By Skies Magazine | December 31, 2019 Estimated reading time 2 minutes, 44 seconds.
On Dec. 28, Governor General of Canada Julie Payette announced 120 new members to the Order of Canada. Among the inductees, three members were honoured for contributions to Canadian aviation and aerospace.
Aeronautical engineer Brian Theodore McGeer, a Vancouver native who currently resides in Washington State, was recognized for his contributions to unmanned aerial systems – commonly known as drones. McGeer originally got into the unmanned aerial industry looking for a better way to forecast the weather, and now focuses on military applications of the technology.
Michael Potter, former long-time CEO of Cognos Inc., a tech company acquired by IBM in 2008, was inducted for his contributions to Canadian aviation heritage since forming Vintage Wings of Canada – a not-for-profit, charitable organization that maintains and flies a number of historically significant aircraft. Located at Gatineau-Ottawa Executive Airport, Potter’s Vintage Wings was started after the former executive retired and developed an interest in collecting exotic aircraft. The organization’s fleet includes a Hawker Hurricane Mk IV, a de Havilland Tiger Moth, a Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX, amongst many other vintage aircraft.
Robert Dick Richmond, a 100-year-old retired aeronautical engineer, rounded out the aviation- and aerospace-based inductees. Richmond’s history in the Canadian aerospace sector is a rich one, dating back to the 1940s, where he was chief of aerodynamics at Fairchild Aircraft Ltd., an aircraft OEM based in Longueuil, Que., before the company closed its doors at the end of the decade. Following his departure from Fairchild, Richmond was hired by Canadair Ltd., where he was a lead designer for a number of historically significant aircraft – including the Canadair CL-41 Tutor, famously flown by the Canadian Forces Snowbirds. In the 1960s, Richmond joined Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Canada as vice-president of operations before returning to Canadair in 1981, and subsequently retiring in 1988.
See the full list of the latest Order of Canada inductees here.
