Bruce Ferguson:  

Life They say you can't go home again, but in a sense I did. Purchased the house I grew up in from my father's estate. However, my two young daughters aren't following in my footsteps. Instead they're in private schools. Memberships in the Granite and National Clubs. For any former classmates interested in pleasure flying, I've had some interesting aviation experiences as an outlet from an entire career spent working on Bay Street as a bond trader and investment banker. (If not, definitely stop reading here.) After more than 20 years of flying civilian aircraft for pleasure, I enrolled in fighter pilot school and learned air combat from the best-of-the-best (privately operated AirCombat Canada.) I had the rare privilege of going up against a Canadian Forces 'Top Gun' fighter pilot in my final competition of four dogfights, instead of the usually scheduled three final sessions against another student. These were traditional one-on-one gun battles, (which is the only way to really learn air combat according to veteran fighter pilots.) I had no wingman to protect my 'six', and it was up-close and personal fighting rather than standing off and casually launching target-locked missiles at your opponent. Several of my fellow students learned the hard way that becoming low-and-slow through inattention, or refusing combat (by turning around and trying to run away), or even flying straight and level for longer than a few seconds was invariably fatal. In these circumstances it was a virtual certainty you would quickly acquire a bandit fighter plane close on your tail and be shot down almost instantly. Defeated him 2 to 1, in mostly verticle dogfighting during my final competition (rather than the usual horizontal tail-chases), while flying the incredibly agile and swift German-built 'Extra 300L' designed to absorb an amazing 18 Gs. (To be able to beat this young 'top gun' chap I had to have an edge, as well as a considerable amount of luck. Fighter pilots always strap themselves very tightly into their seats due to the violent maneuvers and high G-forces encountered during combat. I deliberately left my straps loose to be able to pivot freely and gain a 360 degree field of vision. Definitely unconventional and certainly not recommended, but this sneaky shameless trick worked like magic. My helmet contacted the top of the close fitting cockpit canopy whenever I rolled inverted (and I received a few bruises too), but otherwise I was none the worse for wear. Luck played a part in my second score. The opportunity for a shot came while I was hanging inverted in the seat straps, pulling a steep upside-down climbing turn to try to get on his tail. He was in my gunsight for only an instant.) The trophy, along with a flight-suit patch bearing my personal fighter pilot's call-sign ("Red Hawk"), were proudly displayed on my desk in the trading room at Toronto-Dominion Securities for several years. Followed up with an aerobatics lesson in probably the most famous fighter aircraft ever made; the superb North American P-51D Mustang (the American equivalent to the famous British Spitfire. The airplane I flew is pictured above.) Lee Iacoco named the Ford sports car after this plane rather than the horse. Finished off with a three-hour lesson in Air Canada's Airbus A320 simulator, located in their employee pilot training facility at Pearson. (This remarkable flight simulator is a very expensive three-story "fish-bowl" of sights, sounds, vibrations and 'thumps' that are so realistic I had diffi...Expand for more