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our
history
At the end of World War
II, several Christian military airmen, encouraged by missionary
George Fisk, sought to combine their religious faith and
their love of flying
by using the airplane
to reach out in Christian love to isolated people.
In 1945, pilots in
Australia, the UK and the United States formed Missionary Aviation
Fellowship. It was in 1946 when MAF officially began operations into
Latin America with Betty Greene piloting the inaugural flight to
Mexico.
Throughout the late
1940s and into the early 1950s, MAF began ministering throughout
Africa, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia.
In 1956, MAF made
headlines through the tragic deaths of five missionaries (including
MAF pilot Nate Saint) while trying to bring the news of God's love
to the Auca tribe in Ecuador, South America.
In the 1960s, MAF’s
name was shortened to Mission Aviation Fellowship.
To serve the growing
number of Canadians working with MAF projects worldwide, Mission
Aviation Fellowship of Canada was formed in 1972.
The work of MAF in
providing support to relief and development organizations proved
invaluable during the disastrous earthquakes, hurricanes, and
famines of the 1980s. During this time, MAF began using larger
aircraft like the Twin Otter and the Beech 99.
In 1989, Mission
Aviation Fellowship of Canada began using a Cessna Caravan in a new
work in the drought stricken and war-torn African country of Angola.
Today, MAF is a global
ministry partnership, serving the aviation needs of over 35
countries from head offices in Australia, Canada, Europe, South
Africa, and the United States.
Every three minutes,
somewhere in the world, an MAF pilot and plane takes off or lands,
covering more distance in six hours than David Livingstone did in
his entire 28 years as a missionary in Africa.
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