Skyward
Early CAHS member
Neil Macdougall,
aviation authority, prolific writer
By Gord McNulty
CAHS Vice President
CAHS Vice President
The CAHS lost a highly-regarded and well-known member with the peaceful passing of Neil Macdougall at his home in Toronto on February 20 at the age of 93.
Neil joined the CAHS in 1963 as Member No. 169. He remained active with the Toronto Chapter throughout, sharing his extensive knowledge of aviation. It was typical of Neil’s enthusiasm that he connected with members as the Chapter introduced Zoom meetings. Neil exchanged telephone calls with his longtime colleagues and many friends on aviation matters very recently.
Neil and his wife Shirley, “his co-pilot and devoted wife of 63 years,” really enjoyed attending CAHS conventions across Canada. The couple learned to fly together in 1964, leading to many wonderful friendships and adventures, as recalled in his autobiography.
Neil had a remarkably diversified career in aviation. He leaves a vast, award-winning legacy of diverse activities and adventures, articles, photographs, volunteer service and a documented lifetime of memories.
His photo collection, from 1943 to 2014, reflected travel to about 70 countries. In 2006, he donated the Canadian prints and negatives to Library and Public Archives Canada
Neil was born in Calgary. Building model airplanes was his favourite hobby as a teenager. Completing high school at Victoria, BC, he taught aircraft recognition to air cadets.
While in high school, he joined the Aircraft Detection Corps, the Second World War volunteer observers who scanned the skies and seas and reported any suspicious sightings of aircraft and vessels. Most observers were anywhere from 20 to 40 years older than young Neil.
He became a chief observer at Abbotsford, BC, and began recruiting volunteers, riding his bicycle from house to house. In fact, his first recruit was his mother. The family home became ADC headquarters for the area, as he recalled in a presentation to the Toronto Chapter in October, 2010 (see torontoaviationhistory.com and Flypast Vol. 45, No. 2)
Neil recalled seeing Japanese balloons on two occasions and attempts by RCAF Kittyhawks to intercept the high-flying, strange little weapons as best they could. He also described a memorable low-flying incident, when he dashed out onto the front lawn to watch five noisy Lysanders pull up from a deep ravine and fly over the main highway at Abbotsford.
His freelance writing began in Grade 13 and evolved into a prodigious output through the years. Neil wrote a column in Canadian Aviation from 1970 to 1983. He delighted in writing reports on a wide variety of new aircraft and was also an excellent photographer.
His pictures appeared in numerous newspapers and books, including authoritative U.K. publications Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft and The Aeroplane. Canadian Aviation used his photos for at least eight covers.
“Neil wrote more than 200 columns for Canadian Aviation,” recalled former editor Hugh Whittington, who noted Neil’s distinctive contribution to general aviation. “What I liked about his columns is that they didn’t make me work other than attaching a headline.”
Neil was very careful and detail-oriented in his writing, which also included COPA Flight. He took special pride in “Pilot Report” items, when he had an opportunity to fly a new airplane.
As Ken Swartz, editor of CAHS Toronto Chapter Flypast, noted: Neil’s photographs illustrating “his hundreds if not thousands of stories reflect a very keen artistic eye. His work lives on.”
The Canadian Owners and Pilots Association awarded Neil a plaque in 2000 for “dedicated and insightful writing on Canadian aviation.”
Neil contributed a two-page spread of miscellaneous photos to the CAHS Journal, Vol. 45 No. 1, Spring 2007. It covered everything from ex-RCAF Lockheed 10A 7656 at Denton, Texas to a Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer, CF-STX, at Calgary.
Neil earned his BSc chemical engineering degree with first-class honours from the University of British Columbia. He took two or three flying lessons at Sea Island (now Vancouver International Airport) and was enchanted with aviation. However, he decided flying was too expensive and impractical for travel.
To maintain contact with aviation, he wrote to The Aeroplane. They accepted his offer to be a Canadian correspondent, and he wrote for them from 1946 to 1966, as one of the few Canadians regularly contributing to prestigious U.K. publications.
He met fascinating people, visiting the RCAF Winter Experimental Establishment in Edmonton; touring the wartime Northwest Staging Route from Edmonton over northwestern Canada to Alaska; flying over Vancouver Island mountains looking for a lost U.S. Navy Neptune; and taking air-to-air photos of Lancasters, Hudsons, Venturas, Harvards and other aircraft.
