William Floyd Sheldon Luck

William Floyd Sheldon Luck was born in Kingston, Ontario, on January 26, 1911. He attended school in Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta, and as a youth became interested in flying, against the wishes of his family. He persevered, won the confidence of his parents and commenced flying at Rutledge Air Services at Calgary. For the next forty seven years, Sheldon Luck was actively involved in and contributed to the development of aviation in Canada.

After receiving his Private Pilot's Licence in June of 1931, Luck participated in barnstorming activities and for four years was engaged in charter flying in Alberta and northern British Columbia for a number of companies. He flew fish out of northern Alberta and pioneered the establishment of commercial scheduled services from the Yukon to Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1936 he joined United Air Transport, which became Yukon Southern Air Transport. He was appointed Chief Pilot of Yukon Southern in March 1941, and retained that responsibility with Canadian Pacific Air Lines (CPA) when it absorbed Yukon Southern in January 1942.

It was during the early portion of this period that he was engaged in a number of 'firsts'. Two of these included participation with Grant McConachie in August 1938, on the first official mail run from Vancouver, to Whitehorse, Yukon, through Fort St. John, British Columbia, and in November 1939, he pioneered the first weekly air service to Whitehorse via Fort St. John from Kamloops, British Columbia.

In 1942 Luck took a leave of absence from CPA to join the RCAF Transport Command where he served for the duration of World War II. Assigned to No. 231 Squadron, Royal Air Force, he was involved in ferrying aircraft across the Atlantic, which he accomplished 78 times, along with other airborne activities. He was the courier pilot for British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his delegation to the Atlantic Conference in August 1941, when Churchill, United States' President Roosevelt, and Canada's Prime Minister Mackenzie King met aboard a cruiser off the coast of Quebec to discuss plans for post-World War II peace. In August 1942, Luck flew emergency supplies to El Alamein, Egypt, and between December 1944, and May 1945, he flew Coronado flying boats to and from Lagos, Nigeria. At the conclusion of his service with the RAF Transport Group, he was honoured with a King's Commendation for his valuable services to the war effort.  His commendation from King George VI was signed by British Prime Minister Winston S Churchill in June 1944.

In October 1945, Luck returned to the domestic operation of CPA to resume the position he left in 1942. In 1946 he resigned to join Flota Aerea Mercante Argentina in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This returned him to overseas flying as a captain on Sandringham flying boats and Douglas DC-4's to the United Kingdom and New York, U.S.A. In 1948 he left Argentina to return to Canada. For five years he flew out of Vancouver, and operated over large areas of Canada and the United States. In 1953 he joined Maritime Central Airways based at Mont Joli, Quebec, and Moncton, New Brunswick, flying Bristol Freighters and DC-4's in the Maritimes, Newfoundland and Labrador.

In 1958 he started a cattle ranch near Fort St. James, British Columbia, and supported the enterprise by flying charter flights throughout the Yukon and British Columbia. It was during this period that he became interested in the aerial suppression of forest fires and was appointed Chief Pilot of the Flying Firemen which accomplished outstanding results in forest fire detection and prevention. From 1970 to 1974 he was Chief Pilot and Operations Manager of Trans Provincial Airlines, Instrument Flight Rule operations, located at Terrace and Prince George, British Columbia. In 1975 he flew water bombers for Conair at Abbotsford, British Columbia, and in 1977 he flew the same duties for Avalon Aviation out of Thunder Bay, Ontario.

During his career in aeronautics Luck has had an unusually wide experience of flying. He was intimately involved as an aviation administrator and in all phases of flying activities. He was a bush pilot and aerial fire fighter; he flew charter operations and as an airline pilot. After 51 years as an active pilot, he had flown over 26,000 hours as Pilot-in-Command of 57 types of aircraft. He died May 9, 2004 in Kamloops, B.C. at age 94.

William Floyd Sheldon Luck was inducted as a Member of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 1981 at a ceremony held in Edmonton, Alberta.