Norman Brisbin

Divisions Served: “K,” “F,” “G,” “B,” “E,” “D,” “HQ,” “Depot,” Rockliffe

Medals & Honours: Long Service Medal, Queen Elizabeth 25-year Anniversary Medal

Pillar Location: This Nameplate has not yet been mounted onto the Pillars, but is on display in the Centre in the interim.

Story: 

Norm Brisbin was born on his parents’ farm in the Love District of Saskatchewan. After finishing high school, he joined the RCMP in Saskatoon, SK on August 25, 1950. He was 18 years old.

After graduating from Depot, he was posted to Alberta, performing General Duties in Edmonton and Banff. He then served on Highway Patrol in Calgary from March to May 1953 and was then posted to High River from May 1953 to January 1955.  While in High River, Norm started taking flying lessons. He needed a Commercial License in order to qualify for RCMP Air Division, so in 1955, he transferred back to Calgary to complete the necessary qualifications for his license. In April 1955, he received his Commercial License and applied for Air Division.

In November 1956, Norm got married and four months later, was accepted into Air Division. In April 1957, he was transferred to Ottawa where he was trained on Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) operations as well as on how to run his own detachment. In November 1957, Norm was promoted to Corporal. In January 1958, he was transferred to Edmonton AB for training on the Beechcraft. 

In February 1958, Norm went on the RCAF Survival Course. This was a six-week course to ensure that air crew had the necessary skills to survive if the plane ever went down. The participants spent the first week in class and then went to a remote area for Bush Survival for two weeks. They lived in a tent at first, and then in a lean-to made of spruce boughs. At first they lived on rations, but then all food was taken away and they had to live off the land for a week. Participants were then sent on Arctic Survival north of Cambridge Bay for two weeks. Each had to build his own igloo and live in it for two weeks. The Inuit showed them how to build an igloo, which took them about 15 minutes and took him the rest of the day. Having survived the Survival Course, Norm was sent to Vancouver to learn to fly the Beaver on floats and to Victoria to fly the twin-engine Grumman Goose seaplane. He got his twin engine rating while he was there. Then it was up to Fort Smith for Arctic flight training on floats with the C-64 Norseman and then to Vancouver as relief pilot for a member on holidays.

In October 1958, Norm was transferred to Regina – his own Air Detachment. The Beaver was primarily used for the RCMP Lab in Regina. At the time, Regina handled all laboratory services west of the Ontario border. The Beaver could and did land at any small town, usually in the nearest farmer’s field. The breathalyzer had not yet been invented, so for any serious crime involving intoxication, blood was taken at the local hospital. Norm picked up the blood sample and took it to the Regina Lab. Then, a week or so later, he took the Lab Technician out to the town to give evidence in court. His stay in Regina turned out to be short. In July 1959, he was transferred to Aklavik. The only problem was that Aklavik was sinking into the mud and the new town of Inuvik (Place of Man in the local language) was being built. Since there was no housing or hangar at Inuvik, he was based in Fort Smith for about 18 months. While in Fort Smith, Norm and the engineer, Glynn Owen, spent long periods away flying until the aircraft had to come home to Fort Smith for maintenance. In the fall, they were particularly busy delivering food and supplies to detachments before freeze-up.

On December 31,1960, Norm and his family, and Glynn Owen and his family, arrived in Inuvik. It was -40 F. In 1961, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker officially opened the town of Inuvik. The training in detachment management came in handy as the new detachment had no supplies, no tools, no nuts and bolts, no grease, etc. Norm and Glynn ordered everything the detachment needed while they were still in Fort Smith. When the supplies arrived in Hay River, they flew them to Inuvik. They built a shop and office in the new hangar. The Inuvik Air Detachment was officially the most northern Air Detachment in Canada. The Inuvik Air Detachment covered everything from Wrigley north to as far as Canada went into the Arctic Islands. To the east and west, it covered from Alaska to Spence Bay – roughly about Vancouver to Winnipeg. Work up north varied: flying mercy flights, transporting members for work, checking camps, transferring members in and out of the north, doing search and rescue, taking supplies to detachments and hauling freight.

In those days, there were no police radios in the Arctic; every message came through a ham radio operator. One night in February, a message came from Arctic Red River that a trapper had been shot and needed a doctor. It was snowing and dark. Norm and Glynn got the doctor and another officer to go with them. There was no airport at Arctic Red River, so Norm asked that someone set out some cans of gas on each side of the river where the ice was clear, and light them when they heard the plane coming. It turned out that the trapper hadn’t been shot intentionally. He was out trapping and his gun had accidentally gone off and severed most of his leg. Once the doctor had given the trapper pain medication, Norm flew everyone back to Inuvik.

In September 1962, Norm was transferred to St. John’s, Newfoundland. Flying was tough because of winds and fog and other coastal weather hazards. A lot of the flying was done in Labrador and involved such things as search and rescue. Norm acquired his Airline Transport License while in Newfoundland and was promoted to Staff Sergeant on May 1, 1964. In June 1965, Norm was transferred out of Newfoundland to The Pas, MB. The family went by ferry from Port Aux Basques to Sydney, NS and then drove the Trans-Canada Highway to Manitoba.

In July, Norm went to Ottawa to pick up the Otter for The Pas. Back in The Pas, he had no office and no engineer until Glenn Brown arrived about a week later. In October, they built an office inside the wartime USAF hangar where they stored the aircraft. The Pas was a busy detachment that covered everything north of Dauphin to the NWT border.

In May 1967, Norm was transferred to Victoria, where he flew the Grumman Goose. There were many trips from Victoria to Vancouver. He flew Canadian Navy Divers all over British Columbia where the lakes and ocean were too deep for less-experienced civilian divers.  In September 1969, Norm was Commissioned to Sub-Inspector and posted to Edmonton Air Detachment, where he had three men, a Captain plus two copilots for training. They did a daily scheduled run with the new De Havilland Twin Otter. The plane left Edmonton at 8:00 a.m. and went to Ponoka, Red Deer, Calgary, Drumheller, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat before returning to Edmonton around 7:00 p.m. In October 1971 Norm was promoted to Inspector.

In September 1973, Norm was transferred to Ottawa as Air Services Training Officer for Canada, and wore a second hat of Air Services Officer East, which oversaw all Air Detachments east of Winnipeg. He also wrote the Air Services Operations Manual, which was approved for publication by the Commissioner. In July 1976, Norm was promoted to Superintendent and, in March 1977, to Chief Superintendent. Later that summer, Norm became Director of Air Services. He served in that capacity until his retirement in August 1985, 35 years after he joined the RCMP.

Norm said he had a wonderful life and wouldn’t have missed it for the world.