Every Sunday afternoon, Paul Bird takes his dad Vic out to the Pitt Meadows Regional Airport, where they just watch the planes land and take off.
It’s a break for Vic, 93. It gets him out of his care home in Coquitlam and allows him think about his younger days in the Second World War.
Vic used to fly an amphibious aircraft called the Canso off the East Coast of Canada. His job was to spot and attack the German submarines that were sinking Allied convoys laden with supplies bound for England.
“He got shot at a few times by U-boats. He shot back, depth-charged a couple,” Paul said.
Vic was a pilot-officer with the RCAF and dive bombed the U-boats while they were on the surface. He’d blast them with machine gun fire and they would return fire, while his bombardiers would drop the depth charges that would explode under water in an attempt to sink the sub.
Vic also did regular patrols and around 1944 was supposed to be called up to England to fly bombers in Europe, but the war ended before he was transferred over.
Vic never forgot about those days. He flew occasionally after the war, then switched to radio-controlled model aircraft several years ago. He kept that up into his later years, with Paul steadying him on the ground as Vic looked skyward and flew his model planes. But in recent years, Paul would just bring Vic to the airport so his dad could still dream about flying.
Then he thought it would be cool if his dad actually flew again. Last Saturday, he rented a Cessna 172 from Island Coastal Aviation and instructor Jeff Lee got the airplane off the ground. At 1,000 feet, Lee turned over the controls to Vic while Paul sat in the back.
“He had all the instruments in front of him. He was in charge. He flew all over Pitt Lake and everything. My dad flew the whole thing, like riding a bicycle. I was shocked, and impressed.”
Seeing his dad fly inspired Paul to start his own flying lessons. His dad really wants to see him get his pilot’s licence.
Paul added that his dad has dementia, but carried on a lucid conversation with the instructor when he was flying.
“What he wants to remember, he remembers. Aviation was a big part of his life during the war and so that’s what he remembers, and loves.”
On the way home, his dad was tired, but still talking about the flight.
“Wow, that was a great day. I’d love to do it again,” he told his son.
Paul figures he knows what the conversation will be next time he visits his father.
Vic will talk about the flight.
“It’s something he just decides to remember.”
