Just Call Me 'Will'

 Just Call Me 'Will'

Prologue

‘My God. He’s stalled” wailed a spectator at the flying demonstration.

I had run out of airspeed, altitude and time. My Fairchild KR-21 two-seater biplane trainer nosedived toward the ice-covered Ottawa River. Fear gripped my mind and body yet everything moved in slow motion; with clarity. Each second seemed to take forever. Take it easy Will, I told myself. You’ve overcome worse. I saw the frozen river very slowly coming toward me. I have to do better than the Shaw demonstration…It was not good enough. I can outdo Shaw’s loop and spin. This machine can really show its worth. I just have to gain altitude. I’m only 35, and the President and General Manager of Fairchild Aircraft of Montreal. I’ll pull this up.”

The catastrophic collision was shocking to the select gathering and the impact monumental: the ripple effect of the earth travelled across northern Ontario and into Manitoba to Dauphin. My mother was baking cookies when she felt the house quiver beneath her feet. My sisters, who were helping her, didn’t feel a thing. She knew her firstborn was dead. Immediately hot tears erupted and flowed like little rivulets down her reddened cheeks. She sobbed, quietly, uncontrollably, without an explanation.