Wop May
Encyclopedia
Captain Wilfrid Reid "Wop" May, OBE
, DFC (April 20, 1896 – June 21, 1952), was a First World War
flying ace
and a pioneering aviator
who created the role of the bush pilot while working the Canadian
west.
May was born in Carberry
, Manitoba
, son of a carriage maker. His family moved to Edmonton in 1902, and while on the way they stayed with family and friends, and his two-year-old cousin, Mary Lumsden, gave him his nickname "Wop".
. He rose through the enlisted ranks to sergeant, and spent most of 1916 as a gunnery instructor. In 1917, his battalion, the 202nd battalion C.E.F. (Edmonton Sportsmen), was shipped to England, where he and his friend Ray Ross applied to join the Royal Flying Corps
. His first flight resulted in the destruction of both his own and another aircraft; nevertheless, the RFC accepted his applications and May resigned from the Canadian Army. After initial training in London
in October, he was moved to a fighter training squadron and graduated in February 1918.
On April 9, Lieutenant
May was transferred to No. 209 Squadron
of what had just become the Royal Air Force
(the squadron being a unit of the Royal Naval Air Service
until April 1, when the RAF was created). The squadron was commanded by another Canadian, May's former school friend Roy Brown
, who had never lost a subordinate pilot. May spent most of April getting used to his Sopwith Camel
, but on April 20, was in combat with a German Fokker Triplane who crashed of its own accord during their brief fight.
The next day, 209 Squadron was again on patrol with similar instructions as before – May was to stay out of the fights and simply keep an eye out. Around 10 a.m. the squadron encountered a group of Triplanes and attacked them, while May flew above the flight and circled. He spotted another plane doing the same thing and decided to attack, chasing this aircraft right into the middle of the fight. Spraying rounds in all directions, his guns soon jammed and he dove out of combat. Unknown to anyone at the time, May's target was Wolfram von Richthofen
, cousin of Manfred von Richthofen
, the "Red Baron". Like May, Wolfram was also new to flying, and had also been told to simply sit it out above the fight and watch.
Manfred, seeing his cousin in trouble, watched May dive out of the fight and started to chase him. Seeing von Richthofen chasing May, Roy Brown noticed the chase from above and dove, intercepting the action and firing at the red Triplane. As May noted in his combat report:
In point of fact, who actually shot down the Red Baron is a subject of much dispute.
May continued flying with 209 Squadron until the end of the war, and eventually claimed 1 and 1 shared aircraft captured, 6 and 1 shared destroyed, and 3 and 1 shared 'out of control'. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1918. He relinquished his RAF commission on 8 May 1919 with the rank of captain.
After returning to Edmonton at the end of the war, May and his brother rented a Curtiss JN-4
Jenny and started May Airplanes Ltd., opening Canada's first airfield (or aeroport
) in a rented pasture in the neighborhood now known as Mayfield. They appeared at various functions during 1919, and would now be considered to be one of the first barnstorming
companies in the world. In September May Aeroplanes was hired by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) during their manhunt for John Larson, wanted on two counts of murder and a break-in. May flew Detective James Campbell to the small town of Edson
, and Larson was caught soon thereafter. They were soon joined by George Gorman to become May-Gorman Airplanes Ltd. and took delivery of another Jenny (built by Standard Aircraft
) in which George delivered the Edmonton Journal
newspaper to Wetaskiwin
, 45 miles south of Edmonton.
May and Gorman were hired by Imperial Oil
Limited to fly two Junkers
airplanes, equipped with skis, from New York to Edmonton in early 1921. Imperial Oil planned to fly these planes into the Northwest Territories
to service its proposed oil developments along the Mackenzie River at what later became known as Norman Wells. In March, Gorman and Elmer Fullerton flew these two planes across the 60th parallel (the first ever flight into the NWT) into the Canadian sub arctic proving that aircraft could operate in sub-zero temperatures. This was the start of aerial exploration in the most distant parts of Canada.
In 1924 the business failed, and May married Violet "Vi" Bode in November. He decided to get a "real" job, joining National Cash Register in Dayton, Ohio
where he went for training. While working on a lathe he was hit in the eye by a shard of steel, and from then until 1938 he began slowly going blind. Convinced that flying really was his calling, he formed the Edmonton and North Alberta Flying Club
in 1927, and became a flight instructor.
