‘Stocky’ Edwards, top Canadian ace of WWII’s Western Desert campaign, dies
Global News
James 'Stocky' Edwards had 19 confirmed aerial victories during the war and was Canada's highest-scoring ace in the Western Desert campaign in North Africa.
One of Canada’s most celebrated World War Two fighter aces, James “Stocky” Edwards of Comox, B.C., has died at age 100.
In a Facebook post, Comox Mayor Russ Arnott said Edwards passed away Saturday evening.
Last June, fighter jets from CFB Comox performed a fly-by to celebrate the Saskatchewan-born pilot’s 100th birthday.
Edwards had 19 confirmed aerial victories during the war. He was Canada’s highest-scoring ace in the Western Desert campaign in North Africa.
He and his friends signed up with the Royal Canadian Air Force at just 19 years old.
“We’d hardly ever seen an airplane, but all we wanted to be was fighter pilots,” he told Global News in a 2019 interview. “We didn’t think about going to war, but we wanted to go where the war was.”
Tributes to Edwards began pouring in on social media on Saturday.
“While his passing must be mourned, his life must be celebrated as the gift it was,” the Comox Air Force Museum wrote on Facebook.