Lieutenant-General Joseph Aimé Jean Yvan Blondin CMM, CD, usually given as J Y Blondin or Yvan Blondin, is a retired senior

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 ...

officer who was

Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force The Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force (French: ''commandant de l'Aviation royale canadienne'') is the institutional head of the Royal Canadian Air Force. This appointment also includes the title Chief of the Air Force Staff and is based a ...

from 2012 until 2015.

Early and family life

Yvan Blondin grew up in Aylmer, Quebec (now Gatineau). He is married to Jinny Lamoureux.

Career

Blondin joined the

Canadian Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Forc ...

in 1980 and completed his flight training in 1982. He was assigned to fly

Lockheed T-33 The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is an American subsonic jet trainer. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then d ...

jet trainers for his first operational tour.Lieutenant-General Yvan Blondin
Royal Canadian Air Force In 1986, he underwent fighter pilot training on the CF-5 and CF-18, and became part of the first group of pilots flying the CF-18 with 433 Squadron in Bagotville, Quebec in 1988. He became Commanding Officer of

425 Tactical Fighter Squadron 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smalle ...

at Bagotville in 2000 (in which role he supported

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

forces in the former

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

), a member of the Canadian staff in NORAD Headquarters in 2002 and Commander of

3 Wing Bagotville Canadian Forces Base Bagotville , commonly referred to as CFB Bagotville, and also known as Bagotville Airport or Saguenay-Bagotville Airport, is a Canadian Forces base located west of Bagotville in the city of Saguenay. Located in the centre ...

in 2004. He was deployed to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, as Director of Staff in

ISAF ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , command ...

Headquarters, in 2006 and then assigned as Deputy Commander Force Generation at

1 Canadian Air Division , colors = Blue, green, yellow, and silver , colors_label = , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label = , ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

in 2007. He attended the Space Operations Course for senior leaders at the National Security Space Institute in January 2008 and served as the Commander of 1 Canadian Air Division / Canadian NORAD Region from July 2009 to July 2011 when he was appointed Assistant Chief of the Air Staff. He became

on September 27, 2012.

Notes

References

External links

1st Canadian Air Division Biography of Major-General J. Y. (Yvan) Blondin, OMM, CD
(English) , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Blondin, Yvan Commanders of the Order of Military Merit (Canada) Living people Military personnel from Montreal Royal Canadian Air Force generals Year of birth missing (living people)