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Flying Canucks: Famous Canadian Aviators PDF

189 Pages·1996·10.37 MB·English
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^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.

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Flying Canucks tells the fascinating story of aviation in Canada through this collection of 37 biographies of important aviators in our nation's history. As early as 1908, having read the Wright brothers' invention, alberta farm boys and mechanics in Quebec villages were constructing large kites, at
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