Maxwell (Max) William Ward established Wardair in 1952 to
provide chartered passenger services to points beyond
Yellowknife. In 1962, the company purchased a DC 3 to provide
passenger service to national and international destinations. By
the 1980s, Wardair had grown into the third largest airline in
Canada.
Max Ward became a pilot and then an instructor in the British
Commonwealth Air Training Plan. His first company, Polaris
Charter Company, was established in 1946 in Yellowknife. It
provided passenger and cargo services from Yellowknife into the
remote regions of the north and Arctic.
Much of the flying
occurred north of Yellowknife into uncharted areas where Max
Ward took prospectors looking for gold and other minerals. To do
this, he had to learn how to fly and navigate by sight. He
transported people and their cargo into the wilderness, and
brought them back with cargo that included bars of gold from
northern mines. At times, Max provided air transportation to
members of the Royal Family when they visited the North. |