Daryl Seaman

Daryl Kenneth "Doc" Seaman (28 April 1922 – 11 January 2009) was a Canadian engineer, oil executive, and hockey team owner. He founded, served as president, and chaired Bow Valley Industries, a major independent petroleum company in Canada. During the Second World War, he served as a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1941 to 1945, and from 1980 until his death, he was a part-owner of the Calgary Flames.

Seaman was born on 28 April 1922 in Rouleau, Saskatchewan, the second of four children. His father, Byron Luther Seaman, was born in Wisconsin and came to Canada during the First World War to help with the harvest.

After the United States entered the war in 1917, he returned, joined the U.S. Army, and fought in Germany. He came back to Canada in January 1920 and married Letha Mae Patton, who had moved from Nebraska to Canada with her family in 1912. Until 1928, both parents worked a farm; that year, Byron started a road construction company, where all his sons worked during summers.

World War II

Seaman graduated high school in spring 1939, just before Canada entered World War II. That fall, he enrolled in technical school in Moose Jaw and played hockey for the Moose Jaw Canucks, but fell ill and dropped out. In fall 1940, he began an engineering degree at the University of Saskatchewan, but left in February 1941 to enlist. Because of his strong marks in math and physics, a recruiter suggested the Air Force.

He trained under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Brandon, Manitoba, and Regina, Saskatchewan. Selected as a pilot, he was sent to RCAF Virden for flight instruction and first flew in September 1941. He transferred to RCAF Brandon and received his Wings on 12 March 1942.

After training, he was sent to Halifax, spent his twentieth birthday there, and sailed for Great Britain on 1 May 1942 aboard the MS Batory, arriving in Glasgow on 12 May. He moved between Bournemouth, Cornwall, RAF Kirmington, and RAF Harrogate for additional flight training in Airspeed Oxfords. By fall 1942, his initial training was complete, and he was assigned to a Lockheed Hudson as part of a four-man crew at RAF Silloth.

From November 1942 to January 1943, the crew practiced navigation and bombing. On 20 February 1943, they flew to RAF Portreath for their first operation: flying the plane to Gibraltar. Poor weather forced Seaman to divert to Casablanca, Morocco.