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Roméo Vachon was born in 1898 in Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce, Québec. He dreamed at an early age of becoming a pilot, but first joined the Royal Canadian Navy as an engineer. He served during World War I on four different ships, returning to Quebec after the War. He then moved to Toronto in 1920 to enlist in the Royal Flying Corps at Camp Borden. The following year, in 1921, he was given leave to work for Laurentide Pulp and Paper Company, later Laurentide Air Services, where his brother Irénée soon also began to work. The Company watched for forest fires and created photographic aerial maps. Roméo learned to fly during this time but lacked a commercial pilot's license. He took leave in 1923 to follow more formal pilot training with General Motors in Dayton, Ohio, and returned with an American commercial license. He received his Canadian license soon after, becoming the first French-Canadian to receive one. The Ontario government established the Ontario Provincial Air Service in 1924 and Vachoin joined the Service as a pilot. In 1927, he joined a new company, Canadian Transcontinental Airways, which was responsible for creating regular air postal service between isolated communities in Quebec on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River. By 1928, Roméo was flying a route between Sept-Iles and Moncton. That year he also provided assistance to the crew of the Bremen after their emergency landing on the first successful East-West transatlantic flight. When Transcontinental Airways expanded to create a new airmail service from Europe to Eastern Canada, Roméo Vachon was made responsible for recruitment and selection of the routes. When Transcontinental Airways was absorbed by Canadian Airways in 1930, Vachon was at first dismissed by the new company. He worked for six months as a private pilot for Bob Holt. During this period, in 1931, he was asked to pilot the Saro Cloud in the Trans Canada Air Pageant Montreal-Vancouver by Saunders-Roe. He was then invited by Saunders-Roe to come London to provide design advice on the aircraft. Vachon accepted a post with Canadian Airways again in 1932 as Operating Manager. He was promoted first to District Chief and then to Manager of the subsidiary airline Quebec Airways. In 1938, a year after it was founded, Trans-Canada Airlines recruited Romeo first as a pilot. He was made Airport Director, then Manager of fleet maintenance, before being named Deputy-Director of TCA’s Eastern Division. During the Second World War, he was seconded to the Ministry of Munitions and Supply, where he was responsible for the maintenance of the fleet for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Vachon was named a member of the Air Transport Board in 1944 and was made Advisor to the Minister on civil aviation and commercial aviation. He was part of Canada's delegation at the international conference that created the International Civil Aviation Organization. Roméo Vachon was a member of the Air Transport Board until his death in 1954. He received a number of honours during his career, such as the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his First World War service, and the Trans-Canada Trophy (McKee Trophy) for his contribution to the advancement of Canadian aviation. In 1960, a park was named after him in Sainte-Foy, the site of Quebec City's first airfield.

Roméo Vachon and Georgette Tremblay were married in October 1924. They had four children: Thérèse, Gisèle, Pierre and Jean. Born in Lac-à-la-Tortue in 1900, Georgette earned a degree in Music and Letters from the Université de Laval. She continued her studies in Paris prior to her marriage. When her husband's appointment to the Air Transport Board brought the family to Ottawa in 1944, she participated actively in different voluntary organizations, notably founding the Société d’étude et de conférences d'Ottawa in 1946. She became a member of the Alliance Francaise of Ottawa in 1949 and was named as its President in 1954. She earned the title 'Mother of Canadian Aviation' through her many articles on Canadian aviation and through her six years of work at the Royal Canadian Air Force Historical Records Section. She was made an honorary member of Squadron 425 (Escadron Allouette) in 1953. Georgette Vachon authored the book Goggles, Helmets and Airmail Stamps, published in 1974, as well as other historical booklets. She died on 7 February 1987.

James Henry Taylor was born in East Kelowna, British Columbia, on 9 July 1921. Prior to his service during the Second World War, Taylor worked and managed packing houses in the Okanagan Valley. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) on 4 December 1942. He trained at No. 4 Wireless School at Burtch, Ontario, from 14-24 November 1943. He flew in Noorduyn Norseman, DH-82C Tiger Moth and N.A. Yale aircrafts. From 17 January to 16 June, 1944, he trained at the No. 8 Air Observer School at Ancienne Lorette, Quebec, in Avro Anson V aircraft. He then moved to No. 8 Operational Training Unit in Greenwood, Nova Scotia, from 1 September to 17 October 1944, where he flew in DH 98 Mosquitos. He was assigned to No. 13 Operational Training Unit in Harwell, Oxfordshire, UK, from 30 December 1944 to 21 February 1945, where he flew in Avro Ansons and DH 98 Mosquitos. He was posted to No. 107 Royal Air Force (RAF) Squadron flying from A-75 Cambrai/Epinoy airfield from 8 March 1945 to 6 July 1945. He was then posted to No. 435 RCAF Squadron at Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, UK, from 1 November 1945 to 2 March 1946 where he flew in Douglas Dakota aircraft. Warrant Officer 1st Class Taylor was honourably released from the RCAF on 14 May 1946. He met and married Eileen Kelly of Balleycotton, Ireland, during the war. She joined him in Canada after the war and they had four children. While he continued his work in Okanagan packing houses, he also served as Lay Magistrate for the valley. He then served as Sherriff in Nanaimo before he retired.

