Phil has been around aircraft, in one form or another, for very nearly his entire life. Indeed, if it’s possible for aviation to ‘run in a family’, then a grandfather who served as an observer with a Royal Air Force reconnaissance squadron during the Great War, an uncle and cousin who were pilots plus a father and another uncle who were reserve officers in the Royal Canadian Air Force/Canadian Forces made an interest in the subject unsurprising.
Born in northwest Metropolitan Toronto, Phil grew up in nearby Mississauga and was introduced to aviation through air shows, visits to RCAF Station Downsview (Toronto) to view transient aircraft and air reserve operations and much time spent at Mississauga’s major airport variously known as Malton Airport, Toronto International Airport and, now, Lester B. Pearson International Airport.
Later on he obtained a Private Pilot Licence through an air cadet flying scholarship program and a college diploma in Aircraft Maintenance Technology.
Though an introduction to photography came with a general-purpose ‘Instamatic’ camera, serious 35mm aviation photography began in 1975. An eventual desire to expand to printed images and words led to the co-authoring of two books – Modern Military Aircraft and Their Markings: No. 1 Canadian Armed Forces and Military Aircraft Illustrated No. 1: Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve – with his photographer/publisher brother and the publication of photos in several other military aviation and aircraft books.
After two decades in the logistics industry, the last many years as a warehouse supervisor and health and safety specialist, Phil became a victim of economic globalization/downsizing/outsourcing and found plenty of time to start Aviation eBooks. The original photographic/research effort supported the development of a digital tome covering aviation in Ontario but it was overtaken by work on Biplanes to B-2s: USAF Heritage on Display which was released in early 2011.
When not working on several planned e-publications, Phil enjoys drumming in pipe bands. Rudimental drumming has also been a lifelong interest and he has played in bugle bands, drum and bugle corps, military bands and pipe bands. He has particularly enjoyed the challenges of teaching drummers of a variety of skill levels and writing percussion scores for the drum corps of several pipe bands. Phil is currently the Lead Drummer and drum instructor with the Pipes and Drums of the Toronto Scottish Regiment, an Army Reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Forces.
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