Decorated WWII ace takes off again in historic plane
By Drew A. Penner, Comox Valley Echo August 20, 2013
He's a character in video games he'll never play. There are countless websites about him that he'll never visit. But this was of no concern to 92-year-old James Francis "Stocky" Edwards as he prepared to fly in the plane that launched his distinguished World War II service, making a name for himself as Canada's highest scoring ace in the Western Desert Campaign.
"They say that if you can fly a Harvard properly you can fly anything," he said of the single engine advanced training aircraft. "To get back in it is wonderful."
Under overcast skies at 19 Wing Comox on Aug. 16, 2013 the 92-year-old hugged his wife Toni before climbing into the cockpit of the yellow bird. The propeller began to flutter. And soon he was off.
Charging through the skies above Comox Valley just ahead of the big Air Show at the base, memories of his final flight examination in Yorkton, Sask. flooded his mind.
After that everything had changed.
"I found out very quickly that the war was very different," he said. "There was no fun in it. Somebody was after me -after us."
By May 1943 he could boast 17 aircraft shot down on top of additional ground kills -although German records would later prove Stocky had been modest -attributing 22 victories to him.
"After they shot down a few of my buddies it changed -the whole picture changed," he said. "Overall when you look back the war was just stupid. There was no sense in it at all, destroying everything."
Despite the horrific toll of the conflict, Stocky relished the excitement of the chase.
"Every day you're told to go out and shoot your guns," he said. "You can't beat that."
His favourite plane to fly was the Spitfire and was also partial to his P-40 Kittyhawk. But before he could ascend in these warbirds, he first had to master the Harvard.
"It's not like a jet," he said. "It's noisy and rough. A jet's pretty smooth."
Though the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan the Harvard played a key part of the success of allied forces, according to 19 Wing Commander Colonel Jim Benninger.
"I think it's important to remember what an important role Canada served in World War II in training allied pilots and allied air crews on aircraft to be sent over to the operational theatres and go into battle," he said. "Look at our prairies: it's a perfect place to learn how to fly." The Harvard, known in the U.S. as the North American T-6 Texan, is a relic of a bygone era. It rumbles though the clouds, yet can do the most agile of acrobatics at a moment's notice.
Master Cpl. Paul Hus, a maintainer atthe Comox base on hand to watch Stocky's flight has a particular affinity for the aircraft. After all his grandfather used to get pilots ready for war in the aircraft.
"I've been trying to get a ride in one for years," he said, noting the mid-century air war is often called the war of the Merlin, referring to the Rolls-Royce radial engine that gives the plane a unique feel. "It sounds like a Harley in the sky."
Julian White, who also watched Stocky take flight, is part of the new generation of pilots who learned to fly in formation in the next generation of trainer planes -the Harvard II.
"When you first start flying in formation it freaks you out," he said. "After awhile you just get in the zone. You just get used to lots of movement."
Stocky's son Jim, 57, is honoured to see his father get so much respect from younger airmen and women.
"I'm extremely proud of my father," he said. "Father was a leader."
Stocky came in for a landing and gave his wife a passionate kiss.
The Harvard has shifted from WWII trainer to a warbird in its own right in Korea, Vietnam, Kenya, Argentina and elsewhere, to finding a beloved place in air shows around the world.
As the years turn into decades, change is a constant for him too.
"It all goes on and on, and that makes life," the ace said, in a reflective mood back on terra firma. "It's like a big book full of pages and chapters. You turn the page, and something else is different."
But the Harvard will always have a solid place in his heart.
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