Neil graduated from UBC in 1950, when university graduating classes were swollen with large numbers of serious and capable war veterans. Job prospects in BC were limited, so he took a $99 flight from Seattle to Detroit to search in Ontario. Neil turned down an engineering job at Dow Chemical and chose employment as an interviewer with the Technical Service Council in Toronto.
The TSC was established in 1927, when one-third of the graduating classes in engineering were trekking to the U.S. The TSC’s altruistic goal to reduce the “brain drain” by finding jobs for graduates appealed to Neil. He resigned in 1956 to tour Europe and persuaded the Toronto Telegram to send him to the continent to cover Canadian participation in NATO exercises.
What an adventure. It started on a rocky if somewhat humorous note when Neil, flying to Britain in the same plane as Lester Pearson, was unexpectedly invited to interview him. Neil wasn’t prepared for what he recalled as a “clueless” encounter. But things quickly improved, as Neil spent 10 days on the aircraft carrier HMCS Magnificent. He filed daily reports to the Tely, flying in an Avenger over the North Sea and “later hoping the extremely heavy seas wouldn’t cause the carrier to roll over.”
Neil also flew in an RAF Meteor fighter, “getting airsick, but recovering enough to report twice for the CBC from BBC headquarters.” In addition, he wrote a series of feature articles for The Aeroplane on USAF bases in Germany, Spain, Morocco, Libya and Turkey.
In 1957 Neil rejoined the TSC, and rose to president as the company expanded and grew into a well-regarded national presence. He retired in 1991 after 34 years of service.
Neil and Shirley started flying training at the Oshawa, ON Flying Club on the same day in 1964. Both had been inspired by Frank Kingston Smith’s book, Flights of Fancy. He received his licence in 1964, while Shirley received hers a year later, having been temporarily grounded while pregnant.
Neil later earned senior commercial and glider pilot’s licences, with block airspace, night, single- and multi-engine, land, sea, instrument and glider instructor endorsements.
Neil owned two aircraft and flew to many places. He really enjoyed being a ferry pilot, delivering dozens of airplanes around North America.
His logbook included much of Canada, from Victoria, BC to Sydney, NS. The 1983 Great Burlington Centennial Seaplane Race, where he rented a Cessna 180, was a memorable occasion. Extending far and wide, the logbook included the Bahamas Flying Treasure Hunt, Alaska, Mexico, the Reno Air Races, Wyoming Air Tour, and the Civil Air Patrol Texas Wing Conference.
“Retirement” opened a world of possibilities, not least of which was the opportunity for more flying, aviation writing and photography.
For more than 20 years, Neil and Shirley spent three months of each winter in South Padre Island, Texas. They were majors in the Civil Air Patrol, Texas Squadron of the USAF Auxiliary. He was a mission pilot, mission check pilot and public affairs officer.
In one unforgettable occasion, Neil flew a crew, including Shirley, to Los Angeles, where they worked about 10 days on disaster relief after the Northridge earthquake in 1994. It was intensive but satisfying work.
During those years, Neil also flew with Civil Air Rescue in Canada, (CASARA Niagara in St. Catharines, ON), http://ontario.casara.ca) on numerous searches and countless exercises. He retired from the Civil Air Patrol in 2014 with the rank of lieutenant colonel and received an Award of Merit after 23 years of service.
Neil also enjoyed gliding, especially the search for mountain waves that can take a glider to lofty heights in Alberta, New Hampshire and Colorado.
He described a seven-hour, 20-minute glider flight of more than 500 kilometres out of Estrella, Arizona, as “probably the most satisfying thing I’ve ever done.” His glider flights were rewarded with a Diamond Badge from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (World No. 360 Canadian No. 50) and a “one Lennie” badge (for flying over 30,000 feet).
As he recalled, “Shirley and I have been around the world three times and visited more than 76 countries. I have flown more than 303 types of aircraft, including a Chipmunk for which I still have a warm heart.”
Neil will truly be missed by his many friends. We extend our deep condolences to Shirley and his family. As the family obituary stated, “Neil lived a life guided by values and was a gentleman in the true sense of the word.”
