Les Greig in his Vancouver office, June 29, with photographs of his Air Force days. Greig worked alongside Kate Middleton's grandfather, Capt. Middleton, training pilots. Greig is holding a photograph of a graduating class.
CALGARY — Strafing a live-fire range with machine-guns mounted on his plane, strolling 8th Avenue to marvel at shops full of goods not available in his native England and dancing away Saturday nights at the Palliser Hotel when beer was just 10 cents a glass — they're fond memories Les Greig has of wartime years spent in Calgary.
The 88-year-old fighter pilot turned property manager was stationed in the city during the Second World War alongside Peter Middleton, the grandfather of the woman the world now knows as Kate, Duchess of Cambridge.
When she visits the city this week with husband Prince William, Greig hopes to steal a private moment to share his experiences and some vintage photos taken when he and Middleton served together in Canada with the Royal Air Force.
"Flying is something special and being part of the war effort made it even better," Greig said in recent interview, his voice rising in excitement as he recalled his time in Calgary.
"They were the best years of our lives."
Located at what is now part of Calgary International Airport, the No. 37 Service Flying Training School was one of 200 airfields across the country that were part of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
In the war's dying days, Middleton would become an an unsung hero in the battle against the Luftwaffe, using his de Havilland Mosquito fighter-bomber to nudge the wings of unmanned "doodlebug" V-1 missiles to divert them away from London.
But from 1942 to 1944, Middleton served as a RAF flight lieutenant in Calgary, overseeing instructors like Greig as they put pilots through their final training.
"Peter was a happy guy. He didn't push us around," Greig recalled. "Every three months we'd produce another group of pilots who were capable of going into battle right away."
One of the photos Greig has found in his scrapbooks and now wants to give to the royal couple shows Middleton and a freshly graduated class sharing a beer after a celebratory dinner.
"We were up in the sky nearly every day, but in the evenings there was always time to relax in the mess, swap stories and write letters home," Greig said.
While Middleton would pursue a career in civil aviation in Great Britain after the war, Greig would return to Calgary to pursue a pilot's job with the fledgling Trans-Canada Air Lines.
He ended up taking a job with the Alberta Wheat Pool, though, after the airline decided pilot posts should be given to returning Canadian airmen.
Greig is flying to Calgary from his home in Vancouver Wednesday to visit the city's Aero Space Museum, which was once part of the training facility and might be part of the couple's private itinerary. Kate is said to have been close to her grandfather, visiting him regularly in his final years and attending his funeral when he died last November at the age of 90.
"It's not known yet if they'll go to the museum," said Greig, "but it would a great honour to meet them, if they do."
If an encounter with Will and Kate isn't possible, he said there may be another highlight to his trip: a flight aboard a Harvard trainer that is one of three vintage warplanes that will be in Calgary to pay tribute to the pilots trained in Canada during the war.
"I'm not sure I'm up for any acrobatics," said Greig. "But if I'm lucky, maybe they'll let me take the controls for a bit."
mmcclure@calgaryherald.com