THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES
Like many of the guests, I wander about, letting my feet take me where they will and find myself near the Spitfire. Very soon, I am involved in a conversation with two ladies and a gentleman, …
THE HARVARD MAN OF DRAYTON VALLEY
Drayton Valley, the town where John Bootsma brought up his family, lies atop a high plateau between the South Saskatchewan and Pembina Rivers about half way between oil rich Edmonton and …
ONE CRAZY SPITFIRE
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 …
YOU’VE GOT MAIL — Katherine Stinson and the Curtiss Special
On July 9, 1918, famed American aviatrix Katherine Stinson flew a mailbag containing 259 letters from Calgary to Edmonton in western Canada’s first air mail delivery. Eighty-eight years later, on July 9, 2006, …
ME AND THE “B”
A classic warbird not in the VWC collection (yet?) is the B-25 "Mitchell". It served impressively in more theatres of war than any other aircraft in WWII. Not only was it flown by RCAF pilots during the war (in RAF units), …
A BITTER STRUGGLE — The Pappy Dunn Story
June 6, 1944 has become immortalized as D-Day. For the people of Western Europe, who had endured four years of brutal Nazi occupation, this was a day that had been desperately hoped for and longingly dreamed of.
SLIPPING THE SURLY BONDS OF EARTH
Of the many photographs sent to me by the Houle family to help understand who Albert Ulric Houle really was, there is one that I keep going back to again and again. It is not a photograph of him in his uniform,…
THE GRACE OF GOD
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 …
WE’LL GIVE ALL WE KNOW
Broadcaster and writer Tom Brokaw called them “The Greatest Generation”. More than sixty years ago, during the turmoil of the Second World War, they were young men and women in their twenties and thirties; …
GOODBYE CHARLIE — the Tragic Loss of a Canadian Hero
The last time I saw Charley Fox, he was laughing and talking and laughing some more with his friends - all fighter pilots from the Second World War - men from the Greatest Generation….
SONS OF MEN — A Thanksgiving Day Story
As the warbird made its final pass overhead Thursday, two men watched, one marvelling and one wishing. For Gregory Kenny, seeing his dad back in the saddle of a P-51 Mustang heightened the admiration inspired
BUT SIR, I’M A RESERVE!
"But Sir, I m a reserve". Back in the Fifties, that little phrase struck terror into the hearts and minds of Royal Canadian Navy Permanent Force officers and petty officers. It was a great way “out” for those of us
“NOW I HAVE VINTAGE WINGS”
On Wednesday, August 20th, 2008, Robert “Bert” Joss died suddenly at the age of 83. Bert, as we all knew him, was a great friend of Vintage Wings of Canada. He was a Fairey Swordfish pilot during the Second World War -…
“HAP” KENNEDY DIES AT 91 YEARS
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 …
A LINK TO VICTORY
About an hour's drive south and west of Ottawa lies the idylic little town of Gananoque. Unknown to most people and even the citizens of the town today, one small factory there played a significant part during the Second World War….
THE TEARS AND THE SILENCE
With the Spitfire scratched on that gorgeous Sunday morning due to a pneumatic system failure, I was the guy who had to (reluctantly) do a quick change from my flight suit to blazer and tie —…
REQUIEM FOR A WINGMAN
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,…
THE GRAY GHOST - A Small Town With a Big Heart
0800 hours, August 9th 1945 – In the far reaches of the Pacific, Robert Hampton Gray, a Canadian fighter pilot in the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, takes off from the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable…
REDTAIL - The Story of the Tuskeegee Airmen
At a very young age I was fascinated by aviation, especially the aircraft of the Second World War and the men who flew them into history. One group was the Tuskegee airmen known as the Red Tails …
BRAVERY IN BRONZE
Across the English Channel, not much more than two hundred miles away from Paris, the City of Lights, lies London, "The City of Monuments" as I like to call it. Both are magnificent world metropolises, but …