Googling a Lymburner ancestor recently, I noticed Red Lymburner in the search results. Bush pilot, Antarctica and Mount Lymburner. So I read more.
His full name was James Harold Lymburner, known as Harold or Red. And he’s my 4th cousin twice removed. His parents were George Malcolm Lymburner and Annie Josephine Christie. He was born April 24, 1904 in Caistor Township, Lincoln Co. ON.
Red Lymburner got his commercial pilot’s license in 1931 and worked as a bush pilot for Canadian Airways until 1939. Mainly he flew mining gear and explosives to northern Quebec mines. But one time, according to a 1964 Winnipeg Free Press article, two oxen needed to get to the mine. Author Edward R. Green wrote:
Well, Lymburner thought, freight was freight no matter what form it came in. He bundled one ox in a tarpaulin, dragged it into the plane and packed it in with bales of hay. The flight was uneventful, so he did the same thing with the other ox. The only difference was the second ox was airsick.
So if you can fly an airsick ox in a small plane, you can probably do anything. Red Lymburner went on to prove it. While at Canadian Airways, he worked as a test pilot for Fairchild Aviation as well.
Ellsworth Antactic Expedition 1935
Red Lymburner and fellow Canadian Airways pilot, Herbert Hollick-Kenyon, were chosen to fly on the 1935 Ellsworth Antarctic Expedition. Mount Lymburner, found during their trans-Antarctic flight in November 1935, is named after Red. In 1938, he went again with Lincoln Ellsworth to the Indian Ocean part of Antarctica. That time, he was lead pilot.
In 1935 the Royal Canadian Air Force made Red an honorary Group Captain in recognition of his flying skills. The Air Transport Association of Canada named him the ATAC Lifetime Honoree in 1979. He had retired by that time and, with his wife, had moved to Clearwater, Florida.
Jessie and Red Lymburner family lines
Red’s wife was Rachel Jessie Tice, daughter of Albert Edward Tice and Emma Jane Swick. She was born in December 1901 in Caistor Township. Her ancestry also goes back through two lines to Matthew Lymburner and Margaret Kaims.
Red and Jessie had one daughter Glenna Marie, born July 1927 in Caistor Township. Educated at McGill University, her career, like her father’s, was wide-ranging. From railway rebuilding in post-WWII Yugoslavia to Guyana to Toronto. There she was Head of Archives, established a public information office and served on the Federal Immigration Appeal Board. She married Keith Tisshaw (1928-2011) in 1950 and they had three children. Ms. Tisshaw died in April 2015.
Red Lymburner died in Clearwater, Florida in August 1990. Jessie died in October 1991 also in Florida. They are buried in Caistorville United Church Cemetery.
Emma
26 Nov 2023Hello Dorothy, I am the granddaughter of Glenna (Lymburner) Tisshaw, and the great-granddaughter of Red and Jessie. Very much appreciate you sharing all of this family history! Cheers, Emma
Dorothy
26 Nov 2023Thank you, Emma. After reading about your grandmother as well as her parents, I’m in awe of all of them!
Sally Douglas
3 Feb 2023It was in July 1939 when my father Eric Douglas of the RAAF and Captain James Lymburner greeted each other outside the ANA Terminal at Essendon Airport in Melbourne, Victoria. The newspaper report states that they then went off for lunch. They had obviously met in the Bay of Whales, Ross Sea, Antarctica in early 1936, when Captain James Lymburner was on Lincoln Ellsworth’s ship the Wyatt Earp, and Eric Douglas was in charge of the RAAF flying party of 7 men on the Discovery II. At the time Hubert Wilkins was in charge of the Wyatt Earp for Lincoln Ellsworth as it was Ellsworth’s ship. My lead to searching for Captain James Lymburner was a piece of paper on which my father had written Lymburner’s name and some contact details. Sally Douglas – Melbourne
Dorothy
3 Feb 2023Hi Sally, I googled your dad and found an article similar to the one you mention (dated Feb. 17 1939). Also, for others wishing to know more about Flight-Lt. Douglas, a short bio of which you are co-author. Very interesting, and thanks so much for writing.
Dave Howard
9 Aug 2022Hi Dorothy
I’ve viewed this page a couple of times and decided to say hello this time. I’m in the process of making a Wikipedia page about my father Pat Howard. He is the gentleman sitting directly in front of Red in the automobile in your first photo. I had the great pleasure of meeting and staying with Red and Jessie the last week of October 1965 in Clearwater, Florida at their motel. I was 6 years old so most of my memories of Red were about our mutual love for pecan pie. If I had been maybe a bit older I would listened to old stories they may have swapped with each other. But I could tell just how close a couple of friends they were to each other. It was Red who I was told wanted my dad along as his co-pilot even though he is listed as an engine mechanic on the ships manifest.
We in my family had no idea that in 1961 the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names named many of the mountains, mountain ranges and other geologic formations after members of the ’35 Ellsworth Antarctic Expedition. To our shock there was the Howard Nunataks. We don’t know if he ever knew about this. We were never informed about this honour. Any way, when I found the Wiki page about the nunataks and it had my dad’s named highlighted in red it seemed an invitation to produce a proper page about him. I would like to include that same photo you posted of them all in the car in the parade in Winnipeg. Is that your photo or did you come by it and if so where might I find it?
