Fun book launches should always begin with an author pilot flying in on a Cessna

The latest book I've published has led to numerous "firsts" during my 24 years as an author, editor, and independent Canadian book publisher. Here is a snapshot of what happened during an exciting two weeks launching Flying a Gooney Bird in Canada's North: A Bush Pilot's Adventures with the book's subject and author, Dorrin Wallace.

This is the first time I've co-authored an entire book, although I've written five nonfiction books as the sole author and contributed pieces to more than a dozen other Canadian books. So that's been fun!

Dorrin's anecdotes about his 40 years as a bush pilot taught me a lot about what it takes to safely fly airplanes through inclement weather, landing on windy or frozen lakes or small airfields while avoiding trees, rocks, and the occasional animal that crosses the runway while the plane is landing! I've published four other books about aviation adventures (Flight: Stories of Canadian Aviation, Volumes 1 to 3, plus Crash Harrison: Tales of a Bomber Pilot Who Defied Death), but this detailed look at being a pilot and aircraft maintenance engineer has given me a first-person look at being a solo pilot. 

Evan Bray with Dorrin Wallace and Deana J Driver
Oct. 1, 2025

Dorrin and I were invited to talk about our book launch on the Evan Bray Show on CJME/ CKOM radio. I've been interviewed several times on the John Gormley Show, the predecessor to this talk show, but this was my first time as a guest on Evan Bray's show. What fun! Listen to the October 1st audio clip.

To get from his home in Saskatoon to the radio studio in Regina for the interview, Dorrin asked his friend Murray Louden to fly him south to Regina in Murray's Cessna 180. That's the second time an author of mine has come to Regina on an aircraft to promote their book. In November 2023, Romie Christie flew to Regina from Calgary, Alberta, to launch her inspiring book about her parents' war story/love story, See You in Le Touquet: A Memoir of War and Destiny. But this was the first time a small aircraft was "chartered" for a radio show interview promoting one of the books I've published! So cool. 

I picked up Dorrin at the Regina airport, and away we went to the CJME studio. After the radio show, we returned to the Regina Flying Club, where we signed boxes of books to send to retailers. That was a first-time experience at that location! Thanks to Murray for arranging the space with the accommodating staff of the Flying Club. 

Dorrin Wallace with Deana J Driver
at the Regina Flying Club

As Dorrin and Murray prepared to go back to Saskatoon, I asked if I could walk out to the airplane with them, which I did. I took their photos in front of Murray's Cessna, to be used specifically in this blog post. Another first!

Murray Louden with his Cessna and author Dorrin Wallace

Dorrin Wallace with the Cessna C-FPXT

As we walked to the Cessna, Dorrin told me a great story about Murray's Cessna, which Dorrin flew as a bush pilot in northern Saskatchewan!

"When Murray told me he bought C-FPXT, I said, 'I know that plane. The last time I flew it, it was loaded with 1,000 pounds of moose meat." On that trip in 1974, Dorrin was flying from Uranium City to Prince Albert with the aircraft overloaded.

Dorrin smiled as he told me, 'Some guys on the dock wanted to make me a bet that I couldn't get airborne, because of the weight of the moose meat and the full tanks of gas. I told them to save their money, I would get airborne, and I did." But it wasn't an easy task, explained Dorrin. "I climbed for 150 miles to get up to altitude. I should have been at altitude at 10 miles. I was about 700 pounds overloaded for that airplane." Oh, my.

Dorrin Wallace, about to board Murray's plane

Flying a Gooney Bird in Canada's North - A Bush Pilot's Adventures
by Dorrin Wallace with Deana J Driver
published by DriverWorks Ink, DRIVERWORKS.CA

A few days after the radio interview, my beau, Marlowe, became my chauffeur and assistant for the book launch at the Saskatchewan Aviation Museum in Saskatoon, about 270 km northwest of Regina. This was the first time that I had Marlowe's presence and support at a book launch! I am grateful that he took photos and videos of the event so I could focus on the proceedings. I am also grateful to the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild for author reading assistance for this event and to Creative Saskatchewan for book publishing production assistance of Flying a Gooney Bird in Canada's North!

