Уильям Лишман: Изобретатель, скульптор и пионер авиации с птицами

Canadian inventor, artist and flying enthusiast
William Lishman (February 12, 1939 – December 30, 2017) was a Canadian sculptor, filmmaker, inventor, naturalist and public speaker, president of William Lishman & Associates Limited, Vice President of Paula Lishman Limited and Chair Emeritus of Operation Migration Inc. Described by the Toronto Star as a "dyslexic, colour blind, wildly creative sculptor", he died less than two weeks after being diagnosed with leukemia.

Lishman was one of the pioneers of ultra light aviation in Canada, and was the first Canadian to foot launch and land a rigid winged aircraft. In 1988, he became the first person to lead a flight of geese with an aircraft, and in 1993, the first to conduct an aircraft led migration of birds. His first aircraft was built in 1976, a combination of an Easy Riser hang glider, a go kart engine, and a propeller. The story was chronicled in the autobiography Father Goose, published in three countries. Lishman is also credited with inspiring the Jacques Perrin film Winged Migration.

In 1994 he co founded Operation Migration, Inc., and was its Chairperson until 2005. With Operation Migration he flew numerous migrations with geese and cranes, and in 2000 did the major path finding for the route that has been used to establish the migration of the Whooping Crane between Wisconsin and Florida. Lishman adopted eight sandhill cranes in spring 1995. Each had to be exercised, separately, for three hours daily, by a person wearing a crane puppet. Unlike the geese, if the cranes imprinted on a human, they would attack their own kind. Pilots would skim low to the ground, to release the 90 kilogram payload. The sled shaped pod was designed by engineer and hang glide pilot Paul Yarnall. In the Christmas 2015 report, he provided this update. "Working with David Woodhouse we continued on re working my Rescue Trike for the project I call Air First Aid Basically we built a new aircraft and used a few parts from the old one. Unfortunately my concept for using this type of aircraft for disaster relief still has not got off the ground but I keep gnawing a way forward with it. With that said I have lost my passion for flying and this year my total time in the air can only be measured in minutes. When I was flying with birds or photographing the Oak Ridge Moraine there was purpose to my flight but now they are both done. While I love the freedom and the spectacular visuals it is now a case of bin der and dun dat. Any one have idea what I can do with 3 perfectly good ultralight aircraft?"

Lishman's career as a sculptor began in 1962. He became known for repurposing metal from existing items; a 1969 exhibition profile cites "It Could Have Gone Up" as including "a long slab of rusted metal which had once been part of an ancient threshing machine." The natural rust on his works were said to be "totally unlike man made effects." as of 2017, the sculptures remain at the park. In 2015, his stainless steel iceberg sculpture was installed at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa.

In 2015 Lishman produced and self published a coffee table book highlighting views of the Oak Ridges Moraine from Above which was its title. In December 2015, he wrote about this project. "We had the book launch here in the underground house on Earth Day April 22 and it all worked I have had great feed back on the book – And as of this date out of the 500 printed there are only about 50 left." They married in 1968. Starting in 2015, Lishman and his wife began to share a rented home near Oaxaca, Mexico with another couple for six weeks in the winter. In 1988, Lishman built a new home in the top of a hill on the same property, for the viper's bugloss plants, which would flower each summer, on the over 1000 tonnes of earth covering the house. "Most people that lived anywhere near him will remember him flying over with a flock of geese behind him. That was a common sight in the late eighties and early nineties. He'll be remembered for a lot of different things but mostly for being an innovator and someone who wasn't afraid to try new things", Aaron Lishman added. In 2013, Lishman described himself as essentially a sculptor in an interview. "I got fired from everything else I wanted to be a pilot but I'm colour blind and dyslexic. The air force didn't want me to be a pilot. I'd be deadly." Actor Jeff Daniels provided this comment to the Toronto Star for the obituary: "Prior to shooting Fly Away Home, I'd always consider myself a creative spirit but when I met Bill, I found someone even more creative, even more alive, even more imaginative. He taught me a lot about what it means to be a true artist and it was an honour playing him".