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
1948 Gatow air disaster 1948 Gatow air disaster The 1948 Gatow air disaster was a mid-air collision in the airspace above Berlin, Germany that occurred on 5 April, sparking an international incident. A British European Airways (BEA) Vickers VC.1B Viking airliner crashed near RAF Gatow air base, after it collided with a Soviet Air Force Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter aircraft. All ten passengers and four crew on board the Viking were killed, as was the Soviet pilot. The disaster resulted in a diplomatic standoff between the United Kingdom and United States on one hand, and the Soviet Union on the other, and intensified distrust leading