Here & There: A Canadian Geographic Travel Podcast

Here & There: A Canadian Geographic Travel Podcast


Honouring our Greatest Generation RCAF Pilots

June 27, 2024

My husband (and production partner) Tim and I knew we wanted to do something special to mark the recent 80th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, and the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Tim’s dad was a Wellington, then Lancaster pilot for six years of WWII — the only member of his original squadron to survive the war. Even among Hollywood portrayals of pilots like Pete Peters, who beat the odds (I’m thinking Memphis Bell, Masters of the Air and others), Pete was a unicorn. All these years later, with Pete gone for decades and a resurgence in fascination with the sacrifices of this greatest generation, it’s still hard to glimpse any true sense of what Pete and others like him went through. In this episode, we try to do just that — in two parts — beginning with a firsthand glimpse into the world of those RCAF pilots in the last great war and then exploring the astounding contributions on the home front that kept all the Allied pilots in the air en route to victory. Listen in…