Jim and Jackie Murray prepare to take off on their honeymoon in a Fleet Canuck. - SUBMITTED PHOTO J. MURRAY
After the Second World War, aviation had a bright future and what had been Squadron 34 at the Medicine Hat airport reverted to civilian use. The airport tarmac was crowded with war surplus RCAF Lancasters and Harvards that had no immediate use. A new era was about to take flight.
A local boy, Jim Murray, son of Tom and Heather (Hargrave) Murray, had enlisted in the army but was medically discharged. He then went to work in an aircraft factory in Thunder Bay, building Hurricanes. Taking private lessons, he learned to fly, getting his licence at four hours! In 1942, Jim joined the RCAF and as a natural pilot, he was directed into pilot training in Eastern Canada.
After the war, Jim and his bride Jackie, arrived in the Hat to manage airport operations at YXH after a honeymoon spent crossing the country in a Fleet Canuck airplane. Initially staying with family on Riverside, after six months they moved into the second storey of the former Squadron 34 Observation Tower. Overwhelmed by the tower’s 18 windows, Jackie soon determined that washing them was an unnecessary chore as nobody could see into them anyway.
In the early post-war days, the salvage of parts from the Lancasters was a sad end to this valiant plane’s war contribution. An American crew cut the Rolls Royce Merlin engines off and sent the fuselages and wings for scrap. However, some parts continued to serve useful purposes for the Murrays: plexiglass top gunner’s turret for a greenhouse, copper tubing for plumbing and a Lancaster compass in the car to help navigate country roads.
There were 63 Harvards parked at the airport. The Nationalist Chinese government purchased them and Jim had the contract to make them airworthy, including a flight test. A group of American pilots flew them to San Diego to be shipped to Taiwan.
The Murrays became agents for the sale of Fleet Canucks. They had No. 1 in the series and it ended up in the Reynolds Museum in Wetaskiwin. Sales often involved training the purchaser and even boarding him while he took lessons. Although Jackie took a few lessons too, her heart wasn’t in it and she preferred to be grounded. Many local ranchers took up flying as a way to check on their herds.
As an expert pilot, Jim Murray carried out a variety of airborne tasks. In 1947, he flew the second highest number of hours of any pilot in Canada. He often flew local obstetrician Dr. Matt Davis out to ranches to deal with difficult pregnancies. Many of these flights involved landing in fields, on skis in winter. On one such frigid occasion, flying an unheated two-seat Tiger Moth, Dr. Davis, mother and baby rode in the front cockpit.
By 1949, the Lancasters were gone, the Harvards refurbished, snowplows had opened up the rural roads and there were fewer students. With leaner times in the offing, the Murrays took the opportunity to acquire a farm near Brooks and a chapter ended at YXH.
Malcolm Sissons is a former member of the City of Medicine Hat Heritage Resources Committee. Information for this article was provided by Jackie Murray.
