Bert William Mead

Bert William Mead, C.D.*, was born on May 21, 1923, in Vermilion, Alberta. He attended school there and at the University of Alberta until 1942 when he joined the United States Public Roads Administration as an engineer's assistant on the surveying of the Alaska Highway route. The following year he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), trained at several bases, graduated as a commissioned pilot in 1944 and was posted to instructional duties in Canada.

Mead wanted to serve in combat, so he resigned from the RCAF in 1945 and enrolled in the Royal Navy as a pilot with the rank of Sub-Lieutenant. The war in Europe ended shortly after he completed operational training, so he transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). During the next two years he completed several advanced training courses. He returned to No. 883 Squadron, RCN, at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and served at sea for a year aboard the aircraft carrier HMCS Magnificent as Deck Landing Control Officer.

In 1949 he was posted to HMCS Shearwater as maintenance test pilot and then to the RCAF's Winter Experimental Establishment at Edmonton, Alberta. There he was instrumental in developing new techniques for sophisticated aircraft, flying as many as six types in a single day. In 1953 he was sent to England to attend the Empire Test Pilot's Course, following which he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander.

Because of his extensive experience in all aspects of heavier-than-air flight, Mead was appointed to VX-10 Squadron, RCN, in 1954 as a special projects officer. His prime responsibility was flight testing one of the world's first successful automatic take-off and landing systems for aircraft. The project was designed to permit military aircraft to depart from or land on an aircraft carrier in any weather, in any type of sea. His skills as a pilot contributed to the perfection of the system and modified versions were put to use on modern passenger jet and military aircraft. Mead spent eight years with VX-10, accepting command of the unit from J.C. Sloan in 1959.

In 1962 Mead was moved to Naval Headquarters in Ottawa. Three years later he was named to head a group of military experts as Flying Evaluator in the testing and reporting on the selection of aircraft for all Canadian Forces. A recurring medical problem caused by an earlier crash resulted in his early retirement from the service in 1967.

In 1967 he helped found Hoverwork Canada Limited to bring into Canada the first commercial Air Cushion Vehicle (ACV), or hovercraft, and undertook an extensive course of instruction in England. The hovercraft had been invented by Sir Christopher Cockerell, whose original concept arose from an attempt to improve a boat's performance by reducing hydrodynamic drag.

The Air Cushion Vehicle or Hovercraft has the ability to operate over water, land, snow, ice and swamp. It has been used in rescue missions which could not have been performed by ships or helicopters. Of particular significance, it inflicts minimal, if any, damage to the tundra during summer operations.

During the winter of 1967-68, Mead directed cold weather trials of the hovercraft over Hudson Bay, out of Port Churchill, Manitoba. He then worked with the Ministry of Transport (MOT) to develop an ACV Search and Rescue Unit at Vancouver, British Columbia, selecting and training all personnel to hovercraft standards, and devising the operating procedures. He commanded this unit, which conducted over 230 rescue missions at sea. He was then transferred to Ottawa and named senior ACV captain, assigned to test and develop new vehicles and assist in the writing of regulations governing their operations.

In 1972 Mead joined Northern Transportation Limited at Edmonton to take command of their ACV test program of the Canadian-made Voyageur. As the most punishing test he could devise, it was flown, under his command, the full length of the Mackenzie River in mid-winter.

From 1973 to 1977 he was Director of ACV Operations for Northern Transportation. The ACV's were used to transport personnel to offshore rigs on artificial islands on the Beaufort Sea, supporting the oil drilling programs of several companies. After these operations ceased, Mead negotiated the sale of the ACV's to the Coast Guard for use in Search and Rescue work on the west coast of Canada. He retired from Northern Transportation Co. Ltd. in 1979.

As a military test pilot for almost two decades, he flew more than 100 types, from trainers through super-sonic jet fighters and four-engine bombers. As the nation's first certified ACV pilot, he logged some 1,500 hours on ten types, all of which were designated as airplanes by the MOT.

Bert Mead died in Port Moody, B.C. on March 8, 2011.

Bert William Mead was inducted as a Member of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 1974 at a ceremony held at Edmonton, Alberta.