Hi, and welcome to my website.

My name is John, and I was born in Bermuda in 1956.

In 1958 we moved to Curaçao, then to Aruba in 1960, and back to Curaçao in 1961 until 1968.

In early 1968 we moved to Canada, and I grew up in Toronto ( Etobicoke) & Sudbury, both in Ontario.

When I left school, I got a job as an aircraft mechanic for a small commuter airline in northern Ontario called norOntair (see pictures) which flew Twin Otters, initially operating out of Sudbury and then Timmins... and no, I never met Shania.

During my above time as an aircraft mechanic, although the Twin Otter was my main responsibility as an aircraft mechanic, the following are also aircraft that we had, and that I was an aircraft mechanic on:

● Beechcraft	Beech 18
● Cessna	Cessna 310
	Cessna 337 Skymaster
	Cessna 402
● Consolidated	PBY-5A Canso (Catalina)
● De Havilland Canada	DHC-2 Beaver
	DHC-3 Otter
	DHC-6 Twin Otter
● Douglas	DC-3 Dakota

In 1975 I joined the Canadian Armed Forces (also referred to as the Canadian Forces, but what is now the Royal Canadian Air Force), and the following are places where I was stationed at:

1975

Various training bases in Canada

1975-1979

Canadian Forces Base CFB Shearwater, Nova Scotia, Canada

CP-121 Tracker
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CT-133 Silver Star (T-bird)
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CH-135 Twin Huey
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CH-124 Sea King
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1979-1983

Canadian Forces Base CFB Baden-Söllingen, West Germany with NATO

CF-104D Starfighter
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1983-1984

Canadian Forces Base CFB Portage-la-Prairie, Manitoba, Canada

CT-134 Musketeer
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CH-136 Kiowa
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CT-114 Tutor
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1984-1984

Canadian Forces Base CFB Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada

CP-121 Tracker
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1984-1985

Canadian Forces Base CFB Greenwood, Nova Scotia, Canada

CP-140 Aurora
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1985-1989

Canadian Forces Base CFB Comox, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

CP-140 Aurora
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CP-121 Tracker
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CT-133 Silver Star (T-bird)
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1989-1990

Canadian Forces Base CFB Greenwood, Nova Scotia, Canada

CP-140 Aurora
			◄ ...more

Canadian Armed Forces bases undergoing training:

Canadian Forces Base CFB Borden, Ontario, Canada (still operational, as of 2025)
Canadian Forces Base CFB Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada (still operational, as of 2025)
Canadian Forces Base CFB Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, Canada (decommissioned and closed 1995)
Canadian Forces Base CFB Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (still operational, as of 2025)
Canadian Forces Base CFB Kingston, Ontario, Canada (still operational, as of 2025)
Canadian Forces Base CFS Penhold, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada (decommissioned and closed 1994)
Canadian Forces Base CFB Toronto (Downsview), Ontario, Canada (decommissioned and closed 1996)
Canadian Forces Base CFB Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (still operational, as of 2025)

Deployments in Canada:

Canadian Forces Base CFS Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada (NORPATs) (decommissioned and closed 1986)
Canadian Forces Base CFB St. Hubert, Québec, Canada (decommissioned and closed mid-1990s)
Canadian Forces Base CFS St. John's (Torbay), Newfoundland, Canada (FISHPATs) (still operational, as of 2025)
Canadian Forces Base CFB Yellowknife, Northwest Territories Canada (NORPATs) (still operational, as of 2025)
Cambridge Bay, Victoria Island, Northwest Territories (now Nunavut), Canada (NORPATs) (still operational, as of 2025)
Frobisher Bay (now Iqaluit), Baffin Island, Northwest Territories (now Nunavut), Canada (NORPATs) (still operational, as of 2025)
Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada (FISHPATs) (still operational, as of 2025)
Sandspit, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada (FISHPATs) (still operational, as of 2025)
1976 Summer Olympics, Montréal, Québec, Canada (June - August 1976: Medical driver)

