Alexander Daniel McLean

Alexander Daniel (Dan) McLean, O.B.E., was born on January 31, 1896, in Maxville, Ontario, where he began his schooling. In 1907 his family moved to Innisfail, Alberta, where he completed his education. He then attended Normal School in Calgary, Alberta, and became a teacher. He taught school in that province for a short time, and in 1917 he enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) After ground training at the School of Military Aeronautics at the University of Toronto in Ontario, he was ordered to England where he graduated as a commissioned pilot. He served as a flying instructor until the war ended in 1918.

While attending the University of Alberta in Edmonton during 1919-20, McLean joined the Canadian Air Force Reserve, attended a refresher course at Camp Borden, Ontario, in 1921 and obtained his Civil Commercial Pilot's Licence. Instead of remaining in aviation, he joined his father in business at Innisfail until the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) called him back into service in 1927. After completing several airmanship courses, he spent two years on aerial photographic missions in Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes. On January 28, 1929, he piloted the inaugural airmail flight from Ottawa, Ontario, to St. John, New Brunswick. Two days later he completed the inaugural return flight. Then, for a short period, he was pilot of an experimental airmail service between Halifax, Nova Scotia and St. John, New Brunswick.

The Government of Canada's Department of National Defence hired him in April 1929, as Inspector of Western Airways, with headquarters at Regina, Saskatchewan, under the Controller of Civil Aviation, J.A. Wilson. While stationed there he organized construction of the first airways system on the prairies, from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Calgary, and from Regina to Edmonton, Alberta. This operation saw the construction of a chain of airports between these centres, complete with night-lighting and weather and radio services. He then completed an aerial survey of a southern Rocky Mountain flyway to Vancouver, British Columbia, from Alberta, and selected the route through the Crow's Nest Pass. In 1931 he was transferred to Ottawa to replace J.H. Tudhope as Acting Superintendent of Airways and Airports. In this position he directed construction of all new flight-ways, from Winnipeg throughout eastern Canada.

During July 1935, McLean was in charge of a 7,000 mile (11,300 km) survey flight in the Mackenzie River, Great Bear Lake, Yukon and Northern British Columbia areas. Leaving the South Cooking Lake float base near Edmonton, the party stopped at Fort McMurray, then at all points down the the Mackenzie River to Aklavik, and back through Yukon and northern British Columbia to Prince Rupert, for the purpose of checking landing and other facilities connected with air traffic. The pilot on this historic flight was 'Punch' Dickins, flying a Canadian Airways' Fairchild.

The survey flight initiated by McLean in 1935 from Edmonton to the Alaska border showed the natural airway from Edmonton through the Yukon to Alaska, and on to the Orient. The route he chose as a shortcut to the Orient was the 'Great Circle' route through Fort St John and Fort Nelson, British Columbia, and Whitehorse, Yukon. This route shortened the flight distance between Chicago, Illinois and Shanghai, China, by 4,000 miles (6,440 km).

A move to rejoin the RCAF in his rank of Squadron Leader at the outbreak of World War Two was prevented by a government order freezing him in his civil position. For the duration of the conflict, he was made responsible for the selection, surveying and development of all airports provided for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). For his work in establishing Canada's airport system, he was awarded the Trans-Canada (McKee) Trophy for 1941. McLean was appointed Director of Civil Aviation in 1941, and assumed the additional responsibility for the civil administration and maintenance of the country's principal airports. For his wartime service he was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E., Military).

McLean was appointed to the Air Transport Board in 1950, a position he held until 1962. In 1954 he headed a government negotiating team for air agreements in Australia, and later that year, he was sent to Japan to negotiate bi-lateral air transport agreements. In 1958 he attended air agreement talks in Switzerland. He retired in 1962 and died in Ottawa on May 16, 1969.

Alexander Daniel (Dan) McLean was inducted as a Member of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 1974 at a ceremony held in Edmonton, Alberta.