Ian Edward MacTavish 1916-1971

Ian Edward MacTavish was born in Ontario in 1916. He enlisted in the RCAF at London, Ontario on 25 June 1940. He trained at No.1 ITS. He was sent England and was a posted to No 410 Sqn RCAF. He flew twin engine Mosquito’s as a night fighter, low level bombing and photo reconnaissance. He flew support for D-day and The Battle of The Bulge. He was credited with three kills, a FW.190 destroyed (1/2 September 1944), Ju.87 destroyed (24/25 December 1944), and a Ju.88G destroyed (24/25 March 1945). Hewas mentioned in dispatches.

After the war he became an airline Captain with KLM ,settling in Amsterdam. Ian flew Super Constellations on various routes including Amsterdam to Gander and onwards to New York .After 5 years with KLM,he moved to Montreal Canada where he was hired as an experimental test pilot for Canadair, the Canadian division of General Dynamics. He loved being a test pilot and became a self taught aeronautical engineer. He made the maiden flight of the Canadair Tutor on January 13, 1961. Mandatory retirement from test flight was at 55 years of age, so he left Canadair and was hired to work for IATA in Montreal. He died at the age of 56 in 1971.