The Saskatchewan Aviation Museum and Learning Centre, Saskatoon, SK

Surprisingly, this was the first time someone took photos (or perhaps the first time someone showed me photos) of me as I was deep in conversation with the author before an event! Thanks, Marlowe, for that reminder of some of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into launching a book.

Dorrin Wallace with Deana J Driver

Dorrin Wallace with Deana J Driver

Dorrin Wallace with Deana J Driver
at the launch of their book
Flying a Gooney Bird in Canada's North: A Bush Pilot's Adventures

Thank you to everyone who came to our
Saskatchewan Aviation Museum book launch of
Flying a Gooney Bird in Canada's North!

Author Dorrin Wallace with book cover photographer Roberta Wells
and co-author/publisher Deana J Driver of DriverWorks Ink

It was nice to meet Roberta Wells, the woman who took the photo of Dorrin and the DC-3 (also known as a Gooney Bird) that we used on the cover of our book, but this was the first time I've been in a photo as a photographer pretended to kiss the book's author just for a laugh! So silly.

Book cover photographer Roberta Wells pretends to get fresh with author Dorrin Wallace
while co-author/publisher Deana J Driver of DriverWorks Ink just sits back and smiles

To end this terrific day, Marlowe added more firsts by suggesting that he could take a video (1) of Dorrin and me chatting in front of the DC-3 (2) that is a prized exhibit at the Saskatchewan Aviation Museum. Enjoy the video!

 

Crash Harrison Bomber Pilot Book Coming Soon

My newest book is almost here! Crash Harrison: Tales of a Bomber Pilot Who Defied Death will be released at the end of July, and I am SO EXCITED!

It's been 12 years since I wrote a full-size book.

Since my last full-size book (Never Leave Your Wingman: Dionne and Graham Warner's Story of Hope) was launched in June 2011, I have written and published The Sailor and the Christmas Trees (which is an inspiring 48-page Christmas story) and pieces in seven other books about farming and aviation. Writing and putting together this 176-page Crash Harrison book, however, has been its own unique and interesting journey.

The story is about Reginald "Crash" Harrison, a 100-year-old gentleman in Saskatoon who was a bomber pilot during the Second World War. He's had many fascinating adventures, including surviving several crashes and close calls, and has made some lifelong connections because of his time as a Second World War bomber pilot.

The printed proof of Crash Harrison arrived last week, and I am still a little overwhelmed by the reality of it all. The book is being printed! It will be here in late July!

Meeting Reg in May of 2019 when I interviewed him for the first volume of the Flight: Stories of Canadian Aviation series was an experience I’ll never forget. I’d talked to him by phone to find out some details of his story, but sitting across from him and watching as he thumbed through his Pilot’s Flying Log Book from the 1940s to fill in details of his missions was really special. I’d also never interviewed someone of that advanced age (he was 96 at the time).

Reg is a gentle, kind man. He doesn’t consider himself to be a hero. That alone makes him more worthy of the honour than most. For the first Flight book, I wrote about Reg’s wartime adventures and a little about his life after the war. Over the last couple of years, as I was contemplating which book I would write next and who it would be about, I couldn’t get Reg and his life story out of my mind. I knew I had to write his story and share it with a wider audience.

We spent many hours talking in person and on the phone, adding more details to my first interviews about his wartime and after-the-war activities. We also talked in depth about his growing-up years on the Prairies and what it was like to walk three miles to school, herd cattle in the dust storms of the Dirty Thirties in Saskatchewan, and do homework by the dim light of a coal oil lamp. He told me about the first airplane ride he ever took – as a teenager – and how he paid for that flight with weasel skins, how his parents kept their family fed during the Great Depression, and how he was never scared while doing his job as a bomber pilot.

Reg became one of the few Canadians in the famed “Guinea Pig Club” after receiving reconstructive skin graft surgery during the war. And he was named an “Honorary Snowbird” by the renowned Canadian Forces’ Snowbirds aerobatics display team, which flies under the same squadron number as Reg served during the war.

I wrote the book in Reg’s voice, as thought he is telling his own story.

The book is educational, with captivating tales of Reg’s adventures and his life. I am certain that Crash Harrison: Tales of a Bomber Pilot Who Defied Death will be enjoyed by readers from teens to seniors and I’m looking forward to launching it this summer and sharing it with all of you in the days and months ahead.

