Dr Paul Johnston is a semi-retired Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) officer who, since the mid-1990s, has been an active scholar, researching and publishing in the areas of air force history, air power and intelligence. He has taught various courses at both the Royal Military College (RMC) and Canadian Forces College (CFC), as well as supervised masters and undergraduate dissertations. Since retiring from the regular force, he has transferred to the reserves, where he is now working part-time on an official history of the RCAF in the Cold War period, as well as being an adjunct professor at RMC.
Education
- PhD, Queen’s University
- MA – Royal Military College
- BA Hons – Royal Roads Military College
Research Interests
- Air force history and air power theory
- Cold War history
- NATO
- Second World War
- Intelligence
Selected Publications
- “The Allied Tactical Airpower System in Normandy” Chapter 10 in Michael Bechthold (ed) Airpower and the Normandy Campaign (Annapolis, Naval Institute Press, 2025)
- “L'expérience canadienne de la Seconde Guerre mondiale." with Richard Goette, Guerres mondiales et conflits contemporains, No. 250 (February 2013), pp 21-40.
- “Staff Systems and the Canadian Air Force, Part 1” The Canadian Air Force Journal [now The Royal Canadian Air Force Journal], Vol. 1, No. 2, (Summer 2008), pp 20-30, and “Part 2” Vol. 1, No. 3 (Fall 2008) pp 20-32.
- “`Air Rollback': Tactical Targets ... Independent Air Power?” Air Power Review, Vol. 6, No. 2, (Summer 2003), pp 75-88.
- "Tactical Air Power Controversies in Normandy: A Question of Doctrine" Canadian Military History, Vol. 9, No. 2, (Spring 2000), pp 59-71.
- with A.D. English & A. Brown “Are We Losing Our Memory?: Decision-making in DND” in Yves Tremblay (ed) Canadian Military History Since the 17th Century: Proceedings of the Canadian Military History Conference, Ottawa, 5-9 May 2000, (Ottawa: National Defence, 2001), pp 473-480.
- “No Cloak and Dagger Required: Intelligence Support to UN Peacekeeping” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 12, No. 4, (October 1997), pp 102-112. Republished as a chapter in Ben de Jong, Wies Platje & Robert David Steele (eds), Peacekeeping Intelligence: Emerging Concepts for the Future, (Oakton, VA: OSS International Press, 2003).
- “The Myth of Manoeuvre Warfare: Attrition in Military History” chapter in Allan D. English (ed) The Changing Face of War: Learning from History, (Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1998), pp 22-32.
- “Doctrine is Not Enough: The Effect of Doctrine on the Behaviour of Armies” Parameters, Vol. 30, No. 3, (Autumn 2000), pp 30-39.
Recent Conference Presentations
- Wilfred Laurier Military History Conference, Waterloo, 2024, “Canada, the Paris Plan, and an Air Division: NATO Commitments 1950-1953”
- Society for Military History Conference, San Diego, 2023, “The NATO Archives and Military History”
- Wilfred Laurier Military History Conference, Waterloo, 2013, “Golden Days? Early Cold War NATO Air Power”