In December 1928 Bert Logan, an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company
was posted to Little Red River, Alberta, on arrival he was unpacking when he suddenly got very ill. His wife, a nurse, realized he had diphtheria
, and a desperate effort started to get inoculation
s to the town before anyone else was seriously infected. Simply getting the word out that help was needed was an adventure in its own, at the time there were no roads in the north, and the nearest telegraph station was miles away over a frozen landscape. The message eventually reached Edmonton, and on January 1 May was asked if he could deliver the medicine. He left in an Avro Avian
with another flying club member, Vic Horner, the next day around noon, and landed on a lake for the night just before 4 p.m. when it was becoming dark. They refueled on the Peace River and continued their flight, arriving in Fort Vermilion
at 3 p.m. A group had just arrived from Little Red River and the drugs were quickly distributed. They had to stop in Peace River on the return flight due to engine damage from the low quality fuels, and didn't arrive back in Edmonton until the 7th. By this point his flight had become known across Canada as "the race against death", and he and the mayor arrived to find a media circus
waiting for them in town.
The news of this remarkable flight helped May establish a new company, Commerial Airways, to provide air service to Northern Canada. The Company won a government contract for air mail to the Northwest Territories. A service that had been pioneered by Punch Dickins
rival Western Canada Airways. Both companies would eventually become part of Canadian Pacific Air Lines.
In early 1932 May was involved in another manhunt, this time for Albert Johnson
, soon known as the Mad Trapper of Rat River. While serving a search warrant
for illegal trapping on the Rat River, Constable King of the RCMP was shot by Johnson, sparking off a long chase that became front-page news across the continent. May was again hired to see if he could find Johnson, who had seemingly disappeared. On February 13 May solved the mystery when he noted a set of footprints leading off from caribou tracks in the middle of the frozen river. Johnson had been following their tracks to hide his own, but had to strike off the path to set up camp at night. Following the trail over the next few days the RCMP rounded a bend on the river on the 17th to find Johnson in the middle of the trail again, unable to dodge for the bank without his snowshoe
s on. A firefight broke out during which one of the RCMP officers was seriously wounded and Johnson killed. May arrived just after the action ended, and landed beside the injured officer and flew him 125 miles to a doctor, being credited with saving his life.
These actions were later heavily fictionalized in the 1981 Charles Bronson
classic Death Hunt
. The movie shows May as a fictional RCAF "Captain Tucker" firing wildly at everyone on the ground, including the posse, who fire back and cause him to crash into a mountain.
. The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
set up airbases across Canada, and May became the commander of the No.2 Air Observer School in Edmonton, as well as supervisor of all the western schools.
While this was going on the United States
was also ferrying huge numbers of aircraft to the Soviet Union
, flying through Edmonton on their way. A number of these crashed due to mechanical problems, in which case there was no way for an injured pilot to get out of the "back country" when this happened. The idea came up that a team of parachute
jumpers should be formed that could be dropped in on the crash sites to stabilize the injuries and start moving the pilots out of the bush. Early efforts were comical but dangerous, but the US trained a number of jumpers at a smokejumper
school in Montana
, and it was not long before the Para-Rescue team was in service. Several additional Para-Rescue teams were set up during the war, and by the time the war ended the value of these teams was recognized. They were soon re-organized into their own command within the Canadian military, Search and Rescue
. For his work in Search and Rescue, May was awarded the Medal of Freedom
, with Bronze Palm in 1947 by the USAAF
.
on June 21, 1952 when he suffered a serious stroke and died while hiking to Timpanogos Cave
near American Fork, Utah
.
and the United States Medal of Freedom
, Wop May was awarded the Trans-Canada (McKee) Trophy
in 1929 and became an Officer in the Order of the British Empire
in 1935. In 1974 May was declared a National Historic Person, and a plaque to commemorate him was installed in Edmonton in 1978.
May is immortalized in songs by Stompin' Tom Connors
("Wop May"), The Gumboots ("Wop May"), and John Spearn ("Roy Brown and Wop May"). He was also the subject of a 1979 National Film Board of Canada
vignette
.
On October 6, 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 after the legendary Canadian bush pilot.
Canada has a geologic feature known as the Wopmay Fault Zone, lying to the west of Hudson Bay
along the Wopmay river, where the earliest mountains in earth's history appeared during the Paleoproterozoic
era, approximately two billion years ago.
