ROYAL Canadian Air Force !!!

[JDK]

Please leave the party politics out of it, or at least recognise it's not the whole story:

Before William Rompkey retired as a Liberal senator last year, he introduced a motion in the Red Chamber to have the name of the Maritime Command restored to that of the Canadian Navy. He urged Mr. MacKay to take the step in time to mark the 100th navy’s anniversary, and his motion was seconded by Conservative Senator Hugh Segal.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... le2130125/

I believe in Britain's case it's a hang over from the Army being the oldest military arm.

The Royal Navy, being the 'Senior Service', might disagree with you there James.

I could live with that. The RN pushes more bull claimed as "tradition" than most, some of which is risible. [Edit: The English and Scottish armies pre-date the (British) Royal Navy, but the 'British Army' came after the RN. However that's mainly to do with the RN needing a permanent standing force and not being regimentally based, as much as the maritime arm being 'older'. It isn't, the current name for the arm is.]

According to the same Globe article above, a better answer than mine is:

The Canadian Army is not called the Royal Canadian Army because Canada follows British tradition, which holds that the navy and the air force are commanded by the Queen but the army is a collection of independent regiments that serve the sovereign but are not part of the Royal Canadian Forces.

[John Dupre]

Had a great uncle in Nova Scotia, a WW2 vet, (His brother, my grandfather was a WW1 vet) who always flew the Union Jack. He told me he would not fly "Pearson's Penant" at his home.

[Invader26]

James, the British Army was formed in 1707 after combining the English Army with the Scottish Army.

Royal Navy: The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is therefore known as the Senior Service.

[K225]

My father served in the RCAF from 1943 retiring in 1972 he was never happy with the unification issue feeling Canada had thrown away a great part of its military history. I wish he was still alive today to see this wrong corrected!

[JDK]

Interesting article on the topic from the Globe & Mail.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opi ... le2134576/

[The Inspector]

JDK,
To your last question as to why someone would log in to vote 'I don't know'
I'm undecided so could I get back to you on that later?