DriverWorks Ink is grateful to Creative Saskatchewan for Book Publishing Production grant support of this title.

99 Year Old Bomber Pilot an Honorary CF Snowbird

I visited 99-year-old Reg "Crash" Harrison in Saskatoon recently to learn more about his fascinating life story, including the four crashes he survived as a bomber pilot during the Second World War. I wrote about those events in Volume 1 of Flight: Stories of Canadian Aviation by Deana J. Driver and Contributors.

But Reg's story deserves to be shared wider and with various audiences around the world.

So this time, Reg and I talked about some other stories that we can share for a new kids' book I am writing about him.

In this video, Reg talks about his first Moose Jaw air show and his special connection to the CF Snowbirds aerobatics team.

Third Flight book shares more Canadian aviation adventures

William Cameron entered Grade 9 at Scott Collegiate in Regina in 1942 and soon became a member of the Air Cadets squadron as required by the school curriculum. Bill’s stories for the third volume of the Flight: Stories of Canadian Aviation book series include his reminisces of patrolling several city blocks with the Regina District Civil Defence Corps, as a teenager, in case air raid sirens were activated and they needed to warn residents to turn off their lights.

Bill Cameron and friends with Lancaster bomber, Regina airport, 1945
Photo courtesy of William Cameron

Bill’s stories are three of the 33 stories in this third volume of the series, written by 15 Canadian writers including me. I wrote six stories about: Moose Jaw-based Laura Lawrence, the only commercially operating female aerial application pilot in Canada in 2017; Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote, who hadn’t flown over much water before she flew her aircraft from their farm in Leask down to Mexico and then Chile; Lisa McGivery, who had some annoying passenger experiences in her work as a flight attendant and now works as an aircraft maintenance engineer in Ontario; and Gerd Wengler, who transports rehabilitated owls and other creatures to safety and new homes in Manitoba and Ontario.

Flight: Stories of Canadian Aviation, Vol. 3 by Deana J. Driver and Contributors

Ken Wilson wrote about touring the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa with his father Ron just prior to the museum’s opening. Ron, a long-time pilot in northern Saskatchewan, noticed that the Beaver aircraft on display did not have a specific piece of equipment that would have been standard gear when transporting supplies for anyone staying in the bush. Ken made that suggestion to the museum curator, resulting in a change to the national museum’s Beaver display.

Retired journalist Will Chabun contributed three stories to this third volume of Flight, including details of annual vacations that Regina resident Jean Thomas took to France for 20 years as a member of the Royal Air Force Escaping Society. Co-founded by her late husband Hugh, the Society maintains contact and offers aid to those who rescued and sheltered RAF pilots like Hugh, whose plane was shot down during the war. The fiddle playing of Regina Symphony Orchestra’s Howard Leyton-Brown is also chronicled by Will Chabun.

Hugh and Jean Thomas, 1945
Story by Will Chabun, photo courtesy of Jean Thomas

The stories in the Flight series are not about the aircraft or flight terminology as much as they are about the people who had these adventures and incidents. My interest in these stories is in why they did what they did and what we can learn from those activities and experiences. I’ve already received submissions for Volume 4 of the series. Stay tuned.

Volumes 1, 2, and 3 of Flight: Stories of Canadian Aviation by Deana J. Driver and Contributors are available from www.driverworks.ca, Saskatchewan Aviation Museum gift shop, McNally Robinson Booksellers, Chapters, Indigo, Coles, Handmade Saskatchewan gift shops, SaskBooks, Amazon, and other select stores.

Second book in the Flight series is taking off!

Alright, that's a corny title for a blog post about the newest book in this series of short stories about aviation, but what can I say? This Flight book series is such a fun project with lots of interesting anecdotes about some great people – and readers are loving it!

Let me introduce you to a few of the folks you’ll read about in Volume 2 of Flight...

Anglican Bishop of Saskatoon Rt. Rev. Rodney Andrews worked in both ministry and aviation for most of his career across Canada. His list of flying experiences includes working as a part-time instructor with the Lethbridge Flying Club while ministering with the Blood First Nations in southern Alberta, then working with Time Air and Air Canada. He then moved to Quebec for a few years, combining parish work with hospital chaplaincy east of Montreal. From 1988 to 1991, he was in Ottawa working as a part-time chaplain with HMCS Carleton Navy reserve while on a staff with three other clergy at a church in Nepean and working as a full-time Transport Canada inspector. Rod’s had many unique experiences worthy of reporting in a book such as this, including fun connections through his friends in Flying Farmers of Alberta.

