Donald T Hamilton

Donald T. Hamilton was born at Havelock, Ontario on November 26, 1924. Don's father had come from Ontario to homestead near Dummer, Saskatchewan and in the mid-1930s, Don's parents moved to the hamlet of Tilney, Saskatchewan, where his father continued to operate a grain elevator and his mother operated a general store and post office.

Following high school, Don enlisted in 1942 at 18 in the King's Own Rifle Regiment of Canada. In 1943 he transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force, graduating in 1944 as a Bomb Aimer at No. 2 Bombing and Gunnery School at Mossbank, Saskatchewan. The war ended before Don was shipped overseas. He mustered out in August 1945, but returned to aviation in flight training at the Moose Jaw Flying Club in May 1946.

With a private pilot's licence and only 18 hours in his log book in a Tiger Moth, in 1947 Don bought his first airplane, a new two-seater Cessna 120 with call letters CF-ELM. The young pilot had dreams of making a living as a barnstormer, but because he did not have a commercial license, he hired a qualified pilot to work for him in taking passengers at three dollars a ride at sports days in small towns.

The venture was profitable, but when Don tried giving a flight to two young women in his overloaded little airplane, the Cessna snagged on telephone wires in takeoff, crashing with serious damage to the airplane, but fortunately with no injuries to anyone on board. After repairs, the Cessna was flown again, but when landing in a field on his uncle's farm, the wheels sank into the soil and ELM flipped over onto its back. Don stayed through harvest season while repairs were completed.

In 1947, after purchasing skis for his airplane for winter flying, Don flew frozen fish for processing at Cold Lake, Alberta, then a town of only 200 people. Returning to Moose Jaw at the end of winter, Don modified the Cessna for crop spraying. In 1948, he returned to Cold Lake, starting an air charter service called Cold Lake Air Services Ltd., flying fish, passengers and cargo to serve Cold Lake, Hay River, NWT and Great Bear Lake. Seeing opportunity in Hay River, he moved there and acquired a Fur Buyer's license to complement his Fish Buyer's permit and purchased pelts to fly to Edmonton for resale to furriers.

In 1950, back in Cold Lake, Don purchased a Stinson 108-2, flying it from Toronto, using it to transport government personnel for aerial survey work locating a site for what would become the Cold Lake Canadian Forces Base. With construction underway by 1951, Don was kept busy with air charter service between Edmonton and Cold Lake. Two more aircraft were acquired, the Cessna and an Avro Anson Mark V. Pilots were hired as needed and Don himself was the first to land on the runway at the base while it was still under construction. When the base was completed, Don sold the Stinson and the Cessna.

Thanks to construction of the Distant Early Warning Line with 63 radar sites along a distance of 4,800 km inside the Arctic Circle, Don was hired by Tommy Fox of Associated Airways in Edmonton to carry freight and passengers from DEW Line northern headquarters at Cambridge Bay. Don's Anson was put back in service and he was the first to land on wheels at the DEW Line airstrip on King William Island.

In 1956 Associated Airways changed to helicopters. Again Don looked for new opportunities. He flew Ansons and Beavers for Standard Oil and sold aircraft for Gateway Aviation in Edmonton. Soon he and partners established Aero Engineering in a wartime hangar to offer maintenance and repair service. He sold out to the partners in 1958 and established Hamilton Aviation, selling Helio Courier and Dornier aircraft while still providing charter service. He continued hauling fish in northern Alberta and to carry bigger loads, acquired a Fairchild 82. Hamilton Aviation operated from Hangar No. 8 at Edmonton City Centre Airport until Don built the General Aviation Center there in 1987.

In 1969 Don Hamilton became a partner with Dave Harrington in Air Spray (1967) Ltd., helping launch the company into forest fire suppression. It had a B-26 Invader bomber converted to carry fire retardant and acquired a Cessna 310 which Don flew as a "bird dog" to lead the bomber into fire fighting areas. Two more B-26 aircraft were obtained for use in Alberta, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon.

In 1972 Don bought out his partner. In 1974 operations moved to the Red Deer Regional Airport, formerly the wartime BCATP station at Penhold. With contracts to operate provincial government aircraft, Air Spray increased its own fleet. By 1990 Air Spray was operating fifteen B-26 Invaders, three Canadair 215s, two Cessna 340s, three Aerostars and a Cessna Citation executive jet. Staff had grown to 60 pilots, support and maintenance personnel.

In the 1980s Alberta contracted two four-engined Douglas DC-6B aircraft capable of carrying 2,400 gallons of fire retardant, which were used through the 1990s. Moving to replace piston aircraft, Hamilton selected the Lockheed Electra L-188, powered by four turboprop engines. Eight of them, accompanied by eight Gulfstream twin-engine turboprop aircraft for bird dog duty, comprise the largest such fleet in North America.

Tragedy struck in 2000 when the company's hangar at Penhold burned down, with the fatal loss of one of Air Spray's engineers. An Electra, three B-26s, a Cessna 310 and Don's cherished Cessna 120 were destroyed. The company recovered when Don built a 97,000 square foot hangar on the same site in 2001. Business continues today with a fleet of aircraft and 60 employees. During summer months, staff increases with the addition of some 40 pilots and in the winter many stay on to fly in contract charter service.

Don married his longtime sweetheart, Georgene, in 1958 and they raised two daughters, Lynn and Janis. Georgene, a nurse, passed away in 1995. Lynn serves as president of Air Spray (1967) Ltd. Don continued as CEO, at the Edmonton office. Sixty-five years after earning a pilot's license, he continued to fly his Cessna 340 until his sudden and unexpected passing on July 27, 2011 just two months after his induction.

Don Hamilton was inducted as a Member of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame on May 26, 2011 at a ceremony held in Hamilton, Ontario.

Don Hamilton had a great love of life and flying but sadly missed the opportunity to fly in the Martin "Mars" water bomber from Sproat Lake, BC that had been planned for July 2011.