I first heard of the Flying Fathers while doing a story at Topley Landing on the Church of Angels. Local historian Betty Domonkos brought up the name of Father Ivan McCormack, a well loved Catholic priest and airplane pilot that would make regular visits to the area to hold mass at the little church.

She commented that when the Father's plane arrived it would buzz the area before landing. People then came from "...out of the woodwork" to fill the little church to the brim.

Father McCormack was born in 1932 in Point de Roche, P.E.I. and was ordained to priesthood in 1958 in Ontario. He arrived in Burns Lake in June of 1960 and although he took up a permanent residency there, spent most of his time trying to spread his "good word" to the more remote communities. He travelled by car to Topley, Grassy Plains, Ootsa Lake, Southbank and the Uncha Valley.

In the winter, he travelled by snowshoe to access the First Nation centres of Old Fort, Fort Babine and Topley Landing. In the summer he used a boat lent to him by a kind American who vacationed on Babine Lake. Former Burns Lake Mayor Paul Jean and wife Doris recall, " ...while going down Babine Lake to Fort Babine, he hit a boom of logs." The boat landed on top of the logs, while the motor stayed in the water. Although he was eventually rescued, the Father thought he would be spending the night stranded on the logs. This was possibly one of the reasons he obtained a pilots license and used an airplane to access remote places faster and easier.