Welcome to the CANAV Blog for December/January 2021/22 — Take It all In … Martin Mars for Sale $5m Here’s Your Chance + RCAF 100th Anniversary Project Update + Back in the (Same Old) USSR? + Best Book Deals + F-102 + Early Jetliners in Canada + C. Don Long Photo Collection including Don’s Coverage of “Cambria” in Toronto 1937 + Tugboat Rouille + Plane Spotting Rules + Central Airways and the Resurrection of Apache CF-KFX+ Alaska Crash Landing + Grumman Albatross Revival? + Pierre Gillard Blog

Martin Mars … Many older fans have been watching the great Martin Mars story since several Mars came to Canada in the late 1950s. Lots of us eventually made the pilgrimage to Port Alberni, BC to photograph these giant beauties. Today, two Mars remain at their Port Alberni base, but they’ve been dormant for years, bypassed by newer technology. Now, the last airworthy Mars is for sale. Here are all the details and much more about the classic Mars: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/martin-mars-for-sale-1.6317194

Today’s lead-in photos feature RCAF T-33 21500 and ex-Canadian Army Auster AOP Mk.VI CF-LPA. As young fellows chasing airplanes, we never passed on a chance to photograph a T-bird, but 21500 was especially enticing in its glorious Golden Hawks colours. We caught it “in glorious black-and-white” on the ramp at Trenton for Air Force Day June 1, 1963. Most recently 21500 was C-FUPO based in London, Ontario with the Jet Aircraft Museum. There’s a beautiful model of 21500 available — see aviationmegastore.com

From 1948 air observation post (AOP) Auster CF-LPA served the Canadian Army as 16675 at such bases as Rivers, Manitoba, and Camp Borden and Camp Petawawa in Ontario. When the Army began re-equipping with the Cessna L-19, the Auster fleet was sold by Crown Assets Disposal Corporation. Stored at the RCAF base at Mountain View (near Trenton) 16675 was sold in 1959 to the Brampton Flying Club for $200 less its Gipsy Major VII engine. The DOT opened its file for CF-LPA on April 22, 1959. All such ex-Army Austers then had long careers in civil aviation as club or private planes, and glider tow planes. In 1960 “LPA” was sold to gliding kingpin, Walter Chmela of Toronto, after which it towed for the Aero Club Harmony, a society of German-Canadian flying fanatics. In 1966 Walter (who now is a member of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame) sold “LPA” to the Quebec Soaring Club. A list of owners ensued and accidents (naturally) followed “LPA”. But it always was thought to be well worth the effort to repair. In one prang, on May 28, 1990 “LPA” was cruising on floats around Mascouche, Quebec, when the prop flew off. Pilot Renald Gendron survived after force-landing on dry land — “LPA” ended on its back, but once again was repaired. Finally, in December 1998 this vintage Canadian Auster was sold to Stuart Bain in New York state. Its Transport Canada file finally was closed on January 6, 1999. By now a few Austers have popped up in Canadian museums. Here’s a typical ace of an Al Martin shot of “LPA” taken June 15, 1963 at the Oshawa Flying Club breakfast fly-in. This is from a big 3½ x 2½ Ektachrome, probably shot on Al’s 616 camera. If you search here for “Al Martin”, you’ll find many of his other wonderful photos from this era. Also see the special Al Martin section in Air Transport in Canada. The b/w view of LPA is my own shot taken the same day as Al’s with my trusty “120” Minolta Autocord.

A Bit of News – CANAV’s RCAF 1924-2024 Project

Hello to all our great fans keeping up with the CANAV blog. Nothing much huge to report this time, other than about how we are making solid progress with our 2024 book to cover the history of the RCAF in its 100th year. This will be the ultimate among all general RCAF books over the decades. If you have our 1984 60th Anniversary book Sixty Years: The RCAF and CF Air Command 1924-1984 or any such other CANAV book (Canada’s Air Force Today, etc.) you’ll know what to expect. Our “2024” book will have no equals. So far we’ve laid the groundwork and roughed out our coverage of lead-in and interwar years chapters, and now are starting to put together the many chapters covering 1939-1945 on the homefront and overseas. In case you have anything that’s unique re. hardcore history (log books, other original documents) that you think might fit in, let me know larry@canavbooks.com

Back in the (Same Old) USSR?

