David Charles Fairbanks

Born in the United States at Ithaca, New York, on August 22, 1922, David Charles Fairbanks was the son of his mother, Helen, and his father, Professor Frank Fairbanks of Cornell University, who died of injuries received in an automobile accident in 1939. David had one brother, Thaddeus, and a sister, Caroline. At age 18, after graduating from Ithaca High School in 1940, David convinced his widowed mother to give him a letter of permission to join the Royal Canadian Air Force.

At that time, the United States had not yet entered into combat in the Second World War. David Fairbanks thus became an American in a Canadian air force uniform when he enlisted with the RCAF at Hamilton, Ontario in February 1941. By December of 1941, over 6,000 Americans had enlisted in the RCAF. With the entry of the United States into the war in 1942, some 3,800 Americans eventually transferred back to the military in the U.S.

At No. 1 Manning Depot in Toronto, David was selected for flying training and on July 1, 1941, he was posted to No. 3 Initial Training School of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Then at No. 21 Elementary Flying Training School at Chatham, New Brunswick, he learned to fly in Fleet Finch biplanes. He received his pilot’s wings on November 21, 1941, at No. 9 Service Flying Training School (SFTS) at Summerside, Prince Edward Island.

With his skill as a pilot, David qualified as a flying instructor at Central Flying School at Trenton, Ontario, and then instructed at No. 13 SFTS in St. Hubert, Québec until April 1943. Next, he was shipped to England, attached to the Royal Air Force and promoted from Flying Officer to Flight Lieutenant. His first posting was to 501 Squadron RAF to fly Spitfires and his skill as a fighter pilot was soon evident – on June 9, 1944 he destroyed a German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter aircraft and damaged another. During the rest of his combat experience, all his other victories were scored while flying a Hawker Tempest.

After transferring to 274 Squadron RAF, formed originally in 1918 as a patrol and bomber squadron, while flying a Tempest on August 29, 1944, Fairbanks destroyed an enemy jet-powered V-1 flying bomb, known as a buzz bomb, developed by Germany for attacks on London. It was the first of two that he shot down. By late 1944, F/L Fairbanks had completed a large number of operational flights, but did not remain unscathed himself. On November 19, while attacking a locomotive, his Tempest was hit by ground fire, which ignited a fuel tank. Aircraft fabric was burned on the fuselage and tail, causing the Tempest to be completely turned over. Fairbanks righted the aircraft at low altitude and successfully returned to home base in Belgium, landing and escaping from the badly damaged aircraft. For those actions, he was awarded his first Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). In December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge, David Fairbanks shot down two more 109s and damaged another.

In January 1945 during a short posting to 3 Squadron RAF, Fairbanks shot down five more aircraft, including 109s, a Focke-Wulf FW 190 fighter and a Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft, as well as damaging a twin-engine Junkers Ju 88 multi-role combat aircraft. For his outstanding performance, F/L Fairbanks received his second DFC for which the citation stated, “His keenness and determination have set a high example to all.”

In 1945 David Fairbanks was promoted to Squadron Leader and returned to 274 Squadron, for which he assumed command on February 9. Just two days later he distinguished himself again by shooting down a twin-engine Arado 234b, the world’s first jet bomber. Three days later, he damaged a Messerschmitt 262 twin-engine jet fighter. On February 28, S/L Fairbanks led his flight of six Tempests into combat with FW 190s and Bf 109s, when he was shot down himself by a 190. With difficulty, he was able to open the canopy and bail out, surviving the misadventure. Captured, he was moved a week later to a prisoner of war camp where he remained until April 1945, when he was liberated by Allied troops and transferred back to the United Kingdom.

Repatriated to Canada in June 1945, on July 7 David Fairbanks was awarded the DFC for the third time. By war’s end he had destroyed 15 enemy aircraft, at one time shooting down six within a two-week period. The citation for this third DFC included the statement, “By the excellent example he has set, his initiative and fine leadership, this officer has inspired the other members of his squadron and all pilots with whom he has come in contact.”  Fairbanks was 22 years old.

Following the war, back home at Ithaca, New York, he earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1950 from Cornell University. He then returned to Canada, joining the Dominion Bridge Company in Montréal as an engineer, where he worked on the city’s Champlain Bridge project for one year. While in Montréal he joined RCAF Auxiliary Squadron 401, flying Harvards and Canadair Silver Star CT-33 and de Havilland Vampire jets. Then while working with Sperry Gyroscope Company of Canada as a Technical Representative, he was transferred to the United Kingdom to represent the company flying Gloster Meteors and F-86 Sabre jet aircraft for 504 RAF Auxiliary Squadron.

David returned to Canada in 1955, joining de Havilland Aircraft of Canada (DHC) as a test pilot. With chief test pilot George Neal, on July 30, 1958, they made the first flight of de Havilland’s DHC-4 Caribou. In 1960, David Fairbanks was appointed Manager of Flight Operations for DHC, a post he held for 20 years. He became well known in the aviation industry as a skilled demonstration pilot and promoter of de Havilland’s STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) aircraft. During that period he led demonstrations of de Havilland’s Beaver, Twin Otter, Caribou and Buffalo aircraft at countries around the world.

A staunch advocate of STOL aircraft, Fairbanks contributed to American support of such aircraft, leading to conditions that would permit the certification of airliners with STOL capabilities. The groundswell of interest in STOL and the potential market for aircraft capable of operating in confined urban spaces convinced de Havilland’s government shareholder to proceed with the development of the world’s first certificated STOL airliner, de Havilland’s DHC-7, known as the Dash 7, powered by four turboprop engines. It first flew in 1975 and remained in production until 1988, when de Havilland Canada was purchased by Boeing, then later sold to Bombardier.

Following the roll-out of the Dash 7 on February 5, 1975, to public acclaim at Toronto’s Downsview airport, David Fairbanks returned to home in Toronto, where he received word from his doctor to report immediately to a hospital. David was told he had suffered a heart attack. Loved and admired by men with whom he flew, two weeks later on February 20, 1975, this war hero and captain of industry, an American who had become a Canadian citizen, died at the age of 52, survived by his second wife, Betty.

Fairbanks had expressed in his will a desire “to explore the ocean deep.” His colleagues in Flight Operations at de Havilland arranged fabrication of a lead cylinder to serve as an urn for Fairbanks’ ashes. Weeks later, after a brief ceremony on the Downsview ramp, DHC pilot George Northrop, while delivering a new Twin Otter to an African customer, took the urn on board and dropped it into the Atlantic Ocean between Gander, Newfoundland, and Santa Maria in the Azores.

In 1976, David Charles Fairbanks was posthumously awarded Canada’s oldest and most prestigious aviation trophy, the Trans-Canada (McKee) Trophy, largely in recognition of his contribution to the development of Canada’s STOL aircraft technology.