Wilfred Reid “Wop” May (1896 – 1952)
	
Wop May was born in Carberry, Manitoba and the family moved to Edmonton in 1902. His little cousin could not pronounce Wilfred and called him “Woppie” so he gained his nickname. He joined the Canadian Army in 1916 and rose through the enlisted ranks to sergeant. He spent most of 1916 as a gunnery instructor and then was shipped to England where he joined the Royal Flying Corps. In April 1918, he was transferred to the newly-created Royal Air Force. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1918 and relinquished his commission with the rank of captain.((“Wop May.” //Wikipedia,// 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wop_May)) 
May returned to Edmonton were he and his brother rented a Curtiss JN-4 “Canuck” and started May Airplanes Ltd. They were considered one of the first barnstorming companies. The aircraft is hanging in the Royal Alberta Museum. May Aeroplanes was hired by the Edmonton Police to hunt for a murderer in September 1919, the first time an aircraft was used in a manhunt. George Gorman joined the company which became May-Gorman Airplanes Ltd. May and Gorman flew two Junkers from New York to Edmonton in early 1921, and then flew into the NWT, the first planes over the 60th parallel proving that aircraft could fly in sub-zero weather.((“Wop May.” //Wikipedia,// 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wop_May))

The company failed in 1924 and May left flying until 1927 when he formed the Edmonton and North Alberta Flying Club and became a flight instructor. In 1928, he delivered some medicine to a Bert Logan, a man sick with diphtheria, near Fort Vermillian. The flight became known as “the race against death” and sparked a media circus with thousands of Edmontonians meeting May’s return to the airport. After that, he started a new company, Commercial Airways, with service to northern Canada.((“Wop May.” //Wikipedia,// 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wop_May)) 
In May 1932 May was working at Canadian Airways in Edmonton, delivering the mail to Aklavik, when he was called to join the hunt for Albert Johnson, the Mad Trapper. He located Johnson’s tracks where he was following a herd of caribou. May landed just after the action that killed Johnson and wounded one of the RCMP officers. He flew the officer to a doctor and was credited with saving his life.((“Wop May.” //Wikipedia,// 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wop_May))
	
During the Second World War, Wop May was in charge of the No. 2 Air Observer School in Edmonton and they received all the calls to search for lost planes. They found one of the lost planes two miles east of Watson Lake where it made a forced landing on a bridge, killing pilot Hart of Minneapolis and co-pilot Kenneth W. Jones of Elira, Ohio. Staff Sergeant Edwin Wilvnski and Rupert Alexander were suffering from broken legs but managed to crawl two miles through waist-deep snow to Watson Lake. They survived for nineteen days on emergency rations. They were rushed to Edmonton and recovered their health. This crash inspired Wop May to train para-rescue squads to operate in the north.((Philip Godsell, //Pilots of the Purple Twilight: The Story of Canada's Early Bush Flyers.// Toronto: The Ryerson Press, 1955: 183, 185, 221-2.))
	
Wop May was awarded the British Distinguished Flying Cross, the United States Medal of Freedom, the Trans-Canada (McKee) Trophy in 1929 and appointed Officer of the British Empire in 1935. He was declared a Canadian Historic Person in 1974. In 2004, a rock in the Endurance Crater on Mars was named “wopmay.” The Wopmay river is located west of Hudson Bay, and Edmonton named the neighbourhood of Mayfield, where his landing strip was located.((“Wop May.” //Wikipedia,// 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wop_May))