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aviation history bush flying Canadian aviation Canadian aviation history Fort Vermilion mercy flight mercy flight Vic Horner Wop May

The Hangar Nov 13, 2026

Wop May, the Mercy Flight to Fort Vermilion, and the Open Cockpit at Forty Below That Proved Aviation Could Survive the Canadian Winter

Wop May and Vic Horner flew diphtheria antitoxin 400 miles through -40° cold to Fort Vermilion in January 1929, proving winter aviation was possible.

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The Hangar Aug 7, 2026

Wop May, Vic Horner, and the Nineteen Twenty-Nine Open-Cockpit Mercy Flight That Carried Diphtheria Serum Six Hundred Miles Into the Alberta Cold

In January 1929, pilots Wop May and Vic Horner flew diphtheria serum 600 miles into Arctic Alberta in an open-cockpit biplane.

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