03/26/1885

Métis insurgents under Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont meet and defeat a column of North West Mounted Police and Prince Albert volunteers near Duck Lake, Sask.

03/27/1916

Third British Division launches an attack against St-Eloi south of Ypres, Belgium, by exploding a series of mines under German lines.

03/28/1961

The Royal Canadian Air Force takes delivery of the first CF-104 Starfighter. Capable of flying at over 1,400 miles per hour, and carrying nuclear bombs, the CF-104 fulfils Canada’s NATO commitment in Europe as a nuclear strike aircraft.

03/29/1945

The Canadian frigate Teme is torpedoed in the English Channel by U-246, and is damaged beyond repair.

03/30/1951

Flight Lieutenant Omer Levesque shoots down a North Korean MiG-15 fighter while attached to the United States Air Force. He becomes the first Canadian pilot to score a jet-to-jet victory in the Korean War.

03/31/1868

Georges Étienne Cartier introduces the first federal Militia Bill. It calls for the creation of an Active Militia of 40,000 volunteers, supplemented by a Reserve Militia that is to include all able-bodied Canadian men between the ages of 16 and 60.

03/31/1945

The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan is terminated. It total, the BCATP produced 131,553 pilots, navigators, bombardiers, wireless operators, air gunners and flight engineers, of which 72,835 are Canadian.

03/31/1949

At midnight, Newfoundland joins Canada, becoming the 10th Canadian province.

04/1/1924

The Royal Canadian Air Force officially comes into existence. Its first director is Wing Commander W.G. Barker, a Victoria Cross recipient.