Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Biography – Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me

Photo of Lyle Armstrong – Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me

Group Photo – #2 Elementary Flight Training School Graduation Photo - August 1941 Lyle Armstrong - back row, 5th from right Frank Sorensen - back row, 1st on right

Group Photo – #2 Elementary Flight Training School, Fort William, Ontario - 1941 Lyle Armstrong - front row, first on left (kneeling) Frank Sorensen - second row, first on right

Reverse side of Group Photo – #2 Elementary Flight Training School Graduation Photo - August 1941 Signatures on back of photo

Letter – Page 4 of letter dated November 25, 1941 written by Frank Sorensen while at #11 Service Flight Training School, Yorkton, Saskatchewan: “I think it was on the seventh of October, I was coming from the link room when I met Armstrong in the middle of the hangar, I guess he was going to the toilet and as we passed I asked him just for fun, you know, if he wanted to fight, as we often do. He smiled and said sure. But we continued on our courses not dreaming that we would never meet like that again. I just came out of the link when Warren came in and said that a farmer had reported a crash he, Warren, also mentioned that Armstrong was overdue. Until about 10:00 p.m. we knew nothing definite, he might have bailed out, there was nothing to worry about. But we were worrying, we sat in groups, talking quietly and for minutes no one said a word. Rice felt pretty bad about it; he had been out with him flying formation. Then news came in.”

Letter – Page 5 of letter dated November 25, 1941 written by Frank Sorensen while at #11 Service Flight Training School, Yorkton, Saskatchewan: “He had hit the ground with considerable speed as the aircraft was scattered all over a 10 acre field. He didn’t bail out. He must have been doing aerobatics too close to the ground or stalled somehow or other or he might have blacked out and recovered a few hundred feet above the ground because evidence shows that he tried to pull out from the dive. He wasn’t very strong really, was complaining about blackouts. He was a good pilot in fact he scored best marks in flying at Fort William. A very nice fellow. We all liked him. He lived at Belleville, Ontario. I think I have mentioned him in my letters. That night the dark blue skies were covered with long and slowly moving northern lights constantly changing positions around a half circle on the northern part of the skies. They looked just like a choir of angels around an organ.”

Letter – Page 6 of letter dated November 25, 1941 written by Frank Sorensen while at #11 Service Flight Training School, Yorkton, Saskatchewan: “As I walked from the mess hall my thoughts wandered back two months to Fort William, the happy hours he and I spent together, about the time we travelled home on leave together, got into a bunk together for only 75 cents a piece on the train. Those skies seemed to feel the same about it as I did, as we all did.”

Newspaper Clipping – Memorialized on the pages of the Globe and Mail. Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me