Andy Carswell

Andrew Gordon Carswell was a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Avro Lancaster pilot who was shot down near Berlin on his fourth mission in 1943. After returning to Canada after the war, he rejoined the RCAF in 1948 as a search and rescue pilot flying Consolidated Canso flying boats off the coast of British Columbia. During this time he was involved in two famous rescues, including one in 1956 that won him the Air Force Cross which was presented personally by Elizabeth II. He later joined the Ministry of Transport and prepared a 1977 report on the shockingly poor quality of service and training of bush plane pilots operating in northern Ontario. The report led to the reformation of the Ministry's inspection bureaus and, ultimately, the formation of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.