Thurston Blakey

Infobox Person
name =Thurston Blakey
birth_date =birth date|1911|12|12|df=y
birth_place =Ravenna, Ontario, Canada
death_date =Death date and age|1986|10|10|1911|12|12
death_place =Ontario, Canada
occupation =
spouse =
parents =
children =

Thurston Blakey (December 12 1911 - October 10 1986) was a pioneering Canadian aviator and bush pilot.

Early years

Thurston "Rusty" Blakey was born on December 12, 1911 at Ravenna, Ontario. After the death of both his parents, he lived in Bruce Mines with an aunt and uncle. He attended Worthington Public School and then graduated from Sudbury High School in 1930. He spent considerable time with pilots, mechanics and airplanes on the shore of Ramsey Lake while working for the Sudbury Boat and Canoe Company.

John Alexander "Jack" Austin and Erskine Leigh Capreol had started a charter service and flying school at Ramsey Lake and in 1935, Austin Airways, as it was called, hired Rusty as dock and office boy. Matt Berry, gave him his first ride in an airplane and he became a licenced pilot in March 1938.

Rusty flew many medical evacuation flights and was well known in Northern Ontario. His flying experiences were wide ranging and included freighting supplies and mail to the Inuit along the coast of James Bay. He delivered men and equipment to mines and did aerial photography. In 1948, he was the first to drop dry ice pellets from an aircraft , a technique that revolutionized forest fire suppression.

Throughout a career of nearly 50 years of accident free flying Rusty flew in excess of 30,000 hours. Over 10,000 of those hours were flown in Austin Airway's Noorduyn Norseman, CF-BSC.

A unique facet to Rusty's flying career was that all his flights were on single engined aircraft. Rusty never flew a twin engined aircraft. Rusty never had a co-pilot, Rusty never flew an IFR flight, Rusty never had an autopilot.

This type of achievement in aviation, 30,000 + hours, all hand flown, will never be surpassed.

In 1978 he received an Honorary Life Membership from the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (C.O.P.A.). In 1985 he was named a Member of the Order of Canada (C.M.).

The Rusty Blakey Heritage Aviation Group erected a monument to honor Blakey at Science North on the shore of Ramsey Lake and each year the Rusty Blakey Air Show takes place at this site.

His last flight was October 10, 1986. The following day, he died on the way to work.

Honours and legacy

*Order of Canada 1985
*Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame 1992

References

* Oswald, Mary, They Led the Way, Wetaskiwin: Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame, 1999. ISBN 0-9684843-0-1

External links

* [http://www.cahf.ca Hall of Fame site]