The Canadian Museum of Flight

Glidepath News

Issue 68
Hangar #3-5333 216th Street Langley, B.C., V2Y 2N3
Phone (604) 532-0035
Fax: (604) 532-0056
Email: museum@direct.ca
Winter 2000

The Lysander is a pre-WWII British design, 225 were later built in Canada, by National Steel Car, Toronto. Most of the world’s few surviving Lysanders are Canadian-built. The Lysander was a two-seat army cooperation airplane, but its wartime duties qualified if for inclusion as a combat type. Armament consisted of one 0.303-in. Browning machine gun, operated by the pilot, in each wheel spat, firing outside the propeller disc, and a free Browning in the rear cockpit. Twelve small anti-personnel bombs could be carried under small stub-wings fitted to the spats.

The Lysander Mkl is powered by an 890-hp Bristol Mercury XII nine-cylinder radial engine and first went into service in 1938. In WWII they were affectionately known as “Lizzies” and their distinctive appearance caused some people to divide aircraft into two classes – airplanes and Lysanders! During the war they were used for night fighting, ground attack, target towing, glider towing and air-sea rescue, their ability to fly slowly under complete control proving invaluable for the latter duty.

Mkll Lysanders had a 905-hp Bristol Perseus XII engine, and the MkIII and 870-hp Mercury XX. Some Mk III’s were fitted with twin machine-guns in the rear cockpit, these being designated Mk IIIA. MkIIISAS’s, fitted with long-range fuel tank and a side ladder, were used to transport Allied agents into enemy occupied territory and to pick up VIP “evacuees”.

The British Lysanders were built on a cottage industry basis. Parts were built by small firms and individuals, trucked to other locations where they were assembled into components, taken to yet another location, where they were assembled into an airplane. Parts of the Mosquito and Hawker Hurricanes were also built the same way, as it was the only way that enough airplanes could be built to keep up with the demand. It shows what a country can do if it is fighting for its life. One of the original STOL or Short Take Off and Landing designs, the Lysander could land and take off in the length of a football field. When the serious fighting got going it was found to be impractical, as it was too big, too heavy and too vulnerable and needed massive support of fuel and mechanics. Lysanders were replaced by small light planes such as the Piper L-4 Cub.

Happy New Year…. As you will be reading throughout this newsletter, year 2000 was a year of action and progress. Plan to come and see for yourself, you will, I hope, be proud of your Museum. Proud enough to share this pride with those around you by motivating them to become members. Speaking for myself, becoming a member of the Canadian Museum of Flight is one of the nicest things I’ve ever done for ME! Wishing all of you the best in 2001.

Terry Wadhams – President, Canadian Museum of Flight

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 either Gogi or Sandy at the Museum by calling (604) 532-0035. Museum is open daily from 10:00 am – 4:00 p.m.

CMF Board of Directors

• Terry Wadhams – President
• Werner Griesbeck – Vice President
• Mike Davenport – Treasurer.
• Don Butterley
• Jane Robinson
• Gil Fanslau
• Doug Schwann
• Dan Holliday
• Bill Thompson

UPCOMING EVENTS

Quarterly Dinner Meeting

Saturday, February 3rd, 2001
Happy Hour: 6:00 pm Dinner: 7:00 pm Meeting 8:00 pm

$20.00 Per Person (GST Included)

PLEASE NOTE: 48 hour notice of cancellation required. With out this notice we are billed from the caterer and in turn will have to charge you, please help us by giving us a call at 532-0035 if you can not make it.

Guest Speaker
Mr. Ken Brown – Last surviving Dam Buster Pilot.
Mr. Brown will be speaking on “The man who built the airplane….the man who built the bomb”

RSVP by January 29th, 2001

EASTER EGG HUNT

It’s getting to be that time again when the Easter Bunny will be coming to visit the Museum. The 3rd Annual Easter Egg Hunt will take place on Saturday, April 14th. We will require many volunteers and so if you are available to help out for the day, please call Sandy at the Museum.

