Spirit of the Yukon

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

June Cruickshank Lunny was only one when her father, Andrew David
Cruickshank, died in a flying accident in 1932. She grew up steeped in
tales about her remarkable father. In his short life, A.D. Cruickshank
had been involved in pioneer bush flying in the Yukon and Western
Canada, served as an RCMP constable in the Klondike, and survived three
years in the Royal Flying Corps during the Great War.

Yet these were only stories, told to June by her mother or her
father’s friends. For most of her life, June thought her father would
forever remain a dashing but elusive stranger. Then, in 1969, she went
to England to visit her father’s family. She asked about her father,
expecting more tales; instead she was handed a bundle of letters her
father had written to them from his army days until shortly before his
death. The result is this fine book, which combines the best of
Cruickshank’s letters, photographs, and additional commentary by Lunny
to help bridge the gaps.

In one of those happy accidents of history, Andrew Cruickshank was not
only a prolific letter writer but also an eloquent one; his letters
often read like long-lost Kipling yarns. If the reader dares to raise a
doubting eyebrow, Cruickshank seems to have had the presence of mind to
supply a supporting photograph. Charles Lindbergh even owes a debt to
Lunny’s father. Both aviators ordered aircraft from Ryan Aircraft
Company in San Diego. Cruickshank ordered first but let Lindbergh have
his plane in which to make the historic flight. Besides flying, writing,
and photography Cruickshank turned his talented hand to music, sled-dog
breeding, and poetry. He seems to have been uncommonly blessed in all
except the last category.

This book is a rare chance for aviation enthusiasts to see early Far
North bush flying through the eyes of one of its greatest trailblazers.