The First Canadian Mercy Flight
The first Canadian mercy flight is an Edmonton story. In January of 1929, Wilfred Reid “Wop” May and Vic Horner flew 600,000 units of anti-toxin to an isolated community in northern Alberta. Dr. Malcolm Bow, the Deputy Minister of Health, had received a telegram from Dr. Hamman in Fort Vermilion stating that a man in Little Red River had a bad case of diphtheria and urgently requested a plane. The Deputy Minister called the Edmonton Flying Club to find an airplane that could make the trip.
Unfortunately, the only airplane available was a 75 horsepower Avro Avian. It had wheels instead of skis, and it had an open cockpit, but “Wop” May and Vic Horner were willing to make the flight. The Provincial Government came up with the anti-toxin and, on January 2, the two pilots started the first leg of their 840-mile round trip to Fort Vermilion. The temperature that day was -37C. If the plane was flying at 40 miles per hour, the wind chill on the pilots’ faces would have been -61.
They got as far as McLennan the first night. The second day they stopped in Peace River for fuel and landed in Fort Vermilion as the sun was going down. Unfortunately, the patient died before they arrived, but the epidemic was stopped because of the anti-toxin.
The next day they flew back to Peace River and landed with only 4 litres of fuel left in their tank. On Sunday, January 6, they flew back to Edmonton and were given a hero’s welcome.
They were so cold that they had to be lifted out of the cockpit. In 1935, "Wop" and Vic received the Order of the British Empire for their act of heroism. Wilfred Reid May got the name "Wop" from his cousin who, as a child, could not pronounce Wilfred.
Original story posted by Gary Dick on an internal Edmonton site.
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