Lynn Garrison


Lynn Garrison is a Canadian pilot and political adviser. He was a Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot in the 403 City of Calgary Squadron, before holding jobs as a commercial pilot, film producer, director and mercenary. Garrison has also accumulated a substantial collection of classic aircraft, flying many of these as well as organising their restoration and preservation. He participated in the Nigerian Civil War as a mercenary, assisting the military of Biafra.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Garrison served in various political capacities, such as being an adviser to Haitian President Raoul Cédras and serving as Haitian Consul to the United States between 1992 and 2010. In his latter years, he has been increasingly active as an author as well as for various charitable concerns. With regard to flying, Garrison is known for his oft-repeated comment, "If it has fuel and noise, I can fly it."

Military career

At the age of 17, Garrison joined the RCAF and trained at the RCAF Officer Selection Unit and Course 5411, 4 Flying Training School. During October 1954, the Beechcraft T-34 Mentor was introduced to RCAF service in a quest to find a replacement for the Harvard. Courses 5409 and 5411, at Penhold, were chosen as the test classes for the type. It was decided that the T-34 was too easy to fly and was dropped from the RCAF in February 1955. A total of 48 students participated in this experiment, including Garrison. After completing the course at Harvard he advanced to 2 Advanced Flying School for jet aircraft training in the Canadair CT-133 Silver Star.
Garrison received his wings on 6 April 1955 making him the youngest "winged pilot" in the RCAF since World War II, a record that still stands. Garrison's wings were presented by Wing Commander Joe McCarthy DSO, DFC, CD, a Second World War veteran who was famous for attacking the Sorpe dam on the Dambuster's raid.
On 1 April 1957 Lieutenant Commander Derek Prout delivered an RCN Hawker Sea Fury WG-565 to Calgary for use as a ground instruction airframe at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. Garrison flew the aircraft making the last official Canadian military flight of the type. Prout lost his life in the crash of an F2H-3 Banshee at RCN Shearwater, Nova Scotia May 31, 1957.
In 1962, Garrison served with 115 Air Transport Unit of the United Nations Emergency Force, on the Sinai Peninsula, where he flew de Havilland Otters and Caribous. While with 115 ATU he acted as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Dr. Ralph Bunche's pilot.
On August 2, 1962, RCAF Caribou 5320 from 115 ATU, UNEF, was attacked overhead El Arish airfield, on the Sinai, by two UAR Mig-17 type aircraft. The Caribou, captained by F/L Lynn Garrison with Wing Commander Hal Knight OC, 115 ATU, as co-pilot, was on a test flight when UAR controllers ordered it to land. A refusal saw two Migs launched. Maintaining a very tight turn, over the airfield, 5320 avoided the fighters and touched down, while still turning. General P.S. Gyani, UNEF commander, initiated an official protest over this incident, one of many.
On July 4, 1964, Garrison captained the RCAF's final flight of the Avro Lancaster with Flight Lieutenant Ralph Langemann as co-pilot. Specially authorized by Minister of National Defence, Paul Hellyer, the flight was complicated by the fact that Garrison had never flown a Lancaster and had broken his ankle the previous day. It displayed at the Calgary International Air Show, an event created and coordinated by Garrison. After the flight, Garrison purchased the aircraft, KB-976, which is now included in Kermit Weeks' Fantasy of Flight collection in Florida.
During 1965, Garrison, with authorisation from Paul Hellyer and the help of RCAF 121 Search & Rescue Unit, salvaged a Vought OS2U Kingfisher from Calvert Island, British Columbia, It had crashed there on a ferry to Alaska during World War II. The aircraft was brought to Calgary, then restored by the Vought Aeronautics 25 Year Club and donated by Garrison to the North Carolina Battleship Commission. It is now displayed on the stern of the USS North Carolina.
In his classic, Fighter Command Air Combat Claims, 1939–45, John Foreman commented on the question of pilot temperament and ability. Foreman observed that Garrison had remarked, "In every squadron there were, perhaps, four or five pilots who exuded confidence. They knew that they were going out to shoot. The rest knew sub-consciously, that they would make up the numbers, mill about, and get shot at".

