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Arthur Luker never saw overseas battlefields, but his photos bear witness to the risks and sacrifices he faced even on the home front during the First World War.

Arthur grew up in Lorne Park and worked as a driver and mechanic during the Great War – what we now call the First World War – was the first war to use aircraft for reconnaissance.

Arthur joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1917, at the age of 28, serving as a mechanic at Base Borden and Deseronto in Ontario, as well as in Texas.

Luckily for us, Arthur was interested in photography from a very young age. Nearly a thousand of his images are held in the Peel Archives and can be viewed in the reading room.

Here’s a look at some images from his time as an enlisted man.

Luker would have been assigned a berth on the bases. As seen here, there was very little personal space or ornamentation. That object folded in on itself, at the bottom of the pile on each bed? It’s actually a thin mattress.

Is this photo Borden? Many dormitories were built in response to the Great War. Even if Luker were to undergo training, construction of additional facilities would still be underway, as seen here. At Camp Borden, for example, a two-month construction period did not begin until May 1916, and it was not until the following year that it was designated an “airfield.” Canadian Forces Base Borden is still in operation today.

Flying was a dangerous and unpredictable activity. With novice pilots behind the rudimentary controls, even though Arthur and his colleagues maintained the engines, they could not protect against human error.

Accidents like this:

Or this:

Or even this:

Given the wreckage in the previous photographs, perhaps we will end with a relaxing biplane flight, perhaps a training mission.

But let’s take a closer look…

Yes, we believe this photo shows an honest image, and not an early example of photographic trickery.

To learn more about the wars and Mississauga, read ( previous column on Lakeview), which also housed a military airfield.

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