War hero, bush pilot.
Born at Carberry on 20 March 1896, youngest of three children of Alexander E. May (1863-?) and Elizabeth May (1863-?), he acquired the nickname “Wop” when a young cousin could not pronounce his first name. The family moved to Edmonton, Alberta in 1902 where, in 1916 during the First World War, he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. At the time, he was working as a mechanic.
May shot down 13 German aircraft during the war, eluding Manfred von Richthofen (the “Red Baron”) in the process, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1918. He was the pilot pursued by von Richthofen when the German ace was killed. After the war, he returned to Canada and, in 1929, made the first non-stop flight from Edmonton to Winnipeg, covering the 800 miles at an average speed of 112 miles per hour. He became a pioneering bush pilot working for Canadian Airways in northern Alberta and the North West Territories. He received an Order of the British Empire in 1935. He helped set up the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan at the outset of the Second World War in 1939.
He died near Provo, Utah on 21 June 1952. He was inducted posthumously into Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame (1974).
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: May House (43 Simcoe Street, Carberry)
Memorable Manitobans: Aces of the First World War
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Attestation papers, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Library and Archives Canada.
“W. R. ‘Wop’ May, famed flier dies,” Winnipeg Tribune, 23 June 1952. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B10]
“W. R. May, 57, ex-air ace, dies in Utah,” Winnipeg Free Press, 23 June 1952, page 6.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, December 1999, 288 pages.
We thank Rick Mutton for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 8 June 2026
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