In the late 1980's, I began to research personnel who served at the former No. 9 Service Flying Training School, Centralia. I soon discovered that the first flying fatality at Centralia was an American from Valparaiso, Indiana, by the name of John Birky. I wrote to David A. Butterfield, Mayor of Valparaiso, seeking his assistance in possibility locating relatives of John Birky. I was pleased to receive a reply from Mayor Butterfield, informing me he had delegated his staff to assist me and that they had located Reverend Ken Birky, John's brother. Over the years, I corresponded with Reverend Birky. He always said he would like to travel from Indiana to Centralia to retrace his brother's service with the RCAF. Finally, in 2000, Reverend Birky and his lovely wife, Mary Jane, were able to visit the Centralia area. I contacted relatives of Murray Dixon, one of the farmers who pulled John Birky from his burning Avro Anson aircraft. They provided me with directions to the exact location of the accident. I took Reverend Birky and Mary Jane to meet the Dixons, and along with London Free Press reporter John Miner went to the location of the aircraft accident. Reverend Birky stated it was well worth the trip up to Centralia to experience a bit of closure by seeing first hand where his brother had crashed and eight hours later, lost his life in the station hospital.
