General Manager's Corner: Bringing New Life to Past Initiatives

VFC Manager BGen (Ret’d) Gregory C.P. Matte, CD, PhD

As someone who is intrigued by history and collecting antiques, I could not resist taking an hour to walk through the Highway Antique Barn in Chemainus during a return from Tofino in the spring of 2019. It was on the top floor that my eye was drawn to a trophy tucked away on the bottom shelf within a cluttered, glass-door bookcase. The trophy had the size, shape, and luster of the athletic trophies that can be seen in older academic institutes, reflecting a bygone era. I could not resist taking a closer look.

To my surprise and delight, not only was the trophy nearly a century old, it had also been created to encourage competition in aviation, not athletics. Furthermore, the Brackman Ker Challenge Cup was associated with the former Provincial Flying Club of British Columbia.

Now I was quite intrigued. Rolled up inside the cup was a document that provided a few more details. As it turned out, the founder of the Challenge Cup was a businessman from Victoria. Wow! Having recently joined the Victoria Flying Club (VFC) as the first step in returning to flying, immediate thought was that this trophy belonged with the VFC, not in my private collection. But now I was curious.

The VFC was established in 1946, yet the first recipient of this trophy (F.T. Horowood) won the trophy in 1922, nearly a quarter century before the VFC came into existence. So, who was the man behind the trophy, and why did he create this aviation award in BC only a little more than a decade after McCurdy’s first powered flight in Canada flying the Silver Dart out of Baddeck Bay, Nova Scotia? Robert Henry Brackman Ker, the founder of the trophy, had an interesting background and led a full life with significant contributions to Victoria’s economic development. In fact, his family could be viewed as one of Victoria’s early family dynasties such as the revered Dunsmuir family.

His grandfather, Robert Ker, emigrated to British Columbia from Scotland in 1859, lured by the gold rush of the day. However, he became a clerk in the colony’s Department of the Auditor General and was later appointed BC’s Auditor General in 1865. When the capital of BC was moved from New Westminster to Victoria in 1868, he relocated there with his young family. Following BC’s entry into Confederation in 1871, Robert Ker was appointed to the office of the Dominion Paymaster General.

His father, David Russell Ker, was born in 1862 and brought up in Victoria and educated at the old Craigflower School in

the Gorge near the Ker estate. David pursued his ambition of becoming a businessman, choosing the occupation of a miller. Following an apprenticeship in mills in Victoria as well as San Francisco, he entered into business with Henry Brackman which eventually led to the incorporation of the Brackman & Ker Milling Company, based in North Saanich. The business flourished, and following Brackman’s early death, David Ker grew the business substantially in BC, and across western Canada. He became actively involved as a Director in other grain and flour corporations and was the President of the BC Board of Trade from 1895-1897, as well as a member of the Royal Victoria Golf Club and the Union Club.

Consequently, Robert Henry Brackman Ker was born into wealth and privilege in 1895 as the oldest of four children. He was educated both in Victoria as well as in the UK, and with the outbreak of the first World War, enlisted initially as a commissioned officer in the Victoria-based 50th Gordon Highlanders (part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force). However, he quickly transferred into the fledgling Royal Flying Corps in 1915, earning his pilot wings, serving in France, and ending the war in the rank of Major.

Although one can only speculate, it is quite likely that upon returning to Victoria following the Great War he sought to promote aviation, both for recreation as well as for business.

While the basis for the awarding of the Challenge Cup remains unknown, it is interesting that it was only awarded 3 times; first in 1922 as previously mentioned, then again in 1927 and 1928 (both times to Gerald Smith of Victoria). Coincidentally, Ker became a Director in an early commercial aviation interest in BC, namely the short-lived British Columbia Airways company. The company was incorporated in November 1927 and commenced commercial passenger services out of Victoria in the summer of 1928. However, following a tragic accident in August 1928 during a flight from Victoria to Seattle, the worst air disaster in Canada at that time, the company ceased operations and was later dissolved.

Although Robert Henry Brackman Ker enjoyed a highly successful business career that broadened the family interests from flour into real estate and insurance, there is no record of him ever being involved in aviation following the accident of 1928, which likely explains why the Challenge Cup was never awarded again until recently.

As mentioned, when I first discovered that this antique trophy had a history in BC’s early aviation community, I knew that it belonged with the VFC rather than remaining in my private collection. Following my selection as the VFC’s General Manger in July 2019, I noticed that there was no formal recognition for the VFC’s many Flight Instructors who contribute greatly to the Club, as well as to the aviation community In Victoria (and beyond). As such, it was only natural that the Brackman Ker Challenge Cup become resurrected as the Top Flight Instructor award. As had been the case in the 1920s, the newly repurposed trophy shall be awarded annually, only now as part of the VFC’s prestigious Annual Awards Gala.