For the next Three Fridays, I'm doing blog posts about Canadian heroes of History... some you may have heard of... others you may not know... in under 800 words (not including my usual last note), I'm going to TRY and introduce them to you as best I can...

So far, I've done posts about...

- Tecumseh
- Sam Steele
- Molly Brant
- Mary Shadd Cary
- Madeleine de Verchères
- James FitzGibbon
- Harriet Tubman Davis
- Crowfoot
- Charles-Michel d'Irumberry de Salaberry

Again, I apologise... I went over 800 words again... but not as bad as last time... I promise next Friday's to be better and more concise!

There's very few things that are obligatorily "Canadian"... One of the lesser knowns to most people is a very proud tradition amongst aviation enthusiasts... The Canadian Bush Pilots.

Canadian pilots are considered the very best in the world... with an unflinching tradition of being level headed at the worst of times and literally "flying by the seat of their pants"... Even recently, the tradition of the Canadian pilot has come to the fore as someone who will do the seemingly impossible with an unflappable demeanor.

Then again, the "bird" on the Canadian Air Force's badge is the albatross... a great flyer and a LOUSY lander... but never so bruised as to not fly again.

Many believe, with good measure, that this tradition of aviation gumption comes from one man... Wilfrid Reid May.

Wilfrid May was born in 1896 in Carberry, Manitoba and was raised and educated in Edmonton, Alberta.

His "nickname" of Wop was not from derogatory origins, but from a young cousin who had trouble with the name "Wilfrid" and it came out "Woppie"... which was shortened to "Wop" which stuck throughout his life.

During World War One, Wop joined the army and became an adept gunnery instructor and rose to the rank of sergeant. When his unit was shipped to England, he and a friend applied and joined the Royal Flying Corps.

In a humourous note, the man who would define the term "Bush Pilot" and be integral to Canadian aviation history would, on his first flight, not only destroy his own plane... but another as well in a collision!

Still, the R.F.C. took a chance and Wop May started training to be a pilot.

During the war, he served in a flight with the newly formed Royal Air Force (R.A.F.) under a fellow Canadian and former school chum, Roy Brown... Brown had the enviable record of not losing any pilot under his command. A rare thing in those days.

On a morning patrol on April 10th, 1918, a small group of Fokker Triplanes attacked Brown and May (and their group). Unknown to anyone at the time, May chose his target... it was Wolfram von Richthofen, cousin of The Red Baron who was also one of the attackers.

The Red Baron, seeing his cousin in trouble against May, flew to assist... in doing so, Brown, seeing May in trouble, flew into attack.

All the planes ended up being at a very low altitude with Wop being chased by The Baron who was in turn being chased by Brown...

Officially, Canadian Roy Brown shot down The Red Baron that day... although there is some debate (and very good evidence) that he was shot down by Australian anti-aircraft gunner, Cedric Popkin. Either way, it sealed Brown's fame... and in turn, assisted Wop into the limelight to a lesser extent.

By war's end, Wop May had shot down a confirmed thirteen aircraft and four "probables"... and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross.

After the war, Wop opened up May Airplanes Ltd. with a rented Curtis JN-4 or "Jenny" and set up what they called an "Air Harbour" (Canada's first airport) just North of Edmonton. They flew publicity flights and can hold the other title of being the first barnstorming company in the world.

May Airplanes also served the police (RCMP) with air reconnaissance when seeking criminals on the run in the vast wilderness.

In 1924 May Airplanes Ltd. failed and Wop was forced to find "real work". He first married Violet Bode, and then moved to Dayton, Ohio, to work in an assembly plant for cash registers. While there, a shard of metal pierced his eye in an accident which damaged his vision and would continue to plague him until the day he died.

Deciding, at this juncture, that flying was his only calling, he went home and formed the Edmonton and North Alberta Flying Club and became a flight instructor.

During this time, in 1928, a man working for The Hudson's Bay Corporation in Little Red River, Alberta, fell ill and was diagnosed with diphtheria. This was a multiple problem as mass infection could wipe out the settlement and, at the time, there were no roads to the town. Even the nearest telegraph station was miles away.

