Snowbirds inspire people: Air Force vet
In the air, situations can develop in seconds but be felt for a lifetime.
Reg “Crash” Harrison, veteran Royal Canadian Air Force pilot, earned his moniker after surviving four air crashes while serving in the Second World War with the Royal Air Force’s 41 Squadron in Great Britain. Harrison is well aware of the risks pilots take each time they take to the air.
Now 98, Harrison was outside watching as the Snowbirds flew over his Saskatoon residence last week. He made a point of heading to the airport to speak with them as they refuelled. When he learned of Sunday’s crash, he felt the loss keenly.
Harrison has been going to see the Snowbirds fly for years, and has had an opportunity to get to know and speak with various incarnations of the team.
On Thursday, he waited by an airport fence and recalls a Snowbirds pilot coming over to speak with him and others. He described to the pilot his experience flying bomber planes overseas during the war.
“I said to him, ‘You know, when I was flying the Halifax and Lancaster (bombers), I got to the point where I thought, well, I’m a pretty good pilot until I saw these fellows perform, and then I realized, no, I didn’t know very much about flying,’ ” he recalled.
He said Capt. Jennifer Casey (who was killed in Sunday’s crash) also came over to talk to them for a few minutes.
“She was a very likable person,” he said. “She was there probably five or 10 minutes, speaking to us along with the pilot.”
The Snowbirds’ recent cross-country tour was dubbed Operation Inspiration, and was intended to give the country hope during dark days.
“That’s why it’s so sad, the way this has happened ...,” Harrison said. “Everybody did this to uplift people’s spirits and now people are really sad.”
Having survived crashes and lost teammates, Harrison understands the loss the Snowbirds will have to struggle with. So troubled was he by the death of one of his wartime teammates, Harrison stayed in touch with the young man’s mother until she died.
“It’s a very close-knit (community),” he said of flying squadrons or teams. “It will really impact on them.”
As to his thoughts on why the Snowbirds continue to hold people’s hearts and imaginations, Harrison said simply, “I think they inspire people.”
“People never seem to get tired of watching them perform,” he said. “I don’t know what the word is, but it sort of inspires you. You feel proud of them.”