Kenneth H. Sullivan was born on 21 August 1922 in Toronto, Ontario. He graduated from St. Michael’s College and then took the Senior Aircraft Course at Central Technical School. He began work as an Aircraft Mechanic at Leavens Brothers Air Services in 1940. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1943 as a Flight Engineer. He then joined the Department of Transportation as a Meteorological Observer from 1944 to 1945. After the war, he earned a Bachelor of Science in aeronautical engineering from University of Toronto in 1949. During his summers from 1947 to 1949, he worked at Kenting Aviation. He was hired by A.V. Roe as an Installation Engineer after his degree, working there until 1951 when he began his career at Pratt & Whitney Canada. Based in Longueuil, Sullivan was part of the sales force. He held positions of increasingly responsibility. In 1966, Sullivan was invited to attend an 11-month course at the National Defence College in Kingston, Ontario. He was sponsored by the Canadian Department of Industry as the sole representative of Canadian industry. He joined about 30 military officers from Canada, Great Britain and the United States for a series of study sessions at the advanced graduate school level, including tours of various North American military installations and on-the-spot studies of conditions in a varied group of European, Asian and African nations. In 1971, he was elected to the Pratt & Whitney Canada Board of Directors. Sullivan retired from the company in 1984 as Senior Vice-President, Marketing and Product Support. In 1989, he and co-author Larry Milberry published Power: The Pratt & Whitney Canada Story.

A native of Oshawa, Ontario, Alfred (Fred) John Shortt developed a love of flying and aviation history at an early age as the son of a First World War aviator.

As a teenager, he joined the Canadian Militia, and later served in Korea with the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians), an armoured regiment which was part of the 25th Canadian Infantry Brigade Group, 1st Commonwealth Division. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps during the mid-1950s, and later served with Canadian peacekeepers as part of the 1956-57 United Nations Emergency Force responsible for patrolling the Sinai. While still serving in the Canadian army, Shortt participated in pilot training at Rivers, Manitoba, on single engine Auster aircraft.

Following his military service, he enrolled in engineering studies at Toronto’s Ryerson Institute of Technology. He was subsequently employed in Montreal by Canadair but loaned to Boeing in Seattle, Washington, where he worked on development of the Boeing 727. He returned to Canadair in 1967. There, he worked with the company’s electrical systems (avionics) design group on the development of its CL-215 water bomber.

During the summer of 1969, Shortt shifted career paths by accepting an appointment as Assistant Curator with the Aviation and Space Division of the National Museum of Science and Technology. This position included responsibilities for the National Aeronautical Collection at Rockcliffe Airport in Ottawa. In 1981, Shortt was appointed acting Curator. In 1982, it was decided to once again open a separate Museum dedicated to aviation, this time at Rockcliffe. He was appointed formally to the Curator position in 1983, and retired from the museum as Director of Collection and Research in 1997.

Over his long career, Fred Shortt’s contribution as a researcher, speaker, and historian, and his work in historical aircraft restoration were widely recognized. He was the only non-American advisor to serve the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. Among the many projects he undertook while at the National Aviation Museum (NAM, later the Canada Aviation Museum and then the Canada Aviation and Space Museum), some important examples are: the acquisition of the museum’s Hawker Hind and Fairy Firefly F.R.1; restoration of one of the museum’s Messerschmitt Me 163Bs; the design of the new museum, from 1982 to its opening in 1988; and work on its contribution to Expo 86. He co-authored with Ken Molson the book, The Curtiss HS Flying Boats, published by the NAM in 1995, in which he documented the recovery and restoration of the museum’s Curtiss HS-2L. He was a frequent contributor to the Canadian Aviation Historical Society Journal and was awarded CAHS’s Fred Hatch Award in 1996. Shortt was also the recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal. He died on November 29, 2002 following an eleven year battle with cancer.

Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1928, Stephen Sebastyan (birth name: Istvan Sebestyen) left home during the Second World War, afraid of persecution for having Jewish ancestry. He survived bomb blasts, living alone on the streets in Budapest, and several periods of forced labour. After the war, he finished high school and attended Jozsef Nador Technical University from 1946 to 1949, also working for the engineering firm VASBETONIPARY RT as a technical assistant for research, development, and manufacture of pre-cast and pre-stressed concrete elements. In 1949, Sebastyan decided to leave Hungary after the rise of the Communist regime. He escaped with his wife through Czechoslovakia, to Austria, then Italy finally arriving to Israel. He was in Israel from 1949-1953. There he was given the Hebrew name Gad Yishai as part of the immigration process. He built roads with the Israeli Army. He was also involved in Airport Design and Construction through the engineering component of the Israeli Air Force which greatly helped him in later years with Transport Canada. The Israeli Army Corps of Engineers sponsored him to study engineering in the United States. He chose the University of Michigan where he earned his Bachelor of Science in 1953, his Master of Science in 1958, and his PhD in 1963, all in the field of Civil Engineering.

While he pursued his PhD, Sebastyan moved to Canada in 1958 where he began work as an Assistant to the Design Engineer in the Construction Branch of the Department of Transport (DOT). In 1960, he was promoted to Head of the Engineering Design Section of the Construction Branch. After a reorganization in 1966, Sebastyan was named Chief, Engineering Design Section, of the new Construction Engineering and Architecture Branch. His focus for the early period of his career, from 1958 to 1969, was on pavement and foundation design and construction projects at airports in Canada and overseas, including a number in remote areas. He oversaw the Department’s pavement evaluation program, and undertook development and applied research projects, including the creation of technical policies and standards. From 1969 to 1974, Sebastyan served as the Manager of the Engineering Division at Transport, and the Manager of Design and Construction for the New Montreal International Airport (Mirabel) Project. In 1974, he was appointed Director of the Airport Facilities Branch. In this capacity, he was responsible for policies, standards and guidelines for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the surface facilities of Canadian Airports as well as for the applied research to support such work. The standards were based on best practices derived from technical data and information collected during the two decades that Transport Canada owned and operated the 130 major airports in the Canadian airport system. Airport personnel attended training courses on the standards, which was one of the principle means by which DOT technical expertise was disseminated throughout Canada.

