Canadian Museum of Flight

ISSUE 87 FALL 2005

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Glidepath THE QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF The Canadian Museum of Flight

ON BEING A CANADIAN VETERAN

Veterans, as I have come to know them, do not seek praise for their service, but they deserve recognition, for their willingness to serve their country.

This year, The “Year of the Veteran” is our year to give pause for thought, give praise to courage, and give thanks to a most deserving group. It is an opportunity to remember Canada’s heroes, retell Canada’s history and inspire Canada’s youth.

Who are these veterans that we are honouring during the “Year of the Veteran”? We immediately think of those who gave their lives, and of the soldiers who came home from the line of battle; the airmen from the skies and the sailors from the seas. Those women who served as WDs in the RCAF, Wrens in Navy and those in Canadian Women’s Army Corp are veterans also.

There are others who are veterans; the cooks who converted rations into edible meals, carpenters, builders, mechanics, orderly room clerks, Service Police, MT drivers, and many others all of whom performed functions which were essential for the successful prosecution of a war. These veterans, and those who kept “The Home Fires Burning” so often are forgotten when we “Remember”.

Our veterans – of the Second World War, of the Korean conflict, and of all the places where they have opposed tyranny and stood as Peace Keepers – have left behind them a trail of international goodwill and admiration for Canada. When they left their uniforms behind these veterans continued to work towards making our country the great and respected Nation we have become.

Canadians are grateful to all of them, as we remember them in this Year of the Veteran.
Bless ’em all. The long and short and the tall!”
To the Veteran…

Written by John McNarry President of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum in Brandon Manitoba and given as a Toast to the Veteran’s at the CATPM Banquet held on October 14, 2005

ISSUE 87
FALL 2005
HANGAR #3 5333-216th STREET LANGLEY, BC V2Y 2N3
TEL: 604-532-0035
FAX: 604-532-0056
museum@direct.ca
www.canadianflight.org

  • PAGE 1 On being a Canadian Veteran
  • PAGE 2 Board of Directors & Staff/ Dinner Meeting
  • PAGE 3 Volunteer of the Quarter/ Museum Updates
  • PAGE 4 New Members/RCAF Reunion Veteran’s Week
  • PAGE 5 A Touch of History
  • PAGE 6 #5 O.T.U. Reunion
  • PAGE 7 The Day the Door Fell Down/ Volunteer Requirements
  • PAGE 8 Classifieds

THE NEWSLETTER

The CMF Newsletter is published quarterly by the Canadian Museum of Flight. Contributions in the form of articles, news items, letters and photos are welcome, as are comments and criticism. No payment can be made for any manuscripts that are submitted for publication in the CMF Newsletter. The Editor reserves the right to make changes in the manuscripts without altering the meaning.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact Sandy Sideroff at the Museum by calling 604-532-0035. Museum is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

CMF BOARD OF DIRECTORS & STAFF

  • Matt Offer President
  • Gord Wintrup Vice President/Treasurer
  • Bob Fowles Director
  • Roy Hafeli Director
  • Jerry Lloyd Director
  • Bob Parkes Director
  • Ken Smith Director
  • Capt Bill Thompson Lifetime Director
  • Sandy Sideroff Executive Director
  • Teresa Rhodenizer Gift Shop/Bookkeeping/ Collection Management
  • Chris Ryan Project Manager

Quarterly Dinner Meeting

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Dinner: 7:00 pm Doors Open: 6:00 pm Meeting/Guest Speaker: 8:00 pm

$20.00 Per Person

RSVP by 4:00 pm Thursday November 10th, 2005

We require 48 hours notice of cancellation or you will be charged for the dinner

Our Guest Speaker for the evening is Aviation Historian and Author Chris Weicht. Chris is the author of Jericho Beach, North by Northwest & Pacific Airways.

