Honourary Colonel Alfred William Harold (Bert) Cheffins (Montreal 1924 - Calgary 2011)

In 1942, he joined the RCAF to become a bomb aimer and observer in the RAF Bomber Command. 

His post-war military service began in 1945 in the RCAF Reserve.

Bert was a great source of knowledge on the history of military aviation and he strongly believed in "passing the torch".  He received an award from the Premier of Manitoba for his work on the Commemorative Names Project, where over 4000 lakes and rivers were named after Manitobans killed in active service in World War II. Bert was the initiator of the 1985 project to build a Memorial in Pocklington England in remembrance of all the men and women who served there.

 He was a member(1977-1995) and President (1983) of the Commonwealth Wartime Pilots and
Observers Association (WPO).  In 2005 Bert laid a wreath at the Ottawa Cenotaph on behalf of the WPO and then proceeded to lead, with great dignity, the hundreds of veterans through the streets of Ottawa and past the thousands of appreciative fans to the official opening of the new Canadian War Museum.  People even carried their babies out into the street for Bert to kiss!!!

And the last but certainly not least chapter of Bert's military life came when, in 1999, he was named the first Honourary Colonel of the Canadian Forces Air Navigation School in Winnipeg, a position he held until 2007.  He established the Bert Cheffins Award to recognize one individual from each graduating class. And as a 70+ year old he loved to don his flight suit and travel with the students on their training exercises across Canada and the United States.  On his retirement he was wished "clear skies and fair winds for his new adventures".  There is a Winnipeg Airforce Scholarship in his name.