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The Max Ward Story
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 29, 2025
It was 1965, and Max Ward had just made a commitment to lease a 120-passenger Boeing 727 through Greyhound. The aircraft was to be delivered in April of 1966. The way the deal was structured, Greyhound would purchase the plane directly from Boeing, then lease it to Wardair Canada Ltd. for $61,419 USD per month (about $600,000 USD today). Wardair would ultimately spend $7,370,280 on the aircraft over the ten-year term of the lease, after which they bought it outright.
The price tag was sky high, as a matter of fact it was equivalent to 15x more than Wardair ever spent on an aircraft before. Max Ward would be risking his entire company to make the deal work, a major risk to be sure. But the fact that Greyhound was willing to take the plunge with him, combined with the fact that Max had never been risk averse, was enough to cause him to work to put the deal together, and ultimately sign the lease. He’d predicted that the Canada to Hawaii vacation market was going to be a huge business opportunity in the decades to come, and now he solidly committed himself to making that prediction a reality.
The purchase of the 727 was also a huge ramp-up of Wardair’s international charter business, a gutsy move that was beginning to worry Grant McConachie, the head of Wardair’s competitor, CP Air. Soon afterward, McConachie decided to act himself by purchasing the kind of aircraft that would revamp his fleet and keep CP Air ahead of the much smaller, but rapidly expanding Wardair. He knew he was in a good position to expand, since CP was much larger than Wardair, and its pockets were much deeper. But just as McConachie was making his plans a reality, he died of a sudden heart attack. It was not only a huge morale loss for CP Air, but it would also set their position in the charter race back and would further open the door of opportunity for Wardair.
As for Wardair, the decision to purchase the 727 was not only a massive business decision, but one that would pay off, and lead to a revolution in the Canadian airline vacation market for decades to come.
And on top of all this, Wardair’s purchase of the Boeing 727 proved to be a significant milestone in the history of Canadian aviation as it was the first aircraft Boeing had ever sold in Canada!
And, rather amazingly, it wasn’t Canada’s “darling” and largest flagship airline Air Canada that made this history, nor was it even the second largest airline in the country, CP Air…no, it was none other than the fledgling, scrappy, determined and up and coming Wardair that made this important moment in history happen.
It was yet another story of Max Ward, and his relatively small, but excellently run airline “punching above their weight” in the Canadian airline business, A story of one visionary entrepreneur transforming an entire industry…forever.
This was but one of the intriguing tales in the Max Ward story. And as I read about this man’s legendary life, both as a bush pilot, and as an airline owner, I couldn’t help but see a common thread throughout. It was his philosophy that fueled his entrepreneurial spirit, and it was the fuel that propelled his Western Canadian based airline to become one of the finest in the world. He said:
“Take care of your customers. Their cargoes, and those people in the seats. They are the ones that are paying your wages, they are the ones that are covering the costs of your business.
Take care of your aircraft, and it will take care of you. Buy the best equipment available to do the job. Give the best service at the lowest possible price.”
Maxwell William Ward (1921-2020), a resident of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, lived a life of high adventure, first as a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) wartime flight trainer. Then, after the war, he became a rather plucky bush pilot in the Northwest Territories, then later, as the charming, energetic, innovative, and determined owner of what went on to be Canada’s third largest airline.
Most impressively, the Western Canadian founded airline would go on to be declared “Charter Airline of the Year” in 1985, an outstanding distinction, recognized all around the world.
I had long admired Max Ward, as I knew him to be a passionate aviator, and intriguing and visionary figure in Canadian aviation history, and a man of great optimism and belief in the people who he worked alongside at his airline. I purchased this autobiography and read it with enthusiasm and interest. It turned out that the book was so enjoyable to read, and it was filled with so many incredible stories, that I had a difficult time deciding which were my favorites, but here are a few of them that really stood out for me.
How Max Ward described “flying by landmark,” over the rural landscape of Alberta:
“If you reckon that you ought to be over the water tower at Lethbridge, and you look down and see a sign that says, ALBERTA GRAIN POOL NANTON, you know that something has gone wrong!”