In 1977, Sebastyan moved to become the Director General of Engineering and Architectural Services at the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. He was responsible for the planning and implementation of the Department’s yearly capital and maintenance program including engineering and architectural services covering all branches of engineering. However, he moved back to Transport Canada in 1980, serving first as Director General, Airport and Construction Services, then as Assistant Administrator, Airports and Construction. Sebastyan’s last years in the Federal public service were with Public Works Canada, where from 1985 to 1986, he was Assistant Deputy Minister for Architectural and Engineering Services.

Over his career at Transport Canada, Sebastyan also taught at Carleton University and University of Ottawa, first as a Lecturer on Pavement Design, then as an associate or adjunct professor of Engineering Management. He was also a member of Queen’s University’s Advisory Council on Engineering from 1977 to 1980. When Sebastyan retired from the Federal Public Service, he held a series of executive positions with the international pharmaceutical manufacturing company, IMMUNO. From 1986 to 1990, he was Executive Vice-President of IMMUNO-US, then Vice-President and Secretary-Treasurer of IMMUNO (Canada). From 1990 to 1997, he served as Chairman of IMMUNO (Canada), then Engineering Advisor to IMMUNO International, before being named Director of IMMUNO-US. Sebastyan stepped away from IMMUNO in 1998, but did not fully retire. He established a consulting company, G.Y. Sebastyan & Assoc. Ltd., working principally as an airport engineering consultant with other companies, such as LPS Avia Inc. He also wrote a manuscript he called the “Airport Handbook”, which is a manual on the planning, design, construction, maintenance, management and operation of airports.

Sebastyan authored numerous technical publications and was awarded the Canadian Good Roads Association’s President’s Gold Medal for technical papers in 1961 and 1969. In addition to being a registered professional engineer in the Province of Ontario, he was Warden, Camp 12, for The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer. Sebastyan was a member of: The Canadian Geotechnical Survey; The Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists, U.S.; the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Foundation; and the Engineering Roads and Transportation Association of Canada. He also served on various National Research Council of Canada committees, including its: Associated Committee on Geotechnical Research, 1969-1972; Permafrost Subcommittee, 1969-1972; and the Associated Committee on Aeronautical Structures Panel on Runway Roughness and Associated Problems. He participated in various technical committees of the Canadian Government Specifications Board, the U.S. Transportation Research Board, and the Interdepartmental Policy Committee of the Government of Canada. For his contributions, he was awarded the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal in 1978.

Stephen Sebastyan died November 12, 2010 after a battle with cancer.

For further information on Orenda Engines Limited, please see the authority record for Hawker Siddeley Canada Limited.

James A. Morrison was born in Toronto on January 2, 1924. He attended Toronto’s Central Technical High School’s aircraft matriculation course. While in high school, he first joined the Army Cadets before changing over to Air Cadets. When he was old enough, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).

He spent a month at 1 Manning Depot in Toronto before moving to 4 Manning Depot at Quebec, and 5 Manning Depot at Lachine. He then moved to 5 Initial Training School at Belleville, Ontario, and 10 Elementary Flying Training School at Pendleton, Ontario. In January 1943, he moved to 2 Senior Flying Training School at Uplands where he was commissioned as a flying officer in May. Morrison served as a flying instructor at various stations before he shipped out in October 1944. He was posted to Royal Air Force Squadron 62 in Burma, supporting the British Fourteenth Army.

After the Second World War, Morrison was posted to RCAF Squadrons 435 and 436, transporting troops in Europe. Flying Dakotas, Morrison and his unit also transported prisoners to the Nuremberg trials. Morrison returned to Canada, serving temporarily as a corporal in the service police force while waiting for his training in flying control. When recommissioned, he was posted as instructor at 1 Flying Training School in Centralia, Ontario. In 1951, Morrison was posted to 400 Auxiliary Squadron in Toronto, flying Vampires, the first jet aircraft the RCAF operated. He was posted to 16 Wing Headquarters in Mount Hope, Ontario, from 1953 to 1957, serving as Executive Assistant to the Commanding Officer. From 1957 to 1959, he was posted to No. 2 Air Observer School in Winnipeg where he was Training Officer for a Beechcraft CT-128 Expeditor Squadron and officer commanding Dakota flight. He was then transferred to 2 Maritime Operational Training Unit at Summerside, Prince Edward Island. He was posted to Maritime Command in Greenwood, Nova Scotia, 404 Squadron, where he flew maritime patrols and served as instrument check pilot from 1960 to 1965. Morrison was appointed Duty Officer for RCAF Headquarters at the Canadian Armed Forces Operation Centre in Ottawa. He was promoted to Squadron Leader (Major) and was commanding officer at the centre, delivering instructions when the War Measures Act was invoked in October 1970. Morrison retired from the RCAF in July 1971.

