From Gliders to the Snowbirds: Captain Edward Soye

For Edward Soye, every flight is a thread between the past and present.

A Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) pilot with a background as an academic historian, Soye has built a life where vintage aircraft, military instruction, and a deep appreciation for aviation’s legacy all intersect—both in the air and on the ground.

Currently serving as a pilot and instructor at 2 Canadian Forces Flying Training School in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Soye plays a key role in shaping the next generation of RCAF aviators. But his aviation journey didn’t begin in a military cockpit—it started, of all things, with a patch.

“I was wearing a jacket at school with an Avro Arrow patch on it,” he recalls. “A kid in the schoolyard pointed out that our local Air Cadet squadron in Mississauga was named after the Arrow. I asked him, ‘What’s a squadron?’”

That seemingly small moment turned out to be pivotal. Encouraged by his grandfather, an Avro Canada employee in the 1950s, Soye checked out the squadron and joined the Air Cadets. He earned his glider license in Prince Edward County and later his Private Pilot Licence in London, Ontario—marking the beginning of a flying career that would span both civilian and military aviation.

While studying history at the University of Toronto, Soye volunteered with the Great War Flying Museum, home to a fleet of World War I replica aircraft. He was soon invited to join their airshow team, sparking a passion for vintage aviation. That experience deepened with the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association, where he became part of a four-plane Harvard airshow team.

“Flying vintage aircraft is like time travel,” says Soye. “You’re not just flying a machine; you’re experiencing the environment, the technology, and the decisions pilots had to make in that era. To operate these old airplanes safely, you often have to dig into period maintenance manuals and understand how they were flown back then.”

After completing a master’s degree in history at the Royal Military College, Soye initially entered the finance world, looking for a flexible job that would allow him to continue flying vintage aircraft. But aviation pulled him back. Encouraged by updated military vision standards, he reapplied to the RCAF in his mid-thirties—and was accepted.

“The first half of my flying career was civilian and grassroots—tailwheel aircraft, gliders, airshows. Most people do that in retirement, but I started there and then came to the military,” he reflects. “It’s been somewhat of a reverse progression, but incredibly rewarding.”

Soye’s recent time with the Snowbirds military aerobatic flight demonstration team during the RCAF’s centennial season added yet another chapter to his aviation story. Highlights included experiencing EAA AirVenture Oshkosh for the first time and connecting with international display teams like the UK’s Red Arrows.