Francis Edward Haley: A short Biography

Francis Edward Haley of Port Coquitlam, B.C. passed away peacefully at the Royal Columbian Hospital, New Westminster, October 20, 2015 at age 94. His last few days were spent surrounded by family and friends. Francis Haley leaves behind an legacy of a life well lived.

Francis Edward Haley was born on the 29th of April 1921 in Calgary Alberta, the son of Francis Edward Haley and Christy Forest Haley. He was the eldest of 3 brothers that included Jack and Richard. He attended St Theresa’s College in Medicine Hat wherein he adopted the Roman Catholic faith. In 1938, he joined Lord Strathcona’s Horse as trooper P3493 1st troop B squadron. Barely out of his teens, he traded the scarlet uniform of the mounted trooper for airforce-blue. He joined the RCAF in October 1940.

The War Years 1941-1945
On March 30th 1941, he records his first entry in his flying log. The aircraft was a biplane, Tiger Moth. He trained under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) at Edmonton, Calgary, Rockcliffe , Winnipeg and in the No 5 B&G School at Dafoe. Finally, in 1942 , obtaining the rank of Flight Sergeant, he is posted to England on November 17. He takes up his post at RAF Shawbury, No 11 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit and begins training on the Oxford , the Blenhiem and the Beaufighter. In June 23, 1943 he is transferred to the Canadian RCAF night fighting unit, the 409 squadron, known as the Nighthawks.
On April 11, 1944 he is certified on the famous Mosquito fighter. The Mosquito is his aircraft for the remainder of the war. He is also promoted to the rank of a Pilot officer (P/O). The action heats up as the 409 squadron prepares for D-Day. As the young P/O Frank Haley gazes down on the D-DAY invasion fleet he remarks in his log, “patrol 7000’, invasion convoy, no enemy interference-occasional flack”. By June 14 he is in the thick of it, engaging enemy aircraft, “could not catch at 320-360 mph, fired with gun sight V/S at 350 yds--no luck. “Attempted to gain contact on enemy night fighter by tight turns but was unsuccessful.. engaged by searchlights and flack....good view of the beach”.
“Contact obtained 2 miles, the enemy gave violent evasive action, window visual at 1500’, short bursts 250 yds, turning starboard, 2nd burst enemy went into steep dive, 3rd burst, contact lost”.
On October 3rd, he destroys his second enemy aircraft but the debris from the exploding plane shuts down both engines on his Mosquito. He bales out in the dead of night. Frank reports:
“Chased a gently weaving target, visual 1000 yds, fired 2 shorts bursts less than 100 yds behind starboard engine . Starboard engine of enemy aircraft exploded with blinding flash covering windscreen with oil, oil leaked into cockpit. [Mosquito]Starboard engine overheated ..port engine seized up ... baled out with some difficulty, ..landed OK.” (After Frank bails out he is picked up by the Belgian Resistance, hidden for a week, till the British send a jeep to take him to Brussels)

On December 18, on his last sortie of his tour destroys his third enemy aircraft
“fired 2 short bursts (40yds) strikes on port engine and cockpit roof, flames shot out of port engine and enemy aircraft flicked to port going straight down , exploded ....short of fuel , returned.”
He was promoted to Flying Officer (F/O) in October 1944. His tour ended on December 1944 and he returned to England for more training and aircraft testing.

According to RCAF records, the 409 squadron was the first night fighter squadron to cross over to Normandy following the Allied landings and operate from the Continent, and the first to be stationed in Belgium and Germany. For the period June 1944 to May 1945, it was the top-scoring RAF/RCAF night fighter unit, with 581/2 aircraft and 12 V-l flying bombs destroyed. The squadron was disbanded at Twente, in The Netherlands, on 1 July 1945.

Peacetime
F/O Frank Haley returns to Canada and begins training at Yorkton Saskatchewan on September 1945 and communication training at Winnipeg. In May of 1946, he is posted to the 124 Ferry Squadron at Rockcliffe, Ottawa. In the peacetime environment, thoughts soon turned to developing a home and family. Frank married Alice Lillian Thompson on June 21, 1946. They produced their first child, Francis Edward Haley on .June 16, 1947 followed by Christopher John Forest Haley on July 8, 1948 and finally Glenn Michael Thompson Haley on April 8, 1950. The peace was short lived as the Korean conflict broke out.

Korean War 1950-1951
He served with Transport squadron 426 at McChord AFB Tacoma, Washington starting on November 2 1950. His aircraft is the Canadian designed North Star. His route took him from Tacoma to Shemya- Alaska, then to Misawa- Japan and from Misawa to Haneda-Tokyo and then to Wake island. Wake Island was a key mid-Pacific refueling stop for its mission of transporting men and supplies to the Korean front. He was promoted to Flight Lieutenant (F/L) in 1950. The North Star missions end July 1951.
Beginning in September 1951, F/L Frank is posted to the Jet Conversion program involving the T-33 or T-Bird and the F-94, Starfire. It was time to move the RCAF into the “jet Age” and Frank was leading the way.

Peace Again 1951-1954
With hostilities over in Korea it was time to return attention back to family life. F/L Frank and family were posted to RCAF Station North Bay, Ontario in February 1952. Their 4th son, Warren Richard Patrick Haley was born on March 21, 1953 and the first daughter Joy Anne-Marie Haley was born on August 16, 1954. The T-33 is his main ride during this period. The CF-100 all weather interceptor makes its appearance on October 1953 and F/L Frank begins evaluating this new all Canadian designed fighter including numerous “scrambles” to test this new CF-100.