In his RCAF retirement, Morrison worked as a real estate broker and in security. In 1995, he became active in aircraft photography at Ottawa International Airport. He received an airside pass while working as a staff photographer for Karevan Air Services and was soon allowed access to all airport ramps. In this capacity, he photographed many significant visitors to Ottawa and their aircraft. Morrison was a founding member of the Ottawa Airport Watch, patrolling public areas of the airport. He specialized in night watch patrols of the perimeter road and parking areas, and his wife Betty generally accompanied him on patrol. Airport Watch volunteer groups have since spread to other cities. Morrison retired from his voluntary role in January 2014, making his final patrol with the Airport Watch on his ninetieth birthday.

Carol Anne Lindquist was born in Tecumseh, Ontario, where as a young girl she would pretend to be a stewardess. It was during a trip when she was roughly 10 years old to Detroit’s Willow Run Airport that her dream was firmly cemented - she spent 4 hours watching the planes taking off, landing and observing the stewardesses. After this trip, she regularly visited the Windsor airport, taking photos of the Trans-Canada Airlines (TCA) flight attendants and collecting their autographs. She also compiled a scrap book of news items about TCA. The flight attendants got to know her and one, Mary Vasco, sent her name to TCA public relations in Toronto. In 1957, public relations flew Ms. Linquist, then 13, and her mother to Toronto for the day. Her mother made her a replica of the TCA flight attendant uniform, which she wore during her trip. After graduating high school in 1961, she entered nursing school. During nursing school, Ms. Lindquist flew TCA during her practicum and helped the flight attendants with their duties, including taking care of a sick passenger. She graduated nursing school in 1964 and worked for a year in Tecumseh. On June 25, 1965 she achieved her goal and became a flight attendant for TCA. She was a flight attendant from 1965-1966 when she left her job to get married. Lindquist was an active member of the Canada Maple Wings Association after leaving TCA, allowing her to maintain friendships and involvement with Air Canada. She currently lives in Davidson, Québec.

George Lennox was born Jerzy Lenartowicz in Warsaw, Poland, in 1920. He attended Jagiellonian University beginning in 1938 and joined the Auxiliary Detachment of Polish Youth as an officer cadet when Germany and Russia invaded the country. He was captured as the Polish forces retreated, but escaped from a train destined for the Katyn Forest where Polish military officers and civilians were later massacred. He made his way to Hungary on foot through the Eastern Carpathian Mountain Range. He escaped a further internment in Hungary to make his way to France via Yugoslavia and Italy. Once in France, he joined the Polish forces there under General Władysław Sikorski, the beginning of the Polish Armed Forces in the West. The Polish force was pushed to the coast and was rescued by the Royal Navy (UK). Lennox went to officer school after his arrival in Liverpool. He joined the tank corps stationed in Scotland. After two years, he transferred to the air force. He trained in England before being posted to Palestine where he flew reconnaissance missions. In late 1944, he was posted to the 315 Fighter Squadron (Polish) defending the UK and attacking targets in Northern Europe. That year, he met and married Irene Arthy. He had the rank of Flight Lieutenant when the war ended.

After the war, Lennox studied architecture at Northern Polytechnic Institute, earning a diploma in 1954 while working for British Railways as an architect. After graduation, he decided to change his name with the hopes that the anglicized version, Lennox, would help him advance in England. He followed a Structural Engineering Course for Architects at the Institute for Civil Engineering in 1955. Lennox and his family decided to immigrate to Canada in 1956, first settling in Toronto and Kitchener, Ontario, before moving to Winnipeg where he worked for Canadian Pacific Railway as Chief Architect of the Prairie and Pacific Region. During this period he joined the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, later serving on the Editorial Board of its Journal.

In 1959, he was recruited by the Department of Transport in Ottawa to be a Project Architect, responsible for air terminal planning and construction. In this role from 1959 to 1962, he managed the projects to construct Terminal 1 at Toronto International Airport and the Dorval Air Terminal Building at Montreal International Airport. From 1962 to 1969, he served as Chief, Contracts Division, where he established policies, procedures, and techniques for all Transport construction projects. From 1969 to 1972, he was Head of the Special Projects and Fine Arts Section under the direction of Transport’s Chief Architect. In this capacity, he was responsible for interior design and art at all Federally-run airports, as well as special projects like the expansion of Yellowknife and Inuvik air terminals. Later in 1972, he was named Project Manager for CATA’s Caribbean Program, carried out on behalf of the Canadian International Development Agency. In this capacity, Lennox advised governments on the future development or expansion of airports in Guyana, Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent, Dominica, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, and Antigua. In 1974, he was named Project Manager for similar development projects in the Overseas Program. In this role, he contributed to airport development in Turkey, Burma (Myanmar), and Nicaragua. Soon after, he returned to a Program Manager role for Canadian airports, overseeing planning for Ottawa International Airport and the reconstruction of the Thunder Bay Air Terminal. The last group of airport projects that Lennox worked on for the Ministry of Transport were smaller Western airport that needed to adjust to the rapid growth of resource industries: Fort St. John Airport, Fort McMurray Airport, Yellowknife Airport, and Fort Nelson Airport.

Lennox retired from the Ministry of Transport on July 16, 1983. During his retirement, he went on to work as an occasional consultant for his son Edward (Ted) Lennox’s aviation and airport consulting company. George Lennox died in 2000.

