Member Profiles

Claude Ivan Taylor

Birthdate: May 20, 1925
Birth Place: Salisbury, New Brunswick
Year Inducted: 1985
Awards: OC

"The unselfish dedication of his great leadership and administrative abilities in the service of his Nation and of his Company have been of outstanding benefit to Canadian aviation."

Claude Taylor obtained his early education at Salisbury, New Brunswick and later attended McGill University, graduating as a Registered Industrial Accountant in 1953. Mr. Taylor joined Air Canada as a reservation agent in Moncton, New Brunswick in 1949 and, through a number of promotions, worked his way up to become president and chief executive officer in 1976. In 1977 Taylor accepted the chairmanship of a special industry committee which became the architect of a re-structured International Air Transportation Association (IATA).

Harold Rex Terpening

Birthdate: July 23, 1913
Birth Place: Wainwright, Alberta
Year Inducted: 1997

"With innovative ability, resolution and courage, in the most arduous situations, he kept the early aircraft flying. His skills as an air engineer, and later as a manager, span the history of aviation from the earliest bush operations to the modern jet era, and are of significant benefit to transport aviation in Canada."

Rex Terpening began his career in the early 1930s with Canadian Airways Ltd. when aircraft technology, air navigation and communications were primitive. He flew as air engineer with renowned Canadian pilots on epic flights in both eastern and western Canada and helped bring commercial aviation from the adventurous to the commonplace. In the most arduous situations by innovative ability, resolution and courage, he kept the aircraft flying. Rex was an extraordinary pioneer in the art of aviation mechanics from the earliest days and on into the modern jet era. He retired from Canadian Pacific Airlines as Manager, Line Maintenance in 1978.

Albert Ross Tilley

Birthdate: November 24, 1904
Birth Place: Bowmanville, Ontario
Year Inducted: 2006
Death Date: April 19, 1988
Awards: OBE, CM

"His exceptional skills and radical new medical techniques, his total devotion to the treatment of airmen’s burns and reconstruction of deformities, his understanding of the need to treat both the body and the spirit, giving his patients the will and ability to reintegrate into society, have benefited Canada and the world."

Dr. Tilley graduated from University of Toronto with a degree in medicine and continued studies in plastic surgery. In 1935, he joined the RCAF Reserves and was called up to active service at the outbreak of the Second World War. He transferred to the RCAF Medical Branch and was sent overseas in 1941.

With his experience in plastic surgery he was posted to Queen Victoria Hospital at East Grinstead, Sussex, in January 1942. Here, from the early days of World War II, seriously burned airmen were being treated by the brilliant plastic surgeon, Dr. Archibald McIndoe. Most of the burns involved the face and hands, suffered when the fuel tanks of aircraft exploded on being hit by enemy fire. McIndoe and Tilley developed new practises to treat the burned airmen.

He persuaded the Canadian government to build a new 50-bed wing at the hospital and was also key to the formation of the Guinea Pig Club. Dr. Tilley was a fervent advocate for the airmen in his care. His approach to his Guinea Pig patients was firm, yet gentle, and he was in many ways a father figure, confidant and advisor to them - always there to help with any aspect of their lives.

2006 Induction Video - Biography of Dr. Albert Ross Tilley

Samuel Anthony Tomlinson

Nickname: "Sammy" Tomlinson
Birthdate: September 26, 1900
Birth Place: Willenhall, England
Year Inducted: 1974
Death Date: October 14, 1973

"His consummate skills with aircraft, learned from childhood and applied with invention and determination, despite adversity, have been of outstanding benefit to Canadian aviation."

Samuel Tomlinson became involved in aviation at a very young age. At 16 he enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps as a boy airman and was posted to the RFC station at South Farnborough, where he received engineer's training and early flight experience. In 1917 he was ordered to front line services in France to assemble and repair fighting aircraft and to assist in test-flying evaluations. In 1926 he joined Western Canada Airways as chief mechanic and at the outbreak of WWII, he joined the RCAF and served during the Battle of Britain with No. 2 Canadian Fighter Squadron in England. Tomlinson was recognized as master of his craft and during his career maintained the engines and aircraft for many of Canada's early bush pilots.

Trans-Canada Air Lines

Year Inducted: 1974

"The individual roles played by the company's maintenance personnel and pilots during its formative year, provide an increased safety factor for its passengers, resulting in an outstanding benefit to Canadian aviation."

