Operation Coronet, 1953

Led by Air Vice Marshal Hugh Campbell, Operation Coronet was put into motion on July 23^rd, 1953. The exercise involved the coordination of all NATO members’ air forces for an extensive week-long operation over continental Europe. Shortly after the completion of Coronet, Campbell retired to Metz, France where he wrote to the Canadian Ambassador in West Germany about the exercise. During one of the manoeuvres, four Canadian aircraft crossed the Czechoslovakian border. Fortunately, the planes retutned before the Soviets could detect a NATO plane in Czechoslovak airspace. The incident was a close call for Canada and NATO. It was also a breach of an agreement with the United States that RCAF aircrafts were “not to be used to intercept for identification purposes over occupied Germany” [CDEX00142].