William Law is an Aviation Engineer who first acquired his private pilot’s license in 1947. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Queen’s University in 1950. He began his career at Spartan Air Service also in 1950. He was eventually promoted to Manager, Research and Engineering Division, where he was responsible for modifying aircraft for Spartan’s aerial surveys. In 1957 he moved to de Havilland Aircraft of Canada as Special Projects and Senior Research Engineer. His three areas of focus at de Havilland were: the measurement and analysis of aircraft noise; the design and testing of wind tunnel and ditching models; and, the design of high flotation undercarriages and the operation of aircraft from unprepared terrain. Law moved to the Ontario Ministry of Transport in 1972 where he was Chief, Civil Aeronautics Research and Special Projects. He was responsible for research and investigation in support of planning and development of the civil air transportation system in Ontario. It seems as though Law retired in 1976, but continued to work as a consultant for the Ministry through his company Bill Law Consulting Services. He was employed by the Ministry of Transportation as Principal Aviation Engineer, providing expertise for the Minister’s evaluation of major federal aviation initiatives that would have an impact on the province.

This company came into existence after the end of the First World War when a Quebec based forester, Ellwood Wilson, an employee of the Quebec based Laurentide Pulp & Paper Company foresaw the benefits of aircraft in the forestry industry for aerial fire patrol, aerial survey and photography applications. Wilson arranged the loan of two Curtiss H2-2L flying boats (registered HS2L No. 1876 - later G-CAAC La Vigilance (now on display at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum and the only one of its type in existence) and HS2L No. 1878 - later G-CAAD) from the Government of Canada and the first fire patrol and aerial photography flying began during the summer of 1919.

In 1922 this aerial arm of the Pulp and Paper company separate from its parent and became Laurentide Air Services Incorporated with Thomas Hall as president and Roy Maxwell as vice-president and general manager. The new company was authorized to carry passengers, mail and freight design, repair and manufacturer aircraft; and, even experiment with military applications.

Laurentide’s aircraft proved to be so valuable that the government of Ontario hired the company in 1922 for forestry survey and mapping work. It also acquired a contract from Fairchild Aerial Survey of Canada Limited of which Wilson was president, for personnel transport and fire patrol duties however Laurentide had too much work and had to cancel the contract with Fairchild who found another company to fulfill their needs.

By 1923 Laurentide was awarded exclusive contracts to all of Ontario’s flying requirements involving forestry work utilizing twelve aircraft and employing six pilots and five licensed engineers.

Given Laurentide’s success in demonstrating the benefits of aircraft use in the forestry industry, Ontario decided to create their own “Ontario Provincial Flying Service (OPSC)”. The loss of this contract and company personnel to OPSC had a major impact on Laurentide’s financial viability. Other competitors such as Dominion Aerial Exploration Company had also entered the industry. To survive, Laurentide launched passenger services to remote Quebec goldfields from bases in Angliers and Haileybury, Quebec becoming the first scheduled air service in Canada. By 1924 contracts with the Spanish River Pulp and Paper company as well as with Fairchild Aerial Survey of Canada Limited were obtained sustaining company operations until year end but producing disappointing financial results due insufficient business volume.

Laurentide planned to extend business through the winter into 1924 but in January of that year the company having experienced the loss of a new aircraft in an accident on top of operating losses from the previous year was forced to close their business. Having pioneered bush flying, aerial forestry management and scheduled passenger services, the company was eclipsed by newcomers who benefited from their pioneering aviation work.

Robert (Bob) A. Johnson was born in Montreal in 1914 and passed away in May 1995, spending his entire working life in aviation. Educated at Montreal Technical School, he joined the RCAF Reserve at St. Hubert, Quebec, 115 (F) Squadron, and then apprenticed at Fairchild Aircraft in Montreal, and also worked at Garage Nicolet in Longueuil and Nicolet. He was also a member of the St. Lawrence Aircraft Association Flying Club in Longueil, Quebec. In 1938, Johnson joined the National Steel Car Company at their plant in Malton, Ontario. He was in charge of the group building the Westland Lysander and the Handley Page Hampden bomber. The Canadian Government bought Malton from National Steel Car Company in 1942 and renamed it Victory Aircraft. He later became group leader for the production planning of the B-26 bomber. During the Second World War, he was in charge of teams building components for the Avro Anson and the Lancaster bomber. When the war ended, he was one of only 300 employees of the 10,000 Victory Aircraft employees to stay at the newly created A. V. Roe Canada Limited.

Johnson played a leading role in the manufacture of all of the Avro aircraft projects and was later chief of field service for the CF-100 Canuck and CF-105 Arrow. After the cancellation of the Arrow project, Johnson survived ‘Black Friday’, continuing with Avro to the point when its parent company, Hawker Siddeley Canada Limited, transferred all of its aviation interests, including the Malton plant, to its other subsidiary, de Havilland Aircraft, in 1962. Now an employee of de Havilland, Johnson was appointed staff assistant to the operations manager on the DC-9 contract and became deputy operations manager in 1964.

Johnson stayed at Malton when Douglas Aircraft of Canada took it over. He held a number of executive positions with the company through the DC-9 and DC-10 contracts, retiring in 1974 after 36 years at the Malton plant. He was an active member of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society in his retirement.

Bille Houseman was born Lillian Irene Christine Houseman in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, on November 15, 1920. Her parents, Erick and Elizabeth Houseman, were farmers and she grew up in Central Butte, Saskatchewan.