The city of Edmonton
, Alberta
named the neighbourhood of Mayfield
in honour of Wop May.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, DFC (April 20, 1896 – June 21, 1952), was a First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
flying ace
Flying ace
A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more...
and a pioneering aviator
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
who created the role of the bush pilot while working the Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
west.
May was born in Carberry
Carberry, Manitoba
Carberry is the largest town in the Rural Municipality of North Cypress in southwestern Manitoba, Canada. It is home to 1,502 people and is located 50 kilometres east of Brandon, Manitoba.-Economy:...
, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, son of a carriage maker. His family moved to Edmonton in 1902, and while on the way they stayed with family and friends, and his two-year-old cousin, Mary Lumsden, gave him his nickname "Wop".
First World War
After growing up in Edmonton, May joined the Army in February 1916 during the First World WarWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. He rose through the enlisted ranks to sergeant, and spent most of 1916 as a gunnery instructor. In 1917, his battalion, the 202nd battalion C.E.F. (Edmonton Sportsmen), was shipped to England, where he and his friend Ray Ross applied to join the Royal Flying Corps
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
. His first flight resulted in the destruction of both his own and another aircraft; nevertheless, the RFC accepted his applications and May resigned from the Canadian Army. After initial training in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in October, he was moved to a fighter training squadron and graduated in February 1918.
On April 9, Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
May was transferred to No. 209 Squadron
No. 209 Squadron RAF
No. 209 Squadron of the British Royal Air Force was originally formed from a nucleus of "Naval Eight" on 1 February 1917 at Saint-Pol-sur-Mer, France, as No. 9 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service and saw active service in both World Wars, the Korean War and in Malaya...
of what had just become the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
(the squadron being a unit of the Royal Naval Air Service
Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service or RNAS was the air arm of the Royal Navy until near the end of the First World War, when it merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form a new service , the Royal Air Force...
until April 1, when the RAF was created). The squadron was commanded by another Canadian, May's former school friend Roy Brown
Roy Brown (pilot)
Captain Arthur Roy Brown DSC and bar RNAS was a Canadian World War I flying ace. The Royal Air Force officially credited Brown with shooting down Manfred von Richthofen, the "Red Baron", although it is in fact unlikely that Brown fired the bullet that caused his death...
, who had never lost a subordinate pilot. May spent most of April getting used to his Sopwith Camel
Sopwith Camel
The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter introduced on the Western Front in 1917. Manufactured by Sopwith Aviation Company, it had a short-coupled fuselage, heavy, powerful rotary engine, and concentrated fire from twin synchronized machine guns. Though difficult...
, but on April 20, was in combat with a German Fokker Triplane who crashed of its own accord during their brief fight.
The next day, 209 Squadron was again on patrol with similar instructions as before – May was to stay out of the fights and simply keep an eye out. Around 10 a.m. the squadron encountered a group of Triplanes and attacked them, while May flew above the flight and circled. He spotted another plane doing the same thing and decided to attack, chasing this aircraft right into the middle of the fight. Spraying rounds in all directions, his guns soon jammed and he dove out of combat. Unknown to anyone at the time, May's target was Wolfram von Richthofen
Wolfram von Richthofen
Dr.-Ing. Wolfram Freiherr von RichthofenIn German a Doctorate in engineering is abbreviated as Dr.-Ing. . was a German Generalfeldmarschall of the Luftwaffe during the Second World War...
, cousin of Manfred von Richthofen
Manfred von Richthofen
Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen , also widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service during World War I...
, the "Red Baron". Like May, Wolfram was also new to flying, and had also been told to simply sit it out above the fight and watch.
Manfred, seeing his cousin in trouble, watched May dive out of the fight and started to chase him. Seeing von Richthofen chasing May, Roy Brown noticed the chase from above and dove, intercepting the action and firing at the red Triplane. As May noted in his combat report:
21/4/18 Camel D3326 90 minutes Engaged 15 to 20 triplanes - claimed one. Blue one. Several on my tail, came out with red triplane on my tail which followed me down to the ground and over the line on my tail all the time got several bursts into me but didn’t hit me. When we got across the lines he was shot down by Capt. Brown. I saw him crash into side of hill. Came back with Capt. We afterward found out that the triplane (red) was the famous German airman Baron Richthofen. He was killed.
