A Life of Flight

Bob Gartshore's 44-year flying career spanned a period of rapid aviation development - from fabric-covered Piper Cubs to Boeing 747s. He logged more than 21,000 hours flying to six continents for the RCAF and three airlines. Bob was an instructor on numerous aircraft, Link Trainers and simulators. As captain, he progressed from the Harvard T-6, to the Dakota DC-3; C-119 Flying Boxcar; Douglas DC-6; Boeing 727, 707 and 747; and Airbus A310 before a final stint as a relief pilot in war-torn Angola flying a Beechcraft King Air 100.Read about landing at a cloud-shrouded, Greenland airstrip with both primary aids inoperable; exercising penguins on the tarmac; his son as co-pilot on both 747 and A310; Mecca-bound pilgrims kindling fires in the aisle to cook their meal; grazing the tail on a hillside during a cloudy high-Arctic landing; flying beside a UFO; and balls of St. Elmo's Fire rolling inside the cockpit - all while raising a family of five kids with his dynamic wife, Joy. About the author: Robert "Bob" Gartshore was born in Calgary in 1931, earned his pilot's licence in 1949 and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force the following year when the Korean Conflict broke out. Six years later he switched to civilian aviation, first as a flying school instructor, then as a pilot for Canadian Pacific, Wardair and Canadian Airlines. Following his retirement, Bob and his wife Joy continued living in Victoria, BC, close to their five children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren (another on the way).