Northern Saskatchewan pilot Doug Chisholm sent me this photo of himself (above right) with his pilot friend Harold Fast in February, while I was putting together the stories for Volume 2. It turns out that Doug and Harold both brought the same book with them to read on their January 2020 trip to Mexico – Volume 1 of Flight: Stories of Canadian Aviation, by Deana J. Driver (that's me) and Contributors. How great is that? Doug told me that he and Harold left Saskatoon on a Wednesday and arrived in Loreto, Mexico on a Sunday in Harold’s Cessna 182RG, “a great cross-country aircraft. Quite a spectacular flight in many ways; we saw lots of interesting terrain. I certainly enjoyed your book, which I received from Will Chabun (a retired journalist who has also contributed to the Flight series) when I spoke at the Regina Chapter of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society,” Doug wrote. Doug has owned his Cessna 180 floatplane for 40 years and has recorded aerial photographs of 4,000 lakes and other geographic features that the province of Saskatchewan has named in memory of servicemen who lost their lives during the Second World War. On behalf of families, Doug has placed bronze memorial plaques on the shores of 300 Saskatchewan lakes honouring the servicemen for whom those sites were named, and he has spent thousands of hours uncovering more information and recording it for archival purposes. The story of Doug's memorial efforts is a must-read in Volume 2.

Speaking of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society, I met Gary M. Williams, who is the president of the Regina branch and also the Society's national president, when I spoke to the Regina group in December 2019. In Volume 2 of Flight, you'll read about how Gary travelled to Sweden in 2014 to meet the Swedish woman who saved his bomber-pilot father after his plane crashed in 1942 during the Second World War. I’m sure you’ll enjoy “Shot Down in Sweden” and “The Girl Who Saved My Father”.

Another one of the 14 stories I wrote for Volume 2 of Flight: Stories of Canadian Aviation is about civilian pilot Gerd Wengler, who made a record-breaking flight from Canada’s southernmost point of Pelee Island, Ontario to its northernmost point at CFS Alert. “The year 2009 was the 100th anniversary of powered flight in Canada – Alexander Graham Bell flew the Silver Dart in Nova Scotia in February 1909,” said Gerd. “The Royal Canadian Air Force had all kinds of programs and special things happening in 2009 to celebrate 100 years of powered flight in Canada, so I found this general in Ottawa and I told him my idea as part of the Air Force celebration to fly across Canada from Pelee Island in Lake Erie to Alert. That interested him and I got permission two years later. The DND told us they had never given anyone a permit. That’s why I believe nobody else had done it. The only condition was that I was not allowed to tell anyone until after the flight.”

And then there are stories about Manitoba bush pilot Keith Olson, who dealt with falling aircraft parts, and aircraft mechanic Don Currie, who told of struggling to get French President Mitterrand’s Concorde off the ground in Regina in 1987. You’ll also read about Regina-born pilot Ralph Tweten, who had dozens of adventures while flying in northern Saskatchewan, southern Alberta, the Arctic, and Iran.

Then there are 23 more stories written by 12 other Canadian writers: Will Chabun, a retired newspaperman and aviation historian mentioned above (who wrote stories about newspaperman Foster Barnsley, aviation inspector Howard Ingram, and Air Canada passenger agents Brian Zawacki and Dave Scott); Peter Foster, an aviation enthusiast; Paul W. Greening, an aviation insurance investigator; Alvin Irlbeck, a retired farmer and pilot; Don Macpherson, a flying instructor and retired teacher; Malcolm McLeod, a balloon pilot and former journalist; Harry Meeds, a Saskatchewan pioneer of flight; Vincent Murphy-Dodds, a writer and humorist; Ron Sather, a former pilot; Ron Stansfield, an aviation enthusiast and retired Canadian diplomat; Walter D. Williams, an unofficial air ambulance pilot; and Bill Wunsch, a private pilot.

