Saint-Hubert, Québec--

This year again, Fondation Aérovision Québec invites everyone to the third Québec Air and Space Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, held November 26, 2003. With this event, Aérovision Québec wishes to acknowledge the importance of men and women who have contributed significantly to the development of aeronautics and aerospace in the province. Québec having been the cradle of bush and commercial aviation in Canada, while remaining its industrial heart, their achievements deserve to be recognized by the largest number.

The list of the inductees and short biographical notes will be found on the following pages. More complete biographies will be distributed at the ceremony.

The Honorary President of the event is Captain Robert Piché, famous Air Transat pilot.

The Induction Ceremony will be held November 26, at Centre Socioculturel of Ville Longueuil (arrondissement Brossard), 7905 Ave. San Francisco, 7:30 PM. Doors will open at 6:00 PM. Appetizers and refreshments will be served before the ceremony.

Tickets may be obtained by contacting Aérovision Québec at the above coordinates. The general price of admission is 30$ (25$ for Aérovision Québec members).

Everyone is invited.

Québec Air and Space Hall of Fame - 2003 Edition

(* Asterisk indicates inductees still alive)

Roger Coulombe* DFC (born in 1920). A war hero, pilot of Lancaster bombers during WWII. Among his exploits were 30 missions over Germany, including a raid over Nuremberg from which 95 allied bombers never came back. Armed with an outstanding determination and skill, he holds a record among all the allied aviators for the greatest number of raids (twelve!) over the capital Berlin, the most heavily defended enemy city. This earned him the nickname Berlin Kid.

André O. Dumas* CD (born in 1923). Pilot on aircraft carrier HMS Battler during the war. Flight instructor at the Montreal Flying Club in 1948. He rapidly became known as an ardent promoter of aviation, particularly among the youth, being implied for over 50 years with the Air Cadet League. Climbing all the administrative echelons he became Regional Director of Civil Aviation in Transport Canada, President of the RCFCA (now Aero Club of Canada), President of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), FAI delegate within the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Honorary Colonel of No. 438 Squadron, etc. Among the honors he has received, we must note the prestigious award of the Trans Canada/McKee trophy in 1998.

Jean-Paul Fournier* (Born in 1916). Pilot of torpedo bombers with the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable during WWII. In 1944 he became the first Canadian to qualify solo on an helicopter at the school of the famous Igor Sikorsky (who taught him personally). Promoted as officer in charge of the helicopter Squadron No. 771 in Scapa Flow, Scotland, he had a long career, after the war, in Transport Canada, in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and in the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Paul Gagnon* (Born in 1930). Bush pilot during the 1950’s for A. Fecteau Transport Aérien, Wheeler Airlines and Québecair. In 1960, he was recruited by the Government in order to establish the Québec Government Air Service, becoming its first Director General. Under his leadership the Air Service collaborated closely with industry for the development of the Canso and CL-215 water bombers. Source of pride, the Quebec expertise in matters of fighting forest fires is now recognized world-wide. A Royal Canadian Mint coin in 1998 honoured Gagnon’s contribution to the development of the CL-215.

Paul Lapointe (1922-1975). Spitfire pilot credited with 211 combat flights during WWII. In 1946, with local businesses, he founded Air Rimouski and the Gulf Aviation Syndicate which became Québecair in 1953. Taking over a number of companies, Québecair grew until, in the middle of the 80’s, it became the national transporter of the Québec Government. Chief pilot and spirit of the company from its beginning until his premature death in 1975, at the age of 53, captain Lapointe accumulated, in a relatively short period, an impressive 25,000 hours of flying (the equivalent of close to 3 years in the air).

Kenneth C. Maclure AFC, CD (1914-1988). Native of Montreal, he was a navigator in the Royal Canadian Air Force during WWII. In 1941 he invented the Polar Grid system which revolutionized Arctic air navigation. This system was successfully tested in 1945 aboard a Lancaster aircraft and established itself as the first true navigation system capable of dealing with the aberrations of magnetic compass systems and rapidly converging longitudes in Arctic regions. Recognized as a world leading light in matters of air navigation, he became in 1945 the first recipient of the prestigious “Thurlow Award” from the U.S Institute of Navigation. Holder of a Doctorate in nuclear physics, he filled many important posts in various research institutes.