None-the-less, word did get out and made it to Edmonton... a pilot was needed to rush diphtheria vaccine to the settlement... May volunteered.

He and fellow flying club member, Vic Horner, set out in January flying in an open-cockpit aircraft and proceeded through rough winter weather, freezing temperatures, and heavy snows... they stopped to refuel once at Peace River who, sadly, did not have any aviation fuel... so they used standard petrol. The plane, now sputtering and choking on the not-as-clean fuel pushed on and eventually arrived at Fort Vermilion near the scene of the outbreak. The life saving medicine was delivered, but they found May's fingers had literally frozen onto the control stick of his aircraft and his eyelids, en route, had frozen open.

After a very brief stay, Horner and May made their way back to Edmonton and were rightly hailed as heroes. Their flight had made news across Canada and was called, "The Race Against Death".

May used his newfound fame to help establish an airline servicing Northern Canada that would eventually be called "Canadian Pacific Airlines".

Like other's I'd written about here, you'd THINK this should be enough for one person in one lifetime... and you'd be wrong...

In 1932, a gentleman named Albert Johnson (otherwise known as The Mad Trapper of Rat River) was on the loose and hiding from the law in the wilderness. May was put into service with a new monoplane with skis. He found out how Johnson had been hiding from the RCMP... he was using caribou tracks to hide his own. With this information, Johnson was tracked down and, after a brief firefight, killed.

For all his achievements, Wilfrid "Wop" May became an Officer of The Order of the British Empire in 1935.

At the outset of WWII, Wop was called in again. It had been decided that Canada was a logical choice to train commonwealth fighter pilots (a legacy that lasts to this day as CFB Cold Lake, Alberta and CFB Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan are the main NATO fighter training schools) and May was put in command of No.2 Air Observer School in Edmonton and was made supervisor of all the western piloting schools.

Wop, amongst others, also supported the idea of women pilots helping in the wartime effort... the idea that women pilots were every bit as good as men and could be utilized was an idea that seemed to be a good one... it wasn't long before the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) and RAF did enlist women to act as "ferriers" and deliver aircraft to locations in and around Britain and Canada. Despite opposition from a vocal lot that women had "no place" in this dangerous venture, May and others argued they did have a place and would be a strong arm in the fight against Germany... and these women were instrumental in aiding the war effort. Click here to see a BRIEF video about one of these amazing women pilots.

May also had another issue he helped deal with... Edmonton was a "jumping off point" for large shipments of ferried aircraft and supplies going to Russia during the war. Some of these aircraft would crash leaving pilots down in the tundra of Canada's North. The idea came that jumpers could be parachuted to a crash scene, stabilise any injuries, and then help these pilots out of the wilderness. In a joint program using American "smokejumpers", May was instrumental with setting up the Para-Rescue team... precursor to (and later reorganised under Canadian military command) as Canadian Search and Rescue. In 1947, Wop May was awarded the Medal of Freedom with Bronze Palm by The United States Army Air Force for this team's inception.

For this part, I'm going to borrow a bit from an amazing website, The Chronicles of W.R. (Wop) May... which I hope they don't mind me using...

In June of 1952, Wop May was hiking with his son, Denny...

On June 21st, we headed to Provo, and to the parking lot for Timpanagos Cave, and started up the steep trail. About half way up my Dad said "I can't go any further, you go on ahead and see the caves and I'll head back to the car". I started up the trail and he called me back saying "take my picture to show people I got this far".

I headed on up the trail, and on coming out of the caves, found my Dad lying dead. He had suffered a stroke, but he made it all the way to the top...

He was 56 years old.

An extraordinary life... an extraordinary man... an extraordinary legacy.

Side Note Gleaned from Wikipedia...

On October 6th, 2004, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity located a rock on the south slope of the Endurance Crater on Mars. The 1 metre (3.3 foot) rock was given the name wopmay in May's honour.

References:

Wop May, Bush Pilot by Iris Allan
National Pride Website
The Canadian Museum of Civilization
University of Manitoba
University of Alberta
Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre
Wiki Entry - Wop May

...and of course, the site I hope isn't mad at me for purloining information... I did send a couple of e-mails with no response... but the information was so good, I took the risk...

The Chronicles of W.R. (Wop) May

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