By Kevin Gilby
There was a buzz at the Davidson Airport on July 13 and it wasn’t the many airplanes that landed at the runway.
Pilots, aviation enthusiasts, and even those with an interest in Second World War fighter aircraft were drawn to the Blue Hanger just off Highway 44 west of Davidson.
Fast Toys for Boys hosted its second annual Fly-in, Drive-in, or Walk-in event, which showcased an up-close and personal look at ‘in-progress’ restorations of three 1944 P51 Mustangs, as well as the personal automobile and airplane collection of owner/operator Terry Dieno.
Hanger doors opened at 9 a.m. with beautiful flying conditions which encouraged at least 15 single engine flights to visit the airport and discuss aviation with like-minded individuals.
For those bound firmly to the Earth, the day granted guests a chance to see a multitude of different types of airplanes, exchange stories with the pilots, and take in some plane spotting when not indoors to view the displays. Dieno is a self-proclaimed Davidson boy, a 1960 Davidson School graduate, and a long-time entrepreneur attracting business to Davidson province-wide in his many ventures.
He worked for over a decade for the government in Regina before returning to Davidson in 1976, where he took over the operation at the Esso Gas Station.
In following years, he opened a Ford dealership, the largest Polaris dealership in North America in the 1990s, most recently he built the A&W, Tim Hortons, Dairy Queen and the Esso that populate the commercial area just south-east of Davidson on Highway 11.
“I’ve been a busy boy,” he said. But throughout the years, he had another desire beyond building successful businesses.
“I just had a love for speed from when I was a teenager and bought my first (Pontiac) GTO back in the muscle car days.”
“I was a drag racing fool,” he said without a hint of exaggeration.
Perhaps realizing the folly in street racing, or perhaps to legally quench that thirst even more, he became interested in getting his pilot’s licence.
Tired of waiting to learn to fly with his fellow car enthusiasts, he set off on his own and got his licence in 1973. Years later, after having returned to Davidson, he soon found himself wanting to fly even more.
“The only thing I could do to fly more was to crop spray,” he said. “I bought a spray plane in Missouri, a big spray plane that had a radial engine and two wings and started spraying with that.”
Before long, the spraying business was taking off and he was flying with two of his brothers and collectively they had four running spray planes.
In the 1980s, he further enhanced his prowess in the air with aerobatics training. Any Davidson resident of the time could attest to the skills he obtained.
His love affair with the Second World War fighter planes was opportunistic. He bid on a wrecked P51 Mustang in California. To his surprise, he won the bid and a new project was born – to restore the plane to ‘as built’ flying condition. After thousands of hours, and at least a decade, the job was complete and soon the flying machine found a new owner in the United States, who wasn’t shy about sharing his admiration of the restoration work done in small town Saskatchewan, Canada.
Then, in June of 2023, Dieno suffered a life-threatening stroke.
“I got out of the hospital Aug. 16 last year, and was home for maybe an hour when my phone rang.
“This perfect English voice said, ‘I’m so-and-so from London, England. A group of buyers in Europe had flown to Montana and looked at a World War II fighter plane restored and we can’t believe the quality of the work.’”
Later in the conversation they discussed their desire to have Dieno’s team build some aircraft for them. Despite having been stripped of his driver’s and pilot’s licences due to his stroke, his passion for flight remained constant and he accepted the challenge. Dieno is now in the process of building six P51 Mustangs, three of which were on display at the open hangar event in various stages of restoration. Some of the planes are waiting for V12 engines to be built to spec, others for a set of wings, but all well underway.
The Mustang was initially an American-built long-range, single-seat fighter that underwent a few development cycles and subsequently became popular with the Royal Air Force as a tactical-reconnaissance aircraft and fighter-bomber. Its long range and high-altitude capabilities led to it escorting bombers in raids over Germany and helped ensure Allied air superiority in 1944.
Almost a year after being discharged from the rehabilitation ward of City Hospital in Saskatoon, Dieno is still without his wings, but has proven himself still capable of supervised flight and sees licensed solos in his future.
“I’ve got airplane disease and it’s incurable,” he said.
This need to keep active in his passion undoubtedly aided in his recovery.
While Dieno might take partial ownership of his stroke recovery, he extends the majority of the credit to health care providers at the Davidson Health Centre, Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, and the stroke recovery ward of City Hospital.
“I’m fortunate, a nurse from Elbow, that I still have to go meet, was there (at the Davidson Health Centre) and she knew something was going on. She said to (my son) ‘I’ve called RUH hospital, I’ve called the ambulance. We’ve got to get him to Saskatoon right away or we’re going to lose him.’
“I owe my life to that girl who stepped above and beyond, and the rest is history.”
Therapists have cautioned him not to expect recovery too quickly but have told him that many patients that experienced similar trauma have recovered almost fully one to four years after the injury.
There’s only on direction Dieno wants to go . . . and that’s forward to regaining his wings. In the meantime, it’s the get-togethers like the fly-ins and restoration projects that keep pushing him.
“It was a very good turnout,” Dieno said of the recent. “We’re trying to make the next one an even better one. It helps put Davidson on the map and it brings people into town that will maybe come again to shop, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