FLY MARKET

The 2nd Annual Father’s Day Fly Market and Pancake Breakfast will take place on Saturday June 16th. Book early to reserve your table (s) as some people have already reserved their space.

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As some of you may know, our General Manager Gogi Goguillot suffered a heart attack in the first part of December and subsequently underwent open-heart surgery. We are very happy to let you know that Gogi is now home recovering and doing well.

It was amazing to see how many friends Gogi has. As the news spread about his illness, phone calls, emails. and get well wishes started coming in from all across Canada and the United States.

We wish Gogi a speedy recovery and look forward to his return to the Museum. If any of you would like to pass along your wishes, please send them to the Museum or email Sandy at museum@direct.ca and your wishes will be delivered to Gogi. As you can appreciate, if everyone chose to call Gogi at his home his phone would never stop ringing.

VOLUNTEER OF THE QUARTER

Probably the “unsungest” of our unsung volunteers. would have to be Dick “THE BEAR” Boulter, owner/operator of BEAR CRANE SERVICES. During the move from Crescent Beach he put in untold numbers of hours in all kinds of weather (including snow), getting stuck, hauling loads that were too wide, too long, too high, too heavy and he even showed up when he was injured in a very painful fall from a loaded trailer. He has never failed to supply us with his very special talents and equipment to solve all of our usually bizarre problems. Just last month he straightened out our storage conundrum at the infamous “barn” in less than half a day, an awesome achievement! Dick has spoiled us rotten with his expertise, common sense, tolerance and good humour.

WE THANK YOU “BEAR”!

UPDATE ON DC3 CLUBHOUSE RENOVATIONS

Water and sewer lines have been laid from Roy Heaps hangar into the crawl space under the DC 3 Clubhouse. It is planned that renovations to the structure will begin during the month of February. It is initially planned to install the two (2) washrooms first (one regular and one wheelchair accessible). Once this is completed, then remodeling can commence on the designated kitchen and storage areas. The present front porch will be replaced with a wheel chair accessible ramp. It is to be noted that completion of this project will take a bit of time because manpower availability may be limited because of other Museum projects.

WANTED

• We are in desperate need of store mannequins for the Museum displays. We have many complete uniforms from a SAR Tech to RCMP Air Division but have nothing to put them on. We would prefer older mannequins, even if they require some work. Please let Sandy know if you have any contacts.
• Needed for the Museum lunchroom-8 kitchen chairs (Sandy has said that although she knows everyone is fond of the ones we have now, 8 chairs all the same colour would be nice)

WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST MEMBERS

George A. Andrew Surrey, BC John MaCready North Vancouver, BC Barney Biggs Brett Binnie Surrey, BC R.A. Malcolm Abbotsford, BC Langley, BC Wetaskiwin, AB Surrey, BC Michael Mattson H.G. Maxwell Bob Brennert Langley, BC Justin Bunyan Langley, BC Albert R. McDougal Richmond, BC Surrey, BC Ted Campbell Langley, BC Lone Butte, BC Arline Moan Jim Ostlin Jack Charlston Aldergrove, BC Andrew Clark Fort Langley, BC Bart Ramsay New Westminster, BC Jagbir Dhillon Delta, BC Ronald B. Simpson White Rock, BC Barry Smith Bernard Dunlevy Earle Fleming Surrey, BC Delta, BC Everett, WA Frank Stevens Nanaimo, BC Grant Henderson New Westminster, BC Guy Thomas Surrey, BC Jeff Jeffrey Al MacNutt Surrey, BC Abbotsford, BC Jim Webb Abbotsford, BC Bellingham, WA Harmon Woodworth

CCW PROGRESS REPORT

Last newsletter we asked for help with upholstery and we got it. The seats are now done along with the door panels; most of the interior panels are ready for upholstery and will be finished shortly.