In 1939, she moved to Toronto to pursue nursing training at the Toronto General Hospital School of Nursing. She finished her training in 1942. Houseman continued to work at the Hospital, and was a member of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, for approximately a year. On April 22, 1944, she was hired by Trans-Canada Airlines (TCA) and moved to Winnipeg to begin her training to be a TCA stewardess. The training was four weeks long, with a half day on Saturdays, and the trainees learned about: the TCA organization; TCA flight schedules; the heating and oxygen systems of the aircraft; meteorology and radio range; deportment and ethics; handling meals and equipment; as well as ticketing and use of the manifest.

When Houseman began her career she flew on TCA Lockheed Lodestar 1408s and 1808s. Her first flight was on June 3, 1944, from Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal. The Douglas DC-3 was introduced shortly thereafter in 1945. She was first stationed in Toronto and moved frequently in the early years of her career between Toronto, Winnipeg and Montreal. She was made Stewardess-in-Charge of the Toronto base in 1946, but moved later that year to Winnipeg to become Stewardess-in-Charge of TCA’s central region. TCA’s passenger services were organized into four geographical divisions at this time. In 1953, she was made Chief Stewardess, based at headquarters in Montreal. In this position, she was responsible for the supervision of TCA flight attendants and their training. TCA became Air Canada in 1965 and eventually the title of Chief Stewardess disappeared with the restructuring in the late 1960s. After this period, Houseman was made General Supervisor of Flight Service Training. As of 1974, she was in charge of Special Projects at In-Flight headquarters in Montreal. She was transferred to Vancouver on August 1, 1976, and worked as Flight Attendant Supervisor, later Operation Support Supervisor, before becoming Communications Centre Supervisor. She retired February 1, 1983.

Houseman married Albert Wakarchuk in 1971, and after her retirement she and her husband worked together and separately as volunteers. Billie was a volunteer at the Kinsmen Recreation Centre (now KinVillage Community Centre), the Kinsmen Care Home, the Canadian Red Cross Society, and St. David’s Anglican Church in Delta, British Columbia. She and her husband volunteered as York’s Green Coats, goodwill ambassadors at the Vancouver International Airport, assisting visitors. Billie died on April 30, 2012. Three of her nieces also became flight attendants and many of her former trainees paid tribute to her as an inspiration upon her retirement and after her death.

Gordon Francis Hoffos was born near Assiniboia, Saskatchewan on 15 April 1920. His parents, Otto Hoffos and Anna Olive Sivertson, were farmers and had ten children. Gordon Hoffos graduated high school in 1938 and played junior hockey for the Moosejaw Canucks. He also worked as a thresher and a film projectionist until he enlisted in the Special Reserve of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as Aircraftman 2nd Class in 1942. Hoffos attended the No. 7 Initial Training School in Saskatoon before moving on to No. 6 Elementary Flying Training School in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, where he learned to fly on de Havilland Tiger Moths. He moved on to No. 10 Service Flying Training School in Dauphin, Manitoba, where he learned to fly Cessna Cranes. He graduated in December 1942 and was training to be a flight instructor in April 1943. He worked at No. 12 Service Flying Training School in Brandon, Manitoba, until November 1944 when he was transferred to the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm. He joined 803 Squadron and trained on Mark 3 Spitfires in England, Scotland, and Ireland, before being discharged in 1945. Returning to Saskatoon, he started pre-med studies at university before deciding to fly as a bush pilot for a company owned by his future wife’s brother, Tom Lamb, in Le Pas, Manitoba. He married Carol Lamb, a nurse, in 1947. Hoffos reenlisted in the RCAF in 1951 as a Flight Officer first serving as an Instructor at No. 1 Officers’ School in London, Ontario. In 1953, he was posted to No.3 Operational Training Unit in North Bay, Ontario, as an Instructor and was promoted to Flight Lieutenant. In 1955, he was posted to Operational Training Unit in Cold Lake, Alberta. The following year he was named Operations Officer for the Weapons Proving Unit. In 1957, he was posted to the Canadian Joint Staff as an Exchange/Liaison Officer at 4750th Air Defence Squadron, United States Air Force, in Yuma, Arizona. He was posted to Air Force Headquarters as Staff Officer, Strike Operations, in July 1959. When working at Headquarters, he flew practice flights at RCAF Station Uplands on Lockheed T-33s and Avro CF-100s. In May 1963, he was named Acting Squadron Leader and then Squadron Leader as Commanding Officer of Dew Line DYE Sector from Iceland to Foxe Basin, Nunavut. He returned to Ottawa in 1964, posted to Air Force Headquarters as Staff Officer, Nuclear Safety - a role that had him inspect nuclear weapon facilities for NATO. He was honourably released in September 1967. During his time in Ottawa, he took night courses at Carleton University, earning his Bachelor of Arts in 1968. After his retirement with the RCAF, he spent another ten years as an employee at Canada Post. For his service gin the RCAF, Hoffos was awarded the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, the War Medal 1939-45, and the Canadian Forces’ Decoration. Hoffos died on 26 January 2009.

