Walter Edwin Gilbert (8 March 1899 – 18 June 1986) was a Canadian bush pilot and one of the founders of Pacific Western Airlines.
As Morton reports[2]: 118 In 1939, as regional operations chief for Western Canada Airways, Gilbert directed Russ Baker to Fort St. John, British Columbia, near Pinchi Lake where service was needed to fly mercury.
The Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada Limited was supplying the increased demands brought on by war.
The mine manager Emil Bronlund supplied Baker 400 flasks of mercury, 75 pounds each, in June 1940 to fly out.
After the war Baker and Gilbert started Central British Columbia Airlines with financing from Karl John Springer.