War hero, bush pilot.
Born at Carberry on 20 March 1896, during the First World War he was the pilot pursued by the “Red Baron” when the German ace was killed. May shot down 13 German aircraft during the war, eluding the “Red Baron” in the process, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1918. He became one of Canada’s leading bush pilots in the post-war era, and received an Order of the British Empire in 1935. May helped set up the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in 1939. He died near Provo, Utah on 21 June 1952, from injuries sustained in a rock-climbing accident.
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
“W. R. ‘Wop’ May, famed flier dies,” Winnipeg Tribune, 23 June 1952. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B10]
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 24 November 2021
Memorable Manitobans
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