To share your stories, and learn of a Celebration of Life to be held later, email [email protected]
Neil joined the CAHS in 1963 as Member No. 169. He remained active with the Toronto Chapter throughout, sharing his extensive knowledge of aviation. It was typical of Neil’s enthusiasm that he connected with members as the Chapter introduced Zoom meetings. Neil exchanged telephone calls with his longtime colleagues and many friends on aviation matters very recently.
Neil and his wife Shirley, “his co-pilot and devoted wife of 63 years,” really enjoyed attending CAHS conventions across Canada. The couple learned to fly together in 1964, leading to many wonderful friendships and adventures, as recalled in his autobiography.
Neil had a remarkably diversified career in aviation. He leaves a vast, award-winning legacy of diverse activities and adventures, articles, photographs, volunteer service and a documented lifetime of memories.
His photo collection, from 1943 to 2014, reflected travel to about 70 countries. In 2006, he donated the Canadian prints and negatives to Library and Public Archives Canada
Neil was born in Calgary. Building model airplanes was his favourite hobby as a teenager. Completing high school at Victoria, BC, he taught aircraft recognition to air cadets.
While in high school, he joined the Aircraft Detection Corps, the Second World War volunteer observers who scanned the skies and seas and reported any suspicious sightings of aircraft and vessels. Most observers were anywhere from 20 to 40 years older than young Neil.
He became a chief observer at Abbotsford, BC, and began recruiting volunteers, riding his bicycle from house to house. In fact, his first recruit was his mother. The family home became ADC headquarters for the area, as he recalled in a presentation to the Toronto Chapter in October, 2010 (see torontoaviationhistory.com and Flypast Vol. 45, No. 2)
Neil recalled seeing Japanese balloons on two occasions and attempts by RCAF Kittyhawks to intercept the high-flying, strange little weapons as best they could. He also described a memorable low-flying incident, when he dashed out onto the front lawn to watch five noisy Lysanders pull up from a deep ravine and fly over the main highway at Abbotsford.
His freelance writing began in Grade 13 and evolved into a prodigious output through the years. Neil wrote a column in Canadian Aviation from 1970 to 1983. He delighted in writing reports on a wide variety of new aircraft and was also an excellent photographer.
His pictures appeared in numerous newspapers and books, including authoritative U.K. publications Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft and The Aeroplane. Canadian Aviation used his photos for at least eight covers.
“Neil wrote more than 200 columns for Canadian Aviation,” recalled former editor Hugh Whittington, who noted Neil’s distinctive contribution to general aviation. “What I liked about his columns is that they didn’t make me work other than attaching a headline.”
Neil was very careful and detail-oriented in his writing, which also included COPA Flight. He took special pride in “Pilot Report” items, when he had an opportunity to fly a new airplane.
As Ken Swartz, editor of CAHS Toronto Chapter Flypast, noted: Neil’s photographs illustrating “his hundreds if not thousands of stories reflect a very keen artistic eye. His work lives on.”
The Canadian Owners and Pilots Association awarded Neil a plaque in 2000 for “dedicated and insightful writing on Canadian aviation.”
Neil contributed a two-page spread of miscellaneous photos to the CAHS Journal, Vol. 45 No. 1, Spring 2007. It covered everything from ex-RCAF Lockheed 10A 7656 at Denton, Texas to a Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer, CF-STX, at Calgary.
Neil earned his BSc chemical engineering degree with first-class honours from the University of British Columbia. He took two or three flying lessons at Sea Island (now Vancouver International Airport) and was enchanted with aviation. However, he decided flying was too expensive and impractical for travel.
To maintain contact with aviation, he wrote to The Aeroplane. They accepted his offer to be a Canadian correspondent, and he wrote for them from 1946 to 1966, as one of the few Canadians regularly contributing to prestigious U.K. publications.
He met fascinating people, visiting the RCAF Winter Experimental Establishment in Edmonton; touring the wartime Northwest Staging Route from Edmonton over northwestern Canada to Alaska; flying over Vancouver Island mountains looking for a lost U.S. Navy Neptune; and taking air-to-air photos of Lancasters, Hudsons, Venturas, Harvards and other aircraft.
Neil graduated from UBC in 1950, when university graduating classes were swollen with large numbers of serious and capable war veterans. Job prospects in BC were limited, so he took a $99 flight from Seattle to Detroit to search in Ontario. Neil turned down an engineering job at Dow Chemical and chose employment as an interviewer with the Technical Service Council in Toronto.
