacked the one which, because of its position, he knew to be the leader. Taking advantage of errors committed by the enemy pilot, LaFrance shot him down and clearly saw him eject. During this dogfight his wingman was unable to keep up and efforts to rejoin were unsuccessful so, now on his own, he gave chase to the other MiG but, without radar assistance, he was unable to find him as he flew back across the Yalu River, which separates China from North Korea. He made the return flight to his base, landing with minimum fuel.”

The Americans awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal for that success and his leadership during his tour.

MGen LaFrance says that because of some limitations of the Sabre, such as only being to fly at a ceiling of 48,000 feet, which was lower than the MiG-5s at 53,000 feet, the tactics of the American pilots were to “bring the MiGs down to lower altitudes in the 20 to 30,000 feet range, and if we kept the speed very high, we did have an advantage,” recalls MGen LaFrance.

“Our aircraft was very maneuverable at those altitudes. In fact, the aircraft that I shot down, I shot it down at about 25,000 feet. Nonetheless, we were handicapped by our lack of radar support over the Yalu where most of the air fights took place and by our need to fight heavy with enough fuel to return to base.”

MGen LaFrance credits the Americans’ “net results”, or victories, to the “superior flying and superior tactics on the part of the US Air Force”.

Canadian contribution

Altogether, 22 RCAF fighter pilots (plus Flight Lieutenant Omer Lévesque, who was already serving on exchange with the Americans when the war broke out) volunteered to fly F-86 Sabres with the USAF – although not all of them saw combat. They served for six months or 50 combat missions, whichever came first. A combat mission usually consisted of flying some 200 nautical miles over enemy territory to the infamous “MiG Alley” (near the Chinese border) area, patrolling, contacting and fighting with the communist’s MiG-15s.

Additionally, RCAF supply, technical and photo intelligence personnel also served in the Korea theatre of operations.

Looking back over his tour of duty in Korea, MGen LaFrance says there are certain aspects of his time overseas that stand out more than others – memories that have little to do with his own particular missions, but rather the overall effort.

“What has stayed with me is the fact that the sacrifices and risks that we took in that war were well worthwhile. The fact that South Korea today is a thriving democracy with a strong economy is due to the sacrifices of all the countries that participated in that war as compared to the North Koreans who are under a repressive dictatorship and dying of hunger to support a small clique of well-to-do North Koreans.

“That to me, makes it all worthwhile. The South Korean leaders to whom I have talked are very proud of the fact that whereas, after the Korean War they were recipients of foreign aid, they are now donors of foreign aid.”

Post-war service

When MGen LaFrance joined the RCAF, he spoke virtually no English but he worked industriously to perfect his second language. When General Jean-Victor Allard, Chief of the Defence Staff, decided to set up French-language units in the 1960s, he knew where to look for assistance.

MGen LaFrance was tasked with standing up 433 Squadron, as a French language unit, staffed with francophones and bilingual anglophones. There had never been a French-language squadron in Canada, but MGen LaFrance’s leadership and determination bought about the successful establishment of the squadron in 1969. The goal of that policy was not only to provide environments where, from time to time, francophones could work in their mother tongue, but also environments where anglophones could practice and improve their second language skills.

His last posting was as chief of plans, policy and programs at NORAD Headquarters in Colorado. After a 34-year military career, he worked for the public service (assistant deputy minister for aviation at Transport Canada) and in the private sector (president of EADS Canada), always in the field of aviation. From May 2003 to December 2007 he was honorary colonel of 1 Wing Kingston, Ont., the successor to 10 Tactical Aviation Group, which he had commanded.

In 2011, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs of the Republic of Korea invited members of the Canadian Korean War Veterans Association to participate in a “ceremony of thanks” and “tribute to the fallen” at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Busan, Korea on Nov. 11.

MGen LaFrance attended the ceremony along with six other veterans.

“I had gone to Korea before on business but it was always very quick, flying in and out sort of thing. This trip was very enjoyable and we were treated very well.”

MGen LaFrance currently lives in Cornwall, Ont.