Reid,J.W.(windy) D.F.C. RCAF/RAF Group Captain WW2

[JohnReid]

Harold Krier.
This man ,Harold Krier,was the best aerobatic pilot that I have ever watched perform.When the National Airshows was blazing the skies along the border states , I finally got to meet him.Dad was close friends with Harold and even assisted him to obtain an ex-RCAF Chipmunk.

[JohnReid]

The cone of silence !
Here is a funny little incident that was related to me the other day by another old timer.It seems that while flying the radio range a crew passed over the range inbound.When the pilot reduced power both engines quit,he then powered up again and the engines roared back to life.Someone was heard to say "Damn now that's a cone of silence".Seems the the engine controls were rigged improperly and the engines quit at low RPM.You younger aviators may not get it,just ask some old timer to explain.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

I can remember like it was yesterday,dad and I holding the poles with a ribbon attached to a string that was placed in the middle.Harold would fly by inverted,both hands out of the cockpit and grab the ribbon.(I think that he carried a spare in his pocket)

[JohnReid]

Dad loved anything do to with flying,it was his passion.He was a true aviator of the old school.If he wasn't researching and reading about it he was doing it.
It never seemed to be enough for him just to fly for TCA /Air Canada.He continued after the war to be invovled with the RCAF auxiliary for many years during the cold war where his rose to the rank of Group Captain,flying Vampires and Harvards on practise intercept missions involving the USAF.The RCAF summer camp was always on his schedule and he started the 401 Sqnd pipe band by stealing their pipe major ,Jock Laurie,from the Black Watch.
Yes.he loved bush flying too, both here in Canada and in Africa, salmon fishing and big game hunting .
Dad also was training corporate pilots on the side.He started a company called RANCO with ace pilot Jeff Northcott and Ralph Allen.I can still remember him disguising his voice on the radio so that his fellow TCA pilots wouldn't recognize him.
In his later years he would often call me and off we would go to watch the RC guys do their thing.At the time of his passing he was building(or having
built) an RC Travelair and a Skybolt which I still have.He packed a lot into those 67 years of his.

[JohnReid]

During the years of the Concorde development,through his old overseas buddy network, he got involved with that too , training and test flying.
Started on a Fleet Finch and ended with the Concorde.Not bad for a depression kid from Sidney Nova Scotia.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]

Dad ,fourth from the right in this pic,trying to look cool at the Sidney Flying Club in the mid 30's.The fellow on the extreme left was his flying instructor,Lindsay Rood who became VP of operations at TCA/Air Canada and on the extreme left is Alfie Cockle a good friend who I got to fly with many years later.

[JohnReid]

[JohnReid]