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Flying ace faced Red Baron

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On orders from his commander, the novice First World War pilot circled his Sopwith Camel high above the French countryside on April 21, 1918. Wop May was invisible to the enemy flying at the lower level. It was his second combat mission; the first was just the day before. He could see air skirmishes unfolding below and was itching to play his part. Then another plane came into sight.

Firing a shot, May followed behind the German airplane. "As he came out of the cloud cover, he suddenly found himself in the centre of the German circuit," said Sheila Reid in Wings of a Hero: Ace Wop May. Looking for an escape route, the nervous pilot grabbed his gun trigger to shoot his way out. Perhaps from fumbling hands, perhaps malfunctioning, May's guns jammed. He was defenceless.

Darting and spinning into a dive, the pilot could relax. He was safe again. That is, until shots pierced through his wings.

Plunging the aircraft downward, May fled for his life. "For fifteen miles he hedge-hopped, slipping and sliding, one eye on the hedge ahead and one on the roaring machine behind him," wrote Reid. Flying overtop of the Somme River, he was trapped by the steep banks. "He headed up the valley at a very low altitude and rounded the curve of the river, only to see that the red triplane had taken a shortcut over the hill and was coming right down into him."

The aviator was sure his end was near, even though he had crossed back into Allied territory. May glanced around, preparing to crash his plane rather than allowing the German fighter another "kill." In surprise, he watched the enemy plane crash into the ground near Amiens. His foe was dead. May saw his own squadron leader, Roy Brown, circling overhead, giving the signal to return to the aerodrome.

Unaware of the enemy pilot's identity, the intrepid Canadian soon learned that he had been in the crosshairs of Manfred von Richtofen, the infamous German pilot with 80 air combat victories: the Red Baron. Wop May realized he was fortunate to be alive to tell his story.

With the harrowing experience under his belt, May was no longer an untested novice. Participating in combat missions with his Sopwith Camel over several months, he racked up 13 victories. On Sept. 12 of that same year, the Canadian was honoured with the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Wilfrid Reid "Wop" May was born on March 20, 1896, in Carberry, Man. His family moved to Edmonton when he was about six years old. His first name was changed incidentally to Wop when a young cousin was unable to say Wilfrid. She called him Woppie instead. The name stuck.

Completing studies at Calgary's Western Canada College, May enlisted in February 1916 with the 202nd Overseas Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, and by July 1917 he was a gunnery instructor with the rank of sergeant.

But May always eyed the skies, yearning to become an airman. He at last received a commission with the Royal Flying Corps, training in the fall of 1917 in Acton, England. A natural at operating an airplane, May advanced to his first solo flight after only three and a half hours of training.

Returning home after the war, the flying ace joined with his brother to establish May Aeroplane Limited in May 1919, the city of Edmonton's first airline. In return for wartime contributions, the city was given a Curtiss JN-4 and the Mays were permitted to lease the aircraft. Offering themselves as a barnstorming act, the brothers travelled from town to town showing off May's expert flying skills. They also accepted contract work.

"The first demonstration of the commercial value in the use of the airplane was the carrying of the noon edition of the Edmonton Journal on June 7th to Wetaskiwin, a distance of 40 miles," stated Learn Alberta in Timelines of Alberta, Canada and World Aviation Events.

Marrying Violet Bode in 1924, May realized he needed a steady income. (The Mays became parents on May 15, 1935, with the birth of their son, Denny, and five years later, adopted daughter Joyce.)

The next year, May found a job as a mechanic for National Cash Register, first in Dayton, Ohio, and later in Edmonton and Calgary. However, his future changed by more than a new wife. "As Wop worked on a lathe one afternoon, a steel splinter shot up into his right eye," wrote Reid. It seemed the eye would heal, but problems persisted.

The practiced aviator took jobs flying to Canada's northern region and organized air services to the remote communities. Along with flying an ailing sea captain from his vessel to the hospital, one of the first missions in 1929 was to deliver desperately needed diphtheria vaccine. The excursion required flying through wild winds and blinding snow to deliver the treatment. "Little did the two flyers realize in the blinding fury around them that their flight was attracting a great deal of attention all over the country as well as on the ground just below them," noted Reid.

In 1929, May won the contract to deliver mail to Yukon and Northwest territories. He was inspired. Following the Athabasca River, and across Great Slave Lake, he could drop mail "to Providence and up the Mackenzie to "¦ Simpson "¦ and Norman "¦ with fuel cashes maybe here," described Reid. "Why there would be no reason not to delivery mail to everyone along the river." Wop and his wife moved to Fort McMurray to establish the mail route. For his extraordinary bush flying, May was awarded the McKee Trophy in 1930. Now called the Trans-Canada Trophy, the honour is presented to a Canadian citizen for aviation actions in a single year or over several years, with consideration given for "pioneering of new areas of air operation and advancement of the use of aviation," according to Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute. The McKee Trophy is the oldest aviation award in Canada.

A call came in from the RCMP in the winter of 1932. They were on a manhunt for the violent loner Albert Johnson to bring him to justice. Several men had already lost their lives in the attempt. Someone who knew the North well was needed, someone who could provide air support. Wop May was their man. After days of chasing, Johnson was caught and killed in the gunfight. May and his crew ferried the posse and the body back to Aklavik. In 1936, May's eye injury worsened; his eye was surgically removed. Losing his pilot's licence, it marked the end of his exhilarating flying career. However, his affiliation with the air industry wasn't over yet. Accepting a job with the No. 2 Air Observer school in Edmonton, part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), May trained military pilots. Developing a parachute squad, May also trained Canadians and Americans in safe techniques that saved soldiers' lives in the Second World War. May later was appointed director of Northern development for Canadian Pacific Airlines.

The daring escapades of Wop May were chronicled in the form of comic strips and panels. Readers avidly followed the hero's daring adventures in works created by Stookie Allen in "Above the Crowd," and Walt McDayter and Norm Drew in the Calgary Herald's biographical strip, "The Giants."

Honours were bestowed on the courageous aviator. May received the Order of the British Empire in 1936 and, 11 years later, the Medal of Freedom from the U.S.

Chest pain began to trouble May in 1952. Only months later, he died while on a camping trip with his son in Utah. May was buried in Edmonton. Confronting the Red Baron was just the beginning for Canada's Ace Wop May, the start of a life packed with brilliant moments and heart-stopping adventures.

Susanna McLeod is a writer living in Kingston.

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