AVIATION MEDICINE IN THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE

Perhaps no other branch of medicine has advanced as rapidly and with the same degree of productiveness as has aviation medicine. The foundations for its spectacular advance were laid on necessity and, today, from an obscure sideline, aviation medicine has assumed the role of a new medical specialty which, in its most practical form, is simply the practice of industrial medicine in relation to personnel engaged in the business of flying aircraft. The effectiveness of an aircraft is definitely limited by the least efficient member of its crew. Such effectiveness can be assured initially only by adequate selection of aircrew personnel. The navigator, the pilot, the air gunner, the wireless operator, all have specific duties to perform while in the air; consequently the standards, medical (including psychologic), educational and so on are different for the different aircrew trades. The medical standards for fitness for flying have been laid down, not