Black Mike
Lieutenant Clifford MacKay McEwen became known as Black Mike during his time at Camp Borden following the Great War. He later told an interviewer that it was “Nothing sinister. I tan very easily and to a dark shade.”
and is what he called himself in letters to her.
Clifford MacKay McEwen one of eight children (five girls and three boys) born to Mary McEwen and her husband Murdock, a hardware merchant. He grew up in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and graduated from Moose Jaw College. He attended the University of Saskatchewan, intending to be a clergyman.
Enlistment of Clifford MacKay McEwen
Born 2 July 1898 in Griswold, Manitoba, a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, Clifford MacKay McEwen joined the Canadian Army 24 March 1916, enlisting with the 196th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
Embarked for England, 1 November 1916. Lance-Corporal as of 5 July 1916. Transferred to 19th Reserve Battalion, 31 December 1916.
Reverts to previous grade having proceeded to C.M.S. Crowboro, 26 February 1917.
Posted to Saskatchewan Regimental Depot, Bramshott, 4 April 1917. He trained at No. 1 School of Military Aeronautics in Reading, west of London, and then qualified as a Sopwith Camel fighter pilot.
No. 1 School of Military Aeronautics
Royal Flying Corps
Becoming an officer shortly after arriving in England, 28 April 1917, Lieutenant Clifford MacKay McEwen assigned to Britain’s Royal Flying Corps, where he learned to fly. On 18 June 1917 seconded to the Royal Flying Corps. A founding member of 28 Squadron, he served in Italy as a Sopwith Camel pilot, scoring 27 victories.
- To be Flying Officer (Acting Captain), 19 October 1917.
In October 1917, McEwen joined 28 Squadron just as it left for active service in France. The next month, the squadron moved to Italy, where McEwen flew with fellow the British Commonwealth’s most decorated man, LtCol William George Barker.
Canadians with 28 Squadron at the time of its move to Italy. Lt Harold Byrn Hudson of Victoria, Clifford MacKay McEwen of Radisson, Sask., C.W. Middleton of Toronto, L.P. Watt of Westmount. Que., and Lt Douglas Christie Wright of Toronto, (KIA 20 Feb. 1918).
Lt ‘Black Mike’ McEwen
Lieutenant Clifford MacKay McEwen also flew with Barker in No 28 Squadron. When the war ended, McEwen the squadron’s highest-scoring ace with 27 victories. For his outstanding skills in the air, awarded the Military Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross with Bar and the Italian Bronze Medal for Valour.
New Years’ Day 1918
One way to force the enemy to commit himself, to bomb his airfields and static installations, and a series of raids mounted as the RFC pressed for air superiority. On New Year’s Day, for example. Ten RE8s from 42 Squadron, escorted by two flights each of five Camels from 28 and 66 Squadrons, bombed the German Fourteenth Army Headquarters at Vittorio.
Major W G Barker DSO MC of No 28 Squadron in flight in a Sopwith Camel on the Italian front.
This raid provided Barker with the opportunity to drive down one enemy aircraft. Shoot down another that crashed on a mountain side northwest of Vittorio, when ‘the wreckage burst into flames and was seen rolling down in the Valley.
Barker’s flight consisted of Lt H B Hudson, Lieutenant Clifford MacKay McEwen, D.C. Wright, and one non-Canadian. In his combat report Barker states his flight attacked by twelve enemy aircraft, later reinforced by six more. The eighteen enemy aircraft in fact attacking ten RE8s and ten Camels. Two Canadians in the other flight, Hilliard Brooke Bell and A.B. Reade: their flight commander failed to return and the lateral controls on Reade’s aircraft shot away by an enemy observer.
2 February 1918
On 2 February 1918, all the fighter squadrons out in force. At 1050 hrs Barker leading Hudson, Lieutenant Clifford MacKay McEwen of Griswold, Manitoba, and 2/Lt Woltho, a British pilot who frequently flew with him, on a regular offensive patrol when they intercepted a group of five Aviatiks escorted by three Albatros o-vs.
ln a few brief minutes McEwen had shot down two of the Aviatiks; Barker despatched another, an Albatros as well, and ‘seeing a crowd around the E.A. … attacked it and set the wreckage on fire.’
An hour later, in the same sector, four Camels from 45 Squadron overtook an Albatros two-seater and its escorting fighter: ‘The formation dived down from the sun and 2/Lt G.H. Bush fired a good burst into the Scout at close range. It dived down for about 5,000 feet and then started a wide spiral but 2/LtT.F. Williams headed it off from the Enemy side of the Lines and on the formation closing round, the enemy pilot put his hands above his head and glided down and landed at Road 2, on Montello.’