In point of fact, who actually shot down the Red Baron is a subject of much dispute.
May continued flying with 209 Squadron until the end of the war, and eventually claimed 1 and 1 shared aircraft captured, 6 and 1 shared destroyed, and 3 and 1 shared 'out of control'. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1918. He relinquished his RAF commission on 8 May 1919 with the rank of captain.
Postwar career
Curtiss JN-4
The Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" was one of a series of "JN" biplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for the U.S...
Jenny and started May Airplanes Ltd., opening Canada's first airfield (or aeroport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
) in a rented pasture in the neighborhood now known as Mayfield. They appeared at various functions during 1919, and would now be considered to be one of the first barnstorming
Barnstorming
Barnstorming was a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s in which stunt pilots would perform tricks with airplanes, either individually or in groups called a flying circus. Barnstorming was the first major form of civil aviation in the history of flight...
companies in the world. In September May Aeroplanes was hired by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
(RCMP) during their manhunt for John Larson, wanted on two counts of murder and a break-in. May flew Detective James Campbell to the small town of Edson
Edson, Alberta
Edson is a town in west-central Alberta, Canada. It is located in Yellowhead County, west of Edmonton along the Yellowhead Highway and east of the intersection with Highway 47.- History :left|thumb|200px|Welcome Sign...
, and Larson was caught soon thereafter. They were soon joined by George Gorman to become May-Gorman Airplanes Ltd. and took delivery of another Jenny (built by Standard Aircraft
Standard Aircraft Corporation
Standard Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, founded in Plainfield, New Jersey, in 1916Standard Aircraft anticipated American entry into World War I, despite an expressed policy of isolationism. The same year it was founded, Standard Aircraft became a very early supplier of...
) in which George delivered the Edmonton Journal
Edmonton Journal
The Edmonton Journal is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network.-History:The Journal was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as a rival to Alberta's first newspaper, the 23-year-old...
newspaper to Wetaskiwin
Wetaskiwin, Alberta
Wetaskiwin is a small city in the province of Alberta, Canada. The city is located south of the provincial capital of Edmonton. The city name comes from the Cree word wītaskīwin-ispatinaw , meaning "the hills where peace was made"....
, 45 miles south of Edmonton.
May and Gorman were hired by Imperial Oil
Imperial Oil
Imperial Oil Limited is Canada's largest petroleum company. The company is engaged in the exploration, production and sale of crude oil and natural gas. It is controlled by US based ExxonMobil, which owns 69.6% of its stock...
Limited to fly two Junkers
Junkers
Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG , more commonly Junkers, was a major German aircraft manufacturer. It produced some of the world's most innovative and best-known airplanes over the course of its fifty-plus year history in Dessau, Germany. It was founded there in 1895 by Hugo Junkers,...
airplanes, equipped with skis, from New York to Edmonton in early 1921. Imperial Oil planned to fly these planes into the Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
to service its proposed oil developments along the Mackenzie River at what later became known as Norman Wells. In March, Gorman and Elmer Fullerton flew these two planes across the 60th parallel (the first ever flight into the NWT) into the Canadian sub arctic proving that aircraft could operate in sub-zero temperatures. This was the start of aerial exploration in the most distant parts of Canada.
In 1924 the business failed, and May married Violet "Vi" Bode in November. He decided to get a "real" job, joining National Cash Register in Dayton, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
where he went for training. While working on a lathe he was hit in the eye by a shard of steel, and from then until 1938 he began slowly going blind. Convinced that flying really was his calling, he formed the Edmonton and North Alberta Flying Club
Edmonton Flying Club
The Edmonton Flying Club, home of the Edmonton Flight College, is a flying club and flight school located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and based at the Edmonton City Centre Airport, Canada's first licensed airport. Originally founded in 1927 as the Edmonton and Northern Alberta Aero Club, the...
in 1927, and became a flight instructor.
In December 1928 Bert Logan, an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
was posted to Little Red River, Alberta, on arrival he was unpacking when he suddenly got very ill. His wife, a nurse, realized he had diphtheria
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...