Volume 2 of Flight: Stories of Canadian Aviation shares loads of fascinating true stories of early flight schools, northern rescues, animal obstacles, hijackings, errant passengers, landings on unique landscapes, humorous military surprises, and more.

The two volumes of the Flight series are available from www.driverworks.ca, Saskatchewan Aviation Museum gift shop in Saskatoon SK, McNally Robinson Booksellers in Saskatoon SK, Penny University Bookstore in Regina SK, Audrey’s Books in Edmonton AB, Canadian Aviator Magazine, Chapters, Indigo, Coles, SaskBooks, Amazon, and as e-books.

Send Us Your "Prairie Pilots' Stories"

In 2008, we released the book Prairie Pilot: Lady Luck Was On My Side – The Stories of Walter D. Williams, which contains 100 entertaining, inspiring, short stories written by the late Walter Williams of Kerrobert, Saskatchewan. Walter was an International Harvester dealer and a welder in the late 1940s and 1950s when he began using his two-seater Aeronca Chief airplane as a flying taxi service and unofficial air ambulance for many residents in his area.

This photo shows Walter Williams of Kerrobert, Saskatchewan, flying his beloved CF-EVO Aeronca Chief in the 1950s. The photo was taken from CF-DRY Piper Cub, owned by Norm Easton of Eston, Sask. 

Walter Williams flew pregnant women, doctors, RCMP officers, criminals, teachers, books, corpses, and friends to hospitals and other destinations – often in horrible weather or at night when he wasn’t supposed to be flying. Walter’s stories tell of him flying into storms and fog, landing in farmers’ fields, hunting coyotes from the air, and saving people’s lives by being the only available mode of transportation at the time. He had little regard for the rules of Transport Canada and often ignored common sense, thanking Lady Luck many times for helping him through risky situations.

Walter's CF-EVO struck a fence near Altario, SK on a failed takeoff in Fall 1948.

A snowplow clearing a road near Kerrobert, SK in the 1950s.

The late Walter Williams with his son David, standing by Walter's plane, about 1950.

Walter and Romona Williams, about 1975.

The Prairie Pilot book has been popular and went into a second printing in 2012. Men especially love this book - I tease them that they live vicariously through Walter’s crazier adventures - but it is a great read for men and women and anyone over age 12. Walter was definitely an unsung hero for that region of west-central Saskatchewan and east-central Alberta in the 1950s. He saved many lives and his short stories are proof of his heroism.

Since that book was published, for the last seven years, my husband/publishing partner Al Driver and I have enjoyed listening to the stories of other Prairie pilots. They have inevitably come back to us after reading Walter’s book to tell us about some of their own precarious flights and marvellous flying adventures. So we have decided to compile some of these stories into a new book that we hope to release in 2016.

Thus, if you are a Prairie pilot, or a Canadian pilot, or you know someone who is and has a story or two to tell, DriverWorks Ink invites you to share those short stories (or poems) for this non-fiction book tentatively titled Stories of Prairie Pilots.

We know that there are some incredible stories of flying danger, heroism, helping, joy, adventure, silliness, and more out there. We want to record and share these stories with our readers.

Please write your story or invite someone you know to share their story with us. Stories should be from 500 words to 1,500 words. Photos may be submitted upon acceptance of your story. Please provide details including your name, address, phone number, and email address, as well as the names, dates, location and other details of the people and places in your story.

It would be best to ask the permission of the people you are naming in your story before you send us the story, but it is most important that the story be true and not libellous. You can get around using real names by using phrases such as "a man I'll call Jim" or "a man I know." I'll help you with that process once we accept your story for publication in our book.

Please send your submissions before January 31, 2016, by email to: ddriver@sasktel.net or by mail to: DriverWorks Ink, 110 McCarthy Blvd. N., Regina, SK S4R 6A4.

Please phone DriverWorks Ink at 306-545-5293 if you have a story to share but you do not wish to write it yourself. I will be happy to do the writing and help you share your story in that way.

Please note that all submissions will be accepted but not all submissions will be published. Those whose stories are published will receive two complimentary copies of the book and will be able to purchase more copies at a 40% discount.

We may decide to make a donation from the book proceeds to a worthwhile charity, but we have not yet discussed that concept for this project.

Thank you in advance. We look forward to receiving your stories.

Happy Flying and Happy Writing!