COME and Gone –

THAT’S A WW II vintage de Havilland Mosquito perched on the top of this memorial. Remember that…it’ll be important later!

SO MANY aircraft companies have come and gone…

de Havilland
Avro
Handley-Page
Hawker
Supermarine
Vickers
Fleet
English Electric
Bristol
Hunting
Gloster
Auster
Blackburn
Douglas
Consolidated
McDonnell
Hispano Aviación
Curtis
Stinson
Hughes
And who could forget the Wright Company, of course!!

And the men who made these forgotten planes, have also come…and gone.

BUT SOME have been remembered.

Right here on this very memorial.

For their heroism and their ultimate sacrifice.

IN DEFENCE OF THE EMPIRE…

…some of Canada’s, de Havilland employees, gave their lives between 1939 – 1945. They are forever enshrined here, in front of the main office of BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE (Toronto), the eventual successor to the de Havilland Company of Canada.

No other remnant of the de Havilland era remains today, save this memorial, and the lone, insignia-less, de Havilland sign, which is also found above the main office.

But if you look real close, you’ll see something else, unexpected, unknown…

ONE OF THE de Havillands, themselves, gave his own life alongside that of his employees.

It wasn’t enough just to produce fighter planes for the war effort.

Even more was demanded apparently…

And no family was spared…

And no special preference was accorded him on this memorial plaque either.

And so these men, de Havilland employees, who produced the MOSQUITO FIGHTER PLANE, both in Canada and in the UK…were called additionally, to make that ultimate sacrifice of their lives…to protect the freedoms that we enjoy, and value so much in Canada today.