Name Dallas Schmidt Occupation Pilot, politician Succeeded by Donald H. Sparrow | Died November 22, 2007 Role Politician | |
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Party Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta | ||
Comrades in Arms, Dallas Schmidt Clip 2
Dallas Wilbur Schmidt, DSC with bar, (August 9, 1922 – November 22, 2007) was a provincial level politician and Royal Canadian Air Force pilot from Alberta, Canada. A decorated fighter pilot ace during WWII, he later served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1975 to 1982 sitting with the governing Progressive Conservative caucus. During his time in public office he served different cabinet portfolio's under the government of Peter Lougheed.
Contents
- Comrades in Arms Dallas Schmidt Clip 2
- Comrades in Arms Dallas Schmidt Clip 3
- Air Force career
- Political career
- References
Born in Camrose, Alberta, he grew up in Millet, Alberta. Schmidt served with the Royal Canadian Air Force during WWII.
Comrades in Arms- Dallas Schmidt Clip 3
Air Force career
Schmidt volunteered for service in the RCAF on January 8, 1941, and was trained at Claresholm under the Commonwealth Air Training Plan. He was quickly shipped overseas to see action in World War II.
In August to December 1942, he was placed in Malta, just off Axis Italy, said at the time to be the hottest place for fighting in the world. He downed more than 8 planes, including two large Junkers troop-carrying planes, and sank two ships.
He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on October 5, 1942, and then the bar, for his daring and destructive sorties.
During the war he served in the No.227 Squadron. He flew a wide range of military aircraft used by Canada at the time. His aircraft was shot down by enemy fire on five separate occasions. On Christmas Day 1942 he parachuted out of his plane over Malta and through good fortune landed on the island itself, suffering only a twisted leg. He was then transferred to Rhodesia then to Britain where he joined the Buffalo Squadron and attacked German shipping.
He came home on leave in August 1943 and was feted as Millet's air ace, before travelling on to visit his parents at Ma-Me-O Beach, Alberta.
After V-E Day, he returned to Canada in July 1945 and was released from service in September of that year.
He re-enlisted with the Air Force and served his second stint from 1951 to 1956.
Political career
Schmidt first ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature in the 1967 Alberta general election in the electoral district of Wetaskiwin. He was defeated by incumbent Albert Strohschein in a hotly contested race finishing a close second place.
Schmidt ran for the second time in the 1975 Alberta general election. This time he won the electoral district of Wetaskiwin-Leduc, defeating three other candidates with a landslide margin to pick it up for the governing Progressive Conservative party.
After the election Premier Peter Lougheed appointed Schmidt to the Executive Council of Alberta as a Minister without Portfolio on April 3, 1975. He was appointed just over a year later as Associate Minister of Energy and Natural Resources responsible for Public Lands on August 26, 1976. He ran for re-election in the 1979 general election. He won a bigger margin of victory with his ministerial advantage winning his second term with a landslide.
Schmidt was again named to the cabinet after the election on March 23, 1979. He was promoted to Minister of Agriculture and served that position until he retired from provincial politics at dissolution of the legislature in 1982.