Douglas Connor
Doug Connor was once holder of the single sled world record on the most famous toboggan track in the world, Switzerland’s Cresta Run at St. Moritz. He was the inspiration for Canadian bobsledders Lamont Gordon and Vic Emery in the 1950s and coached the Canadian Olympic bobsleigh team to a gold medal at Innsbruck 1964
Connor served in World War II and had a distinguished career in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as a Wing Commander. He was one of the original ‘C’ Flight captains, a veteran of the Burma campaign and chief instructor in the bombing wing of the Air Fighting Training Unit in Southern India. A RCAF press release stated about Connor: “This officer is an exceptional pilot who has consistently proved his determination by flying to his objective through appalling monsoon weather. He has often been intercepted by enemy night fighters and engaged by searchlights and anti-aircraft fire. At all times he has displayed skill, determination and devotion to duty of a high order.”
Connor led an eventful life after the war in the business of surplus aircraft. He wrote a self-published autobiography entitled ‘Golden Flies the Snow”, had two children and passed away in London, England in 2002. He was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1959.