Flying Officer (Retired) Hugh Bone, RAFVR Flying Officer (Retired) Hugh Bone, RAFVR

LONG WAY TO THE WAR

Throughout the years since the Second World War, I have read many accounts of the sterling service given by so many. Many gave their lives in the service of their country while some survived …

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“Burt” — A Canadian Helicopter Pilot “Burt” — A Canadian Helicopter Pilot

KANDAHAR SKIES — LIFE ON HOLD

I was at home on that September morning. I had taken a few days of leave, spending them at home with the intent on tackling an endless list of “to-dos”. I had just gotten out of bed, …

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Gerald Haddon Gerald Haddon

HONOURING A MODEST MAN

Each country in the world has its own first flight, its own J.A.D. McCurdy. While the Wright Brothers may have been the first to successfully fly a powered heavier-than-air craft, others around the world were not far behind…

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MGen (Ret'd) Bob Fassold MGen (Ret'd) Bob Fassold

SHUT OUT IN SHANNON

In 1953, just eight years after the Second World War, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) became the first air force in the world with jet transport aircraft, the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a jet aircraft and the first operator ever, …

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Dave O'Malley Dave O'Malley

THE SUN OR THE MOON OR THE STARS

For anyone wanting the full story of Alcock's and Brown's harrowing and improbable flight across the Atlantic, I highly recommend Brendan Lynch's Yesterday We Were in America, the most definitive and most recent of all the books on that doughty pair of aviation pioneers...

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Dave O'Malley Dave O'Malley

THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME

Over the past ten years of Vintage News stories, there has been much research to verify facts and find images that help tell the remarkable stories of Canada’s aviators. Throughout that time, I have…

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Dave O'Malley Dave O'Malley

RESURRECTION

In the dark of the night on 2 August 1943, Royal Air Force pilot, Flight Sergeant John Alwyn “Pee Wee” Phillips, DFM, turned to his Flight Engineer, Royal Canadian Air Force Sergeant Herbert C. McLean, nodding that he was ready…

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Evad Yellamo Evad Yellamo

THE BREAKING POINT — MiG-21 Redhawks of the RCAF

October 31st, 2002, right wing blabbermouth and two-time Republican presidential nominee hopeful, Pat Buchanan misguided by a knee-jerk notion that Canada was a cesspool of anti-American “scentiment” referred to our country as Soviet Canuckistan…

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Dave O'Malley Dave O'Malley

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN PORTRAITS

There is a certain indefinable, yet physical, series of facial phenomena that happens to very young men engaged in a battle in which there is a distinct possibility they may be killed or horribly wounded…

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Dave O'Malley Dave O'Malley

BACK TO OUR ROOTS — 2017

Vintage Wings of Canada is restructuring the way it conducts its flying operations and public outreach programs. To understand these changes and their implications, it is helpful …

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Keith Ogilvie with Dave O'Malley Keith Ogilvie with Dave O'Malley

GUNFIGHT OVER WESTMINSTER

While every Canadian airman and airwoman who participated in the Second World War can be proud of his or her service and their extraordinary contributions to the effort, there are very few…

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Dave Birrell and Dave O'Malley Dave Birrell and Dave O'Malley

THE FIRST AND THE LAST

During the Second World War, more than 70 million people died worldwide as a result of the war (training, combat, civilian casualties, war crimes, as well as famine and disease related to …

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Lieutenant General (Retired) William Keir Carr Lieutenant General (Retired) William Keir Carr

THE CANADIANS — In the Battle of Britain

It’s Christmas Eve and though just early evening, the dim light of winter is long receded, replaced by the orange vapour darkness of an urban night. Outside my house a Canadian hibernal front descends

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Captain Dennis Baxendale Captain Dennis Baxendale

FIRST LOVE — The Canadian Pacific Canso

My name is Dennis Baxendale and, starting in 1958, I flew Consolidated Canso CF-CRR for two years for Canadian Pacific Airlines. It was my first Captain’s job. I was 26, with a 1,000 hrs Pilot-in-Command time…

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Dave O'Malley with Todd Lemieux Dave O'Malley with Todd Lemieux

THE GHOSTS OF SOUTHERN ALBERTA

I'm am Eastern boy. Of that there's no doubt. Liberal, urban, soft—a bit of a pussy by Alberta standards. But when I sweep down out of Calgary on Highway 2, …

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