Flying Canucks: Famous Canadian Aviators

189 Pages·1996·10.37 MB·English

by  Peter Pigott

^IYIIP piNiirn
Famous Canadian Aviators
For my father-in-law, G.S. O'Neill,
who flew with the Canucks in 1944-45.
^ I Y I IP piNiirn
F a m o u s C a n a d i a n A v i a t o r s
P E T ER P I G O TI
HOUNSLOW
Flying Canucks: Famous Canadian Aviators
Copyright © 1994 by Peter Pigott
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or trans-
mitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except
brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Hounslow Press. Permission to
photocopy should be requested from the Canadian Reprography Collective.
Hounslow Press
A member of the Dundurn Group
Publishers: Kirk Howard & Anthony Hawke
Editor: Dennis Mills
Printer: Metrolitho Inc., Quebec
Interior photographs: National Aviation Museum and the Public Archives of Canada
Front Cover Painting: Bellanca CH - 300 Pacemaker (General Airways Limited, 1933),
by Robert W.Bradford
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Pigott, Peter
Flying Canucks
ISBN 0-88882-175-1
1. Air pilots - Canada - Biography. 2. Aeronautics -
Canada - History. I. Title.
TL539.P54 1994 629. 13'0092'271 C94-932627-5
Publication was assisted by the Canada Council, the Book Publishing Industry Development Program of
the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Ontario Publishing Centre of
the Ontario Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Recreation.
Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the
publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credit in subsequent editions.
Printed and bound in Canada
Hounslow Press Hounslow Press Hounslow Press
2181 Queen Street East 73 Lime Walk 1823 Maryland Avenue
Suite 301 Headington, Oxford P.O. Box 1000
Toronto, Canada England Niagara Falls, NY
M4E 1E5 OX3 7AD U.S.A. 14302-1000
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction viii
Agar, Carl C. i
Bannock, Russell 5
Barker, William George, vc 9
Bazalgette, Ian Willoughby, vc 43
Berry, Arthur Massey (Matt) i i
Beurling, George Frederick (Buzz) 23
Bishop, W.A. (Billy), vc 28
Collishaw, Raymond 35
Curtiss, Glenn Hammond 41
Dickins, Clennel H. (Punch) 47
Ellis, Frank H. 51
Fowler, Walter Warren (Walt) 57
Gilbert, Walter Edwin 61
Godfrey, Albert Earl 65
Graham, Stuart 69
Gray, Robert Hampton, vc 74
Hartman, Paul Albert 77
Hornell, David Ernest, vc 83
MacGill, Elsie 88
MacLaren, Donald Roderick 93
May, Wilfrid Reid (Wop) 97
McConachie, George William (Grant) iOi
McCurdy, John Alexander i 06
Maclnnis, Gerald Lester 4 i i
McKee, James Dalzell (Dal) i i 6
Mynarski, Andrew Charles, vc 449
Noorduyn, Robert B. Cornelius (Bob) 426
Oaks, Harold Anthony (Doc) i 3 i
Reid, Thomas Mayne (Pat) 437
Siers, Thomas W. (Tommy) 444
Stinson, Katherine 447
Tudhope, John Henry (Tuddy) 453
Turnbull, Wallace Rupert 457
Vachon, J.P. Romeo 464
Vachon, Irenee (Pete) 467
Ward, Maxwell William (Max) 4 70
Zurakowski, Jan 4 74
vn
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
T
he subject of this book is close to my heart and I am indebted to the
people who made its writing possible. After more than a decade over-
seas with the Department of Foreign Affairs, I was shipwrecked in
Ottawa. Fortunately, I washed ashore at the Bureau of Assistance for Central
&: Eastern Europe where my colleagues, in spite of heavy commitments, gave
me their encouragement and understanding. Like the subjects of this work,
they exemplify the very best in the Canadian spirit.
I am also indebted to the staff at the Lester B. Pearson Library and to
Claudette St. Hilaire at the National Aviation Museum.
via
INTRODUCTION
F
or most of its existence, this country has been identified with one form
of transportation or another. The birchbark canoe, the steam locomo-
tive, and at the dawn of this century, flimsy contraptions held together
with wire and muslin ... all were pivotal to our national identity.
This book is not a comprehensive collection of biographies of Canadians
who pioneered aviation or aspired to do so. It focuses on a certain phase in
our history — barely one lifetime — that of the evolution of aviation in
Canada. On one level, the men and women chosen took a piece of applied
science and changed our country forever.
It has not been possible, even with the most diligent searching, to docu-
ment fully the lives of several aviators and it would be futile to analyze why
they embarked on the courses that they did. By themselves the biographies
make little sense, and it has been necessary to connect them with the events of
their day — the aircraft used, the aviation policies and organizations.
Another complication is that while this work is about the development of
aviation in Canada, especially in the early years of this century, few of its pio-
neers were Canadian born. The very term Canadian nationalwas not legally
recognized until legislation in 1921; prior to that date, persons living in this
country were British subjects. Also, there were many native-born Canadians
who served with the British forces during and after the two world wars. As
they were undoubtedly Canadian when they performed their aerial feats of
distinction, they have been included.
The admission of Americans like Glenn Curtiss, James Dalzell McKee, and
Katherine Stinson deserves some explanation, but no apology. Canadian avia-
tion was fortunate to evolve beside the most air-minded nation in the world. At
a time when the distinction between national achievements was blurred, when
our tiny population and vast distances put major technological advances beyond
the slender means of either Ottawa or Bay Street, the spill-over of American
vision and resources was welcome. It gave an impetus to our national dream.
Introduction
IX
For those who look in vain for R.W. 'Buck* McNair, Frank Young and
Barney Rawson, my apologies. The choice of aviators in this book is purely a
personal one, based on the availability of primary sources. That Alexander
Graham Bell is mentioned only in connection with the Aerial Experimental
Association deserves an explanation. While the AEA had been financed by his
wife, Bells brilliance encompassed myriad inventions like the telephone, the
gramophone and the hydrofoil. But once his tetrahedral kites Frost King and
Cygnet had satisfied his curiosity of aeronautics, like a lot of inventors, he
moved on to other interests. Besides, he was now in his seventies and quite
content to leave the field to younger men.
Finally, incorporating into this history a few remarkable fliers who were
awarded the highest accolade for their bravery in the air, does not distort it.
Their self sacrifice — in the Second World War all Victoria Crosses were
awarded to Canadian airmen posthumously — publicised how far the country
had come. No longer struggling to get out from under Britain's shadow,
Canadians believed that they could do anything.