Cold War 1954-1958
Events in the world including the threats of an atomic war brought about the NATO alliance. To counter the threat of invasion, the 409 squadron was reborn as the All Weather Fighter Squadron. The Nighthawks were back. F/L Frank is promoted to Squadron Leader (S/L) and chosen to head the newly formed squadron as the commanding officer with the base located at Comox B.C. Frank and family took their new post on November 4th 1954. The 409 was equipped with the new CF-100 Interceptor, the cutting edge of aircraft development at that time. During this period his 5th son, Don Martin Haley was born on August 6th 1956. Man and machine form a close bond as he flew the CF-100 extensively throughout the years 1954 through 1957. His last entry in his log for the 409 was recorded on April 24 1957 with CF-100 no 150.
In May 1957, S/L Frank Haley is transferred to Bagotville , Quebec where he is the chief operations officer. Many changes were in store for the RCAF including the development and demise of the Avro Arrow and the move to missile defense rather than interceptor aircraft. This meant the end of the Interceptor program and finds S/L Frank Haley back on the T-33 trainer and the C-45 expeditor. (Also, during this time Frank was called out to investigate a UFO sighting). His 6th son, Sean is born on February 21, 1959 followed by a second daughter, Christy-Gay on March 12 1960.

Post Fighter Command
With the demise of the fighter jet as the main line of defence, S/L F.E. Haley and family move to Toronto where he spends a year at Staff College, 1960- 61. Following this retooling exercise at the staff college, he is posted to Trenton Ontario at Air Transport command. At Trenton a new Canadian designed transport plane is introduced as the Caribou. The RCAF is converting from fighter to transport. His first ride in this aircraft is logged on May 8 1964. It wasn’t long before conflict broke out again, this time in the form of the India Pakistan war.

UN Peace Keeping Mission 1965
S/L Haley puts together a team to travel to the conflict as observers for the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) on a 1 year posting. His team consists of one DHC-4 Caribou no 5324, three officers, and crew from No 102 Composite Squadron in Trenton. Log entries from January 1965 indicate he is active in India. Log records also indicate that Caribou 5324 was active until June 12 1965. According to RCAF records they came under fire and the Caribou was severely damaged in a strafing attack by a Pakistani Air Force Sabre with no casualties. By September he is back at Trenton with the 102 KU. The Caribou continue to be his main aircraft but is also flying the DC-3, and the Tudor. He finally retires from the RCAF with is last log recorded on October 11, 1967.

Ice Pilot 1969-1982
S/L F. E. Haley now relocates to BC with family and begins to be employed as civilian pilot. Tragedy strikes when he eldest son Francis dies in 1968. He flies a DC3 briefly for Great Northern Airways in 1969 and from 1971 to 1974 he is employed by North Coast Air, Staron College of Aviation, Trans Mountain and Harrison Airways. With North Coast Air Services he logged 400 flying hours. Beginning in 1974 he is flying DC-3s in the Arctic for LambAir and continues until March 1976. He immediately takes up with in March 1976 he is flying for the new company Ken Borek Air where he soon becomes the Chief Pilot. The entry in the flight log dated August 4th 1976 notes a medical evacuation mission that involved flying from Resolute Bay Eureka to evacuate an injured patient and return to Resolute Bay. The 3 man crew of the DC-3 QHF included son, Glenn. Cpt. Frank Haley is also flying the Twin Otter more frequently throughout 1976. This advert describes the operations Frank was involved in from Flight International World Airline Directory, May 1981 and also April 1982:

Kenn Borek Air began operations in1975 after taking over Kenting Aviation.
Scheduled, charter, survey and aeromedical flights are operated to various
points in Canada's Northwest Territories from Inuvik, Cambridge Bay and Resolute
Bay. Routes to Western Canada are operated from Calgary, Alberta, and
Dawson Creek, BG. They also offer a leasing service out of the Calgary base.
Head Office: Hangar 4, Calgary International Airport, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2E 7G5.
Employees: 50. Executives: general manager S. R.
Penikett; chief pilot, Capt F. Haley. Fleet: three DC-3, 11 Twin Otter, two
Beech 99, one Aztec, two Cessna 152, One Cessna 172 and one Cessna 185.

Retirement
S/L Frank Haley retires from flying at the age 67 and settles down to enjoy his family including grandchildren. Finally, he was able to spend quality time with his wife with no more missions, adventures and wars to draw him away. However, he got involved in swimming and ended up in Dawson Creek competing in the ‘Senior Citizen’s Olympics'. They travelled abroad and enjoyed sailing and were finally able to spend many years really enjoying life. Tragedy again strikes when his son, Sean passes away in 1996. His beloved wife Alice passes away in 2008 and Frank struggles along but cannot fully recover from this loss. He finds solace in his remaining years deep in his faith, joining a train club, The Knights of Columbus, volunteering with the Multiple Sclerosis Society and taking comfort in his extended family that never failed to take up maximum space in life. Birthdays, Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners continued to fill his house with warmth and joy throughout the years.

Epilogue
Frank’s life reads like a slice out of various Hollywood movies: World War 2’s ‘The Longest Day’ to the Cold War’s ‘Dr. Strangelove’ to TV’s present day ‘Ice Pilots’ with a little bit of the ‘Brady Bunch’ thrown in between. Because Frank lived to be 94 a lot has to be written-59 words will not do. Dad was good to us and we never wanted for anything. He was a real gentleman, always there with a helping hand to help guide us through life with a strong moral compass and a healthy respect for everyone. A rare individual. Frank was an inspiration to us all. We will all miss you dad- 94 years: “What a long strange trip it has been”; “You travelled each and every highway”

October 24, 2015