Clarence Dunlap

{{Short description|Canadian Air Force officer (1908–2003)}} {{Use Canadian English|date=November 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox military person |name= Clarence Rupert Dunlap |birth_date=1 January 1908 |death_date= {{Death date and age|df=y|2003|10|20|1908|1|1}} |birth_place= Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, Canada |death_place= |image= Air Marshal Clarence Dunlap.jpg |caption= |nickname= |allegiance= {{flag|Canada|1921}} |service_years= 1928–1968 |rank= Air Marshal |branch= {{air force|Canada|1924}} |commands=No.6 Bombing and Gunnery School RAF Leeming No.331 (Bomber) Wing No.139 (Bomber) Wing No.64 (Bomber) Base Northwest Air Command Air Defence Command National Defence College Chief of the Air Staff |unit= |battles=World War II |awards=Commander of the Order of the British Empire Canadian Forces' Decoration Silver Star (USA) Croix de Guerre with gold star (France) }}

Air Marshal '''Clarence Rupert Dunlap''' CBE, CD (1 January 1908 – 20 October 2003) was a Canadian airman who, from 1962 to 1964, served as the last Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Canadian Air Force before it was subsumed into the newly unified Canadian Forces. From 1964 to 1967 he was the deputy commander-in-chief of NORAD. In his later years, Dunlap was the last surviving Royal Canadian Air Force air marshal.

==Early career== Dunlap joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1928, earning his pilot's wings at Camp Borden in Ontario.

In his early flying career Dunlap was assigned to aerial photography duties when he mapped out large parts of Canada. Later, in the mid-1930s, he worked in air armament.<ref name=can>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121007001742/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/clarence-rupert-dunlap Clarence Dunlap] The Canadian encyclopedia</ref>

==World War II== On the outbreak of World War II, Dunlap was the Director of Armament at Air Force Headquarters. In 1942 he was promoted to group captain and took up command of the air armament school at RCAF Station Mountain View in Ontario.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.yyello.nl/newsletter/2003/november-december_dunlap.html |title=Air Marshal Clarence Rupert 'Larry' Dunlap, CBE, CD, DCL, DEng, BSc |access-date=5 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525102424/http://www.yyello.nl/newsletter/2003/november-december_dunlap.html |archive-date=25 May 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Dunlap was posted to the United Kingdom in late 1942, becoming Station Commander of RAF Leeming in Yorkshire in January 1943.<ref>[http://www.rafweb.org/Stations/Station%20OCs-Yorks.htm RAF Station Commanders - Yorkshire]</ref> At that time Leeming was part of No. 6 Group in Bomber Command. Dunlap's time at Leeming only lasted until April 1943 and he was then given command of No. 331 (Bomber) Wing which comprised Nos. 420, 424, and 425 Squadrons operating the Wellington bomber in Tunisia and were used to support the invasion of Sicily and then Italy.<ref>[https://legionmagazine.com/en/2013/04/mitchell-men-medium-bombers-at-war-air-force-part-56/ "Mitchell Men: Medium Bombers At War: Air Force, Part 56"]. ''Legion Magazine'', 7 April 2013 by Hugh A. Halliday</ref><ref name=can/> Later he was promoted to air commodore<ref name="Goette2018">{{cite book|author=Richard Goette|title=Sovereignty and Command in Canada–US Continental Air Defence, 1940–57|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TslgDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA285|date=9 July 2018|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=978-0-7748-3690-6|page=285}}</ref> and in January 1945 he was appointed Air Officer Commanding No. 64 Base headquartered at RAF Middleton St. George.<ref>[http://www.rafweb.org/Bases.htm Bomber Command Bases] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090309154153/http://www.rafweb.org/Bases.htm |date=9 March 2009 }}</ref>

==Postwar== After the war, Dunlap was Commandant of the National Defence College (1951–1954). Promoted to air vice-marshal in 1954, he served as Vice-Chief of the Air Staff in 1954.<ref name=can/> Returning to Europe in 1958, Dunlap was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff (Operations) at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE).<ref name="Campbell2013">{{cite book|author=Isabel Campbell|title=Unlikely Diplomats: The Canadian Brigade in Germany, 1951-64|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tZvRAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA170|date=18 November 2013|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=978-0-7748-2566-5|page=170}}</ref> There he wrote and article for the ''European-Atlantic Review'' about the role of Europe's radar shield.

Dunlap was promoted to air marshal and served as Chief of the Air Staff in 1962.<ref name=can/> His final service appointment was as the Deputy Commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (or NORAD) from 1964 to 1967.<ref name=can/><ref>[http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/edu/ViewLoitDa.do;jsessionid=6257923276D7F932EBA702099A4A1455?method=preview&lang=EN&id=8302 "Air Marshal Clarence Dunlap, CBE, CD, DCL, Royal Canadian Air Force"]. ''Rememberances, Canada and the Second World War: In the Air.''. 2002. web.</ref> He retired from RCAF in 1968.<ref name=can/>

In retirement Dunlap worked on a voluntary basis to support the development of the National Aviation Museum in Ottawa. In 1979 Dunlap moved to Victoria in British Columbia where he retired from voluntary work. At his death in 2003, Dunlap was the last of the RCAF air marshals.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930061952/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0002456 The Canadian Encyclopedia - Dunlap, Clarence Rupert]

{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} |- {{s-bef|before=S Graham}} {{s-ttl|title=Station Commander RAF Leeming|years=1943}} {{s-aft|after=H M Carscallan}} |- {{s-bef|before=R E McBurney}} {{s-ttl|title=Air Officer Commanding No. 64 Base|years=1945}} {{s-aft|after=H B Godwin}} |- {{s-bef|before=F R Miller}} {{s-ttl|title=Vice-Chief of the Air Staff|years=1954 – 1958}} {{s-vac|unknown}} |- {{s-bef|before=H L Campbell}} {{s-ttl|title=Chief of the Air Staff (RCAF)|years=1962 – 1964}} {{s-vac|reason=No single national air power organization|next=W K Carr (As Commander, Air Command in 1975)}} |- {{s-bef|before=C R Slemon}} {{s-ttl|title=Deputy Commander of NORAD|years=1964 – 1967}} {{s-aft|after=W R MacBrien}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunlap, Clarence}} Category:1908 births Category:2003 deaths Category:Royal Canadian Air Force air marshals Category:Royal Canadian Air Force personnel of World War II Category:People from the Cape Breton Regional Municipality Category:Canadian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Canadian military personnel from Nova Scotia