Neil J Armstrong

Neil J Armstrong was born in Alvinston, Ontario on April 15, 1920. After school he joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and served in Ontario and Saskatchewan and was one of the first constables assigned to Dauphin, Manitoba, when the RCMP took over the policing of that town. In 1943, Armstrong enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and graduated as a commissioned officer and pilot at Brantford, Ontario. He served as a flying instructor at various Canadian bases until he was discharged in 1945.

Neil Armstrong at No. 4 FTS flying a de Havilland Tiger Moth 
Windsor Mills, Quebec
October 25, 1943

The following year he began studies at the University of Toronto and graduated with an engineering degree in 1949, majoring in geology and geophysics. He worked as geologist and prospector for Eldorado Mining and Refining in the Northwest Territories and later with the International Nickel Company in Manitoba. He did well-site geology for Hudson's Bay Oil and Gas Company in the Peace River area of northern Alberta and British Columbia. He also worked as a research and project engineer with the Polymer Corporation at Sarnia, Ontario.

From 1953 to 1969 Armstrong was associated with Spartan Air Services at Ottawa and became the first known helicopter pilot/geologist in North America. He worked with the Geological Survey of Canada on Operations Baker Lake and Thelon River in the Barren Lands of Northern Canada. Over a period of two years, more than 100,000 square miles (260,000 km²) were mapped geologically on a scale of one inch to eight miles. He made the first helicopter contact with the Barren Lands Inuit during this period. They had never seen a helicopter and referred to it as 'an unfinished airplane'.

EM Anson V Quebec City 
July 4, 1956

EM Anson V CF-GLD at mile 36 (emergency landing strip) on Quebec Labrador railway, forced landing in bad weather
July 11, 1956

EM Anson V at mile 224 on railroad that runs from Gwen Island to Knob Lake
July 9, 1953

In 1955, Armstrong became manager of a Spartan subsidiary, Aerophysics Ltd., specializing in airborne electronic surveys. With this firm, Armstrong pioneered the two-phase electromagnetic system for detecting mineral conductors in the earth. The system was installed in Avro Ansons, and used initially in the Knob Lake area of Quebec. It was later adapted for use in helicopters, first using the Bell 47-D1. The transmitting and receiving coils were on a twenty-foot 'bird', or catamite, towed beneath the helicopter on fifty feet of cable at 150 feet (46 m) above ground level.

Armstrong's combined knowledge of airborne devices and engineering helped him to develop and patent a helicopter hover-sight, now used world-wide as a cost-saving shortcut in airborne surveying. The instrument used a laser beam mounted on a survey tripod which was levelled vertically over the point whose coordinates were required. A circular receiver, comprised of photoelectric cells and mounted on the bottom of the helicopter, was activated when contacted by the laser beam. Hovering the helicopter and taking reading from two slave stations set up over known points gave the required coordinates through triangulation. This system cut to a fraction the man-hours required for surveying, and eliminated the need for costly towers which were normally built to obtain line-of-sight over the trees.

A Spartan P38 at Ottawa 
Nose modified by Hall of Fame Member W. Phipps
May 1956

Spartan P38 with camera operator 
May 1956 Ottawa

In 1960, the Government of Argentina hired Armstrong to head a team surveying the Province of Mendoza from the air, using a Cessna 310. This was one of the first foreign projects ever undertaken in which aerial surveys were used for evaluation purposes to determine the tax levels for the land parcels in the area.

In 1961, Armstrong and pilot Max Conrad flew across the Atlantic Ocean non-stop in a twin-engine Piper Apache, making the flight from Gander, Newfoundland, to Shannon, Ireland, in thirteen hours. Two years later he shared the pilot/navigator duties with John Stuart, flying a Piper Aztec non-stop across the Pacific Ocean, from California to Hawaii, in eighteen hours.

In 1969, Armstrong was a founding partner and President of Liftair International Ltd., a helicopter service based in Calgary, Alberta. He served as a chairman of the Helicopter Committee of the Calgary Transportation and Development Authority.

His well-rounded flying career has been recorded in the numerous articles he wrote for many North American aviation periodicals. He was a strong supporter of general aviation and encouraged others to complete their pilot training and enjoy the freedom of flight. He was elected President of the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) in 1964, a position he held for three years.

Neil Armstrong and his wife Trudy raised a family of five children. Trudy obtained both power and glider pilot's licences. Each of the four sons and daughter became licensed pilots after soloing on their 16th birthdays.

Neil J Armstrong died on November 23, 1994, in the crash of a de Havilland Twin Otter in Antarctica, along with his son, Captain Corcoran 'Corky' Armstrong and two others.

Neil J Armstrong was inducted as a Member of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 1974 at a ceremony held in Edmonton, Alberta.