Chris will be giving a presentation and slide show that tells the story of Canada’s Airmen and Sailors that defended the west coast of Canada from the largely unknown presence of nine large aircraft carrying Japanese Submarines that sunk numerous merchant vessels, attacked several land based defense establishments and were responsible for the only air attack upon the continental United States. The Canadian Government suppressed all knowledge of these operations to avert panic among the west coast population. This presentation shows many slides of photographs actually taken on board Japanese submarine 1-26 operating off Vancouver Island.

And just in time for Christmas Chris will also have copies of his three books available for purchase

The Fall 2005 Volunteer of the Quarter is John Trendell

John became a member of CMF in 2004 after meeting a CMF volunteer a the Semiahmoo Mall display. He was invited to come to the Tuesday morning volunteer meeting held in the CMF lunch room and since then has been an integral part of our volunteer core. John spent 33 years working for BC Tel and did not come to us with current aviation related skills, but as he says “There is no end of variety when it comes to the projects at the museum. Some are aircraft related but many are general maintenance etc, and there is lots of work for people with any skills” The one thing that is most appreciated about John is that no matter how dirty the job is, you can count on him getting involved and helping. John recently took on an inventory related computer project that was a complete mystery to him when he first started, but he jumped in and completed it beyond what we could of hoped for. John, for everything you do at the museum….

Congratulations on being CMF’s 2005 Fall Volunteer of the Quarter

MUSEUM UPDATES ⚫

  • On Sunday August 21, 2005, while returning from the Chilliwack Flight Fest, the Canadian Museum of Flight’s Fleet Finch suffered moderate damage after the aircraft flipped while landing at the Langley airport. Two museum crew members were onboard the aircraft at the time of the mishap, and one was taken to hospital suffering a cut to his leg and was later released. The Fleet is now undergoing the necessary repairs by museum volunteers, and it is hoped that it will be airworthy for the Langley, Fort Langley and White Rock cenotaph fly pasts on November 11th to honour our Veterans. ⚫
  • In September Alicia Kapustianyk left CMF as our Volunteer Coordinator. Alicia has gone back to school and although she is missed here by everyone, we wish her the best in her future endeavors. We to date have not found a replacement for this position. ⚫
  • We are also very sorry to see Bill Findlay step down from the Board of Directors and would like to sincerely thank him for the many hours spent attending Board meetings and sitting on various committees. Bill has assured us that we will still see lots of him – we do hope that means Bill you will still be our official MC. ⚫
  • More changes taking place on the CMF board. Member Chris Ryan has stepped down as a Director but is not leaving. Chris is now the museum’s Projects Manager. He will be working at the Museum every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. He’ll be working with our volunteers on various projects such as the Tutor, the Waco INF, Fleet Canuck, and site maintenance.
  • With two open positions on the Board of Directors in line with the CMF Constitution, one position was filled at the September Board meeting. Our newest appointed board member is someone I’m sure you’ve seen… or rather have heard before. Roy Hafeli is an event announcer and is best known for announcing air shows all over Canada. He assisted Bill Findlay at last year’s auction. Roy is a (former) private pilot with a float endorsement and worked in the floatplane industry as well as an aircraft painter at Conair Aviation. Roy is a 17 year Auxiliary member of the RCMP, a member of Mission Search and Rescue and a member of the Mission Amateur Radio Emergency Service. “I look forward to assisting the board and museum where I can. It’s a great collection with an enthusiastic group of people. I know the CMF has a great future before it.” ⚫
  • The Members’ Section of our website has been revamped and along with having archived newsletters, it also has a new volunteer and events section. Your username is MUSEUM and your password is MEMBER. ⚫
  • The volunteer Christmas Potluck Dinner and Party will be held on Saturday December 17th in the Hangar. If you have volunteered this year and would like to attend, please stop by the museum or give us a call to find out what type of food to bring. Word has it that Santa will be stopping by also!

WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST MEMBERS

Surrey, BC Surrey, BC

Ken Bows Langley, BC Coquitlam, BC David Paetsch Surrey, BC Surrey, BC James & Catherine Kendall James Northrup Randall Taylor Langley, BC Brian, Dave and Mary Carmean Vancouver, BC Bernie Kapustianyk Aldergrove, BC Shelley Moran Mission, BC Norrie Hathaway Vito lalungo Cloverdale, BC Coquitlam, BC Roy Heart Ivor Brown Langley, BC New Westminster David Stubbs Brian Neville Roland Selby Delta, BC Clive Barratt Svend Raun Chilliwack, BC Langley, BC Don Thibodeau New Westminster, BC Rick Hall Langley, BC Surrey, BC Dave Estok Burnaby, BC Erhard Beer Darren Rettie Surrey, BC Gord Varney Natoliy Brusilovski Langley, BC James Omelus Abbotsford, BC Vancouver, BC Anneve & Angus Gillon Surrey, BC Courtenay, BC New Westminster Ian Sibbald Edward Limb Langley, BC Christine Parkinson Chilliwack, BC Wayne Maure Emil Oucharek Langley, BC Langley, BC Gene Lewis Glendale, AZ Kevin Young Langley, BC Cathy Luder Port Coquitlam, BC Nathan Shipley White Rock, BC John Rogers

50 YEAR RCAF REUNION

The Museum hosted members of a 50-year reunion of the 1955 Royal Canadian Air Force graduating class organized by Dan Ryan of Maple Ridge on Thursday October 13th.

The group learned the ropes of the Air Force in Centrailia, Ontario and then after one month they moved on to Claresholm, Alberta where they started their basic training on the de Havilland Chipmunk, and then they moved up to the Harvard. They spent nine months in Claresholm and were then transferred to Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. where they flew T-Bird jets and graduated with their wings.

Throughout their training, they all became great friends. “There’s always a camaraderie for people sharing the same uniform,” Ryan said. “You make friendships that will definitely last a lifetime.” After graduating from the RCAF flight-training program, the group was broken up and posted to various positions. Ryan said some men, including himself, stayed only for the short-term service time of five years, while others from the group were pilots with the RCAF until they retired.

VETERAN’S WEEK

In celebration of The Year of the Veteran the Canadian Museum of Flight will be opening the doors of the museum free of charge to any and all veterans. This special offer will be in effect from Friday, November 4 through to November 11 – Remembrance Day.

A TOUCH OF HISTORY

On January 24, 1942 a “sprog” crew took off in a Handley Page Hampden, number 2081, on their first cross-country training flight, from number sixteen operational training unit, based at Upper Heyford (near Oxford)

It was a beautifully clear, crisp day and we were looking forward to an easy trip; as our briefing officer said, “it’s a piece of cake”. The first leg was westerly to Cardiff, then northerly to Newcastle, easterly to Great Yarmouth on the coast, and finally, southwesterly to Upper Heyford (passing north of London). The first three turning points we hit bang on. Bob said, “the plane few like a charm”. Sandy said, “Navigation was a cinch”. Jock took frequent accurate radio fixes and I sensed I had lucked into a bang-on crew.

We flew at 5,000 feet or so in five/tenths cloud and had mist-free views all the way until we reached Great Yarmouth. The cloud level dropped to 3,000 feet, and so did we. As we turned on course for home, the cloud filled in and wisps of ground mist or fog made map reading difficult (that was my job). It was some time before Sandy asked for a radio fix. When he plotted it he remarked that it seemed to put us over London. At once, Bob (he was on the ball) turned up our radio receiver and we heard brrr, brrr, brrr; warning notes given off by balloons. We were below the clouds and above the ground mist (or fog). Suddenly everything happened. Bob began a climb, when a spitfire appeared on our starboard and hand signaled us down. He made a slow turn and we spiraled down behind him, right to the misty deck. He turned and landed at a small landing strip. Bob followed behind but went around again, parallel to the landing strip until he had a good approach. With wheels and flaps down, the engines throttled back almost to stalling we touched down at the extreme beginning of the strip. With throttles off and brakes fully on, we skidded to the end of the runway (oh, we made a small ground loop, but it was not mentioned). I alit from the under-bin as I saw a vehicle speeding down the runway. The CO of the section jumped out, he was a F/L. In brief, he gave us the picture. We understood that it was a hush-hush testing unit for the proto-type of the “Seafire” a plane designed for aircraft carriers. The landing strip was little more than one and a half the length of a carrier.

