No. 6 Repair Depot (6 RD) was an aircraft modification and repair unit of the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

's Air Materiel Command located at Trenton, Ontario. Duties of No. 6 RD included handling aircraft at other stations around southern Ontario and assisting with aircraft being serviced or modified at other locations such as

Avro AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broad ...

where aircraft were modified for postwar use. No. 6RD personnel ferried many aircraft types to and from Trenton, and flew aircraft to storage facilities after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Aircraft salvage was another responsibility. Crashed aircraft or aircraft that had forced-landed were cleaned up or dismantled to be shipped back to Trenton.Milberry 1984, p. 262. CFB Trenton was built over swamps and sometimes No. 6 RD personnel lived in tents for temporary housing. Nicknamed "tent city", the mechanics had to sleep there for many weeks in a row. During New Year's Eve of 1952, fireworks set fire to hangar No. 9 and it burned to the ground along with three Lancasters, two Mitchells, one

Grumman Goose The Grumman G-21 Goose is an amphibious flying boat designed by Grumman to serve as an eight-seat "commuter" aircraft for businessmen in the Long Island area. The Goose was Grumman's first monoplane to fly, its first twin-engined aircraft, and i ...

, a

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and numerous pieces of handling equipment. No. 6RD specialized in the repair of

North American Harvard The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces ...

trainers as well as

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) a ...

s, Liberators and

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for the RCAF and the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

in 1940 until after the Second World War. The unit's slogan was "Nil Nobis Irreparabile" (Translation: Nothing Beyond Repair For Us") until 1978 when they changed their slogan to "Excellence". In 1970, the name changed to the Aerospace Maintenance Development Unit, or AMDU. The AMDU helped in the exchange of the Canadian

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s to Venezuela. Also, the No. 6 RD personnel built the Silver Dart II in 1959.

Commanding officers

* G/C F.L. Tretheway (Mar. 1940 – Oct. 1941) * G/C.A.H. Simmonds (RAF) (Oct. 1941 – Sept. 1942) * G/C W.M. Keddie (RAF) * G/C A.R. Layard, OBE * G/C G.G. Truscott, OBE * G/C S.A. Greene, MBE * G/C D.H. McCaul, CD * G/C T.A. Spruston, MBE * W/C W.H. Smith * G/C C.R. Thompson, CD * G/C E.P. Brigland, CD * G/C A.I. Pudsley, CD * Col M.T. Friedl, CD * LCol R.F. Brown, CD * Col J.W. Garland, DGC, CD * Col W.G. Doupe, CD * Col J.H. Spratley, CD * Col J.D. Young CD * Col M.F. Phillips, CD * Col R.I. McDowell, CD * Col G.G. Chivers, CD

References

* * * {{cite web , url=http://airforceapp.forces.gc.ca/CFAWC/eLibrary/Journal/Vol1-2008/Iss2-Summer/Sections/09-The_Evolution_of_Air_Materiel_Command_e.pdf , title=The Evolution of Air Materiel Command , author=C. L. ANNIS, OBE , publisher=The Canadian Air Force Journal , date=Summer 2008 Royal Canadian Air Force