A Canadian aviation legend hung up his headset on a high note with a cross-country flight from B.C. to New Brunswick where he donated his well-known 1947 Ryan Navion to a museum. George Miller, 86, took off with a couple of other pilots in the Navion from Langley, B.C. in early May and made his last landing at the New Brunswick Aviation Museum in Miramichi on May 9. “It is the most beautiful country you could imagine,” said Miller. “The lakes, the hills, the people we met at every airport we landed at.”
Miller was an F-86 fighter pilot and the solo pilot for the Golden Hawks in the 1962 season. He later flew CF-104 Starfighters in Germany and became the first commander of the Snowbirds in 1973. His influence is still firmly felt in the world-famous demo team, from the snappy coveralls to the innovative manoeuvres constantly being developed by the team. In 1996 he formed the Fraser Blues formation team with fellow Navion owners and they made numerous appearances at Remembrance Day ceremonies and air shows. He was inducted into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame in 2015.