Sir John Carling at the Harbour Grace Airstrip

The Sir John Carling at the Harbour Grace airstrip, 1927. Arthur Carty, part-owner of the London Free Press, and Charles Burns, president of Carling Breweries, offered $25,000 to a team of pilots willing to fly from London, Ontario, to London, England, or, as the London Free Press put it, “from the heart of the Empire to the soul of the Empire.”

After the tragedy, the Carling Company paid the $25,000 into a trust for the aviators’ families.