Written by Tim McCoy
Norm McCoy was born in Ontario, Canada on Manitoulin Island in 1918. Son to a ship captain on the Great Lakes, he often worked as a crew member although his main ambition was to follow his older brother’s footsteps and become a commercial pilot.
Looking for employment, Norm ended up in Lac du Bonnet Mb.in 1939 working on aircraft at Starratt Airways where he obtained his Aircraft Maintenance Engineer License. Norm was very fond of Lac du Bonnet and soon met the love of his life Dorothy Elliott, the daughter of George and Emma Elliott, who spent their summers at the Riverland cottage in Lac du Bonnet.
Norm, while working at Starratt Airways, met a second pilot known as “Shorty” Holden, who not only encouraged Norm to become a pilot, but also lent him the money to take flying lessons.
Norm was a natural when it came to flying and most of his flying career was with the Manitoba Government Air Services in Lac du Bonnet. During his career he was stationed in Norway House as well as The Pas where he was Base Superintendent. While flying out of The Pas in winter with little heat in the aircraft he flew many flights up to the frozen north for survey work and Natural Resource Research. During summer months he flew many firefighters and also water bombed forest fires.
Eventually Norm returned to Lac du Bonnet and in 1971 was appointed Director of the Manitoba Government Air Division the position he held until retirement in 1983.
Norm was fortunate enough to have flown a variety of aircraft over the years such as Otters, Turbo Beavers, Standard Beavers, Huskys, and the list goes on. Although navigational aids consisted at the time of a compass and a map Norm flew thousands of hours without incident.
MGAS Pilot Norm McCoy on the float of the aircraft he was flying during the 1950 Red River flood, dropping hay bales to cattle stranded on high ground.