The pilots who work in the inherently dangerous business of testing new aircraft, engines and armaments are a special breed. They live on the edge, assigned the exacting task of discovering whatever can go wrong with an airplane before anyone else flies it.

Many of the unlucky ones have died on the job. Others, however, have survived heart-stopping moments and gone on to success despite the ever-present risks. Canada has produced its share of remarkable test pilots whose adventures deserve to be better known.

Vancouver aviation writer Sean Rossiter does an impressive job of documenting their stories in The Chosen Ones, a book that captures the flavour of the action-packed world of test flying during the golden age of Canadian aviation after the Second World War.

Some of the pilots became involved in flight testing after distinguished wartime service. They discovered that test flying could be as unforgiving as combat, as Rossiter makes clear in many anecdotes that will leave a lasting impression on readers.

The legendary Jan Zurakowski became the most famous of Canada's test pilots after performing the much-anticipated first flight of the Avro CF-105 Arrow interceptor in March 1958. That pressure-packed flight went well, but others did not.

In August 1954, Zurakowski and his back-seat observer, John Hiebert, were testing a rocket-pack on an Avro CF-100 interceptor when an explosion occurred. The controls were frozen and the aircraft became uncontrollable. Zurakowski called for Hiebert to eject. He then heard another loud noise behind him, which he assumed was Hiebert leaving. Zurakowski followed.

When his parachute opened, Zurakowski realized he had broken his leg. The CF-100 crashed near Ajax, east of Toronto. It turned out that Hiebert had gone down with the aircraft. He had evidently been incapacitated by a malfunction in the canopy release mechanism. The fault was corrected with the installation of a back-seat windshield to protect observers from wind blast after loss of the canopy.

Rossiter dedicates the book to the memory of Hiebert, and of Bill Ferderber, test pilot for de Havilland Canada, who died in the crash of an Otter transport. Ferderber was checking out three U.S. Army pilots in February 1956, when the aircraft disintegrated at 3,000 feet within sight of the de Havilland plant at Downsview.

Apart from that tragedy, the Otter test program went relatively smoothly compared to the difficult gestation period of the CF-100. Hiebert had been the 13th fatality on the CF-100 project at the time. Given the aircraft's early reputation, it was not surprising that an observer was ill at ease -- and had a premonition of disaster -- before taking off with pilot Peter Cope to test-fire a cannon on the CF-100 in June 1954.

Cope told Rossiter that he had just finished the test when the aircraft was rocked by "the most god-almighty bang." An explosion under the port engine had blown both the cowls off, with the upper cowl striking the canopy frame and leaving shards at either end. The terrified observer wanted to eject, but almost certainly would have been torn apart on the shards. Cope managed to land plane and observer safely, but the observer was so shaken by the ordeal that he could barely move and had to be lifted out of the aircraft.

Nerves of steel, in any situation, are imperative for a test pilot. George Neal, who compiled an exceptional career with de Havilland, had that quality in abundance. He proved it in February 1959, while flying a Caribou transport that lost an elevator during a maximum-speed dive test.

Neal, and his Department of Transport co-pilot Walter Gadzos, were forced to bail out when the aircraft began to violently pitch and shudder. Gadzos managed to get out after catching his left foot on the cabin floor for a few seconds.

Neal was incredibly calm before he abandoned the rapidly descending aircraft. He performed a final check, shut off all electrical switches and fuel to reduce the prospect of an explosion upon impact, and even tucked his pencils and clipboard under the co-pilot's seat cushion so they wouldn't get lost. Because of Neal's careful preparations, engineers were able to trace the cause of the mishap from the crumpled wreckage scattered across a field near Uxbridge.

Avro Canada's flight test section in the mid-'50s included, left to right, Chris Pike, Jan Zurakowski, Peter Cope, Stan Haswell, Glen Lynes, Mike Cooper-Slipper and Don Rogers.

Rossiter divides his book into two parts -- six chapters on pilots who flew for Avro Canada, and four chapters on de Havilland Canada's pilots. Each chapter is well documented and supported by detailed end notes that offer more fascinating material.

One omission in the book is the absence of any profile of the pilots who flew for equally famous Canadair, based in Montreal, and since absorbed with de Havilland into Bombardier Aerospace. Readers interested in flight testing at Canadair can learn more in Canadair: The First 50 Years, published by Canav Books and written by Ron Pickler and Larry Milberry.

The Chosen Ones will delight aviation enthusiasts and anyone interested in what motivates people to put their lives on the line in the course of advancing the frontiers of scientific research in Canada.

Article courtesy Gord Mcnulty - The Hamilton Spectator
Photo: Avro Canada/Courtesy Peter Cope

return to front page