ROBERT HAMPTON GRAY — THE LAST CANADIAN VC
Today, fourteen statues and busts stand on Sappers' Bridge near Ottawa's Parliament Hill. The Valiants Memorial is a collection of nine busts, five statues and a large bronze wall inscription that reads,…
THE UNTOLD STORY OF JESSE O. WILLIAMS
Last year we began what we hope to be a lasting American Thanksgiving Tradition. Instead of a story about Canadian aviation history, we will run a story of one of the hundreds of thousands of our American friends who risked their lives alongside our own airmen during the Second World War….
‘TIL WE MEET AGAIN
On September 19th of this year, the Vintage Wings of Canada open house featured the reunion of James “Stocky” Edwards and his Second World War Kittyhawk fighter. While Stocky received much-deserved acclaim…
THE GAUNTLET
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; …
THOSE CANADIAN FOKKERS
By the end of the Great War, military aviation had come of age and was recognized as a vital part of modern warfare. The Armistice of November 11th 1918 required the German Army to surrender its most potent weapons of war, …
A CASUAL WAVE FROM DEATH
A tapered brick smokestack towering 300 feet broke the horizon at Ketton, about three miles off the east end of Runway 26, and was affectionately referred to by returning pilots as the ‘Luffenham Beacon.’ ..
INSIDE UPLANDS
During the long days of the Second World War, the wide, flat Ottawa Valley was a virtual production line for pilots bound for the battlefront theatres of Europe, North Africa, Asia and South Pacific….
BACK IN THE SADDLE
There it is – on the left!” someone cried from behind us. A wave of excitement swept over the crowd of visitors at the Vintage Wings Open House. We all turned to the left, and searched the sky…
ACHTUNG SABREJETZ!
When the post-war Luftwaffe of the German Federal Republic was formed in September of 1956, plans called for the formation of several air defence day-fighter wings. The choice of a suitable aircraft was …
NIGHT SCRAMBLE
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, ..
FINDING MAGEE — The Story Behind the High Flight Harvard
For me, ‘inspiration’ has come in the form of sights, sounds and feelings that have combined in unforgettable moments. These were experiences that touched my emotions, lifted my mind and guided me…
TADJI — and the Boys Down Under
In April of 1944, a 78 Squadron RAAF P-40N Kittyhawk, nicknamed "Come in Suckers!" met her end along the northern coast of Papua New Guinea landing on a muddy and miserable airfield known as Tadji…
THE HERO BEHIND THE RESURRECTION OF THE ROSELAND SPITFIRE
On the afternoon of Thursday, 13 July 1944, Squadron Leader Harold James Dowding led his 442 Squadron pilots back home across the French countryside after an uneventful fighter sweep behind enemy lines….
FLEETING GLORY
The VE Day sounds of celebration, revelry and relief were given new life when the stirring base tones of two Merlin engines at full power caught the attention of Canadians in Calgary, Alberta on the afternoon of 9 May 1945….
COURAGE AND TULIPS
This weekend past was the first weekend of the Canadian Tulip Festival, a two week long celebration here in the city of Ottawa. Parliament Hill, the banks of the Rideau Canal and the shores of the historic inner city waters …
HUGS, NOT HANDSHAKES — the Final Days of Charlie Fox
y name is Captain Chris Strawson and I have the privilege to explain to you the role of an Honourary Colonel in the Canadian Air Force and to discuss some of the many contributions HCol. Charley Fox made to 412 Squadron and the Canadian Forces….
IT’S A NICE DAY FOR FLYING — the Jack Lamb Story
The great sweep of the Canadian North lay largely unreachable and uninhabited up until the coming of the aeroplane. Small isolated communities clinging to existence beneath thousand foot cliffs at the very edge …
FLYING THE ARC OF HISTORY
J. A. D. McCurdy, on his February 23rd, 1909 flight, unleashed the power of man to thrill, shock, elevate and set Canadians free from the pull of gravity. He put his hand on the "Arc of History” and bent it towards a momentous day for Canadian aviation….
THE LAST FLIGHT — Of John Alexander McCurdy
After reading the Vintage Wings of Canada piece on the Silver Dart I was reminded of Douglas McCurdy and that he and I did his last flight together! McCurdy died in Montreal on June 25th, 1961 at the age of 74.