Badly crippled by this crash, it didn’t stop him from enlisting in the RCAF in September 1939 as a flying instructor with the BCATP, eventually attaining the rank of Wing Commander.
After the war, he was given operational command of Operation Muskox in the Canadian Arctic. In 1957, for his “great contribution toward the Shoran Arctic Programme and the completion of the Geodetic Survey of Canada”, he was awarded the McKee Trans Canada Trophy for outstanding contribution to the advancement of Canadian Aviation.
He retired from the RCAF in 1961 after 22 years of service.
Sponsored by Judy Dundas in honour of her Uncle, Wg Cdr John Gavin Showler (1912-1989), who mapped the Arctic for the DEW Line