Deployments in the USA:

Lockheed Burbank (Skunk Works), Hollywood Burbank Airport, California, USA
US Air Force Base Ellsworth AFB, Rapid City, South Dakota, USA (still operational, as of 2025)
US Air Force Base Seymour Johnson AFB, Goldsboro, North Carolina, USA (still operational, as of 2025)
US Coast Guard Air Station USCGAS Sitka, Alaska, USA (still operational, as of 2025)
US Naval Air Station NAS Adak, Aleutian Islands, Alaska, USA (decommissioned and closed 1997)
US Naval Air Station NAS Barbers Point, Oahu, Hawaii, USA (decommissioned and closed 1999)
US Naval Air Station NAS Moffett Field, San Francisco, California, USA (decommissioned and closed 1994)
US Naval Air Station NAS North Island, San Diego, California, USA (still operational, as of 2025)
US Naval Air Station NAS Willow Grove, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (decommissioned and closed 2011)

Deployments worldwide:

US Naval Air Station NAS Bermuda (formerly Kindley Air Force Base) (decommissioned and closed 1995)
US Naval Air Station NAS Lajes (Portuguese Air Base Lajes), Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal (still operational, as of 2025)

Attachments in Europe (while stationed for 4 years in West Germany with NATO):

1982 Canadian Starfighters Air Demonstration Team

Deployments and Air Shows flown in Europe (while stationed for 4 years in West Germany with NATO):

Belgian Air Force Base Kleine Brogel AFB, Belgium (still operational, as of 2025)
Canadian Forces Base CFB Baden-Söllingen, West Germany (decommissioned and closed 1994)
Canadian Forces Base CFB Lahr, West Germany (decommissioned and closed 1994)
French Air Force Base Dijon-Longvic AFB, France (decommissioned and closed 2016)
Royal Air Force Base RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, England (still operational, as of 2025)
Toulouse–Blagnac Airport (Airbus), France (still operational, as of 2025)
US Air Force Base RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk, England (still operational, as of 2025)
US Air Force Base Bitburg AFB, West Germany (decommissioned and closed 1994)
US Air Force Base Ramstein AFB, West Germany (still operational, as of 2025)
US Air Force Base Rhein-Main AFB, Frankfurt Airport, West Germany (still operational, as of 2025)
US Air Force Base Sembach AFB, West Germany (decommissioned and closed 2012)
US Air Force Base Spangdahlem AFB, West Germany (still operational, as of 2025)
US Air Force Base Wiesbaden AFB, West Germany (decommissioned and closed 1992)
US Air Force Base Zweibrücken AFB, West Germany (decommissioned and closed 1991)
West German Luftwaffe (Air Force) Base Jever AFB, West Germany (decommissioned and closed 2013)
West German Luftwaffe (Air Force) Base Nörvenich AFB, West Germany (still operational, as of 2025)

In 1990 I retired from the Canadian Armed Forces & moved back to Bermuda, to start a second career in IT... as there's not much call for hunting Soviet submarines on civvy street.

I was in Bermuda for more than 31 years, working in IT for various companies, including 13 years with IBM Bermuda (a division of IBM Canada) servicing (repairing) ATM cash machines.

Although in the 1990s I had a part-time job flying a local Bell JetRanger helicopter, taking people on helicopter tours around Bermuda. But the helicopter was sold in 1998 due to no business, and I spent the remaining decades in Bermuda flying a desk

.

I retired in August 2021, having reached age 65, and as it was too expensive to retire in Bermuda (according to some sources, Bermuda is the most-expensive place in the world to live), I relocated back to Canada, and am living now in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.

That's me in the left pic at the top in the 1990s... Captain John - Bermuda Helicopters Ltd. (in civilian flight-suit, NOT military flight-suit), and me today.

That's about it for me...

Canadian Decoration medal		NATO Special Service medal