Air show's Corsair tells the story of Canada
Graham Hughes, The Ottawa Citizen
Published:
When the Vintage Wings Heritage Flight is introduced at the Ottawa Air Show
on June 28, one of the Second World War fighters will attract special
attention.
The fighters in the formation flight include a Spitfire, Hurricane, Mustang
and Corsair.
- "The Goodyear FGD-1
Corsair was acquired for only one reason," says Michael Potter,
president of the Vintage Wings Foundation. "To tell the story of
Canada's naval fighter
Of the many Canadians who flew with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, the two
most renowned are Sub-Lieut. Don Sheppard, DSC, of
Toronto, now living in Aurora, Ont., and Lieut. Robert Hampton Gray, VC, DSC,
Mr. Potter said.
Sub-Lieut. Sheppard, a pilot with 1836 Squadron
aboard HMS Victorious, was the only Corsair ace in the Royal Navy, with five
kills to his credit in the Pacific theatre.
Lieut. Gray was the last Canadian to win a Victoria Cross in the war and one
of the last Canadians killed in action.
The Vintage Wings Corsair has been repainted to represent the aircraft
Lieut. Gray flew off the carrier HMS Formidable and into history on
Dave O'Malley, one of the volunteers who helped transform the Corsair into a
Fleet Air Arm aircraft, remembers that when Mr. Potter saw the Corsair for the
first time with her four new identifying roundels, applied over the United
States insignia, "he stared at her for a long time and then quietly,
almost reverently, said: 'She's one of ours now.' "
On the last day of his life, Lieut. Gray was leading several Corsairs
against Japanese shipping off Onagawa Wan on the main
The pilots saw several Japanese ships and attacked in the face of heavy fire
from army anti-aircraft batteries on the ground and from warships in the bay.
Lieut. Gray targeted an enemy destroyer and, although his aircraft took
multiple hits and had one bomb shot off, he pressed on. With his Corsair on
fire, he let his second 500-pound bomb go about 45 metres
from the Japanese ship, scoring a direct hit.
The destroyer sank almost immediately.
Lieut. Gray and his aircraft vanished into the waters of the bay.
Lieut. Gray was born in Trail, B.C., on
He attended elementary school and high school in Nelson, B.C., spent a year
at the
In 1940, as a member of the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, he was
named one of 75 candidates for commissions in the navy and one of 13 who
qualified as pilots in the Fleet Air Arm.