Paul Albert Hartman

Paul Albert Hartman, DFC, AFC, CD*, was born in Grafton, Massachusetts, U.S.A., on November 25, 1918, and moved with his family to South Portland, Maine, in 1933. He attended school there and learned to fly, obtaining his Private Pilot's Licence in 1938. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1941, and was commissioned a Pilot Officer that same year. After completing a navigational reconnaissance course with the RCAF at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, he was posted to the Royal Air Force (RAF) Ferry Command at Dorval, Quebec. He ferried a Lockheed Hudson across the North Atlantic Ocean to Scotland in April 1942.

On arrival in the United Kingdom, Hartman completed his operational training in Northern Ireland, then joined No. 69 Squadron, Royal Air Force, in 1942, flying Vickers Wellington bombers on night torpedo runs off the coast of Malta. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) later that year for sinking an enemy vessel by torpedo, despite intense anti-aircraft fire from protecting enemy destroyers. He was then promoted to Flying Officer.

In 1943 he returned to Canada where he served as a Flight Lieutenant Instructor with No. 6 Operational Training Unit, RCAF, before taking command of No. 3 Training Squadron and Glider Training Detachment at Cassidy, British Columbia., For his services to this command he was awarded the Air Force Cross (AFC).

At the end of the war, Hartman was appointed to serve at the Test and Development Establishment at Rockcliffe, Ontario, where he was named Staff Test Pilot. In 1948, after completing a specialist course, he was posted to Farnborough, England, where he completed the Empire Test Pilot's Course. He then returned to his post at Rockcliffe.

Hartman became a Canadian citizen in 1951, and in 1952 completed the RCAF Staff College course as a Squadron Leader. He was promoted to Wing Commander and assigned to RCAF Headquarters at Ottawa, Ontario, where he held several senior staff positions in training, transport and air defence commands. He served three terms as a test pilot at the RCAF's Central Experimental and Proving Establishment. In 1961 he was named Commanding Officer of the unit and the following year became Senior Test Pilot. Because of his extensive flying experience in all RCAF aircraft, Hartman was appointed test pilot of the Avro CF-100 and Canadair F-86E Sabre acceptance trials.

In commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of manned flight in Canada, Hartman was invited to fly the RCAF-built replica of the Silver Dart. The flight took place at Baddeck, Nova Scotia, on February 23, 1959, on the same site where J.A.D.  McCurdy first flew the original aircraft in 1909. Some 13,000 people, McCurdy included, witnessed the historic flight on the ice of Bras d'Or Lake.

In 1964 Hartman served with the United Nations Emergency Force as Commanding Officer of No. 115 Air Transport Unit, based at El Arish, Egypt. The following year he was named Base Operations Officer of Canadian Forces Base Uplands, Ontario.

Hartman retired from the service in 1968 after having flown 120 different aircraft types and logging over 7,000 hours of flight time. Following his retirement, he served as a test pilot with Canadair Limited at Cartierville, Quebec, on the CL-215 water bomber project. In 1971 he formed his own aeronautical consulting firm, Triple-A Aero Service, in Ottawa, and worked as a freelance test pilot.

His contribution to manned flight was recognized by the Royal Aeronautical Society which named him an Associate Fellow. He was awarded the Canadian Forces Decoration (CD) and Clasp for his years of service. Paul Hartman died in Ottawa, Ontario on January 30, 1990.

Some of Hartman's exceptional memories of flying include piloting six vintage aircraft from the National Aeronautical Collection in Ottawa, Ontario, for Canada's Centennial Celebrations in 1967. These included reproductions of the Nieuport 17 and Sopwith Triplane, a restored Sopwith Snipe and an original Avro 504K. Two other originals he flew were the Aeronca C-2 and the Fleet Finch. Flying these at the end of his long career emphasized the amount of progress that had been made in the world of aviation, and the change that progress has made in the relationship that exists between the pilot and the aircraft he or she is flying.

Paul Albert Hartman was inducted as a Member of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 1974 at a ceremony held in Edmonton, Alberta.