Eric Blackwood (born December 7, 1921) is a Canadian aviator. A noted

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...

, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, serving in both the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

and the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, Blackwood is the founder of

Eastern Provincial Airways Eastern Provincial Airways, also known as EPA, was an airline that operated in Atlantic and eastern Canada. At its peak, the carrier operated jet service with Boeing 737-200 aircraft connecting many communities that today only have scheduled pa ...

. In the early days of EPA, Blackwood acted as pilot, operations manager and director. Blackwood was born in Brookfield,

Bonavista Bay Bonavista Bay (BB) is a large bay located on the northeast coast of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. It opens directly onto the Atlantic Ocean. The bay is demarcated by Cape Freels to the nor ...

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. He was educated at

Wesleyville Wesleyville is a borough in Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,229 at the 2020 census, down from 3,341 in 2010. It is part of the Erie Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Wesleyville is located at (42.137056, ...

and went on to

Prince of Wales College Prince of Wales College (PWC) is a former university college, which was located in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. PWC merged with St. Dunstan's University in 1969 to form the University of Prince Edward Island. PWC traces its hist ...

at St. John's. He joined the air force in 1942. In 1945 he formed Newfoundland Aero Sales and Services Inc. with James McLoughlin and Ren Goobie. Newfoundland Aero Sales and Service was eventually sold to

Maritime Central Airways Maritime Central Airways was a predecessor of Eastern Provincial Airways and was founded by Prince Edward Island native Carl Burke and Josiah Anderson in 1941 out of Moncton, New Brunswick and provided standard passenger, cargo, and charter ...

in 1949. Then on March 10, 1949 Blackwood founded Eastern Provincial Airways with a single plane, a Twin 50

Cessna Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufacturing c ...

.Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, Volume One, (p 204 - 205) Timeline for EPA * 1949: Eastern Provincial Airways (charters), St John's Newfoundland Eastern Provincial Airways at
AeroFiles.com
/ref> * 1961: Scheduled flights to

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

begun. * 1963: Acquired

. * 1982: Subsidiary Air Maritime. * 1983: Headquarter operations moved from Gander to Halifax. * 1984: Merged with

Canadian Pacific Air Lines Canadian Pacific Air Lines was a Canadian airline that operated from 1942 to 1987. It operated under the name CP Air from 1968 to 1986. Headquartered at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, British Columbia, it served domestic Canadian a ...

References and notes

Businesspeople from Newfoundland and Labrador People from Newfoundland (island) 1921 births Living people Royal Canadian Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force personnel of World War II {{Canada-business-bio-stub

See also

References and notes