The TSC was established in 1927, when one-third of the graduating classes in engineering were trekking to the U.S. The TSC’s altruistic goal to reduce the “brain drain” by finding jobs for graduates appealed to Neil. He resigned in 1956 to tour Europe and persuaded the Toronto Telegram to send him to the continent to cover Canadian participation in NATO exercises.
What an adventure. It started on a rocky if somewhat humorous note when Neil, flying to Britain in the same plane as Lester Pearson, was unexpectedly invited to interview him. Neil wasn’t prepared for what he recalled as a “clueless” encounter. But things quickly improved, as Neil spent 10 days on the aircraft carrier HMCS Magnificent. He filed daily reports to the Tely, flying in an Avenger over the North Sea and “later hoping the extremely heavy seas wouldn’t cause the carrier to roll over.”
Neil also flew in an RAF Meteor fighter, “getting airsick, but recovering enough to report twice for the CBC from BBC headquarters.” In addition, he wrote a series of feature articles for The Aeroplane on USAF bases in Germany, Spain, Morocco, Libya and Turkey.
In 1957 Neil rejoined the TSC, and rose to president as the company expanded and grew into a well-regarded national presence. He retired in 1991 after 34 years of service.
Neil and Shirley started flying training at the Oshawa, ON Flying Club on the same day in 1964. Both had been inspired by Frank Kingston Smith’s book, Flights of Fancy. He received his licence in 1964, while Shirley received hers a year later, having been temporarily grounded while pregnant.
Neil later earned senior commercial and glider pilot’s licences, with block airspace, night, single- and multi-engine, land, sea, instrument and glider instructor endorsements.
Neil owned two aircraft and flew to many places. He really enjoyed being a ferry pilot, delivering dozens of airplanes around North America.
His logbook included much of Canada, from Victoria, BC to Sydney, NS. The 1983 Great Burlington Centennial Seaplane Race, where he rented a Cessna 180, was a memorable occasion. Extending far and wide, the logbook included the Bahamas Flying Treasure Hunt, Alaska, Mexico, the Reno Air Races, Wyoming Air Tour, and the Civil Air Patrol Texas Wing Conference.
“Retirement” opened a world of possibilities, not least of which was the opportunity for more flying, aviation writing and photography.
For more than 20 years, Neil and Shirley spent three months of each winter in South Padre Island, Texas. They were majors in the Civil Air Patrol, Texas Squadron of the USAF Auxiliary. He was a mission pilot, mission check pilot and public affairs officer.
In one unforgettable occasion, Neil flew a crew, including Shirley, to Los Angeles, where they worked about 10 days on disaster relief after the Northridge earthquake in 1994. It was intensive but satisfying work.
During those years, Neil also flew with Civil Air Rescue in Canada, (CASARA Niagara in St. Catharines, ON), http://ontario.casara.ca) on numerous searches and countless exercises. He retired from the Civil Air Patrol in 2014 with the rank of lieutenant colonel and received an Award of Merit after 23 years of service.
Neil also enjoyed gliding, especially the search for mountain waves that can take a glider to lofty heights in Alberta, New Hampshire and Colorado.
He described a seven-hour, 20-minute glider flight of more than 500 kilometres out of Estrella, Arizona, as “probably the most satisfying thing I’ve ever done.” His glider flights were rewarded with a Diamond Badge from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (World No. 360 Canadian No. 50) and a “one Lennie” badge (for flying over 30,000 feet).
As he recalled, “Shirley and I have been around the world three times and visited more than 76 countries. I have flown more than 303 types of aircraft, including a Chipmunk for which I still have a warm heart.”
Neil will truly be missed by his many friends. We extend our deep condolences to Shirley and his family. As the family obituary stated, “Neil lived a life guided by values and was a gentleman in the true sense of the word.”
To share your stories, and learn of a Celebration of Life to be held later, email [email protected]
CANAV Co.Neil A. Macdougall Photo Nordair Fairchild Husky CF-EIO c1959
People 73 - Beech 18 CF-RSY + Norseman Wheeler Neil A. Macdougall
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QCA Propliner Stranraer CF-BXO. credit Neil A. Macdougall via Larry Milberry 9-2014
Neil and Shirley 60th
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