Of my five Christmas celebrations in wartime RCAF units, 1943 was the most memorable. The earlier years had not been without their unusual features. The first, 1940, when I was at…

We celebrated a lot of things last Saturday night at our Victory Gala. Firstly, we celebrated a new widely inclusive operational model and the remarkable independent Board of Directors we have recruited.

It’s New Year’s Eve 2015. It is a time for reflection and gratitude. For men and women of my parents’ generation, New Year’s Eve holds a special meaning. As they worked their way through the deprivations of the …

The story begins on May 19th, 1941, when I was nine days out of Halifax en route to Britain. Until now my learning experience had been great fun and excitement, but war still seemed a distant fantasy; …

The entry in my log book reads simply: “Scramble - 32,000’ - 45 minutes - night”, but it was an experience I have never forgotten. Today's all-weather pilots would consider this little adventure a joke, ..

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me, during a tour of Vintage Wings of Canada or at an air show: “Whaddya call that bullseye thingamajig there?” or “How come the bullseye on the wing …

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me, during a tour of Vintage Wings of Canada or at an air show: “Whaddya call that bullseye thingamajig there?” or “How come the bullseye on the wing …

The weather on July 26th, 1944 was clear, warm, and windy from the Normandy coast all the way to Paris. It was a good day for hunting and 401 Squadron was up for the second time that day. Pushing closer and closer to Paris each day,…

Most pilots who flew the Supermarine Spitfire will agree that it was a great aircraft, easy to fly and with no nasty surprises for even a ham-fisted driver. But when we began adding external gadgets …

Harry Boyle was one of seven Canadians, including myself, making up the majority of pilots in the Defence of Takoradi Flight during 1942. Harry’s insatiable curiosity frequently got him into trouble …

If you have been following American-style football and the National Football League lately (apologies to our brothers and sisters in Europe and the Antipodes), you can’t help but hear the drone…

A seemingly desperate scheme to fly an entire fighter wing to Normandy in gliders proves to be practicable... though luckily for the author and his fellow Spitfire pilots of 401 Squadron it was never put to the test on operations…