Ray Wise was employed at a Vancouver shipyard until December 1942, when he decided to join the RCAF.  Ray completed his Aero Engineering School training in March 1943 and found himself posted to No. 10 Repair Depot at Calgary, Alberta. During the next thirty months Ray repaired hundreds of aircraft damaged in flying training accidents around southern Alberta. On 5 September 1945, Ray and three other mechanics found they had been posted on temporary duty to ex-No. 2 F.I.S., airfield at Pearce, Alberta. The Flying Instructor’s base had closed on 1 January 1945 and had been totally vacant since 20 January 45.  The N.C.O. in charge was Cpl. Edge, with LAC Cook, Wyers, and Wise assigned to take care of a large number of Lancaster aircraft. The RCAF had rented a house in Fort Macleod where the four would live for the next six months, traveling back and forth to Pearce each day. Pearce officially re-opened on 7 September 1945, and the next afternoon 83 Lancaster Mk X bombers arrived and landed at the old base.

Ray Wise was 92 years of age when I interviewed him but he still spoke with excitement about the spectacular arrival and low flying air-show they witnesses at Pearce on that one single fall afternoon. Out in the middle of nowhere the ferry crew pilots showed their low level flying skills, terrifying nearby farm animals and the local Alberta farmers. Ray Wise also helped to record and save Canadian history when he took along his camera. His collection shows Anson ferry pilot aircraft, the rows of Lancaster bombers and most of all the Canadian Nose Art, painted on our most famous Lancaster aircraft. Just eighteen months after the photos were taken some of these aircraft were unceremoniously scrapped without any due thought by Canadian authorities.

 

Once the Lancaster bombers had arrived they were parked in long rows and each morning the four mechanics were ordered to start each of the four merlin engines on all the 83 aircraft. Over the next six months ferry crews arrived at Pearce and the Lancaster aircraft were flown to various long-term storage areas in southern Alberta. The mechanics were also ordered to prepare as many bombers as the Pearce hangars could hold for long-term storage.