Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame
Profile of Members
Maxwell William Ward
Birth: November 22, 1921
Birthplace: Edmonton, Alberta
Inducted: 1974
Death:
Awards: OC
"His lengthy and continuing efforts to responsibly service this nation's most northern frontier by air, despite adversity, together with his development of a viable international charter service, have been of outstanding benefit to Canadian aviation."
Maxwell Ward joined the RCAF in 1940 and served as a commissioned flying instructor at various Canadian bases until 1945. After WWII, Ward flew as a bush pilot for Northern Flights Ltd. and later organized his own air operation, Polaris Charter Company Ltd. based at Yellowknife, NWT. His big break occurred when he formed Wardair Limited, where he and his pilots pioneered the air transport of heavy equipment into the far arctic, and on one occasion landed on the geographic North Pole. This company became Wardair Canada Ltd. and commenced the first overseas charter flight agency serving western Canada. It later developed into Canada's largest international air charter carrier.
Donald Netterville Watson
Birth: September 21, 1921
Birthplace: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Inducted: 1974
Death:
Awards:
"He has given of himself unstintingly and without reserve as a pilot, engineer and administrator to every facet of aeronautical challenge facing him, and despite adversity has fostered a spirit in others of a willingness to succeed, that has been of outstanding benefit to Canadian aviation."
Donald Watson joined Canadian Airways in 1938 where he remained for two years. He later assisted the government in 1940 with the technical, administrative, and flying functions of the BCATP. Watson served the United States Air Force Transport Command in 1945 and after the war, returned to Canada where he joined Canadian Pacific Airlines. He later flew in the world-respected Saskatchewan Government Air Ambulance Service and while there, transported more than 6,000 patients in all degrees of flying weather, saving hundreds of lives. In 1958 Watson joined Pacific Western Airlines (PWA) and served as the company's President and CEO from 1970 - 1976.
Roland Burgess West
Birth: January 25, 1919
Birthplace: Medford, Nova Scotia
Inducted: 1974
Death: July 2, 2001
Awards: DFC, AFC, CD
"The unselfish dedication of his outstanding aeronautical skills to the perfecting of new techniques for search and rescue operations, have been of outstanding benefit to Canadian aviation."
Roland West returned to Canada after WWI and became involved in search and rescue operations for missing aircraft, ships at sea, and in transporting critically-ill patients to hospital. He designed and perfected new search and rescue techniques which became standard operating procedure with the RCAF and with military commands of other nations. West also worked for the Canadian Research and Development Establishment in 1960 where he experimented with infra-red research. Four years later he was named a senior officer of the Air Material Command at Rockcliffe, Ontario. His responsibilities extended to all ferry operations throughout the RCAF, all aspects of flight safety and accident assessments, and nuclear defense and emergency plans for all members of the unit.
Robert Allan White
Birth: December 11, 1928
Birthplace: Sudbury, Ontario
Inducted: 1974
Death:
Awards: OMM, QSJM, CD**
"His record can be matched only by those airmen of high endeavour and professional calling who have devoted their lives and skills to the benefit of the free world, and whose contributions have substantially benefited Canadian aviation."
Bud White grew up in Kirkland Lake and learned to fly on float planes at 16. He attended Upper Canada College; entered Royal Military College in 1948; and received his Mechanical Engineering degree from University of Toronto. He flew Sabres with 427 (F) Sqn. in Zweibrucken, Germany during the Cold War, and trained as an Engineering Test Pilot at Farnborough, UK. In 1962 he was ‘loaned’ to the USAF/NASA Mercury & Gemini Launch Vehicle Program offices, where he was involved in the last 2 Mercury & first 4 Gemini space launches from Cape Canaveral. In 1967, as Senior Test Pilot of AETE, he led the unsuccessful Canadian assault on the Russian-held World Altitude Record. The “Centennial Team” flew 42 flights on 25 ‘zooms’ – 12 of which were above 96,000 feet – to set a new FAI Canadian National altitude record of 100,110 feet.
Thomas Frederick Williams
Birth: October 12, 1885
Birthplace: Ingersoll, Ontario
Inducted: 1974
Death: July 25, 1985
Awards: MC
"His exemplary conduct in aerial combat and his half-century of dedication to the science of aeronautics, despite adversity, has inspired young and old alike, and his total involvement in flight has been of outstanding benefit to Canadian aviation."
Thomas Williams was one of Canada's best pilots during WWI. He flew on the front lines in the Royal Flying Corps and battled against Manfred von Richtofen's, the Red Baron, group. He served with distinction on the lines and, in total, destroyed 14 hostile aircraft. After the war, he returned to Canada and earned his commercial license and air engineer's license. From 1927 to 1931 he owned a commercial air service in south western Ontario and then became a flight instructor at the London Flying Club in Ontario. Williams was later hired by J. Moar as a pilot for Skylines Express but when the company ceased operation, he became a charter pilot and instructor at Rouyen, Quebec. On retirement, Williams performed one last aerobatic flight in 1971. He was 86 years old at the time and, because of this feat, was officially recognized as the world's oldest pilot.
