Local aviators to join hall of fame

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This article was published 11/06/2022 (1561 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two Manitoba aviators are about to land in Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame.

Shirley Render, pilot and executive director emeritus for what is now the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada, and Griswold-born Clifford MacKay McEwen, a pilot in the First World War, will be inducted at a ceremony at the Calgary Airport on June 23.

Render, who was born in Winnipeg, earned her wings in 1973 and flew for decades.

She began volunteering at the then-Western Canada Aviation Museum in the late 1970s and later sat on the board. She also wrote and edited the museum’s quarterly magazine and she curated exhibits.

Render wrote two aviation history books, No Place for a Lady, on Canada’s female pilots, and Double Cross, about James A. Richardson and his importance to Canadian aviation.

She was elected an MLA in 1990 and served as consumer and corporate affairs minister in the Filmon government. After getting out of politics, she became the museum’s executive director in 2002.

McEwen, who was born in 1898, signed up with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1916 before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps.

For most of the war, he flew as a scout pilot in Italy, while in the Second World War he served as Air Commodore, helping to establish Canadian authority over aerial operations in the northwest Atlantic Ocean, and later served as Air Vice-Marshall of the 6 (RCAF) Group in Bomber Command.

After the war, McEwen supported veterans’ causes by working with both the Royal Canadian Legion and the Last Post Fund. He died in 1967.

Former astronaut Bjarni Tryggvason; Second World War ace Don Laubman, who was later commander of Canadian Forces Europe in 1970-71; and Rhys Eyton, former president and CEO of Canadian Airlines International will also be inducted.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca