Commemorating......?

This year the R.C.A.F., working the Royal Canadian Mint, has put out a commemorative $2 coin to mark the 100th anniversary of the Air Force. The main aircraft pictured is a Hercules, and I thought “fair enough”, as this aircraft has served the R.C.A.F. for decades and lived up to its name and earned its reputation. But as I looked closer at the design and the other (much smaller) aircraft depicted on the edge of the coin, I could not spot one example of a warplane. Not a Sopwith Camel, not a Spitfire, not a Lancaster. How was this oversight possible?
I was not the only one who noticed. An online friend, another Bomber Command researcher named Jim, was outraged by the slight and wrote directly to the head of the RCAF, Lt. General Kenny. To his credit, Kenny responded to Jim’s complaint, but his arguments were pretty weak. There is a Fleet Finch on the coin he said – it was used as a training aircraft during the war....
A coin honouring 100 years of the history of a fighting force should include the depiction of a fighting aircraft, a combat veteran, should it not? Thousands of young Canadians gave their lives serving in aircraft like the Halifax, Lancaster and Hurricane – no disrespect to post-war veterans, but can the same be said of the Otter or Griffon helicopter?
Can we imagine the RAF or the USAF pussyfooting around like this when it came to commemorating their proud military history? This kind of soft-pedalling our military’s combat experience seems to be a uniquely Canadian phenomenon. In an effort to portray ourselves as a peaceful nation, we end up disrespecting a million young Canadians who put themselves in harms way to restore the peace in 1939-45. Tens of thousands of them never made it home, many of them meeting their end in aircraft that are, sadly, not portrayed on this coin.
There is a museum on Vancouver Island that is restoring a Lancaster – dedicated volunteers have been working for years, lovingly repairing and cleaning in hopes of bringing this old warhorse back to new. Hats off to all involved. Sadly though, in my opinion, they plan to paint the restored aircraft in post-war Search and Rescue colours. I have nothing but respect for the work of Search and Rescue, but how many SAR aircrew sacrificed their lives versus how many Bomber Command aircrew? To whom do we owe a bigger debt of gratitude?
Personally, when this toonie makes it way into my palm, as it likely will in the near future, I will take a moment to remember the aircraft and airmen that are NOT depicted.