We had blundered into a restricted airspace. It was not an official RAF Station, but a small unit to provide “test” pilots. There was no accommodation for us. We said we could stay at the Union Jack club in central London and report in the morning. The MET people expected the fog (almost a pea souper now) to last for three or four days. The CO took us to the small mess and asked the mess sergeant to provide us with a meal and what a meal it was! The pilots lived in London and ate breakfast and lunch at the Mess (many of them (we suspect) drank lunch as there was a surplus of food). The fighter pilots were allowed four eggs per week; we were allotted one egg per month (if we were lucky). We had a sumptuous meal; two fried eggs, bacon (cut from the slab) sausages (pork), strips of liver (delicious) and fried bread. Seconds if we had room. We had brewed tea with sugar, and bread with jam and clotted cream. The Spitfire pilots were pampered.

We took the underground from Heathrow to the west end of London, in full flying gear (we had no other). We visited the Captains Cabin (a pub) and ate at Whites (a posh restaurant). Everyone was in awe of the bomber crew from Canada and we had the “Royal Treatment”. I don’t think we had to spend a penny for anything (oh, we had to call Heathrow for a MET report). On the third day we got the “all clear” to fly out.

On January 5, Bob lined up on the runway (Sandi called it a postage stamp). From my under-bin I could see that the tail wheel was 15 feet off the tarmac and on the gravel. Bob put on the brakes, revved the engines, and when the tail wheel lifted he released the brakes. He pushed the throttles through the gate and sped down the runway. He kept the nose down until the very last second, pulled back on the stick and our Hampden rose like a bird. I could see the crowd at the strip and they were clapping, I could almost hear the collective sigh of relief; that we “made it”.

We headed out the clear corridor proceeded by two Spits and when they pealed off (the signal that we were “out”), we headed for Great Yarmouth to complete our last leg. We had no serious flack from our CO. The CO of Heathrow had phoned and said the Canadian crew showed superb airmanship and courage!

I have written this account to state that I feel that Handley Page Hampden 2081 was the first multi-engine aircraft to land at Heathrow and also I, Harry Parsons, a Newfoundlander (though not a Canadian then) was the first person to alight from a multi-engine aircraft and step onto the tarmac of Heathrow.

Harry Parsons NF 798540

Submitted by CMF Member Harry Parsons-Langley, BC

Report of the visit of members of the 5 O.T.U. (B.C.) Reunion Association to Boundary Bay and Abbotsford Airfields in 6th and 8th September 2005 funded by the Heroes Return Scheme

On the 4th September, 13 members of the 5 O.T.U. (B.C.) Reunion Association, accompanied by 10 wives, flew to Vancouver to re-visit the two airfields at Boundary Bay and Abbotsford, where they completed their operational training in 1944/45, flying Mitchells & Liberators with the R.C.A.F.

We were very fortunate in having considerable help from an interested party who lives in Abbotsford, Michael DesMazes. He has been researching the history of 5 O.T.U. for a number of years, to enable him to write a book, in memory of his uncle, who served in the R.C.A.F. and trained there. It was he who made our visit such a great success. Both the airfields are still in use, Abbotsford being the Relief Airfield for Vancouver International Airport whilst Boundary Bay also has International standing catering for small planes.

We spent one full day visiting each airfield. At Boundary Bay we were welcomed by the Mayor of Delta and the Airport Manager, plus a large number of interested persons representing various R.C.A.F. and Veteran organisations, plus the local press, who gave our visit a large amount of publicity. Refreshments were served and we were well looked after by members of the local Canadian Air Cadet Squadron, who showed a great interest in talking to us. Their C.O., S/L Jason White, then took several of our members up for a short flight round the circuit in a small Cessna aircraft, which brought back memories, in particular to the two pilots in our party. Prior to our leaving, we enjoyed a triple flypast by two TE28s (?) painted in Navy colours. None of us could positively identify the aircraft, although it was generally agreed that they were possibly Grumman Avengers.