Post-military career

In 1960, Garrison obtained a contract to ferry 75 ex-RCAF P-51 Mustangs to new owners in New York. Milt Harradence took time off from his law practice to accompany Garrison on the trips. Flying mainly without radios, they navigated by following the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks eastward. Harradence and Garrison acquired two Mustangs as part of their compensation and registered them RCAF 9221 44-74435"CF-LOR" and RCAF 9223 44-74446 "CF-LOQ"; the first of their type registered in Canada.
During 1961, while ferrying surplus RCAF Mustangs from the old BCATP airfield at Macleod, Alberta, Garrison spotted a number of Lancaster bombers slated for the melting pot. He purchased Lancaster FM-136 and created the Lancaster Memorial Fund to see the aircraft on permanent display in Calgary. His aircraft was without engines. The government loaned him 4 for the ferry flight to Calgary. Lancaster FM-136 was mounted on a concrete pedestal. The memorial was dedicated by Air Marshall Hugh Campbell, Chief of the Air Staff on April 12, 1962. FM-136 was later removed for display in Calgary's The Hangar Flight Museum. A number of Garrison's original collection formed the original basis for the museum and are displayed alongside FM-136.
During the 1960s, Irving P. Krick & Associates operated a cloud seeding operation in the area around Calgary, Alberta, using four Harvards to disperse silver iodide into the atmosphere in an attempt to reduce hail damage. For several years, Garrison, Ralph Langeman and Stan McLeod, all ex-members of the RCAF's 403 Squadron, spent their summers flying hail suppression. The Alberta Hail Suppression Project is continuing with C$3 million a year in funding from insurance companies to reduce hail damage in southern Alberta. In 1964, Garrison established the Air Museum of Canada. Prior to the creation of the Museum, Garrison had accumulated a personal collection of 45 classic aircraft including:
  • Airspeed Oxford
  • Avro Lancaster
  • Avro Anson
  • Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck
  • Bristol Fairchild Bolingbroke
  • Canadair F-86 Sabre
  • Caudron Luciole
  • Consolidated B-24 Liberator
  • de Havilland Mosquito
  • de Havilland Vampire
  • de Havilland Tiger Moth
  • de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk
  • Fairchild PT-19
  • Fairey Battle
  • Fleet Finch
  • Fokker D.VII
  • Fokker Dr.I
  • Hawker Hurricane
  • Lockheed T-33
  • Morane-Saulnier MS.230
  • North American B-25 Mitchell
  • North American BT-9
  • North American T-6 Texan
  • North American P-51 Mustang
  • Pfalz D.III
  • Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5
  • Stampe-Vertongen SV.4
  • Supermarine Spitfire
  • Sikorsky H-5
  • Vought F4U Corsair
  • Vought OS2U Kingfisher
  • Westland Lysander
Garrison became involved in air show promotion, to fund his aircraft museum project, with his Calgary International Air Show in 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1966. In 1967 he created the Los Angeles International Air Show which ran until 1969. Garrison was also involved in the Irish International Air Shows of 1970 and 1971 and the 1968 Las Vegas International Exposition of Flight with Danny Kaye. Kaye was Honorary Chairman of the show that utilized many facets of the city's entertainment industry while presenting an air show. Garrison was the operational show chairman.
In 1963, Garrison acquired a number of Hawker Hurricanes from farmyards in Alberta and Saskatchewan for his collection. He planned to create Canada's first flying aviation museum but could not generate interest. One of these now flies as G-HURI while Hurricane 5389 is now under the stewardship of the Calgary Mosquito Aircraft Society and is under restoration in Wetaskiwin, Alberta. During December 2013, Bonham's Auction House offered one of Garrison’ Hurricanes for sale, valuing it at between $2,000,000 and $3,000,000.
In June 1964, Garrison purchased two Canadair Sabre Golden Hawks aircraft from the Government of Canada. One was sold to Russell O'Quinn's Flight Test Research in Long Beach, California. Canadair Sabre, was converted to a QF-86E drone and crashed on recovery at White Sands, New Mexico on 17 May 1978.
After 50 years in storage, on August 11, 2012, Garrison's ex-Spartan Air Services PR.35 Mosquito was transferred to the Bomber Command Museum in Nanton, Alberta, for restoration by the Calgary Mosquito Aircraft Society with half of the $1,650,000 funding provided by the City of Calgary.
Garrison relocated to Los Angeles during 1966 and incorporated the American Aerospace & Military Museum, Inc. with Walker Mahurin, Mira Slovak, Chuck Lyford and Mickey Thompson on the board. Mahurin obtained displays from the USAF, the first being a HGM-25A Titan 1 missile. Ed McMahon, a former Marine Corsair pilot, and Johnny Carson’s nightly TV sidekick, was involved with the project. As a result, Carson heard about the missile and used it in a joke, one night, commenting on “people who forgot luggage at motels, but here was a guy who forgot a Titan Missile!” The resulting uproar saw the USAF retrieve their property.
Between 1965 and 1969, Garrison was president of Craig Breedlove & Associates. Breedlove held the World Land Speed Record five times in 1965 with a top speed of over 601.1 miles per hour. During 1968, Garrison started a deal that saw Utah's Governor, Cal Rampton provide a hangar facility for the construction of a supersonic car. Bill Lear, of Learjet fame, was to provide support, along with his friend Art Linkletter. Playboy hoped to have the car painted black with a white bunny on the rudder. TRW was supplying a lunar lander rocket motor. However, the concept was shelved. The group also negotiated to use the late Donald Campbell's wheel-driven Bluebird CN7 record-breaker.
Garrison published the aviation magazine AVIAN from 1966 to 1969 with contributions from actor and pilot Richard Bach, Ernest Gann, Ray Bradbury and others. AVIAN started a tradition by including an aviation-oriented poem; the first issue featured "Planes that Land on Grass" by Ray Bradbury while the last issue, Vol, 2, No. 6 featured Garrison's Remembrance which has been used over the years by pilots’ groups such as Fighter Pilot University.