COMMIE THUNDER
The moment I arrived at the Lachute, Quebec airport on that sunny Saturday morning, I realized my dream would come true….
ON BEING THREE
I sat there - in the Harvard cockpit, exhausted but satisfied after shutting down on the grass. Not a soul in sight, just me and the sounds of gyros winding down, metal clinking and clanking with different rates of contraction as it cooled….
MONTEBELLO — SKI-PLANE HEAVEN
As I walk up to the WACO on a sparkling day in June, light reflects off the rich, crimson, and glossy paint. This airplane is a jewel flashing in the sun! …
DER SCHONE STORCH — The Lovely Stork
Bill Ison, the Chief Flying Instructor at Cambridge Flying Group where I learned to fly Tiger Moths, started his combat service as a Lysander rear gunner in the Western Desert during the Second World War - “looking out for cannon-armed Messerschmitts…
DREAM BIG OR GO HOME — L’EPERVIER
Sometime before 1909, a small group of engineers and inventors, without the benefit of much known aeronautical science, set out to do something no one had ever done before in Canada—build a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft ..
THE BEAT GOES ON
My goal is to become a pilot in the Canadian Air Force. After graduating from McMaster University, I spent a year going through the Canadian Forces pilot selection process. After being accepted, I spent another two years going through basic officer training, second language training and waiting in …
FLYING THE TIGERS AND FEEDING THE LIONS
Not a test pilot? Not a multi-thousands hours airline pilot? Not much hope of being admitted into the world of warbird flying? There is one other way to come up through the ranks to fly vintage military aircraft - but it takes determination, stamina, skill, …
KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON
After a stellar 37 year career in the service of his country, Lieutenant General Angus Watt, Chief of the Air Staff, retires at the top of his game. Taking his place at the helm of the New Canadian Air Force will be Lieutenant General André Deschamps…
ANGEL of MERCY
As I walk up to the WACO on a sparkling day in June, light reflects off the rich, crimson, and glossy paint. This airplane is a jewel flashing in the sun! …
DOUBLE THE PLEASURE
n Canada, the Victoria Day long weekend signals the beginning of summer play and the boundless joys of being outside. Gone are the crusted snow banks, the dirty buses, the layered grey skies and the layered grey clothing,…
THE FLYING HADFIELDS
This past Canada Day, as many Canadians do, some members of one particular Canadian family gathered in Ottawa to have some fun and get their photograph taken as a memento of the day….
WESTERN SWING — Westjet Employees welcome The Gray Ghost
Thursday July 8th dawned over the Calgary International Airport (YYC) with a beautiful cloudless sky and a light breeze that would keep the afternoon’s 27°C temperatures bearable – the kind of weather perfect for a family picnic or airshow. …
DOWN AND BACK
Friday, July 29th, 2011. Imagine a foursome of golfers at the Huron Pines Golf and Country Club near remote Blind River, Ontario, about to tee-off from the 18th on a wet afternoon. The skies are dank and glowering, the air humid and close, …
MUSTANG ON ICE
You call your self a warbird mechanic? Really? You short pants wearing, candy-assed, sun-block covered, flip-flop shod, sunny weather warbird mechanics from Kissimmee, Florida, Mojave, California, or sunny Jindalee, Queensland have nothing on…
ATTAWASPIKAT ANNIE
As winter began to close in on the southern-most regions of Canada, temperatures began a steady crawl downwards, rains turned icy, and Canadians broke out the fleece, boots and layered up. But farther north, much farther north, along the shores of James Bay, the Florida-shaped extension of Hudson Bay that drives deep into …
SO GREEN IT HURTS
So, first mission. Yes, well, it was obviously awesome, crazy, unbelievable, totally overwhelming. My captain is really nice, though I do feel bad for him for having to put with up me, as I'm sure even just yesterday was a test of his patience….
GOING HOME
There's an old saying in Western culture that states, “You can't go home again.” This somewhat unhappy chestnut can be traced to an excerpt from Thomas Wolfe's novel of the same name .
JUBILATION
Nearly all the wonderful things that make living in your home town not only bearable, but worthwhile and enjoyable – the music festivals, the kids hockey tournaments, the botanical gardens, the air shows, …
HARVARD HERITAGE FLIGHT
Over the past two years, Vintage Wings of Canada has travelled from coast to coast using the Yellow Wings program to tell the story of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). In terms of scope, the BCATP was by far…
FLYING THE HIGH ARCTIC
I know many pilots who fly with Air Canada – some for thirty or more years. Sometimes, I would ask one of them: “Do you know my friend Jeff Foss?”, “Have you ever paired with an old buddy of mine, Karl Kjarsgaard?”, “Did you ever run into a guy named Dave Hadfield?” Inevitably, the answer is no….