Mr. Putin seems to be an old time Stalinist, so things could go hard on Ukraine, etc:
https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-memorial-putin-totalitarian-transition-rights/31631864.html
https://www.google.es/amp/s/www.rferl.org/amp/russia-memorial-putin-totalitarian-transition-rights/31631864.html

“The” Canadian Aviation Book Deals of 2021-22

Speaking of books (which is what we do, right) … we still have a few sets of our glorious large-format, hardcover Canada’s Air Force at War and Peace Vols.1, 2 & 3 (1072 pages) at the final give-away, all-in price per set of (always in Canadian $): Canada $75, USA $90.00, Int’l $180. Also, we’re down to the final part-pallet of Air Transport in Canada (2 volumes 1030 pages) now at the all-in price for Canada $65, USA $80, Int’l $160. Jump in for these world-class titles. Talk about ultimate VIP aviation gifts for this time of year! Order your books by PayPal or Interac paying straight to larry@canavbooks.com Questions to the same address.

Fighters of the Fifties

Nothing suited we airplane chasers from the 1950s-60s more than a chance to shoot some sleek jet fighter, and nothing was sleeker than Convair’s F-102 and F-106. On our airshow trip to Niagara Falls, NY on May 16, 1959, Mo Reddy and I couldn’t have been happier when we spotted a line of One-0-Twos appearing to be straight from the factory – shiny as could be and with no unit markings. Here sits 55-3418 as we shot it. It’s thought to have been with the 323rd FIS from Truax AFB, Wisconsin. ‘3418 enjoyed a long and interesting career, staying on the line into 1970, when it finally went for scrap. I note that on flicker there’s a photo of ‘3418 flying over Mount Fuji in Japan.

The First Generation Jetliners

In the early 1960s we still were shooting North Stars, Super Connies, Viscounts and all such propliners out at Malton airport (today’s YYZ). Suddenly, things started to perk up when BOAC started showing up with the Comet 4. Service was infrequent. Several times I hitchhiked out to Malton after school on Fridays to try to catch the Comet on its weekly run, but always missed it. It wasn’t ‘til a trip to Dorval on July 26, 1959 that I finally got to shoot Comet G-APDB. ‘DB was the first Comet that I got close enough to at Malton to catch the registration, that being on April 29 the following year. Then, on May 6, I spotted G-APDD. Still, I came away with no photos.

Finally, the first 707s and DC-8s started to appear at Malton, making for really exciting times. Now we were turning up our noses (like little idiots) at the propliners. The big jets had us mesmerized for a while. Here are a few of my early photos from this period.

The first big jet that I shot at Malton was BOAC 707 G-APFB with Rolls-Royce Conway engines. Here it is on arrival on Saturday afternoon May 22, 1960. BOAC’s first 707, it had been delivered a bit earlier on the 9th. This likely was BOAC’s first 707 service to YYZ. I saw it again here on July 2. ‘FB served BOAC into 1974, then flew in various other colours until going for scrap at Kingman, Arizona in 1979.

In September 1960 American Airlines took delivery of Boeing 720 N7520A “Flagship Alabama”. I caught it that winter on a sparkling day landing on Malton’s R28. My first AA Boeing jetliner photo. These still were the days when the common AA types here were the DC-6, DC-7 and the still new L.188 Electra. N7530A served into mid-1971, then was sold to the Dubai government. In 1985 Boeing bought it back to cannibalize for the USAF KC-135 program. It’s bones went for scrap in 1991. On this day, however, there couldn’t have been a more glorious sight at Malton for any airplane photographer. The horizon here looks towards narrow little old Airport Road — not a car in sight. In the distance you can see the newly- built Woodbine racetrack stands. Today? Airport Road is a 6-lane raceway. If you could match this scene today, you’d see a wall of industrial/commercial development, no horizon visible, mainly shoulder-to-shoulder high rise hotels and office buildings. A lot has happened at YYZ over 60+ years since N7520A came whistling in to land as a couple of keen young spotters lined up their shots on their twin-lens camera ground glass viewfinders.

