Mike in his flying suit as he trained to be a pilot.

He enlisted with the RCAF in 1941 with the aspiration of becoming a fighter pilot; graduating from flight school as a pilot in October 1942 he was posted overseas to England.

Many pilots, including Mike, dreamed of taking to the air in fighter aircraft, however the demand was for bomber pilots. The death toll was high for bomber crews, as they were not expected to survive more then a few operational flights.

Being conscientious, Mike was reluctant to train as a skipper on a bomber as he did not want to the run the risk of putting a crew in peril. Over the course of a year many pilots from his class would concede their "ferry flight" duties to enroll in flight training for Bomber Command.