Kenneth R. Patrick OBE, CD (1925-2001). Ex-officer of the Royal Canadian Air Force (Group Captain), he founded in 1947, in an abandoned hangar at Saint-Hubert airport, Canadian Aviation Electronics. The company, now known as CAE, became throughout the years the world’s most important designer and fabricator of flight simulators. Starting with 18 employees, CAE now has over 6000 employees in Canada and in various places throughout the world, of which 4000 are located at its facility in St-Laurent, Montreal.

Roger L. Smith (1912-2003). Native of Coaticook. He started at 15 as a mechanic with the Continental Aero Corporation in Saint-Hubert under the leadership of Hervé St-Martin. At 19 he became the youngest Canadian airman to obtain a commercial pilot’s license, operating (with a Travel Air 4000 biplane) his own aerial service: Roger L. Smith Air Service. After having flown for Dominion Skyways he was hired in 1939 by TCA (Air Canada) graduating as aircraft Captain after only nine months. He flew over 50 different types of aircraft, from cloth covered biplanes to jet powered DC-8. He retired from Air Canada in 1971, but continued flying to a fairly advanced age, thus achieving the formidable total of 27,000 flying hours (more than 3 years in the air !).

Wilfrid Thibault (1903-1976). First generation aviation mechanic. He started around 1923 for the Laurentide Air Service at Lac-à-la-Tortue, the cradle of commercial bush flying in Canada. He had a very long career, namely for Dominion Skyways, Canadian Airways, Mont Laurier Aviation and Nordair. History has kept a great memory of him as a gifted mechanic highly respected by his co-workers. Of this pioneer, some have voiced the wish of possessing “one-hundredth of his mechanical knowledge”.

F.H. ‘Tom’ Wheeler (1894-1991). He founded around 1922, along with Hervé St-Martin, Laurentian Air Services, soon known as Gray Rocks Air Service. In the beginning, the small company was carrying, in an open cockpit biplane of the Curtiss JN-4 type, vacationers from the Gray Rocks Inn in St-Jovite in the Laurentians (property of the Wheeler family). Becoming Wheeler Airlines in 1946, the company grew to a point in the 60’s of becoming one of the biggest bush operator of the country operating a fleet composed of DC-3, DC-4, Curtiss C-46, Canso, Norseman, Beaver, Stearman, etc.

Ellwood Wilson (1872-1952). Chief forester engineer at the Laurentide Co., he was the first to get the visionary idea of using an aircraft for forest patrols, thus giving birth to bush flying in Canada. As head of the St-Maurice Forest Protective Association, he requisitioned two military surplus Curtiss HS-2L (operated by Stuart Graham and Bill Kahre) and organized the first bush aerial service in the country at Lac-à-la-Tortue (which became Laurentide Air Service in 1922). Hoping to develop aerial cartography, he also founded in 1922, still at Lac-à-la-Tortue, Fairchild Aerial Surveys (of Canada). These two companies have left their mark on the history of Canadian civil aviation and have established Lac-à-la-Tortue as the cradle of commercial bush flying in the country.

Walter ‘Babe’ Woollett OBE (1906-1998). Legendary figure of Quebec aviation. Ex-RAF pilot, he emigrated in 1929 to join the ranks of Fairchild at Lac-à-la-Tortue. Acknowledged as a famous bush pilot (and a very happy character!), he also worked for Canadian Airways and Dominion Skyways in Rouyn. During WWII he was one of the main architects of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), supervising many training schools in Quebec and Ontario. Appointed supervisor of the Eastern division of C.P. Air Lines at Mont-Joli after the war, he became the confidence man of the president, Grant McConachie, for developing later the C.P. Air network in the Pacific.

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