George Edward Miller

Born in Montréal, on October 6, 1935 to parents Harold and Neta, George Edward Miller was the middle child to an older brother, Harold, and a younger sister, Carol. After completing grade two, George and his family moved to St. John’s, Newfoundland, when his father’s work as a construction superintendent took him there to work on the building of a U.S. Army hospital. At 15, George moved with his family to Ottawa, where construction work had taken his father.

George completed high school at Nepean High School, then enlisted at age 18 in the RCAF in Ottawa as a pilot trainee on November 28, 1953. He began training on Harvards at RCAF Station Penhold in Alberta in January 1954. By agreeing to join the church choir on the base, George’s instructor accelerated his instrument training and George graduated with his pilot’s wings six weeks early in November, 1954.

In December, George began flying the T-33 Silver Star jet trainer at the Advanced Flying School at RCAF Station Portage la Prairie in Manitoba, followed by training at No. 1 Pilot Weapons School at RCAF Station MacDonald, Manitoba. Six months later, he was transferred to Chatham, New Brunswick to train on the F-86 Sabre jet.

At 19, George became one of the youngest Canadian pilots of 12 squadrons to serve a tour of duty overseas during the Cold War, when he was posted to 434 Squadron in Zweibrücken, West Germany. There he met his future wife, Christel, and they were married on December 8, 1956. By then, Flying Officer Miller was recognized as a top fighter pilot. A year later he returned to Canada as an Air Intercept Controller with Air Defence Command, guarding against attack on North America from the north using a series of radar station lines across the United States and Canada during the Cold War.

While in Canada, George won a flying competition to join the RCAF Golden Hawks flight demonstration team as a solo pilot for the 1962 season and was promoted to Flight Lieutenant. Returning to 434 Squadron in Zweibrücken in 1964, George flew the CF-104 Starfighter for two years. His next posting was to Sardinia as a weapons officer instructing in nuclear weapons training, and during that time he established the Tactical Sea Survival Training School.

Posted back to Canada, in 1969 George attended the Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College in Kingston, Ontario, was promoted to Major and assigned as executive assistant to the commander of the Canadian Army for two years, before returning to Europe. While stationed with RCAF 421 Squadron in Zweibrücken, again flying the CF-104, in 1973 George was invited to return to Canada to lead Canada’s new air demonstration team, the Snowbirds. He jumped at the chance!

His influence with the Snowbirds was immediate. George began nine-plane formation aerobatics, implemented formation changes during aerobatic manoeuvres, and an annual preseason deployment to Comox, British Columbia to promote team performance. He introduced new team uniforms and social dress for air and ground crews, and a new paint scheme for the Snowbirds’ Canadair CT-114 Tutor jet aircraft.

Following the 1974 season of Snowbird performances, George was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and appointed commandant of No. 2 Canadian Forces Flying Training School at CFB Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and was responsible for training military pilots. In 1977 he returned to Staff College in Kingston as an instructor and in 1980 was appointed as dean of the College.

In 1981, promotion to Colonel was followed by posting as Military Attaché to Egypt and Sudan, a diplomatic role he filled until 1985 when he returned to Canada as Base Commander of CFB Moose Jaw, and in July 1988, George retired from the air force at 52, having served 35 years in uniform, but his association with aviation did not end there. Soon after, George was recruited by Spar Aerospace Limited and spent two years marketing Spar products from Brazil in Canada, focusing on the Embraer 312 Tucano, a two-seater turboprop trainer aircraft, as countertrade for Spar’s marketing of its satellites to Brazil.

However, George never left the field of aerobatic performance flying. Before leaving Spar to form his own air show company in 1990, George produced the first National Capital Air Show in Ottawa. He coordinated the unprecedented appearance in Canada of two MIG-29 Fulcrum aircraft from the Mikoyan Design Bureau in Moscow, which had flown 20,000 kilometers to appear.

The Miller family then moved to British Columbia, the only province in which they had not lived. In 1991 George was hired as manager for the Langley Regional Airport. He changed the airport focus by guiding its growth and development from general aviation to an industrial aviation facility. There, 31 of 48 companies operating from the airport are helicopter-related businesses, making Langley the centre of helicopter operations in Canada. His experience with air shows has been put to use in drawing large crowds for aviation and community events at the airport.

Continuing to apply his experience in formation flying, in 1996 George formed and led the Langley Flypast Group, later renamed the The Fraser Blues. After originally doing flypasts for Remembrance Day services, The Fraser Blues have performed at up to 30 air displays a year in western Canada and the northwest United States. The team still flies five individually owned Navion L17 aircraft, and George likes to fly his Navion at least twice a week. Besides flying for business and recreational visits, he and Christel flew the Navion across Canada in 2014 from Langley to Chatham, New Brunswick, stopping at 31 community airports. He has over 8,300 hours in his log books for 17 types of aircraft he has flown.

From 1997 to 2009, George was a member of the British Columbia Aviation Council, serving as chairman for five years.  His service to aviation has been recognized with several awards. Before retiring from the air force, he was invested in the Order of Military Merit as an Officer of Military Merit (OMM) on May 31, 1978. In 2000 he was honoured by the British Columbia Aviation Council (BCAC) with the BCAC Airport Management Award for his work with Langley Airport. In 2007 the BCAC presented George with its Lifetime Achievement Award in Aviation. In 2010 he was given the Ed Batchelor Award from the Langley Aero Club in appreciation for his contributions to the Langley Airport.

Retired LCol Dan Dempsey, himself a former commanding officer of the Snowbirds, has stated that, "Throughout both his military and civilian aviation careers, George Miller has distinguished himself as a consummate professional and inspirational leader. His vision and passion for aviation knows few bounds."

Still active as a pilot more than 60 years after starting to fly with the RCAF, George lives with Christel in Abbotsford, British Columbia. They are parents to their daughter Eve, son Guy, and have six grandchildren.