‘Stocky’ Edwards was the last surviving Canadian fighter ‘ace’ of the Second World War and the third most successful Canadian fighter pilot. He was credited with destroying at least nineteen aircraft in the air and nine on the ground. Initially, he served in the Middle East flying the P-40 Kittyhawk, an aircraft with an inferior performance to its main adversary, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, yet all Edwards victims were fighters. He was awarded the DFC and the DFM. After a rest tour, he returned to operations in Italy flying the Spitfire and shot down three more enemy fighters during the operations over the Anzio beachhead. After returning to England, he commanded a Spitfire XIV Wing and made three more claims before the end of the war. He was awarded a Bar to his DFC. At war’s end, he was just 24 years old.

He remained in the RCAF and commanded the first Sabre jet fighter squadron, a Sabre Wing in France and served in air defence appointments in North America. He died aged 100.

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