Wilfred Leigh Brintnell

Wilfred Leigh Brintnell

Wilfred Leigh Brintnell, pilot, businessman (b at Belleville, Ont 27 Aug 1895; d at Edmonton 22 Jan 1971). Following service as a pilot instructor in WWI, Brintnell worked for the Ontario Provincial Air Service (1924-27) and Western Canada Airways (1927-31) before establishing his own company at Edmonton in 1931. From 1932 to 1940 Mackenzie Air Service successfully provided both regular and unscheduled transport into the NWT; but in 1940 it was sold to Canadian Pacific to be absorbed into CP Airlines.

Brintnell shifted his attention to another company, Aircraft Repair, which during WWII overhauled or repaired 856 aircraft and 2672 engines for the RCAF and USAF. In 1945 Aircraft Repair became Northwest Industries Ltd. From 1945 to 1949 that company built 13 Bellanca Senior Skyrocket aircraft under licence in Edmonton before abandoning the unprofitable manufacturing experiment to specialize in overhaul and repair operations.