Welcome to Words on Wings Press

Home of Captain Don McVicar's Aviation Books

Captain Don McVicar with four of his Airlife books at his 1986 book launch at the Royal Canadian Legion in Dorval, Quebec.

Welcome!

February 2024: Words on Wings Press is thrilled to announce new editions of ALL NINE of Captain Don McVicar’s classic tales of true-life aviation adventure as sleek and easy-to-read Kindle e-books.

This is the FIRST TIME these volumes are all available in the same format, known as the Streamlined Edition.

Fun fact about e-books; they are also searchable databases! Better than an index, simply type in the name of an airplane, person or place for the full value of the content to be revealed. This is a real boon to aviation historians and other aficionados of the numerous types of iconic aircraft McVicar flew and wrote of so brilliantly.

For the moment, only paperback editions of Ferry Command Pilot and South Atlantic Safari have been published, but plans are in the works to give the same respectful treatment to McVicar’s entire series. Visit our website frequently for the latest news and a wealth of detail from Captain Don McVicar’s books. As an early adopter of technology, and an author who loved to sell books, Don McVicar would be pleased to know that his memoirs are being shared all over the world thanks to the publish-on-demand platforms provided by Amazon Kindle.

When you visit the pages on this website for Ferry Command Pilot and South Atlantic Safari, you will see that the index from each paperback edition has been completely reproduced. Most of the photographs from each paperback, with some extras, are also on the page. There is also a list of all the Royal Air Force Ferry Command crew who were mentioned by Captain McVicar in each book. It was very important to him that the contributions of these men not be lost to the ages. Captain McVicar was not only a fine pilot, keen navigator and highly skilled radio operator (known as a “triple threat”) he was also a meticulous and widely read historian. These books cried out for indexing, which was not provided in their original format. Since we brought Ferry Command Pilot out on the still-new Kindle platform in 2011, relatives of these Ferry Commanders have found us and have been eager for any scrap of information. We have been pleased to include never-before-published photos supplied by their families in some of our books. We hope that publicly sharing each index will provide clues that might guide a seeker to further discoveries; and as noted above, Kindle e-books are also easily searchable databases.

On the site, most of the group photos are placed in a full-width format, allowing a much closer inspection of the aircrew than a printed book would permit. Take some time to examine their faces on a large screen. It’s quite possible that this photo would be the last taken of some of them before they strapped themselves into their just-built snag-filled aircraft and took off into the unknown in service of freedom.

Words On Wings Press is composed of just two people, Captain McVicar’s daughter, Donna McVicar Kazo, and her daughter, Christianna Cannon, both seasoned and respected writers and editors in their own regard. The decision to re-publish Captain McVicar’s books was made out of love and deepest respect for him and for all who served in World War Two.

As Don McVicar would inscribe in his books,

Good reading to you!

Donna and Christianna

To contact us: editor (at) wordsonwingspress.com