Dorothy
9 Aug 2022Hi Dave, thanks so much for writing. Yes, what stories you would have heard from them! I got the photo from the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada website. But searching the site quickly just now, I can’t find it. It’s from the Winnipeg Free Press May 9 1936. Good luck with the Wiki page for your father – there definitely should be one.
Claude-Alexis Lejeune
20 Apr 2022Hello I would have something on this pilot he would have accompanied my great-grandfather ( Doctor Paul-Léon Rivard) for the community of Manawan
Dorothy
21 Apr 2022Hi, Claude-Alexis, thanks for writing. Googling your great-greatfather, I found a story about a late 1950s television show CF-RCK. It also has quite a lot on Dr. Rivard’s real-life story. You’ve probably seen the post but, for those like me who haven’t, it’s very interesting!
Robert Lymburner
12 Feb 2022Hello Sue,
Re: 1939 Antartica expedition. I am not aware of diaries that my uncle J.H. (Red) Lymburner may of written. Iknow that his daughter Glenna( deceased ?)often urged himto write a book on his Antartic experiences. I will ask my brother Donald ( who was close to Glenna) if he knows of any documents or journals that may exist. Glennas son lives here in Vancouver B.C.
all the best,
Robert (Bob) Lymburner
François Therrien
9 Feb 2022I was surprise nobody talk about this good pilot who made the first flight of the RAF Hampden bomber ( first aircraft to be assembly at St-Hubert, Québec) and is first flight Tuesday 8 August 1939.
Dorothy
9 Feb 2022Hi François, and thank you. For those, like me, who have not heard of this plane, here’s some history and great photos of it.
Harry Johnston
18 Oct 2021Good afternoon.. my name is Harry Johnston.. I had the privilege of working with Red Lymburner during the summer of1961 in Kingston ON. Nordair was initiating passenger air service from Montreal across Ontario. Between flights he shared wonderful stories of his flying experiences. He certainly was a humble icon of our Canadian air history.
It is interesting, that there is very little or no information of his significant contribution to the infancy of air passenger service in the Kingston area.
Regards
Dorothy
18 Oct 2021Hi, Mr Johnston. It’s so nice to hear more about Red Lymburner. I read online about the bush planes, exploration and working in Montreal, but I don’t remember seeing much about Kingston. So thank you for adding another part to his story.
Robert M Stitt
2 Jan 2021Just came across the name J H Lymburner in the context of researching the construction of the DEW Line early warning system in the mid-1950s for an upcoming book on Canadian aerial survey company Spartan Air Services.
Mr Lymburner was designated by Spartan to coordinate the collection DEW Line site positioning data for the Canadian section of the Line.
Looking for any further background on his participation.
Robert M Stitt
Vancouver Island, Canada
Dorothy
3 Jan 2021Hi Robert, you know much more about this than do I, but a quick google showed Andrew Taylor papers at the U of Manitoba Library. There’s correspondence between Taylor and Lymburner from 1955 about the DEW Line. Also a 2005 DEW Line Bibliography on Scribd. Thanks for writing, and maybe someone reading this will know more.
robert lymburner
1 Jan 2019Hello,
I am Robert James Ronald Lymburner, son of Donald Lymburner who was Harold (Red) Lymburner’s brother. They grew up in Dunnville Ont. and their parents were Annie and Malcom Lymburner who farmed in the Castorville area then ran a boarding house in Dunnville. My uncle ‘Red’ went to Scotland after the 2nd World War to debunk the barbs from co-workers that claimed anyone with a name like Lymburner had to come from German stock. He told my father on his return that he had located our ancestoral origin in a small village and had actually spoke to a very old lady who knew well that our ancestors went to America.
For many years we believed we were descendants of two brothers from Scotland that had settled in or around Montreal Quebec and were fur traders ( Pictures of which are sometime displayed in the Chateau de Ramsey Museum in old Montreal.)
Respectfully ,
Robert Lymburner
Dorothy
1 Jan 2019Hi Robert, yes, I had thought Germany until Scotland kept coming up in genealogies. My grandmother (a Lymburner) said she was Pennsylvania Dutch, and there was evidence of that in her cooking and many of her sayings. I don’t know the connection between the Ont. and Que. Lymburners, although there must be one. So thanks for this – another bit for my Red Lymburner collection. And I’ve just seen that I don’t have your dad in my database, so will add him.
sue hilliard
5 Jun 2021Hi Dorothy my name is Sue and I have just posted a reply to Robert. I am doing some research on the locations that Sir Hubert Wilkins left records in the Antarctic on his 1939 expedition. I am keen to locate any diaries that J H Lymburner may have kept during this voyage and wondered if you know there whereabouts.
Dorothy
6 Jun 2021Hi Sue, interesting research! But I can’t add to it, unfortunately. Maybe someone reading will be able to help. I hope so!
sue hilliard
5 Jun 2021Hi Robert
My name is Sue and I am doing some research on Sir Hubert Wilkins landings in Antarctica and was wondering if you have any knowledge of any diaries that J.H. Lymburner may have kept while on the 1939 expedition.