, and a desperate effort started to get inoculation
Inoculation
Inoculation is the placement of something that will grow or reproduce, and is most commonly used in respect of the introduction of a serum, vaccine, or antigenic substance into the body of a human or animal, especially to produce or boost immunity to a specific disease...
s to the town before anyone else was seriously infected. Simply getting the word out that help was needed was an adventure in its own, at the time there were no roads in the north, and the nearest telegraph station was miles away over a frozen landscape. The message eventually reached Edmonton, and on January 1 May was asked if he could deliver the medicine. He left in an Avro Avian
Avro Avian
The Avro Avian was a series of British light aircraft designed and built by Avro in the 1920s and '30s. While the various versions of the Avian were sound aircraft, they were comprehensively outsold by the de Havilland Moth and its descendants....
with another flying club member, Vic Horner, the next day around noon, and landed on a lake for the night just before 4 p.m. when it was becoming dark. They refueled on the Peace River and continued their flight, arriving in Fort Vermilion
Fort Vermilion, Alberta
Fort Vermilion is a hamlet in northern Alberta, Canada within Mackenzie County.Established in 1788, Fort Vermilion shares the title of oldest European settlement in Alberta with Fort Chipewyan. Fort Vermilion contains many modern amenities to serve its inhabitants as well as the surrounding rural...
at 3 p.m. A group had just arrived from Little Red River and the drugs were quickly distributed. They had to stop in Peace River on the return flight due to engine damage from the low quality fuels, and didn't arrive back in Edmonton until the 7th. By this point his flight had become known across Canada as "the race against death", and he and the mayor arrived to find a media circus
Media circus
Media circus is a colloquial metaphor, or idiom, describing a news event where the media coverage is perceived to be out of proportion to the event being covered, such as the number of reporters at the scene, the amount of news media published or broadcast, and the level of media hype...
waiting for them in town.
The news of this remarkable flight helped May establish a new company, Commerial Airways, to provide air service to Northern Canada. The Company won a government contract for air mail to the Northwest Territories. A service that had been pioneered by Punch Dickins
Punch Dickins
Clennell Haggerston "Punch" Dickins OC, OBE, DFC was a pioneering Canadian aviator and bush pilot. Northern Indians called him "Snow Eagle;" northern whites called him "White Eagle;" while the press dubbed him the "Flying Knight of the Northland."-Early years:Clennell Haggerston Dickins was born...
rival Western Canada Airways. Both companies would eventually become part of Canadian Pacific Air Lines.
In early 1932 May was involved in another manhunt, this time for Albert Johnson
Albert Johnson (criminal)
Albert Johnson, known as the Mad Trapper of Rat River, was a fugitive whose actions eventually sparked off a huge manhunt in the Northwest Territories and Yukon in Northern Canada...
, soon known as the Mad Trapper of Rat River. While serving a search warrant
Search warrant
A search warrant is a court order issued by a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official that authorizes law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a crime and to confiscate evidence if it is found....
for illegal trapping on the Rat River, Constable King of the RCMP was shot by Johnson, sparking off a long chase that became front-page news across the continent. May was again hired to see if he could find Johnson, who had seemingly disappeared. On February 13 May solved the mystery when he noted a set of footprints leading off from caribou tracks in the middle of the frozen river. Johnson had been following their tracks to hide his own, but had to strike off the path to set up camp at night. Following the trail over the next few days the RCMP rounded a bend on the river on the 17th to find Johnson in the middle of the trail again, unable to dodge for the bank without his snowshoe
Snowshoe
A snowshoe is footwear for walking over the snow. Snowshoes work by distributing the weight of the person over a larger area so that the person's foot does not sink completely into the snow, a quality called "flotation"....
s on. A firefight broke out during which one of the RCMP officers was seriously wounded and Johnson killed. May arrived just after the action ended, and landed beside the injured officer and flew him 125 miles to a doctor, being credited with saving his life.
These actions were later heavily fictionalized in the 1981 Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
classic Death Hunt
Death Hunt
Death Hunt is a 1981 film starring Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Carl Weathers, Maury Chaykin, Ed Lauter and Andrew Stevens...
. The movie shows May as a fictional RCAF "Captain Tucker" firing wildly at everyone on the ground, including the posse, who fire back and cause him to crash into a mountain.
Second World War
With the start of the Second World War, it was decided that Canada would become the major place of training for pilots in the RAF joining from countries in the British CommonwealthCommonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
. The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan , known in some countries as the Empire Air Training Scheme , was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, during the Second World War...
set up airbases across Canada, and May became the commander of the No.2 Air Observer School in Edmonton, as well as supervisor of all the western schools.
While this was going on the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
was also ferrying huge numbers of aircraft to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, flying through Edmonton on their way. A number of these crashed due to mechanical problems, in which case there was no way for an injured pilot to get out of the "back country" when this happened. The idea came up that a team of parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
jumpers should be formed that could be dropped in on the crash sites to stabilize the injuries and start moving the pilots out of the bush. Early efforts were comical but dangerous, but the US trained a number of jumpers at a smokejumper
Smokejumper
A smokejumper is a wildland firefighter who parachutes into a remote area to combat wildfires.Smokejumpers are most often deployed to fires that are extremely remote. The risks associated with this method of personnel deployment are mitigated by an extremely well developed training program that has...
school in Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, and it was not long before the Para-Rescue team was in service. Several additional Para-Rescue teams were set up during the war, and by the time the war ended the value of these teams was recognized. They were soon re-organized into their own command within the Canadian military, Search and Rescue
Search and rescue
Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...
. For his work in Search and Rescue, May was awarded the Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
, with Bronze Palm in 1947 by the USAAF
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
.
Death
May was on vacation with his son DennyScouting in the Northwest Territories
Scouting in the Northwest Territories did not develop until 1970, due to the sparse population of the Northwest Territories.-Anglophone Scouting in the Northwest Territories:...
on June 21, 1952 when he suffered a serious stroke and died while hiking to Timpanogos Cave
Timpanogos Cave National Monument
Timpanogos Cave National Monument is a cave system in the Wasatch mountains in American Fork Canyon near American Fork, Utah, in the United States. The 1.5 mile trail to the cave is steep at several points, but paved and wide, so the cave opening is accessible to most...
near American Fork, Utah
American Fork, Utah
American Fork is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States, at the foot of Mount Timpanogos in the Wasatch Range, north of Utah Lake. It is part of the Provo–Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 26,263 at the 2010 census, nearly a 20% growth since the 2000 census...
.
Legacy
In addition to the DFCDistinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)
The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against...
and the United States Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
, Wop May was awarded the Trans-Canada (McKee) Trophy
Trans-Canada Trophy
The Trans-Canada Trophy, also known as the McKee Trophy, is awarded by the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute to a Canadian citizen who has made an outstanding, contemporary achievement in aerospace operations, whether a single act within the year prior to the award or a sustained level of...
in 1929 and became an Officer in the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in 1935. In 1974 May was declared a National Historic Person, and a plaque to commemorate him was installed in Edmonton in 1978.
May is immortalized in songs by Stompin' Tom Connors
Stompin' Tom Connors
Charles Thomas "Stompin' Tom" Connors, OC is one of Canada's most prolific and well-known country and folk singers.He lives in Wellington County, Ontario.- Early life :...
("Wop May"), The Gumboots ("Wop May"), and John Spearn ("Roy Brown and Wop May"). He was also the subject of a 1979 National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
vignette
Canada Vignettes
Canada Vignettes are a series of vignettes by the National Film Board of Canada , some of which aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and other Canadian broadcasters as interstitial programs. The vignettes became popular because of their cultural depiction of Canada, and because they...
.
On October 6, 2004, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity located a rock on the south slope of the Endurance Crater on Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
. The 1 metre (3.3-foot) rock was given the name wopmay after the legendary Canadian bush pilot.
Canada has a geologic feature known as the Wopmay Fault Zone, lying to the west of Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
along the Wopmay river, where the earliest mountains in earth's history appeared during the Paleoproterozoic
Paleoproterozoic
The Paleoproterozoic is the first of the three sub-divisions of the Proterozoic occurring between . This is when the continents first stabilized...
era, approximately two billion years ago.
The city of Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
named the neighbourhood of Mayfield
Mayfield, Edmonton
Mayfield is a neighbourhood in west Edmonton, Alberta, Canada named for famed Canadian aviator and bush pilot Wop May.It is bordered on the north by 111 Avenue, the east by 156 Street, to the south by 107 Avenue, and on the west by Mayfield Road....
in honour of Wop May.
External links
- website run by his son Denny
- 1929 Wilfrid Reid ‘Wop’ May NWT Historical Timeline, Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre
- Watch Canada Vignettes: Wop May, National Film Board of CanadaNational Film Board of CanadaThe National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...