Then there was Max’s flying in the “smoke of a train” distance judgement training method, his infamous “Mud Landing” at Mills Lake, the time he forced a team of players off their baseball field so he could use it as a landing strip, his tale of the Oxford-Educated Shakespeare quoting Englishman who worked as a fire-minder in the remote Village of Spud Arsenault Lake, the foot race between Queen Elizabeth II and Stuart Hodgson the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, the story of teachers being seated on kitchen chairs on an overbooked charter flight, and the “English Bride Boom” that was a big win for Wardair.
His stories of his time after he left the Northwest Territories was also spellbinding, a few a really loved included his tale of Corky, the horseracing-addicted maître d’ from The Steak Loft, his good luck in finding first-rate flight attendants that had been fired from Air Canada and CP Air because they had the audacity to become married, a mother who birthed her baby on a Wardair flight and then named her child after the airline, there was Doreen Rouse the secretary who became known for writing the best customer service letters that anyone had ever seen, the story of Max Ward’s harrowing balloon ride on the day of his daughter’s wedding, the almost unbelievable story of the $15,000 coffee makers, and many more.
Max Ward was quoted as saying, “Wardair had given me a good life, and more adventure than I could ever remember.”
Well, reading the story of his life was indeed an adventure, one I’d recommend to anyone who is intrigued by the mid-20th Century history of the early days of the North American airline industry, stories about swashbuckling business leaders of a bygone era, or the storied tales of the heroic and determined bush pilots of the Canadian North.
This one gets an enthusiastic five stars from me!
The price tag was sky high, as a matter of fact it was equivalent to 15x more than Wardair ever spent on an aircraft before. Max Ward would be risking his entire company to make the deal work, a major risk to be sure. But the fact that Greyhound was willing to take the plunge with him, combined with the fact that Max had never been risk averse, was enough to cause him to work to put the deal together, and ultimately sign the lease. He’d predicted that the Canada to Hawaii vacation market was going to be a huge business opportunity in the decades to come, and now he solidly committed himself to making that prediction a reality.
The purchase of the 727 was also a huge ramp-up of Wardair’s international charter business, a gutsy move that was beginning to worry Grant McConachie, the head of Wardair’s competitor, CP Air. Soon afterward, McConachie decided to act himself by purchasing the kind of aircraft that would revamp his fleet and keep CP Air ahead of the much smaller, but rapidly expanding Wardair. He knew he was in a good position to expand, since CP was much larger than Wardair, and its pockets were much deeper. But just as McConachie was making his plans a reality, he died of a sudden heart attack. It was not only a huge morale loss for CP Air, but it would also set their position in the charter race back and would further open the door of opportunity for Wardair.
As for Wardair, the decision to purchase the 727 was not only a massive business decision, but one that would pay off, and lead to a revolution in the Canadian airline vacation market for decades to come.
And on top of all this, Wardair’s purchase of the Boeing 727 proved to be a significant milestone in the history of Canadian aviation as it was the first aircraft Boeing had ever sold in Canada!
And, rather amazingly, it wasn’t Canada’s “darling” and largest flagship airline Air Canada that made this history, nor was it even the second largest airline in the country, CP Air…no, it was none other than the fledgling, scrappy, determined and up and coming Wardair that made this important moment in history happen.
It was yet another story of Max Ward, and his relatively small, but excellently run airline “punching above their weight” in the Canadian airline business, A story of one visionary entrepreneur transforming an entire industry…forever.
This was but one of the intriguing tales in the Max Ward story. And as I read about this man’s legendary life, both as a bush pilot, and as an airline owner, I couldn’t help but see a common thread throughout. It was his philosophy that fueled his entrepreneurial spirit, and it was the fuel that propelled his Western Canadian based airline to become one of the finest in the world. He said:
“Take care of your customers. Their cargoes, and those people in the seats. They are the ones that are paying your wages, they are the ones that are covering the costs of your business.
