Page 17 - January 2019

I had no map to help me along the way, but I had When I came home and shared what I discovered with
found a guide who took me by the hand and
walked me through his life.
Directors at the Bomber Command Museum of
Canada caught wind of my interviews, and
approached me to write a book about Gordon.
The fictional story took a back seat.
-------------------
Gordon invited me to the High River Legion a few
times, as well as brought me to a couple of Flying
Farmer functions and a fly-in, introducing me, his
blue eyes shining with a cheesecake smile to go
along with it.
He set me up with many aviation enthusiasts, too,
unbeknownst to him. In order to confirm his
record of flying a Tiger Moth over the course of
seventy plus years, I talked to people across
Canada. In researching the BCATP, I encountered
special interest groups relating to vintage aircraft
as well as RCAF paraphernalia collectors. And they
all wanted to help. If they did not know of
someone who had the answer, they referred me to When I visited him in the hospice, the week before he
someone who might and often did.
Interviewing more WWII veterans, I learned about
the type of airplanes they piloted or flew in:
Harvard, Spitfire, Lancaster, Stearman, Stirling,
Mosquito, Typhoon, Albemarle, Whitley, plus I met
one Merlin engine mechanic who witnessed D-Day. On September 10, 2013, at the age of 90, Allister Gordon
For good measure: a couple of sailors and an army
despatch motorcycle rider, all because of working
with Gordon.
By listening to their stories, I have been able to
glean a better appreciation of what Canadians did
during the war. I read books, realizing how the
BCATP and the war affected Canadian families in
some capacity, whether it was sending their sons,
nephews, uncles, fathers, fiancés or husbands
overseas, or helping with the war effort here at
home.
Heading to Ottawa for research at the Library and
Archives, I delved into some of the men’s files –
those who never returned. They were part and
parcel of the stories I heard.
two of Gordon’s friends, they said, “Anne, I’ve been
waiting seventy years to find out what happened.”
Gordon’s biography, Wings Over High River, captured
the interest of people from within his own community of
High River, straight across Canada, into the United
States, over to England and beyond. His story found its
way into online features, newspapers, magazines, and
was broadcast on CTV and CBC, including The National
with Peter Mansbridge, with Gordon up in the skies
flying his Tiger Moth.
After the book was published in December 2012, I
teased him, “I am not done with you yet.” His
homework included signing his name on the inside cover
of the book beside his picture. I had hoped, too, to ask
him his opinion and insight into projects I had started
including an Accident Proneness Report. Regrettably,
that did not come to pass. Gordon’s health was starting
to fail.
th
January 12, 2019 would have been Gordon Jones’s 96
birthday.
died, I held his hands and told him I might have the
opportunity to fly in a Harvard – his favourite airplane.
He whispered, “Do it!” His eyes as blue as ever seemed
to take on a little bit of extra light, as he remembered his
love affair with flying.
Jones passed away. An estimated five hundred people
came out to pay homage to Gordon ten days later at the
Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton
As the funeral procession made its way up the QEII
Highway from Nanton to the High River Cemetery, a
restored Tiger Moth followed along, after it had thrilled
those still at the BCMC with a few fly-pasts. Pilot Doug
Robertson from Black Diamond, honoured by the
request to accompany a fallen fellow aviator, continued
on above the cemetery, for a fitting tribute. “Gordon
Jones has flown west,” he told me.
Fly higher than the sky, Gordon..... Per ardua ad astra
On September 28, 2014, High River Airport (CEN4)
dedicated its south main access road: Gordon Jones
Way.