The wings are now ready for cover and paint and we are fortunate to have a hangar bay next to the Museum for covering and assembly. We will next be getting into the instrument panel and engine plumbing and wiring. A special thank you to Tom Scime for the upholstery and Roy Heaps for the use of the hangar bay.

FROM THE DESK OF THE VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR

Ken Knutson, CMF Volunteer Coordinator

The New Year will be like starting fresh with all the progress that has been made in the past year. Anyone visiting the Museum will certainly be impressed with how polished the exhibits are becoming.

The courtyard paving went very well, although the weather did not cooperate fully and one day the volunteers truly experienced the word ” torrential downpour”. This did not set anything back and enthusiasm was high.

Under the guidance of Gil Fansiau, the landscaping workday had a great turn out of volunteers. The weather co-operated with everyone having a great time and laughter being heard through out the day. We now have a very spectacular display under and around the Vampire and T-33 to greet people who fly into Langley airport. Thank you Gil for a job well done.

The new hangar floor has also proceeded very well, with the volunteers all pitching in to move aircraft and artifacts in order for the two concrete pours to be done. More on the floor can be read in Dan Holliday’s article in this newsletter.

The WACO Cabin is proceeding on target and will take to the skies in 2001. Anyone wanting to see the restoration reaching completion should come in for a look. Some of the workmanship on the Cabin is better I am sure than when it first went into production.

Our ” Millennium Kids Room” is well on the way to being completed thanks to Milt Lake’s dedication and Linda Holliday who will be over seeing the hands on displays. Soon one more area will be user friendly for children.

If you have not seen the Gift Shop lately come and see what happens when you knock out walls and do some painting, it has truly opened and brightened up the area making it much more inviting and friendly.

All of the projects at the Museum have progressed very well because of the volunteers. Let’s continue to revitalize the energy and bring some of it into our Mall, Air Show and Special Event displays. We always need more new members and these venues are the best places to spark their interest. Thanks to all of the volunteers for a great past year and looking forward to an even better 2001.

MARILYN GETS A MAKEOVER

You will remember in the last newsletter that we wrote about the Fleet Finch being in the movies! At that time, the Fleet desperately needed a new paint job so there weren’t five colours of yellow.

Well, you should see her now with a beautiful new paint job (all one colour!) – shiny new Roundels and buzz numbers.

With the help of many volunteers and the spray team of Mike Davenport and Werner Griesbeck, the Fleet was disassembled, sanded, masked, painted, reassembled, and put back on display within one week. Thanks to all those who helped make Marilyn beautiful again.

HANGAR FLOOR

Did you know that the hangar floor in the Museum was painted asphalt and we all know that asphalt has oil in it so paint never sticks very well and it is also soft, so when you put anything heavy on it, you are left with dents and as a result we had a hangar floor that didn’t look very nice and was almost impossible to keep clean. Thanks to our Millennium Grant, we now have a 3-4″ concrete floor in the Museum hangar.

It began in November when the Board of Directors decided winter would be a good time to do this project and the sooner the better. Gil Fanslau was asked if he could talk to the contractors he had been dealing with and give us a start date. Everything worked out time wise to pour the first half December 5th.

The floor was poured in two sections so we did not have to completely empty the Museum. However, we did have to move all the airplanes and many of the engine displays. We moved the remaining cabinets etc. to one side and poured concrete. A week later, we moved everything over onto the new concrete and poured the second half. Sounds easy, right? Not so we had airplanes and engines stashed all over the airport in members’ hangars, plus Roy Heaps and Rollie Lavigne who kindly volunteered their own hangars.

After two weeks of planned chaos, we were able to move everything back to its new position for a few months. Then comes the next phase – putting an epoxy coating on the concrete floor. Of course, that means stashing stuff all over the airport again for several more weeks in early February. Hopefully our friends at the airport will be able to help out again and that we haven’t worn out our volunteers by then!

