|  Frank
“Bitsy” Grant, son of the late Wallace
and Mabel Grant, became interested in aviation while
still a student at Brockville collegiate Institute
and while at Queens University he began taking flying
lessons at Kingston Airport.
In January 1940, Grant enlisted in the Royal Canadian
Air Force as a Commissioned officer. He took his training
at Hamilton, Camp Borden and Trenton where he became
a flight instructor before moving on to Alymer, Ontario
as an examining officer.
Grant’s principal focus was to get overseas
and in March 1942 he by-passed a promotion to achieve
that goal. On May 6th, flying a twin engined Hudson
bomber to England, he swooped under the Thousand Islands
Bridge at Ivy Lea. He estimated that he had more than
300 students already flying in England. His wing commander
said, “Grant came over with the reputation of
being the best Harvard pilot in Canada, and he is
certainly one of the best Spitfire pilots in the R.C.A.F..”
He commenced active duty on September 10, 1942 and
during the next year served with Squadrons 401, 416,
and 403. His log book and other official records indicate
that after only a few months on active duty, Grant
had flown about 100 operational flights and had received
his promotion to Squadron Leader. By late summer of
1943, S/L Grant was posted to 403 Squadron - the log
shows 3 missions on September 3, one mission and a
test flight on Sept, 4 and the final mission that
day, a bombing run to Roubaix ends with the word –
missing. S/L/ Frank Grant,
Grave E440, Wevelgen, West Flanders, Belgium
A memorial gravestone is also erected at Oakland
Cemetery, Brockville |