A.V. Roe Canada Limited was incorporated on September 1, 1945, and took over the plant and operations of Victory Aircraft Limited. Based in Malton, Ontario, Victory was a Crown corporation producing Avro Lancaster bombers until the end of the Second World War. A.V. Roe Canada Limited worked with the Canadian government to convert Victory’s wartime infrastructure and expertise into post-war commercial civilian and military aircraft manufacturing. In 1946, A.V. Roe Canada acquired Turbo Research Limited, another Crown corporation, which designed aircraft jet engines. A.V. Roe Canada in 1946 then had two divisions: the Aircraft Division based in Malton, Ontario, and the Gas Turbine Division, based in Malton and Nobel, Ontario. By 1955, the two divisions became separate operational companies, Avro Aircraft Limited and Orenda Engines Limited, of the holding company A.V. Roe Canada. A.V. Roe Canada continued to acquire subsidiary companies throughout the 1950s.

A.V. Roe Canada was itself a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.K.-based Hawker Siddeley Group. While its geographic distance and its size (in 1956/57 45% of the entire Hawker Siddeley Group worldwide business was taking place in Canada) gave it some independence, A.V. Roe Canada was always ultimately responsible to its U.K. parent. It did not report to Avro (UK), but directly to the Hawker Siddeley Group. By the time A.V. Roe Canada acquired Dominion Steel and Coal in 1956, there were forty-four companies operating under the holding company. From 300 employees in 1945, A.V. Roe Canada had grown to over 20,000 employees in 1957.

A.V. Roe Canada Limited is most well-known for the design and development of three aircraft types. The Avro Canada CF-100 all-weather fighter saw extensive service in Canada and Europe, serving with both the RCAF and the Belgian Air Force. The CF-100 is the only Canadian designed fighter aircraft to enter series production. On August 19, 1949, the Avro Canada C-102 Jetliner was the second (by 13 days) passenger jet aircraft to fly - the first in North America. The Jetliner was ahead of its time in many ways but it never entered production as more and more Avro Canada resources were put toward the CF-100. The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was the third major design and a highly ambitious project, intended to combine a new supersonic (Mach 2+) airframe with newly designed Orenda Iroquois engines, new (Douglas Sparrow) air-to-air missiles and a new (RCA Astra) integrated electronic system into a state of the art air defence weapon platform. On February 20, 1959, the Government of Canada terminated the Arrow project for a combination of technical, fiscal, political and military reasons that remain controversial today. Over 14,000 Avro Canada employees lost their jobs. A.V. Roe Canada took steps to reduce its increasingly precarious dependence on aircraft manufacturing and defence procurement, from then on only continuing with the development of the Avrocar testbeds built for the US Army until this project was cancelled in 1961. Orenda Engines created the subsidiary Orenda Industrial Limited that sold and repaired diesel engines and industrial turbines. Hawker Siddeley Group bought de Havilland at the end of 1959, including de Havilland Canada (DHC). A.V. Roe Canada’s non-aviation elements were renamed Hawker Siddeley Canada Limited on May 1, 1962. Its aviation interests were transferred to DHC on July 27, 1962.

Hawker Siddeley Canada sold 40% of Orenda Engines in 1966 to United Aircraft Corporation, parent company of United Aircraft of Canada Limited, today’s Pratt & Whitney Canada. Orenda manufactured parts for Pratt & Whitney’s jet engines. However, in 1973, Hawker Siddeley Canada bought out United Aircraft’s Orenda holdings. Besides Orenda Engines, Hawker Siddeley Canada’s had numerous divisions and/or subsidiaries over time, including: Halifax Shipyards, Canadian Steel Foundries, Canadian Car and Foundry, Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation, Canadian General Transit (railway cars), A-R Technologies Inc. (aero engine repair and overhaul), Kockums Cancar (sawmill equipment), Canadian Steel Wheel and several other industrial and engineering businesses. The British Government nationalized the weapon, aircraft and space equipment activities of the Hawker Siddeley Group parent company in 1977. Hawker Siddeley Canada sold its remaining business assets in a series of transactions in the early 1990s and effectively ceased most business operations by 1996, when its remaining aviation assets, including Orenda Engines, were sold to Magellan Aerospace Corporation. Hawker Siddeley Canada continued to exist as a shell corporation until its discontinuation as a federal corporation on December 22, 2004.