On June 4, 1960 I caught a glimpse of my first TCA DC-8 CF- TJD, but couldn’t photograph it for some reason. Then, on Tuesday, August 16 I was back at Malton and there was “TJD” doing circuits and bumps on Runway 32. Wasting no time, I hustled out behind the old WWII hangar line and set myself up close to the runway. We had found a good spot there where we couldn’t be seen from the tower due to a hump in the runway. The WWII hangars also helped covered us. Of course, none of us had telephoto lenses back then, so we had to get fairly close to the runway. We always got away with this little skit out by R32, never were rousted. I sat on my spot watching ‘TJD make several touch-and-goes. All my shots turned out – they were real set-ups, as you can see by this one. Notice how there still were active farms right on the edge of the airport, no fences in view. ‘TJD had been delivered a few months earlier on February 7. Such training flights were essential, since there still were no DC-8 flight simulators in Canada (CAE at Montreal soon would fill that shortage). In 1977 “TJD” moved on the Air Ceylon and 2 or 3 other outfits. It went for pots ‘n pans in 1979. Aeroclassics has a 1:400 scale diecast model of “TJD” in these very colours.

On May 22-24, 1961 I was on a solo hitchhiking expedition from Toronto to Dorval. This trip paid off with a long list of great types to shoot from the Avenger to the C-46, Canso, DC-3, DC-4, DC-6, North Star, Britannia, L.49, CL-44, Argus and F.27. In those days we never had trouble getting on the ramp at Dorval. Staff would notice us and if they came by it would not be to roust us, but to chat and even answer our questions or give us leads. Jetliners spotted on this trip included the 707 (BOAC and Air France), Convair 880 (EAL) and DC-8 (EAL). Here’s EAL’s “Golden Falcon” N8604 taxiing away from Dorval’s main terminal. N8604 had been delivered to Eastern in February 1960, stayed to September 1973, then flew for several other outfits until going for scrap at Smyrna, Tennessee in 1978.

CPA’s glorious new DC-8 CF-CPH “Empress of Winnipeg” at Malton on October 6, 1961. We soon realized that this slightly rear angle on a taxiing 707, DC-8 or Convair jetliner was quite nice, although the wing could obscure the markings, as in this case. However, this angle always showed us the registration and fleet number. “CPH” served CPA into 1980, when it was sold to a parts and scrap dealer, and cut up in Opa Locka, Florida in 1983.

C. Don Long — Aeronautical Engineer, CAHS No.104

One of the great early members of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society (Member No.104) was C. Don Long. From the first days of the CAHS Journal, Don contributed many authoritative articles, often covering the history of De Havilland of Canada, but also such special topics as the Toronto-Buffalo air service using Sikorsky amphibians c.1930.

Born in Toronto in 1911, Don was smitten by aviation as a boy. Cycling to old Leaside aerodrome, he got to know and photograph dozens of local and transient planes. Leaside, of course, had trained WWI pilots in 1917-18, then was home to the Toronto Flying Club from 1928, before being ploughed under for industrial use. Graduating in mechanical engineering from the University of Toronto in 1933, Don was hired by De Havilland of Canada. Soon he was known as the go-to man whenever any UK DH type needed Canadian “mods” – winterized cowlings, skis, etc. Just before WWII, Don created the mods for the Canadianized D.H.82C Tiger Moth – its sliding canopy, brakes, tail wheel and skis. Next, he became chief inspector of Mosquito production.

Postwar, Don had positions with such other organizations as AVRO Canada, DH in the UK, Canadair, Spartan and the National Research Council. He returned to DHC in 1959, then joined the staff of McMaster University in 1970. Other organizations to which he contributed included the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute, and the Society of Automotive Engineers. Don died fairly young on May 18, 1972. Here are some of his wonderful pre-WWII photos. I don’t have many details about these, but here’s a chance simply to enjoy some historic photos taken around Toronto by a keen young spotter (probably before the term was in use). Most of these would have been taken at Leaside and the airports around what today is Downsview. One of these strips was the second home of the TFC, another belonged to International Airways. These all had disappeared by the time DHC had developed Downsview into a modern airport just before WWII. Sometimes Don could get his subject “in the clear”, but even if there was a mob scene he was keen to shoot off a frame. Thank goodness that he did.

