User:Ticielli/Roméo Vachon

Joseph Pierre Roméo Vachon (June 29, 1898, in Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce – December 17, 1954, Ottawa) was a Quebec pioneer in aviation. He was a member of the bush pilots' family, The Flying Vachons.

Biography
Born on June 29, 1898, in Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce, Roméo Vachon grew up on a farm in Beauce, in a family of ten children. He moved to Quebec City and became a driver for a merchant in the capital.

During World War I, he served with the Royal Navy as an engineer. Following the explosion of Mont Blanc in the port of Halifax on December 6, 1917, Vachon traveled to the port city of Nova Scotia with his elder brother, Irénée, to find work. His brother Irénée, who would later become a bush pilot as well, returned home, but Roméo stayed in Halifax and volunteered for the Canadian Navy, where he learned the basics of mechanics. He was demobilized in February 1919, at the end of the war.

In 1920, he decided to join the newly established Royal Canadian Air Force. He took an aeronautical mechanic course at Camp Borden and received a mechanic certificate, No. 93, on January 21, 1921, requesting that his certificate be written in French.

From 1921 to 1925, Vachon worked for Laurentide Air Service in Lac-à-la-Tortue, in Mauricie. During this time, he undertook numerous forest fire detection missions. He was involved in several incidents but emerged unscathed.

In 1928 Canadian Trans-continental Airways organized an air service to transport mail under government contract along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. Vachon was hired as pilot because of his familiarity with that area. He went to New York to ferry a new ski-equipped Fairchild monoplane back to Murray Bay, Quebec, and on the return trip, parachuted a sack of mail onto the Quebec City airport. It was the first-time mail had been delivered in that fashion in Canada.