Arthur Haliburton Wilson
Birth: July 27, 1899
Birthplace: Kendal, England
Inducted: 1979
Death: December 30, 1983
Awards:
"The dedication of his superior instructional abilities in airmanship, to several generations of embryonic pilots and his general upgrading of aeronautical facilities, has been of substantial benefit to Canadian aviation."
Arthur Wilson was educated in England before joining the Royal Naval Air Service as a provisional officer in March 1918 and earned his pilot's license that same year. In 1923 he emigrated to Victoria, British Columbia where he enrolled in an RCAF refresher course and then found work with British Columbia Airways Limited. Wilson later served as a part-time aviator with No. 111 Auxiliary Squadron and in the opening stages of WWII he became the first tow-pilot in his area of operations and a proficient aerobatic instructor. Wilson's innovations in many aeronautical arenas brought new standards of flight safety to the province of B.C., including the installation of cable markers across many of the province's valleys. He retired from aviation in 1965 after qualifying as a pilot of 68 different aircraft types.
John Armitstead Wilson
Birth: November 2, 1879
Birthplace: Broughty Ferry, Scotland
Inducted: 1974
Death: October 10, 1954
Awards: CBE
"The application of his engineering and management abilities to take problems facing the nation's emergence into the air age, has been of outstanding benefit to Canadian aviation."
John Wilson was educated in Scotland and at 16, became apprenticed to the engineering firm of James Carmichael and Sons at Dundee, Scotland. He qualified as an engineer in 1901 and emigrated to Canada in 1905. In 1910 he became the director of stores and contracts in the Department of Naval Service during WWI and was named Secretary of the Canadian Air Board where he participated in framing the first air regulations for Canada. Wilson was responsible for the survey and construction of a Trans-Canada air route from Halifax to Vancouver. In 1937 he was appointed one of the government directors of Trans-Canada Air Lines and a key figure in the development of other airlines and flying clubs and in the development of a national airfield system.
Jack Fraser Woodman Birth: May 14, 1925
Birthplace: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Inducted: 1995
Death: May 16, 1987
Awards: CD
"His pioneering work and internationally recognized abilities as an Experimental Test Pilot have done much to improve the safety and efficiency of both civil and military aircraft and made a significant contribution to Canadian aviation."
Jack Woodman joined the RCAF at age 18. He was selected to be an Air Gunner and went overseas upon completion of gunnery school. During his career he completed 23 operational trips in his Halifax and Lancaster aircraft before the war ended; he returned to Ontario for pilot training. Woodman eventually became Canada's representative to the Empire Test Pilot's School in England where he tested numerous types of aircraft, including the Vampire, Lancaster, Otter and Chipmunk. He later became a test pilot with the Avro Arrow Project where he was the only military pilot to fly the Arrow aircraft. In January of 1960 he transferred to California to work as Project Pilot in the development of Lockheed aircraft and later held several management positions within the company.
Birth: January 1, 1906
Birthplace: Rochester, Kent, England
Inducted: 2004
Death: June 1, 1998
Awards:OBE
“His contributions as an early bush pilot, as organizer and administrator of Canada’s involvement in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, and his leadership in helping to establish worldwide air passenger service have been of great and lasting benefit to aviation in Canada.”
A former RAF pilot, F/Lt. Woollett emigrated in 1929 to fly for Fairchild Aerial Surveys at Lac-a-la-Tortue, Quebec. He became a famous bush pilot while helping to open up the Chibougamou goldfields area, pioneering aerial survey mapping and ‘drop mail’ assignments, as well as carrying out many dangerous rescue flights. During WW II he helped develop the model for Air Observers Schools for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) and served as Supervisor of all AOS training schools operated by CP Air in eastern Canada. He received an O.B.E. for this distinguished service. Woollett was appointed supervisor of the eastern Canada division of CP Air after the war, and played a major role in CP Air’s worldwide expansion, developing CP Air’s first international route over the South Pacific as well as other international routes.
Jerauld George Wright
Birth: August 31, 1917
Birthplace: Liverpool, Nova Scotia
Inducted: 1974
Death:
Awards: DFC, CD
"The application of his technical brilliance to the design of numerous navigation devices has been of outstanding benefit to Canadian aviation."
Jerauld Wright joined the RCAF in Liverpool, Nova Scotia in 1940. He graduated as a navigator and served on operations in England and India with No. 240 Squadron RAF until 1944. In 1945 Wright engaged in the testing and development of aerial navigation and was named head of the Test and Development Establishment of the RCAF at Rockcliffe, Ontario. It was here that Wright also worked on compass problems. In 1949 his flair for invention was seriously noted at RCAF Headquarters where he designed a family of distance/bearing type computers, the best known being the R-Theta which allows fighter pilots, at the flip of a switch, to tell their course and distance to any selected spot. In all, Wright invented and patented some 30 navigational devices, many of which were accepted for use by military agencies of other nations.© Copyright in the portrait drawings of the honoured members of the Aviation Hall of Fame, which were prepared by Mrs. I. Coucill are the property of Mrs. Coucill.