A diligent spotter could catch the most exotic planes around Toronto 90 years ago. Don Long would have been excited about these two: Western Canada Airways’ Fokker F.VIIb triplane G-CASC and Ford Trimotor NC1076. Acquired by James Richardson’s WCA in December 1928, ‘ASC normally was in Winnipeg. It was lost there in a hangar fire on March 4, 1931. Don may have caught ‘ASC, when it was passing through Toronto on delivery to Winnipeg from the Fokker factory at Teterboro, New Jersey. NC1076 likely is seen at Leaside, where various Trimotors visited from the USA during Toronto Flying Club summer events, and during the 1929 Ford Air Tour. NC1076 came to an early end. Soon after taking off from Toledo, Ohio on an airmail run to Detroit on January 16, 1929, there was a fire, followed by a crash landing. The lone occupant, pilot J.L. Brandon, was injured and NC1076 was destroyed.

Another big modern airliner to visit Leaside was Curtiss Condor NC984H captained by Curtiss test pilot William J. Crosswell. The occasion was the 1929 Ford Air Tour. The tour’s 29 airplanes refuelled at Leaside on October 6 on their way to Ottawa. Thousands of visitors flocked to Leaside to watch all the action.

Famous Canadian Fairchilds shot by Don c.1930. G-CART was an FC-2W2 of the Canadian Transcontinental Airways fleet. It was delivered in July 1928, sold to Canadian Airways of Montreal in January 1932, then scrapped in 1933. Its wings were used in building Fairchild 71 CF-AUA in 1933. Then G-CATR of International Airways, a Toronto company carrying airmail, passengers and freight between Windsor and Montreal with intermediate stops. ‘ATR served International from August 1928 to November 1930, when it went to Canadian Airways. It was wrecked in a storm in Charlottetown, PEI on February 9, 1933. Finally, Canadian Transcontinental’s Fairchild 71 CF-AAT at Leaside. It was sold in 1932 to Canadian Airways in Montreal. On March 12, 1936 it was flying from Sioux Lookout to Red Lake (about an hour’s flight) when the engine quite and ‘AAT ended wrecked in the bush.

Short Flying Boats in Canada

In 1937 Britain’s Imperial Airways and America’s Pan American Airways began experimenting with flying boats on the North Atlantic. The dream for Britain was to add to its growing system of routes that eventually would encircle the world, bringing the old “Empire” closer together. Pan Am had its own global dreams. This challenging effort commenced on July 5/6, when 4-engine flying boats took off from opposite sides of the Atlantic — the Imperial Airways Short “C” Class “Caledonia” flying from Foynes, Ireland to Botwood, Gander Lake, Newfoundland; and the Pan American Airways Sikorsky S-42 going from Shediac, New Brunswick to Foynes. Canada was involved, having helped to finance facilities at both western termini. This was just as Ottawa, under the determined drive of J.A. Wilson (Controller of Civil Aviation) was on the brink of launching Canada’s national airline.

Establishing a North Atlantic air service was vital for Great Britain, which already had flying boat links as far as distant Australia. Now, Ottawa envisioned Canada being part of Great Britain’s globe-encircling plans. Meanwhile, France and Germany already were well-entrenched on the Atlantic, operating flying boats and Zeppelins. Imperial Airways, unfortunately, was at a disadvantage, since its Short “C” Class boats lacked range, so could not carry loads on the Atlantic. For its flights “Caledonia” had all excess weight stripped out and long range fuel tanks added, then it barely could make it across to Botwood. America’s Boeing, Martin and Sikorsky flying boats, on the other hand, were built from the outset for range and payload. Imperial Airways’ Short “G” Class flying boat, which would match the American designs, still was on the drawing boards.

After landing at Botwood, “Caledonia” pushed on to Montreal, where its arrival was a huge media event. Its sister ship, “Cambria”, already having made proving flights to the Mediterranean and Azores, also was involved, but its first crossing to Botwood was a near-disaster, when navigation and radio equipment broke down. Temporarily lost, “Cambria” finally reached Botwood. Next, it continued on a public relations trip to Montreal, then Ottawa, Toronto, Windsor and Hamilton. Cambria’s arrival in Toronto Bay was heralded by the local press: “The Cambria’s landing will be marked by a shrieking outburst from factory and locomotive whistles.”

