ARCHIVED - Royal Canadian Air Force sergeant receives Northern Lights Award
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News Article / November 26, 2015
From RCAF Public Affairs
Sergeant Andreena Clifford has received the 2015 Northern Lights Award, Government Division, in recognition of her outstanding work in the field of air defence, where she is considered a leader in the highly technical area of tactical data link. Her skills directly enable the chain of command at the highest levels to make effective, informed, real-time decisions.
The Northern Lights awards were presented last month in Vaughan, Ontario.
Sergeant Clifford joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 2000 as an aerospace control operator. She works in the Canadian Air Defence Sector Operations Centre, within 51 Aerospace Control and Warning Operational Training Squadron, at 22 Wing North Bay, Ontario. Her primary focus in Canada has been defending the sovereignty of Canadian airspace.
She is a veteran of the aerial campaign over Afghanistan, where she flew on board the Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) aircraft. She has also provided the tactical air picture for Operation Impact and for other domestic operations.
Sergeant Clifford spends some of her down-time as a member of the board of directors for 22 Wing’s Canadian Forces Museum of Aerospace Defence. As well, she assists with local youth sports; organizes fundraisers for Relay for Life, a Canada-wide walking relay event funding the fight against cancer; and serves as editor-in-chief of 22 Wing North Bay’s newspaper, The Shield.
A wife and mother of four, Sergeant Clifford is an inspirational leader among the ranks of the RCAF and an outstanding ambassador for women in aviation.
The Northern Lights Awards Program recognizes outstanding women in aviation and aerospace, with the goals of inspiring women and encouraging their increased participation in these industries by heightening their visibility as role models, of promoting awareness of the vast opportunities in all aviation sectors, and of ensuring that organizations recognize and benefit from women’s diverse and untapped talents.
The Elsie MacGill Northern Lights Award was named in honour of Canadian aircraft designer Elizabeth “Elsie” MacGill, who is acknowledged to have been the first female aircraft designer in the world.
She designed the Maple Leaf II, a trainer, in 1938, borrowing the fin and rudder from the failed Maple Leaf I but otherwise designing a new aircraft. It comprised a welded steel tube fuselage and steel tube tail, aluminum alloy ribs, and wooden wings. Designed to meet British requirements for strength, the Maple Leaf II was intended to be fully aerobatic.
Ms MacGill was pivotal in the Canadian production of the Hawker Hurricane during the Second World War. Later, she went on to make significant contributions to aviation and for women in Canada, and served on Canada’s Royal Commission on the Status of Women.