Group Captain Robert Wendell "Buck" McNair, DSO, DFC & Two Bars (15 May 1919 – 15 January 1971) was a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) flying ace of the Second World War, with 16 or 16.5 victories and five probables.

[1] NcNair was born on 15 May 1919 in Springfield, Nova Scotia, the son of railroad engineer Kenneth Frank McNair (1891–1973) and Hilda May (née Grimm; 1898–1983).

McNair graduated from high school in North Battleford in 1937 and went to work as a ground wireless (radio) operator for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Natural Resources.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, McNair enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in June 1940 and attended training schools No.

[2] McNair's first encounter with the enemy came on 27 September 1941, while escorting Bristol Blenheim bombers in a Spitfire on a raid against the railroad yards in Amiens and a power plant near Mazingarble.

[4] With Malta undergoing heavy Axis aerial attacks and in danger of invasion, the Allies sent reinforcements numerous times between 1940 and 1942.

On 2 March 1942, McNair piloted one of 17 Spitfires launched from the British aircraft carrier HMS Eagle to the beleaguered island.

[9] For his contributions in the Korean War "as Royal Canadian Air Force Liaison Officer to the Far East Air Forces from 27 June 1951 to 27 July 1953," the United States government offered to award McNair a Bronze Star Medal, but it was against RCAF policy.

[1] McNair was aboard a Canadair North Star which crashed at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on 30 December 1953.

[10] McNair met Watford-born stenographer Barbara Gwendoline Still (1925–2006) on a blind date in London in 1942; they married in 1944[11] and had two sons: Bruce and Lawrence Keith NcNair (1949–1998).

[12] The French government awarded him the Croix de Guerre with Palm and made him a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, both in September 1947.

Acting Squadron Leader Robert Wendell MCNAIR (Can/J.4745), Royal Canadian Air Force, No.