Raymond Alan Munro

Raymond Alan Munro, C.M., was born in Montreal, Quebec, on July 14, 1921, and was educated in Canada and the United States. He commenced flying at Toronto, Ontario, in 1937 and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1940. He was posted to No. 145 Squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF) under Squadron Leader P.S. Turner, and became a Spitfire pilot. He survived three major crashes and was returned to Canada and medically discharged in March of 1942. He then became adjutant of the RCAF's Repatriation Depot at Ottawa, Ontario.

Munro was hired as a cub reporter by the Toronto Daily Star in 1942, and thus began a 17-year career in journalism. He learned court reporting, story-writing, and the art of news photography, and soon became a senior reporter, available wherever news was breaking. He spent a few months as a pilot and crime reporter for the Globe and Mail, then moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, and began working for the Vancouver Sun as a pilot, photographer, and investigative reporter.

He left the Sun and was offered a job at the Vancouver Province in 1948 after his aerial photo reports of the Fraser River flood were published. He received a provincial government commendation for his air delivery of strategic supplies, and the rescue of marooned persons. He had piloted an aircraft from dawn to dusk for 14 consecutive days, often in unfavourable weather.

In 1949, after a week-long patrol of the weather-shrouded Rocky Mountains, Munro located two fliers who had crashed in a spring snow storm. Then, despite deteriorating weather, he led an RCAF aircraft back to the isolated location from which they were eventually rescued by military parachutists. The following year, during a severe storm, he flew a shipment of vitally-needed blood and plasma to an isolated coastal community. For this mission, which resulted in the saving of human life, he was awarded a Canadian Red Cross Society commendation for heroism, matching another he had received earlier for the winter rescue of a drowning victim.

While with the Province, Munro exposed the corruption within the Vancouver Police Department, then left to try charter flying into the northern areas of British Columbia, Yukon and Alaska. In 1956 he moved back to Ontario and worked as a reporter for the Chatham News, soon becoming Editor-in-Chief. In 1957 he took a leave to cover the Arab-Israeli war, and reported on activities there.

In 1958 he ended his newspaper career to follow flying adventures and take up parachuting. In 1962 he taught parachuting to the U.S. military. He made hundreds of descents, becoming one of Canada's most avid parachutists.

Selected as Canada's Expo '67 Polar Ambassador, he and geophysicist Ivan Christopher flew a specially designed single-engine aircraft, a Cessna 180, on a 26-day goodwill flight over Canada's far north. They travelled over 8,500 miles (13,680 km) in mid-winter through the high Arctic to honour Canada's pioneer bush pilots and prospectors who helped open the north.

In early 1969 he arranged to make his final parachute jump, his 528th, onto the Polar ice cap. He contracted with W. 'Weldy' Phipps to fly him over the North Pole area for the jump, which he made from 10,000 feet (3,048 m), onto a small ice floe, where Phipps landed to take him back to his Arctic base at Resolute Bay.

Munro's interests turned to ballooning in 1969. He ordered three balloons from the Raven Balloon Works and began to research aerostatics, the science related to piloting a balloon. On November 24, 1969, he lifted 'Canada 1' to an altitude of 17,943.86 feet (5,469.29 m) from Russell, Ontario. On December 17, 1969, he reached a height of 25,407 feet (7,743.69 m), which gave Canada an official world altitude record, recognized by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI). In 1971, using 'Canada 2,' he became the first person to pilot a balloon across the Irish Sea from southern Ireland to northern England.

Munro was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada (C.M.) in December of 1974. In 1978 he worked for several months as Chief Administrator of the Halton Regional Police Force, in Halton, Ontario. He wrote a book about his life's experiences, titled The Sky's No Limit, published in 1985.

He was honoured by governments, societies and groups with honorary citizenships, citations, and achievement medals, in addition to his many photo-journalism awards. Munro died on May 29, 1994 at Toronto, Ontario.

Ray Munro was one of the founding members of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame. When the idea of an Aviation Hall of Fame presented itself, Munro enlisted the support necessary to open it in a year, and he served the critical first four years as Managing Director. Later in life Ray Munro legally added Zebulon Leigh as additional middle names in honour of Lewie Leigh.

Raymond Alan Munro was inducted as a Member of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 1974 at a ceremony held at Edmonton, Alberta.