George Bayliss Lothian George Bayliss Lothian George Bayliss Lothian was born November 20, 1909 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was one of the first pilots of Trans-Canada Air Lines in 1937, which later became Air Canada. He died February 13, 2000. George Lothian was the first Canadian pilot to log 100 aircraft crossings of the North Atlantic and set the trans-Atlantic crossing speed record three times. When he retired from Air Canada in 1968 he had logged over 21,000 as pilot in command of many different piston and jet transport aircraft. He reluctantly gave flight instruction in the Vickers Viscount turboprop airliner
Vickers F.B.5 trainers. The Vickers company persisted with an active experimental program during the First World War period, including a line of single-seat pusher fighters that culminated in the Vickers F.B.26 Vampire of 1917-18, but the F.B.5 remained their only significant production aircraft until the Vickers Vimy bomber, which entered service too late to affect the war. Despite its moderate effectiveness, the Vickers F.B.5 did have a lasting legacy as German pilots continued to refer to British pusher aircraft as "Vickers-types". Many victories over D.H.2 or F.E.2b pushers were reported as destruction of a "Vickers". A flying replica of the F.B.5 Gunbus