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Command of Canadian Air Force changes hands

Xinhua, July 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Command of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) officially changed hands at a ceremony held Friday at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa.

The new Commander of the RCAF and Chief of the Air Force Staff, Lieutenant-General Michael Hood, assumed command from Lieutenant- General Yvan Blondin at a ceremony presided over by Chief of the Defence Staff General Tom Lawson.

The RCAF commander is responsible for training, generating and maintaining combat-capable, multi-purpose air forces to meet Canada's defence objectives while the commander of the Air Force Staff of Canada acts as an advisor to the chief of the defence staff on strategic air force issues.

Lieutenant-General Hood began his military career as an army reservist with Montreal's Canadian Grenadier Guards before transferring to its regular force and receiving his air combat systems officer wings in 1988.

Hood commanded both 429 and 436 Transport Squadrons and subsequently served as the commander of 8 Wing Trenton from 2007 to 2009. He was working as director of the Strategic Joint Staff before being appointed the RCAF command. Endite