Trans-Canada Air Lines was created on April 10, 1937 to provide air transportation, air freight and airmail service to all regions of the country. During WWII, TCA operated the Canadian Government Trans-Atlantic Air Service and provided scheduled flights across the Atlantic Ocean. By 1947 the airline had links to all major cities within Canada and had opened new links with the United States that subsequently laid the paths for an international network of flights. TCA went on to become one of the largest carriers in the world and a major force within the Canadian economy. It was eventually renamed Air Canada in 1965.

Leonard John Tripp

Nickname: "Len" Tripp
Birthdate: May 21, 1896
Birth Place: Cornwall, England
Year Inducted: 1974
Death Date: February 28, 1985

"The application of his superlative skills as a flight instructor to two generations of Canadians for nearly a half-century, despite adversity, has been of outstanding benefit to Canadian aviation."

Leonard Tripp was educated in England and at the outbreak of WWI enlisted in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry Regiment. He fought in France in 1915 and, after recovering from some wounds received there, he transferred to the RFC for pilot training. He flew Bristol Fighters with the RFC and at war's end became an instructor with the RAF. In 1923 he emigrated to Canada. For two years he piloted flying boats with the Ontario Forestry Air Service and in 1929 Tripp joined Leavens Brothers Air Services as instructor and general manager. At the outbreak of WWII he administered that firm's contract to train pilots for the Elementary Flying Training School Program. In 1944 he opened his own flying training school and remained the dean of Canadian flight instructors until his retirement as an active pilot in 1962.

John Henry Tudhope

Nickname: "Tuddy" Tudhope
Birthdate: April 17, 1891
Birth Place: Johannesburg, South Africa
Year Inducted: 1974
Death Date: October 12, 1956
Awards: MC*

"His pioneer flights to establish an airmail service to and from trans-Atlantic Ocean liners and his aerial survey in designing initial flight routes for Trans-Canada Air Lines, have been of outstanding benefit to Canadian aviation."

John Tudhope was educated at Johannesburg, South Africa and Tonbridge, Kent, England. He enlisted in the British Army as a Trooper and in 1917 transferred to the RFC where he earned his pilot's wings and flew as a fighter pilot. At war's end he emigrated to Canada with several Canadian flying friends. In 1920 he joined the Canadian Air Force as a flight instructor and later became an officer with Air Headquarters at Ottawa, Ontario. During his career with the civil aviation authorities, he became responsible for surveying and planning the transcontinental air routes of Canada and pioneered many airmail flights in which he delivered mail to and from trans-Atlantic Ocean liners to docking ports in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Wallace Rupert Turnbull

Birthdate: October 16, 1870
Birth Place: St. John, New Brunswick
Year Inducted: 1977
Death Date: November 26, 1954

"The patient application of his aeronautical theses to a number of problems unique to flight, and more especially his invention of the successful variable pitch propeller, have been of outstanding benefit to Canadian aviation."

Wallace Turnbull graduated in mechanical engineering from Cornwall University in 1893 and undertook post graduate work in physics at the Universities of Berlin and Heidelberg, Germany. In 1902 he built the first wind tunnel in Canada. During the next decade he continued researching the stability of aircraft and investigated many forms of airfoils. During WWI Turnbull was employed by Frederick and Company aircraft builders in England where he designed a number of propellers. After returning to Canada after the war, he succeeded in designing the variable pitch propeller. His interests extended into many fields, such as hydroplanes, torpedo screens, bomb sights and consolidated and tidal power, but his systematic approach to aeronautical engineering remains his greatest contribution.

Percival Stanley Turner

Nickname: "Stan" Turner
Birthdate: September 3, 1916
Birth Place: Devon, England
Year Inducted: 1974
Death Date: July 23, 1985
Awards: DSO, DFC, 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, despite adversity and whose contributions have substantially benefited Canadian aviation."

Percival Turner emigrated to Collingwood, Ontario and was educated at the University of Toronto. He joined the RCAF Auxiliary Squadron in 1936 and two years later joined the RAF. During his career in the war, Turner transferred to numerous squadrons and eventually became Squadron Leader of No. 145 Squadron at Northern Ireland and transferred to the Desert Air Force in Egypt. Turner was awarded for his leadership abilities and continued destruction of enemy aircraft. At war's end, he had destroyed 14 hostile aircraft in combat, damaged six others and destroyed aircraft and equipment on the ground. Turner returned to Canada in 1946 and joined the RCAF as head of the Joint Air Training School at Rivers, Manitoba.

© 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.