March 1918
Thus on 10 March Second Lieutenant R J Dawes of Montreal was given credit for shooting down a DFW, on 18 March Lieutenant Gerald Alfred Birks, also of Montreal and a new arrival to 66 Squadron, claimed a Rumpler, and on the 24th Birks’ destruction of an Aviatik confirmed by Stanger, his wing-man.
The Austrians reacted vigorously at first and combats became frequent, with Barker, Birks, Lieutenant Clifford MacKay McEwen, and Stanger playing prominent roles. On 18 March Stanger and another pilot were attacked by four red Albatros o-vs while on Eastern Patrol and Stanger credited with shooting one down. On 27 March T.F. Williams registered 45 Squadron’s two-hundredth victory.
April 1918
On 17 April 1918 he shot down an Albatros D-111 , verified by his companions, Stanger and W.C. Hilborn of Alexandria, BC. Stanger claimed another. On this day alone the RAF – as it had now become – claimed to have shot down eleven enemy aircraft and it was becoming clear that the tide of battle had turned decisively.
In May the air struggle became even more one-sided, the RAF claiming to have shot down sixty-four machines at little cost to itself. Of these, 28 Squadron records credit Lieutenant Clifford MacKay McEwen with six, Stanger with four, Hudson with three, and one each for Hallonquist, Dawes, and McLeod. In 66 Squadron Barker received credit for eight, Birks for seven, Hilborn for three, and Bell and MacDonald with one apiece.
Note Dropped on Godega Airfield
According to William George Barker’s personal records, sometime during June he, Birks, and McEwen dropped the following note at Godega airfield.
Major W.G. Barker, D.S.O., M.C., and the Officers under his Command present their compliments to Captain Brumowski, 41 Recon. Portoboutfole, Ritter von Fiala. 51 Pursuit. Gajarine, Captain Navratil, 3rd Company and the Pilots under their command and request the pleasure and honour of meeting in the air. In order to save Captain Bronmoski, Ritter von Fiala, and Captain Navratil, and gentlemen of his party the inconvenience of searching for them, Major Barker and his Officers will bomb GODIGO [sic] aerodrome at 10-00 a.m. daily, weather permitting, for the ensuing two weeks.
Black Mike
Mack promoted Captain following the Armistice. With the end of the war on 11 Nov 1918, Captain McEwen posted to No. 1 Squadron in the newly established Canadian Air Force in England. Demobilized back to Canada in 1919, he joined the semi-military Air Board with Canadian Commercial Pilot license No. 73 and became a flying instructor at Camp Borden, Ontario. About this time, he acquired the nickname ‘Black Mike’.
Victories
Date Time Unit Aircraft Opponent
1-10
1 30 Dec 1917 1500 28 Sopwith Camel (B2461) Albatros D.III (DESF)
2 02 Feb 1918 1050 28 Sopwith Camel (B2461) C (DESF)
3 02 Feb 1918 1050 28 Sopwith Camel (B2461) C (DES)
4 18 Feb 1918 1200 28 Sopwith Camel (B5169) Albatros D.III (OOC)
5 27 Feb 1918 1020 28 Sopwith Camel (B5169) Albatros D.V (DES)
6 27 Feb 1918 1020 28 Sopwith Camel (B5169) Albatros D.V (DES)
7 02 May 1918 1040 28 Sopwith Camel (B7383) Albatros D.V (DESF)
8 03 May 1918 1610 28 Sopwith Camel (B7383) Albatros D.III (DES)
9 09 May 1918 0800 28 Sopwith Camel (B7383) Albatros D.V (DES)
10 21 May 1918 1230 28 Sopwith Camel (B7383) Albatros D.V (DES)
11-20
11 24 May 1918 0645 28 Sopwith Camel (B7383) Albatros D.III (DES)
12 31 May 1918 1830 28 Sopwith Camel (B7383) C (DES)
13 03 Jun 1918 1500 28 Sopwith Camel (D1911) Albatros D.III (DES)
14 07 Jun 1918 0815 28 Sopwith Camel (D1911) C (DES)
15 19 Jun 1918 0845 28 Sopwith Camel (D8112) Berg D.I (DESF)
16 19 Jun 1918 0845 28 Sopwith Camel (D8112) Berg D.I (OOC)
17 21 Jun 1918 1210 28 Sopwith Camel (D8112) Berg D.I (DES)
18 23 Jun 1918 1145 28 Sopwith Camel (D8112) Albatros D.III (DES)
19 25 Jun 1918 0900 28 Sopwith Camel (D8112) Albatros D.V (OOC)
20 27 Jun 1918 2045 28 Sopwith Camel (D8112) C (DESF)
21-27
21 01 Jul 1918 1030 28 Sopwith Camel (D8112) Berg D.I (DES)
22 09 Jul 1918 1450 28 Sopwith Camel (D8239) Albatros D.III (DESF)
23 09 Jul 1918 1455 28 Sopwith Camel (D8239) C (DESF)
24 20 Jul 1918 0635 28 Sopwith Camel (D8239) Hansa-Brandenburg C (DES)
25 11 Aug 1918 1015 28 Sopwith Camel (D8208) Albatros D.V (OOC)
26 26 Sep 1918 1100 28 Sopwith Camel (D8239) Albatros D.V (DESF)
27 04 Oct 1918 1345 28 Sopwith Camel (D8241) Albatros D.V (DES)
Awards
Military Cross (MC)
Lt. Clifford McEwen, Infy. Secd. to R.A.F.
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in destroying six enemy aeroplanes. A most gallant pilot and patrol leader.
Supplement to the London Gazette, 16 September 1918 (30901/11042)
Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC)
Lieut. Clifford McEwen, M.C. (Can. Inf., Res. Bn.).
A skilful and fearless officer who in three weeks destroyed five enemy aeroplanes.
(Notification of this award appeared in Gazette 2nd July 1918.)
Supplement to the London Gazette, 21 September 1918 (30913/11253)
Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) Bar
Lieut. Clifford McEwen, M.C., D.F.C. (15th Res. Bn., Can. Infy.). (ITALY.)
A brilliant and courageous pilot who has personally destroyed twenty enemy machines. Exhibiting entire disregard of personal danger, he never hesitates to engage the enemy, however superior in numbers, and never fails to inflict serious casualties. His fine fighting spirit and skilful leadership inspired all who served with him.
Supplement to the London Gazette, 3 December 1918 (31046/14316)
Bronze Medal for Military Valour (Italy)
Post War Service
Left to right, Wing Commander Charles Palmet, DFC, Dundalk, Ont., in charge of training; Wing Commander Ralph Trites, MBE, Moncton, NB, group armament officer; Squadron Leader BFN Rawson, DFC, Hamilton, Ont.; Major AKL Stephenson, Nelson, BC.; Air Commodore CR Slemon, CBE, Bomanville, Ont., and Winnipeg, senior air staff officer; Air Vice Marshal CM McEwen, MC, DFC and Bar, Air Officer Commanding, Air Commodore Johnny E. Fauquier, DSO and Bar, DFC, Otttawa, in charge of operations; a Lieutenant-Commander, Royal Navy; Squadron Leader Harry Forbes, DFC, Tatamagouche, NS; and Wing commander Dan McIntosh, DFC, Regina.
UK- 11006 Unit- Headquarters RCAF Bomber Group Overseas
Date- 23 May 1944
How a bombing mission is planned. On the decisions of conferences such as is pictured are based activities of the RCAF Bomber Group in its relentless destruction of Nazi targets. The photo was made in the Operations Room at Headquarters of the Group “somewhere in Great Britain” and shows heads of the operations branches.
- When the RCAF established in 1924, McEwen commissioned as a flight lieutenant and conducted aerial survey operations for the government.
- McEwen promoted to squadron leader in 1929.
- Promoted wing commander in 1937.
- In 1941, McEwen promoted to air commodore and posted to command No. 1 Group, Eastern Air Command, with headquarters in St John’s, Newfoundland.
- In April 1943, McEwen posted to Britain and sent to an RCAF bomber training base in Yorkshire.
- In June 1943, commanding officer of No. 62 “Beaver” (Operational) Base at RAF Station Linton-on-Ouse, which also controlled two other airfields at East Moor and Tholthorpe.
- In February 1944, McEwen promoted to air vice-marshal and appointed Air Officer Commanding No. 6 Group, which grew to 14 bomber squadrons.
Commander of Bomber Command
Front row, left to right, G/C J.L.Hurley, Ottawa; G/C N.S. MacGregor, DFC., Hamilton,; A/C A.D. Ross, Winnipeg & Toronto; A/V/M McEwen; A/C C.R. Slemon, CBE Belleville, Ontario.; Senior Air staff; A/C R. E. McBurney, Ottawa; G/C D.M. Edwards, AFC, OTTAWA; Back Row, G/C J.G. Bryans, Saskatoon and Victoria; W/C C.J. Holms, Victoria; G/C H.H.C. Rutledge, Ottawa; G/C Clare Annis, OBE, Toronto; G/C E.L. Wurtele, Westmount, P.Q.; G/C F.R. miller, Ottawa; W/C D.D Findlay, Carleton Place, Ontario; G/C F.A. Sampson, Ottawa
The commander of Bomber Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur “Bomber” Harris, regarded McEwen’s contribution “to the efficiency and effect of the bomber offensive as invaluable.”
McEwen died in Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital in 1967 after a brief illness. Buried in the Last Post’s National Field of Honour Cemetery in Pointe-Claire, Quebec.
In 2003 the air base in Moose Jaw, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, renamed as Air Vice Marshal C.M. McEwen Airfield. With this it became the first military air base in Canada named after a legend of the Canadian military aviation history.