Take care of your aircraft, and it will take care of you. Buy the best equipment available to do the job. Give the best service at the lowest possible price.”
Maxwell William Ward (1921-2020), a resident of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, lived a life of high adventure, first as a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) wartime flight trainer. Then, after the war, he became a rather plucky bush pilot in the Northwest Territories, then later, as the charming, energetic, innovative, and determined owner of what went on to be Canada’s third largest airline.
Most impressively, the Western Canadian founded airline would go on to be declared “Charter Airline of the Year” in 1985, an outstanding distinction, recognized all around the world.
I had long admired Max Ward, as I knew him to be a passionate aviator, and intriguing and visionary figure in Canadian aviation history, and a man of great optimism and belief in the people who he worked alongside at his airline. I purchased this autobiography and read it with enthusiasm and interest. It turned out that the book was so enjoyable to read, and it was filled with so many incredible stories, that I had a difficult time deciding which were my favorites, but here are a few of them that really stood out for me.
How Max Ward described “flying by landmark,” over the rural landscape of Alberta:
“If you reckon that you ought to be over the water tower at Lethbridge, and you look down and see a sign that says, ALBERTA GRAIN POOL NANTON, you know that something has gone wrong!”
Then there was Max’s flying in the “smoke of a train” distance judgement training method, his infamous “Mud Landing” at Mills Lake, the time he forced a team of players off their baseball field so he could use it as a landing strip, his tale of the Oxford-Educated Shakespeare quoting Englishman who worked as a fire-minder in the remote Village of Spud Arsenault Lake, the foot race between Queen Elizabeth II and Stuart Hodgson the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, the story of teachers being seated on kitchen chairs on an overbooked charter flight, and the “English Bride Boom” that was a big win for Wardair.
His stories of his time after he left the Northwest Territories was also spellbinding, a few a really loved included his tale of Corky, the horseracing-addicted maître d’ from The Steak Loft, his good luck in finding first-rate flight attendants that had been fired from Air Canada and CP Air because they had the audacity to become married, a mother who birthed her baby on a Wardair flight and then named her child after the airline, there was Doreen Rouse the secretary who became known for writing the best customer service letters that anyone had ever seen, the story of Max Ward’s harrowing balloon ride on the day of his daughter’s wedding, the almost unbelievable story of the $15,000 coffee makers, and many more.
Max Ward was quoted as saying, “Wardair had given me a good life, and more adventure than I could ever remember.”
Well, reading the story of his life was indeed an adventure, one I’d recommend to anyone who is intrigued by the mid-20th Century history of the early days of the North American airline industry, stories about swashbuckling business leaders of a bygone era, or the storied tales of the heroic and determined bush pilots of the Canadian North.
This one gets an enthusiastic five stars from me!
December 20, 2022
Fascinating- particularly his early days in the far North. The details of the malice exercised by the Federal government against Wardair to protect Air Canada from competition is a great example of the crony capitalism that flourishes in Canada to this very day with cellular carriers being the latest example.
February 22, 2023
Having been employed by Wardair the book held a particular interest to me.
Fascinating both the early years and fleshing out my knowledge of the later years.
My father was a de Havilland employee and I'm very proud of both de Havilland and Wardair and their contributions.
I met Max on a number of occasions and knew George Curley quite well.
Even with all the ups and downs, my memories of Wardair, and the many wonderful people I worked with always bring fond memories.
I also met my wife at Wardair so thanks to Max, and I owe him a great debt, shaped my life in such a positive manner.
Fascinating both the early years and fleshing out my knowledge of the later years.
My father was a de Havilland employee and I'm very proud of both de Havilland and Wardair and their contributions.
I met Max on a number of occasions and knew George Curley quite well.
Even with all the ups and downs, my memories of Wardair, and the many wonderful people I worked with always bring fond memories.
I also met my wife at Wardair so thanks to Max, and I owe him a great debt, shaped my life in such a positive manner.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews