Allan Currie

Allan Currie (born 15 July 1943) is a retired Royal Canadian Air Force pilot, flight instructor, and avionics technician from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Early Life

Currie was born to Jean and Clyde Currie on 15 July 1943.

Currie attended university on a sponsorship by the Canadian Armed Forces. He graduated 1966 with a BSc in Electrical Engineering (Electronics).

Marriages and family

He married Jacky Gregory in about 1965. They had four children:

• June Marie (born 18 February 1966)
• Michael Allan (born 18 October 1968)
• Ian John (born 25 October 1974)
• Jason Robert (born 7 March 1976)

Allan and Jacky divorced in 1980. Jacky kept custody of their children, remarried, and moved around frequently in Manitoba. However, once children left home they all settled down in Winnipeg.

In 1986, he remarried, to Yvonne Carol Narozniak.

His second wife Yvonne died in 2003. Since then he has stayed a bachelor.

Career

After his graduation in 1966 Currie went through pilot training. He served with NATO in Germany flying the CF104 aircraft for 2 years.

He then went to Lubbock, Texas for 3 years as an instructor on the T-37 basic jet trainer.

Following this, he worked in Cold Lake, Alberta as an instructor on T-33 aircraft followed by the CF-5 aircraft as a Tactical Fighter Instructor.

From 1984 to 1986, he served in Winnipeg as the Aide to the Base Commander, Base Information Officer and oversaw all the military students at Universities from Brandon to Lakehead.

In 1986, he was transferred to Edmonton, Alberta, to train on the C-130 Hercules transport. However, he "really didn't want to fly the Hercs", and motivated by a desire to be closer to his children in Winnipeg, he retired after 20 years, in 1986, and returned to Winnipeg.

He took a Computer Tech Course at Red River College, and from 1986 to 1992 he worked in computer sales and service, in the early years of the Personal Computer era.

In 1992 he moved to Bristol Aerospace, who were overhauling the CF-5 aircraft he previously flew. Their overhaul included a total rewiring of the plane.

As this contract was winding down, he "jumped ship" to Air Canada Technical Services in Winnipeg and worked as an Avionics Technician. There, he overhauled Airbus A319/320/321 aircraft. This work "included all aspects of electrical work from replacing light bulbs, installing new systems like the inflight entertainment and testing and solving problems with systems like the Flight Management Guidance."

Currie retired from Air Canada Technical Services in 2008.

Retirement

As of 2018, Currie maintains a highly active lifestyle:

• In summers, Currie travels with his Shih Tzu, Brandi, and his trailer throughout Canada and the USA for 8-12 weeks.

• In winters, five days a week he subjects himself to a robust training regimen: Zumba, Strength Training, Yoga, Cardio/Weights/Bands/Balance and Line Dancing.

Sources

Private email from Allan sent July 2018 to Michael Currie