In Memoriam
Fond Farewell for Jack Finan
Decorated Lancaster Pilot

Story by Gord McNulty
March 2025
Front page coverage of Jack Finan in The Hamilton Spectator, February 14, 2025.
The death of Jack Finan in Hamilton on February 8 merited front-page coverage in tribute to an Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Lancaster pilot respected for his valiant service during the Second World War.

Jack passed away at his home at age 105, one year after he received France’s highest military decoration in a ceremony hosted by the French ambassador to Canada at the 447 Wing of the Royal Canadian Air Force Association (RCAFA). The special event was covered in the March 2024 issue of the CAHS e-newsletter.
Jack was a living monument to an era when Canadians played an important role in the fight to vanquish Hitler, as described in a front-page feature in The Hamilton Spectator on February 14.  

A Hamilton native, Jack joined the RCAF, trained as a pilot in Calgary and rose to the rank of flight lieutenant. He learned to fly in a Tiger Moth. Jack, with his lifelong good sense of humour, recalled once landing a Tiger Moth so hard that the biplane bounced into the air.

The incident prompted his instructor, Albert Horn (also from Hamilton) to quip: “Now that we know where the Earth is, let’s land on it.”

Jack recalled another episode in an Avro Anson, coming in low over top of a pack of wild horses “galloping like hell across the prairies in winter.”

Arriving in England, he survived the shelling of a mess hall in Bournemouth, in southern England. He hit the deck under the table during lunch: “I said, this is no place for a good Canadian and I ran like hell.”

Jack went on to fly 23 different aircraft, with operations in the Lancaster bomber over occupied Europe the most harrowing. He often told family members that his service in the Lancaster was marked by “hours and hours of sheer boredom, followed by moments of stark terror.”

Upon his return to Hamilton, Jack worked for two years in a steel mill before returning to the RCAF. There, he continued flying, based in B.C. and P.E.I., and piloting ice patrols in the Arctic.  He retired from duty in 1965, then wrote training programs for Mohawk College.

Jack met his future wife, Eileen, at a dance hall in Dumfries, Scotland, during the war. She worked at a parachute-manufacturing facility. They raised six daughters. Eileen passed away in August, 2015, one month after he enjoyed a final Lancaster flight in the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum’s Mynarski Memorial Lancaster.

Jack’s fifth daughter, Kerry-Anne, attended Remembrance Day events with her father. He was generally reluctant to share bad memories of the war but Kerry-Anne encouraged him to talk about his experiences.

As Jack put it, “I only think about the good times now. That’s easier than remembering all of the people who didn’t come back.”
Enjoying a glass of Scotch was a ritual that he enjoyed every night of the week. He claimed it was one of the reasons he lived so long. Or rather, he always said, two Scotches, “because you can’t fly on one wing.”

A funeral service was held at Jack’s church in Hamilton on February 20, with a bagpipe salute by his 447 Wing colleague Michael Cuffe, Central/Eastern Regional Director of the Ontario Wing, RCAFA. A burial took place at the Woodland Cemetery Field of Honour in Burlington.
This inspirational “I flew” poem  was read at the Celebration of Life for Jack Finan on February 20.
The ceremonies concluded with a well-attended Celebration of Life for family and friends at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. David Rohrer, CWHM president and CEO, described Jack as a Hamilton treasure who served his country proudly in war and in peace.

Recalling that Jack greatly enjoyed his last flight in the Mynarski Lancaster, Dave said with a smile: “He even volunteered to show me a corkscrew.  I didn’t take him up on that.”

Eric Cervania, a Sheridan College student and filmmaker, was inspired as a keen history enthusiast to produce a documentary about Jack’s service. The six-minute feature, “Worthy of Honour,” was screened at the Hamilton Film Festival and also aired on Hamilton community television.

Eric, who was among the speakers, was moved by his interview with Jack and it was clear that the experience resonated with him.

As the family obituary stated, Jack was a true “Officer and a Gentleman” whose service will always be remembered.