Canadian Planes Take Top AirVenture Honours (Corrected)

Canadian aircraft earned several top honours at EAA AirVenture, which wrapped up last weekend. The Westland Lysander owned by an Ontario group and managed by Dave Hadfield took five major awards including the Phoenix Award and Silver Wrench, Best Liaison Aircraft and Silver Wrench and Judge’s Appreciation. “Plus there was huge interest. A crowd of people surrounded it all the time,” Hadfield said.
At least four other projects received major awards at the show. A Murphy Renegade owned by Ryan Neufeld, of Morden, Manitoba, was picked as the Reserve Grand Champion with Silver Lindy in the Light Sport category. Neufeld and his father finished the 13-year build in 2020. Other winners were Stephen (Flight Chops) Thorne, of Toronto, for outstanding workmanship with his RV-14 and Erick O’Connor, of Cold Lake, with the Stan Dzik Memorial Award for Outstanding Design Contribution.
An earlier version of this story misidentified Ryan Neufeld’s plane.