Jun 9, 2026 · 1 hr 8 min · 11 segments
Before she commanded the Snowbirds, Maryse Carmichael was a young Air Cadet from Quebec City with a dream of becoming a military pilot. That dream would eventually make her the first woman to fly with…
Brian MorrisonHostI have three older brothers, I'm the baby, and all three of them were part of the Air Cadets.
So he did his glider license and private pilot license with the Air Cadets, and then went on to join the military as a pilot.
And then as a kid too, we used to go to the Bagotville, uh, International Air Show, couple hours north from Quebec City.
While my dad was not super fond of flying, he did like aviation, and so both mom and dad, uh, brought us to the Bagotville air show.
Yeah, so it sounds like your family had a big connection with aviation in general, and that was a big influence, eh?
And for me, especially my brother Eddie, because, you know, when I joined the military later on in the '90s, I mean, it was still not super common for women to be military pilots, but, you know, having seen my brother go through all the steps in the training and everything, then it made it more familiar.
And I thought, "Well, if my brother can do it, hmm, I probably can do it." [laughs]
[laughs] And I'm really looking forward to, uh, going through some of that insight that you have on being one of the, uh, earlier women to do that flight training.
When it came to joining Air Cadets, was that more because your brothers were in that, or was it because you wanted to get your glider and private licenses or, or what, what drew you to that?
I, I certainly was interested, but, um, in addition to my brothers, I had some friends at school that were going.
So you know, like, uh, even, uh, because I see it now, my two daughters are part of the organization, are part of the Air Cadets, and I see it, it's often like that.
It's often friends at school that are part of the cadets and then you join.
And I ended up doing, yes, I ended up doing a lot of flying and aviation for sure, but I did a lot of music.
I was part of the drill squad, and I was also a staff cadet at the music camp close to Valcartier in, in Quebec City.
I have three older brothers, I'm the baby, and all three of them were part of the Air Cadets.
So he did his glider license and private pilot license with the Air Cadets, and then went on to join the military as a pilot.
And then as a kid too, we used to go to the Bagotville, uh, International Air Show, couple hours north from Quebec City.
While my dad was not super fond of flying, he did like aviation, and so both mom and dad, uh, brought us to the Bagotville air show.
Yeah, so it sounds like your family had a big connection with aviation in general, and that was a big influence, eh?
And for me, especially my brother Eddie, because, you know, when I joined the military later on in the '90s, I mean, it was still not super common for women to be military pilots, but, you know, having seen my brother go through all the steps in the training and everything, then it made it more familiar.
And I thought, "Well, if my brother can do it, hmm, I probably can do it." [laughs]
[laughs] And I'm really looking forward to, uh, going through some of that insight that you have on being one of the, uh, earlier women to do that flight training.
When it came to joining Air Cadets, was that more because your brothers were in that, or was it because you wanted to get your glider and private licenses or, or what, what drew you to that?
I, I certainly was interested, but, um, in addition to my brothers, I had some friends at school that were going.
So you know, like, uh, even, uh, because I see it now, my two daughters are part of the organization, are part of the Air Cadets, and I see it, it's often like that.
It's often friends at school that are part of the cadets and then you join.
And I ended up doing, yes, I ended up doing a lot of flying and aviation for sure, but I did a lot of music.
I was part of the drill squad, and I was also a staff cadet at the music camp close to Valcartier in, in Quebec City.
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