I realize that this page is of absolutely no interest to anybody; it's just a result of what happens when I get bored... I often find useless things to do, like this page.

Hi, and welcome to my website.

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

In 1958, we moved to a little island in the Southern Caribbean called Curaçao, then next-door to the island of Aruba in 1960, and back to Curaçao in 1961 until 1968.

In early 1968, we moved to Canada, and I grew up first in Toronto ( Etobicoke) and then 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 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:

Me, as one of two Bermuda Helicopters pilots in the mid-1990s

● 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	◄ ...click to see my dedicated norOntair page...
● Douglas	DC-3 Dakota

I joined the Canadian Armed Forces (also referred to as the Canadian Forces, but what is now the Royal Canadian Air Force) in 1975 at the age of 18 (51 years ago), and the following are places where I was stationed:

1975

51 years ago
(age 18-19)

Various training bases in Canada

1975-1979

50 years ago
(age 19-22)

Canadian Forces Base CFB Shearwater, Nova Scotia, Canada

The base was decommissioned and closed in 1994

CP-121 Tracker

CT-133 Silver Star (T-bird)

CH-135 Twin Huey

CH-124 Sea King

1979-1983

46 years ago
(age 22-26)

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

The base was decommissioned and closed in 1993

CF-104D Starfighter

1983-1984

42 years ago
(age 26-27)

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

The base was decommissioned and closed in 1992

CT-134 Musketeer

CH-136 Kiowa

CT-114 Tutor

1984-1984

41 years ago
(age 27-28)

Canadian Forces Base CFB Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada

The base was decommissioned and closed in 1991

CP-121 Tracker

1984-1985

41 years ago
(age 28-28)

Canadian Forces Base CFB Greenwood, Nova Scotia, Canada

The base is still operational as of 2025

CP-140 Aurora

1985-1989

40 years ago
(age 28-32)

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

The base is still operational as of 2025

CP-140 Aurora

CP-121 Tracker

CT-133 Silver Star (T-bird)

1989-1990

36 years ago
(age 32-33)

Canadian Forces Base CFB Greenwood, Nova Scotia, Canada

The base is still operational as of 2025

CP-140 Aurora

Click to see galleries of various aircraft from my Canadian Armed Forces era 🢂

1975-1990

My Era

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 1993)
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)

I retired from the Canadian Armed Forces in 1990 (wow... 35 years ago) and 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 now living in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.

That's me in the 2 pictures near the top-right on this page: in the left picture, that's me, Captain John, flying for Bermuda Helicopters Ltd. (I'm in my civilian flight-suit, NOT my military flight-suit); and in the other picture, that's me more-recently.

And that's about it for me...

Canadian Decoration medal		NATO Special Service medal