1931

"The first overseas entrant for the King's Cup air race—Mr. John C. Webster, of Montreal —wants to take the cup back to Canada and fill it with snow. 'Snow' he said, 'is a good friend of the Canadian flier.'

'I made the longest flight of my life when I made the practice flight over the course for the King's Cup race', he confessed, with a boyish smile, 'though I have been flying for three years. The course is nearly 1,000 miles long, and we don't often fly as much as that in a day—even in Canada. When I start in the race from Heston Air Park on July 25th, I will be starting the hardest day's flying of my life'.

'Britain may not be very big, but viewed from the air there is so darned much of it. Out there, you can fly hundreds of miles without noticing much difference in the landscape, but here everything down below seems to be all of a heap. And that just about describes your weather, too.'

Mr. Webster is a member of the Montreal Flying Club, whose chief instructor is Captain ("Tony") Spooner, brother of Miss Winifred Spooner, the famous woman flier."

"TRAGEDY has overtaken Mr. J. C. Webster, the Canadian pilot who recently took part in the King's Cup air race on a Curtiss-Reid "Rambler." While flying over St. Hubert [Montreal] aerodrome, it is stated, the machine got into a spin and crashed, Mr. Webster sustaining injuries from which he died later in hospital. His death occurred a few hours before an official reception, which was to have been given to celebrate Webster's return from England."

From Shediac, N.B. His father established the Webster Memorial Trophy - the premier Canadian aviation award - in his memory.