Central Airways’ Bob Wong and His Connection to #7 EFTS, Windsor, Ontario.
Robert/Bob Wong was a flight engineer and test pilot at No. 7 E.F.T.S., Windsor.
He was called to serve with No.7 E.F.T.S. near completion of his B.Sc. Maintenance Engineering course at Parks Air College, E. St. Louis, Illinois. The College gave him permission to return to Canada a month or 2 early, with his B.S. degree. He missed his November 1940 graduation. The classes are January to December 31st, 23 months a year.
Robert flew in the Service (EFTS), from 1941-1944: 363:05 1st pilot, and 38:30 hr 2nd pilot in Fleet Finch Mk II, Tiger Moth, & Cornell. – Flying hours as test pilot of EFTS aircraft being maintained.
At Parks Air College, Robert received 50 hours of aerobatics (and perhaps other) training to impress on the maintenance engineering students the importance of their maintenance work.
In preparation for Parks Air College, Robert received his Private Pilot’s license at Leonard Foggin Flying Services in Vancouver, in a Fleet, CF-ANF, and he checked out on Aeronca KC CF-BIJ. He built the Pietenpol Skyscout aircraft so that he could build up flying hours (inexpensively) for entry (requirement) into Parks Air College. By the time he left Vancouver (around Feb 1938), he flew close to 100 hours. He stored CF-BAA at a friend’s garage, and later, sold it. He joined his family in 1938 in Toronto, and entered Parks Air College, E St. Louis, Jan 1939. Robert and Tommy flew locally in Toronto (Barker’s Airfield).
After the War, he and his brother Tommy bought 2 Tiger Moths from army surplus, to start Central Airways, 1945 at Barker Air Field. His brother Tommy , also an experienced pilot, joined RCAF in 1942 (when Chinese were permitted entry into the war), and he took the BCATP program, ready to deploy to Europe.
This is how I met Bob Wong.
A huge sign in the late 1960s visible from the Gardner Expressway, offered introductory flights for $5. I took one of those flights, and it started my flying career spanning over 35 years and logging over 17000 hours, visiting many continents on our beautiful planet. I retired when I was 70 years old. and later joined the Canadian Aviation Museum in Windsor as a volunteer. In the archives, I found Bob Wong’s name, the man who helped me to have a rewarding career being a pilot.
Bob’s inspriational story can be found here: Robert Shun Wong
As teenagers Bob and his brother Tommy built an actual airplane (a 1928 design for amateur builders called a PIETENPOL). The story of the their 1935 build and how these 2 teenager’s airplane finally gets unveiled to family decades later in Ontario can be found here: Apartment in Vancouver to a Storage Container near Saskatoonear-2 teenagers airplane
When the Wong brothers soared over Toronto (Article in the Toronto Star June 17. 2015)