At Abbotsford we received a similar welcome. Our first visit was to the local museum to view an “Abbotsford Remembers” exhibition arranged by Michael DesMazes, mainly dealing with the history of 5 O.T.U. Then to the local cemetery, where 12 of our R.A.F. casualties are buried. Here we met members of the local branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, who provided poppy petals for us to place, one on each grave. Our next stop was the War Memorial in the town, on which the names of those buried in the cemetery are included. Members of the Legion had arranged a short but moving Ceremony of Remembrance, including Standards, a Bugler, a Piper and a Padre, at which the names of 84 casualties from 5 O.T.U. were read out. The Mayor of Abbotsford kindly attended and laid a wreath, followed by our laying a British Legion wreath, which we had taken over with us. The Mayor then accompanied us to the Airfield. Here we were entertained by the members of Abbotsford Flying Club, who provided us with a very pleasant buffet lunch, prepared by the ladies. This gave us an opportunity for one of our members to thank the Mayor, the Airport Manager and the members of the Flying Club for their hospitality. The day ended with a walk round part of the airfield, where one of the hangers, which was there in 1944/45 is still in use. As a final gesture we enjoyed a flypast of four small civilian aircraft in a perfect diamond formation, followed by a Tiger Moth and a Harvard, flown over from a local aeroplane museum. After enjoying three passes, it was time for us to mount our coach and return to Vancouver. I was later informed that our wreath had been given to the local Museum to put on show.

After a full week together we each went our own ways. I travelled in a party of 11 on the Rocky Mountaineer to Calgary. Whilst there, I and the other pilot in our group visited the Nanton Lancaster Museum, some 45 miles South of Calgary, of which I am a member. They are restoring Fairchild Cornell No 14424, which I actually flew on July 18th 1944 at 32 E.F.T.S. Bowden. Such was the generosity of the volunteers that two of their members drove up to fetch us at our hotel and delivered us back later.

Thanks to the Heroes Return Scheme and all those involved in any way, this was a truly nostalgic trip of a lifetime. We all thoroughly enjoyed our visit and everywhere we went, as soon as the reason for our visit was known, the Canadian people both young and old treated us as V.I.P.s.

Submitted by: Alan F. Rumbelow -21.9.05.

THE DAY THE DOOR FELL DOWN

On June 4th, while preparing the hangar for the return of the aircraft from the Hope Flight Fest, a CMF volunteer attempted to open the hangar door. Unfortunately, the door came crashing down. Nobody was hurt in the incident but the door was no longer operational. Because the door could no longer be opened the aircraft had to be stored outside. The weather this summer cooperated and allowed the museum to leave the Tiger Moth, SE5a and Fleet Finch outside while research was conducted on the possibility of repairing the door or fully replacing it. After exploring all options it was agreed to totally replace the unit as the old door was deemed unsafe and not cost effective to repair. The Museum is pleased to announce that the new door has been installed and consists of two 12 x 20 doors with a movable centre column. The door requires no power, unlike the old door system and can be easily opened by a single volunteer.

Special Thanks goes to VALMART Doors and Dick Boulter of BEAR Crane for their assistance and support along with Roy Heaps for the use of a scissor lift. Of course we can not forget our great group of volunteers who re-enforced the hangar and did the majority of the “grunt work” prior to the installation.

View from outside Hangar showing the two doors along with the centre mullion which slides over to the side for a full opening.

Our Volunteer of the Quarter showing how easy it is to open the doors manually.

We are looking for volunteers to work in the Gift Shop during the week and on the weekends. NO retail experience is needed, training provided. If you are able to help, even if only for a few hours a day, please call Teresa.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Semiahmoo Mall November 6-13. If you are able to work a 4 hour shift, please call Sandy or Teresa at the museum to book a time.