By March 1st, we will have a nice shiny, smooth floor to display our exhibits. (Did someone say Hangar Dance?)

MISSION FLYPAST

On September 30th, hundreds of American veterans were in Mission along with Canadian Veterans for the 2nd Annual exercising of the Freedom of the City by the Royal Canadian Legion.

In addition to the Freedom of the City ceremony and the parade through downtown Mission, the Canadian Veterans honoured the 2,000 American MIA’s from the Korean and Vietnam Wars by standing alongside their American comrades to demand a full accounting from countries believed to have either the prisoners or their bodies.

A specially designed flag (colours) was presented to the U.S. Veterans, which is the highest honour that can be bestowed on military units by British Commonwealth countries. CMF was proud to be a part of this international ceremony by doing a fly past down Main Street with our four bi-planes and the Harvard.

REPLY FROM MISSION LEGION PRESIDENT

I cannot begin to express the immense pleasure that was derived from seeing these “birds” in flight. Our American friends were, to say the least, very impressed, as well they should be. Our chests swelled with pride at the sight of them as well. Memories….some sweet some not so sweet, but for the most part the operative word remains “sweet”.

Thank you again,
Barbara Quinn
The Royal Canadian Legion #57 Mission City Branch President

CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP THANK YOU

CANADIAN AERONAUTICAL PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION -2000 AGM REPORT

On the weekend of Oct 20, Gogi Goguillot, (Gen. Mgr.) and Mike Davenport (Director) attended the Annual General Meeting of CAPA held at the Western Canadian Museum facility in Winnipeg MB. Complimentary travel was provided by West Jet and arranged by Don Reed from Calgary. During the meetings, which lasted for a day and a half, many items were discussed that are important to our continued growth as an aviation museum. These included: •

• A permanent address for CAPA was established at the Alberta Aviation Museum in Wetaskawin.
• The board appointed a committee headed by Michael White to create draft Code of Ethics for board approval. This Code of Ethics will govern how member museums acquire and dispose of ex military aircraft. CMF is one of 13 civilian museums accredited to purchase such aircraft from DND.
• Elections for the 2001 executive were held and the following were elected:
  • President: Rick Franks, Chairman, Warbird Heritage.
  • 1″ Vice: Bryan Nelson, Greenwood, NS.
  • 2nd Vice: Donette Hyslip, VP Arrow Project 2000.
  • Secretary/Treasurer Brett Binnie, Cdn. Aviation Hall of Fame.
• The new executive will create a Memo of Co-operation and Understanding for board approval. This will put in place a formal agreement among all member museums to exchange information and artifacts. It is expected that such an agreement will enhance CAPA’s image when working with various government agencies.
• The new executive will also investigate incorporation federally and provincially.
• The 2001 meeting will be held in Hamilton, ON at the Canadian Warbird Heritage Museum facility on Oct. 27.

The meetings were held in the boardroom of the Western Canadian Aviation Museum and guided tours were available. On Saturday night an excellent dinner was served. Following dinner, Jack Lamb founder of Lambair spoke about his experiences in running an airline in northern Manitoba. A special thank you to our hosts.

OCTOBER DINNER MEETING

Just for a change, we decided to hold our last dinner meeting of 2000 at Cruisers Restaurant, a few blocks from the Museum.

After a delicious buffet dinner and a short meeting we were entertained for the rest of the evening by “Elvis”. Because it was close to Halloween some of our members came dressed in some very innovative costumes, and as you can see by the picture, we even got in some dancing.

Thanks to Ralph and all his staff at Cruisers for an excellent evening.

SOME RULES FOR FLIGHT – Thank you Bill Thompson

• Every takeoff is optional. Every landing is mandatory
• A “good” landing is one from which you can walk away. A “great” landing is one after which they can use the plane again.
• Always try to keep the number of landings you make equal to the number of takeoff’s you’ve made.
• There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.