After years spent flying over the Canadian wilderness, sailing the gulf of Mexico and braving the Russian Tundra, Herb Braybrook has landed on his family farm. 

 Like many multi-generational farm yards, the only structure left standing is a tin grain bin. It is within that bin that Braybrook has built his home. 

“He’s quite the guy, I think he was a pilot and I believe he was on the rigs in Russia some time ago. Been all over … He has all kinds of stories. He had this big old house boat that he put in his dugout, a bit eccentric and definitely intelligent.” Said Dave Mooney, a family friend of Braybrook.

Braybrook did in fact place a large house boat in the farm’s dugout, after growing frustrated with the Texas’ boat licensing process. He said he had wintered in Texas the past four years, during that time he renovated a sail boat he named the Maggie May.

“The guy on the next [dock] asked me if I had any sailing experience, I told him I had some experience sailing a float plane. He said ‘You’re Gonna Die.’” 

Braybrook attempted to sail between Galveston, Texas and Cancun, Mexico but the wind was blowing against him after the first day.

“I motored and motored for days. I hit a gale and I tried to motor through it, then I got bronchitis. I got thrown against the wall and sprained my finger and bruised some ribs and so I turned around and put the sail up and Maggie May took me home “ 

Braybrook was 100 miles off of the Mexican shore when he turned around. He spent a total of 21 days at sea.

When asked why he was not in Texas this winter, Braybrook said: “Trump and old age.” He is instead experiencing prairie winters in his newest home, after losing many of his personal belongings in a house fire.

“I had a double wide trailer that burned down, then I got another trailer but there’s no insulation in those and they’re just a pneumonia hole. So I tore down that trailer and used the studs and floor joists in this place” 

His home amenities include a raised bed frame he built himself, along with a cooking and heating system built out of a steel drum. The first floor is insulated, and a ladder leads to the second floor that he called the bedroom, where renovations are still ongoing.

When asked where he goes to the bathroom Braybrook said: “Same as the bear.” 

Two windows on the west and south provide light in the home, as well as entertainment for Braybrook’s roommate: a tomcat he named “Nuts.”

“I don’t know where he came from, but I couldn’t just throw him out in the cold for my own convenience. So yeah, he stays with me.”

His extensive career as a bush pilot in the north has prepared Braybrook for surviving the elements. In his memoir, “On the Wings of a Dove,” Braybrook explains how he first fell in love with flying.

“Dad was away and I was looking after the cattle. What better way to keep an eye on the cattle than from the air? Wrong. The cattle got into the neighbour’s crop and I decided to dive bomb them. Looks good in the movies, not so good when you are looking up at hydro lines.” 

Looking at hydro lines eventually became Braybrook’s first job as a pilot after being hired by Manitoba Hydro to patrol powerlines, where he worked from “daylight ‘til dark, flying 55 feet above the ground.”

He had his first of six close calls related to fuel shortages while patrolling. Three of which required forced landings and another that took place while he was flying with $400,000 of gold on board. 

“Flew 10,000 hours of tough flying in the bush. Had a lot of fun, never wrecked a plane,” said Braybrook in his memoirs.

His skill as a pilot led to Braybrook working for different work camps across northern Canada and eventually for a hunting outfitter in Fort Nelson and Watson Lake B.C.  

Braybrook said the strangest thing he ever saw in his time as a pilot was an albino moose, and even though he assisted many hunters over his 15 years working for an outfitter, he rarely hunted himself.

“It was kind of a conflict of interest, but I did fill the freezer a few times.” 

“Freezer meat” is primarily what Braybrook eats at his home in Virden, M.B., often pan frying it on his homemade stove. His experience in Russia showed him how grim things can get when even the freezer meat runs out. 

“We were there six months after the fall of the Soviet Union. Nobody had any money. There was nothing on the shelves, the average Russian people were starving.”

Braybrook worked in logistics in the oil and gas sector in Siberia for three years and witnessed post-soviet Russia first hand. He said that even though the Canadian contractors were paid and taken care of, his Russian coworkers often had to fight just to feed their families. 

“The Russian higher ups were crooked and two faced, they didn’t take care of their people. During the good times they would truck in dead frozen reindeer in gravel trucks and dump them at the work site for the Russians to butcher and eat.”

Braybrook said he remembers seeing the trucks drive by in convoys with reindeer legs sticking straight up out of their boxes. He also recalled a time when he believes he was served dog stew.

“I walked over to a hole in the ice where some Russians were making a stew. It was the best stew I ever had, but there wasn’t any reindeer around.” 

After winter ends, Braybrook plans to build a garage for his truck and camper so that he can make repairs for a road trip to visit his children and grandchildren throughout B.C. and Alberta. He also hopes to return to Fort St. John B.C., where he used to live, work and currently rents out a house he owns.