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.

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,…

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 …

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; …

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….

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". 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

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 -…

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 …

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….

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 —…

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,…

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…

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 …

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 …

During the Second World War, more than 72,000 young men served as pilots, navigators, air gunners, bomb aimers and flight engineers with the Royal Canadian Air Force, but following the end of hostilities, the vast majority never flew again.

Seventy years ago, the shattered, smoking, brave and blood covered hulk of the battleship Bismarck slipped backwards and sank into the icy waters of the North Atlantic. The date was May 27th, 1941….

When I was a child, when dogs were free-range, when days were forever and being inside was prison, I knew a German Shepherd dog named Sheba. Sheba was massive, collarless, dirty with oil …

Thinking, “what a beautiful day” – a solid blue sky and the tranquility of near silence as the wind softly whispered past the cockpit... Wait a minute! There's something wrong with this picture! This isn't a glider. This is a twin-engined Beech 18…

Not all the heroes of the Battle of Britain and the London Blitz were made in the air and not all of them were men. From London's Steve Hunnisett comes this story of a young French Canadian woman who wanted to make a difference and who then paid the ultimate price…