Eric W. Blackwood (December 7, 1921 – 2007) was a Canadian aviator. A noted

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's prim ...

, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, serving in both the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

and the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, Blackwood is the founder of

Eastern Provincial Airways Eastern Provincial Airways (EPA) was an airline that operated in Atlantic and eastern Canada. At its peak in the 1970s, the carrier operated jet service with Boeing 737-200 aircraft connecting many communities that, in the first quarter of the ...

. In the early days of EPA, Blackwood acted as pilot, operations manager and director. Blackwood was born in Brookfield,

Bonavista Bay Bonavista Bay (BB) is a large bay located on the northeast coast of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. It opens directly onto the Atlantic Ocean. The bay is demarcated by Cape Freels to the nort ...

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

. He was educated at

Wesleyville Wesleyville is a borough in Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,229 at the 2020 census, down from 3,341 in 2010. It is part of the Erie Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Wesleyville is located at (42.13705 ...

and went on to

Prince of Wales College Prince of Wales College (PWC) is a former university college, which was located in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. PWC merged with St. Dunstan's University in 1969 to form the University of Prince Edward Island. PWC traces its hi ...

at St. John's. He joined the air force in 1942. In 1945 he formed Newfoundland Aero Sales and Services Inc. with James McLoughlin and Ren Goobie. Newfoundland Aero Sales and Service was eventually sold to

Maritime Central Airways Maritime Central Airways was a predecessor of Eastern Provincial Airways and was founded by Prince Edward Island native Carl Burke and Josiah Anderson in 1941 out of Moncton, New Brunswick and provided standard passenger, cargo, and charter fl ...

in 1949. Then on March 10, 1949 Blackwood founded Eastern Provincial Airways with a single plane, a Twin 50

Cessna Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufactu ...

.Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, Volume One, (p 204 - 205) Blackwood died in 2007. Timeline for EPA * 1949: Eastern Provincial Airways (charters), St John's Newfoundland Eastern Provincial Airways at
AeroFiles.com
/ref> * 1961: Scheduled flights to

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

begun. * 1963: Acquired

. * 1982: Subsidiary Air Maritime. * 1983: Headquarter operations moved from Gander to Halifax. * 1984: Merged with

Canadian Pacific Air Lines Canadian Pacific Air Lines was a Canadian airline that operated from 1942 to 1987. It operated under the name CP Air from 1968 to 1986. Headquartered at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, British Columbia, Richmond, British Columbia, ...

References and notes

1921 births 2007 deaths Businesspeople from Newfoundland and Labrador People from Newfoundland (island) Royal Canadian Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force personnel of World War II {{Canada-business-bio-stub

See also

References and notes