Leslie Philip Harris, known as Les Harris, born 4 January 1947 in England, began his career as a local reporter for BBC Radio Sheffield in 1967 while still attending Sheffield University. He was accepted as a trainee to BBC TV's Film Editing course in London in 1968. He became an Assistant Film Editor and then a Film Editor at BBCTV before leaving the Corporation in 1972. That year he established Leshar Films for his film editing and directing projects, and also Leshar Film Sales Limited, a film distribution (to television) corporation. At this time he also began work on the documentary Chabot Solo part 1: 1914-1918 on early aviator Charles Chabot. Chabot Solo part 1 and its two sequel documentaries, Chabot Solo part 2: 1918-1939 and Chabot Solo part 3: 1939-1975 were released to television world-wide over a short period between 1974 to 1975 with BBCTV being the lead broadcaster. Part 3 was shot mainly in Newfoundland, and all post-production work was done in Canada. Soon thereafter, Harris founded Canamedia Productions Limited to facilitate his future independent work in Canada. When he immigrated to Toronto in 1976 he had a year’s contract to direct and produce the ‘Country Canada’ programme for the CBC’s Agriculture and Resources Department. CTV’s W5 then hired Harris through Canamedia as a Senior Field Producer where he covered stories on a wide-range of subjects and produced hosts Henry Champ, Jim Reed and Helen Hutchinson. During this time, he produced a segment for W5 on the newly certified Canadian amphibious aircraft, the Trident TriGull. Harris left CTV to produce his documentary Escape from Iran: The Inside Story and then the TV movie Escape from Iran: The Canadian Caper. Broadcast as a simulcast in Canada and the USA in 1981, Caper was the first ever prime-time Canadian movie production to be commissioned by an American network (CBS TV). Harris fought to get recognition for Pat Taylor, wife of Ambassador Ken Taylor, and Zena Sheardown, wife of Chief Immigration Officer John Sheardown, for their roles in safely hiding the "houseguests" in Tehran – both were finally awarded the Order of Canada. With a few limited exceptions, Harris has worked exclusively on Canamedia projects, winning such awards as the George Foster Peabody Award for his documentary Threads Of Hope, the Banff TV Festival Rocky award; Gold and Silver medals from the International Film and TV Festival of New York; three Geminis; the Canadian Film and Television Producers Association’s Best Production of the Year; and, was nominated for an International Emmy. For example, Harris produced, directed, edited, narrated and wrote the 1989 documentary, By the Seat of their Pants, on Canadian bush pilots, which also won a Gemini among other awards. In order to help finance the film productions, a distribution division of Canamedia Productions was established to license Canadian TV programs to worldwide TV. The production company led by Harris was also one of the three co-founders of the cable children’s television network, YTV. When regulations changed in 1998, the production and distribution activities of Canamedia were divided in order to form two new companies: Canamedia Film Productions Inc. and Canamedia Inc. During this period, Harris produced and directed the documentary Alien Obsession for Canamedia Film Productions Inc. and produced Faces of a Vanishing World for the US Ovation Network. Both the production and distribution company were sold in 2010 to Access Media, now called Distribution Access, but prior to the sale, Harris re-acquired the copyright of all the films he produced through Canamedia over his career. Although officially retired, Harris continues to work as a filmmaker and is currently just finishing filming a documentary in Costa Rica called The Ultimate Challenge: Survival of the Great Green about saving a parrot species called the Great Green Macaw.

Louis-Laurent Hardy, mostly known as Laurent Hardy, was born in 1918. He was an archivist at Radio-Canada. Around 1977, he started a project that was dear to him – a study of Domina C. Jalbert (1904-1991), a Quebecois inventor and expert on parachutes. Jalbert’s principle inventions were: a Kytoon (1943); a Multi-Cell parachute (1952); a Multi-Cell Glide Canopy (1962); the Jalbert Airfoil or Parafoil (1963); and the Jalbert Spinnaker (197-?). Beyond conducting research, Hardy also began to write to Jalbert in 1977. The two men exchanged correspondence up until 1991 when Jalbert died. Hardy made it his mission to spread information on Jalbert’s achievements through the publication of articles and by writing to Canadian and American associations and to eminent personalities. After Jalbert’s death, Hardy also sought to preserve his memory by seeking a repository for his archives and research. Hardy died in 2005.

Jeffrey Hale Supple was born 4 June 1903 in Pembroke, Ontario, the first of two sons of Joseph Alfred Supple (1873-1949) and Ellen Eliza Hale Supple (1878-1965). His younger brother was Alan Hale Supple.

Jeffrey Hale Supple was a student at Pembroke Public School (1910-1916) and at Pembroke High School (1916-1919) prior to attending Toronto’s St. Andrew’s College (1919-1922). Following a work period with Arnold & Bell Lumber Company at Massey Bay, Ontario, he studied applied science at McGill University (1926-1928) where he was known for his involvement in tennis, shooting and boxing, a sport in which he won some recognition. During his final year of studies, he was commissioned (June 4,1928) as a Provisional Pilot Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and attended the officers training course at Camp Borden, Ontario. Ultimately, however, he was not accepted into the RCAF because he had not completed, nor did he intend to complete, his university degree.

In December 1929, Jeffrey Hale Supple travelled to England with the intention of joining the Royal Air Force (RAF). He successfully passed the RAF’s Central Medical Examination Board later that same month. In January 1930 he was accepted as a Pilot Officer on Probation with the General Duties Branch of the RAF on a five-year Short Service Commission. Following a 20-day induction course at the RAF Depot in Uxbridge, West London, he attended the five month long Flying Training Course as a pilot at No. 1 Flying Training School at Netheravon, Wiltshire, where he qualified “with distinction” as a pilot in August 1930 flying the Avro 504N and de Havilland Moth. He was immediately assigned to No. 10, RAF Squadron, located at Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire which was a heavy bomber unit using aircraft such as the twin-engine Handley-Page Hyderabad (HP24) and Hinaidi (HP36). While serving with No. 10 Squadron, he advanced from Pilot Officer to Flying Officer and served as an Air Pilotage Instructor, demonstrating “above average ability” in both day and night navigation.

Following instruction on single-engined bombers, most likely the Armstrong Whitworth Atlas, Jeffrey Hale Supple was transferred in early October 1932 to No. 84, RAF Squadron, in Shaibah, Iraq. At the time, No. 84 Squadron was flying the Westland Wapiti with responsibilities for the aerial photography of southern Iraq for map-making purposes.

Jeffrey Hale Supple died after a brief bout of malaria on May 28, 1934 in Basra, Iraq while serving with No. 84 Squadron. He was not married. His body was interred at the Basra Military and Air Force Cemetery. An article he wrote, entitled “The Navigator’s Cabin and its Position”, was published posthumously in The Aeroplane (Vol. XLII, No. 1222) on October 24, 1934.