Instead of boisterous headlines the next day, the front page of the “Toronto Daily Star” reported grim news. Front and centre was a large photo of “Cambria” floating cockeyed on Toronto Bay with the caption, “Flying Boat Soars above City, Breaks Pontoon in Landing”. On touching down on Lake Ontario in front of the Canadian National Exhibition, Captain Griffin J. “Taffy” Powell seems to have miscalculated, perhaps fooled by a crosswind. His port wing dug in, the huge sponson near its tip tore off, and the mighty flying boat slewed dramatically to a stop.

Once the situation was under control, “Cambria” was towed into Toronto Bay. A repair crew from De Havilland of Canada (including Don Long) was organized and eventually completed repairs (needed parts were shipped from Belfast aboard the Queen Mary and on by surface express to Toronto). On September 23 Captain Powell test flew “Cambria”. Next day he flew to Hamilton for a civic event, then left for the long flight home. “Cambria” landed in Foynes on September 28 after a record-setting 10:35 hours for the eastbound leg.

These C. Don Long photos of “Cambria” rarely have been seen. They show Don’s great facility with a camera, getting wide, medium and close-up views, taking it all in, as we used to say. I’m sure that somewhere there are other photos from this series, but these are impressive enough.

n.b. For the in-depth story of the “Cambria” in Toronto see Patrick Fitz Gerald’s 2005 history “The Cambria Incident: A Very Public Mishap” in the Canadian Aviation Historical Society Journal Vol.43 No.4. Also see Ray Crone’s 1998 summary “Canada and the Short Empire Boats” in CAHS Journal Vol.36 No.4. For membership in the CAHS please go to www.cahs.com If you are not a member yet, you will thank yourself for joining.

This series of Don Long photographs shows “Cambria” moored in Toronto Bay. There were no telephoto lenses in everyday use in 1937, so this is enlarged from a small part of Don’s negative. Then, a series of photos of “Cambria” in the Toronto Islands lagoon near the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, where repair work was done. Any true aviation history fan will revel in these scenes. The cockpit photo will really get the flying boat aficionados going. I haven’t seen such a nice one.

In 2013 I was honoured by the CAHS with its prestigious “C. Don Long” award.

Toronto Bay History Treasure

Also among my small collection of C. Don Long negatives is this one of the Toronto Harbour Commission’s 214-ton tugboat Rouille. I’m guessing that it was named for Fort Rouille, the original European settlement here. Fort Rouille was a small French trading post somewhere on the Lake Ontario shore where York later was founded in 1793 by Governor Simcoe (York became Toronto in 1834).

Tugboat Rouille was built by Collingwood Shipbuilding Co. in During WWII it was impressed by the RCN. Postwar, it worked for J.P. Porter and Sons of Toronto, but ended badly. On December 3, 1954 it was sailing from Sydney, Cape Breton Island to Rimouski on the lower St. Lawrence River, when it got into stormy waters. Just off Cape Smokey, about 60 miles north of Sydney, it sank, taking its five crew to their deaths.

Here, Rouille is tied up in the Keating Channel near the mouth of the Don River. To this day, the scene is not hugely different, although the Keating Channel is destined for a major facelift as the Lower Don is redeveloped. This photo exemplifies the stalwart photographer. Airplanes are of great interest, of course, but a fellow like Don Long always had his eyes open, looking for other fascinating subject matter. What great work such hobbyists do in preserving ordinary Canadian history.

Plane Spotting

Lately, the fabulous AeroTime News website has featured some items about the plane spotting hobby. Here’s the introductory part of it. What an excellent summary, but has the hobby ever changed since we old timers got interested. Who would have thought that a hobbyist could end in jail over his simple interest in photographing airplanes? Well, it’s happened, mainly because there actually are rules … and always have been. One day at Malton, for example, I had cycled up to the Avro end to see what there was to see. Spotting some CF-100s about a half mile away, I decided to have a go at them by trudging through some fields of thick grass and weeds along the Avro fenceline. We always had known about this spot, but had been warned by pals that Avro sometimes patrolled the fence. Finally I reached the CF-100s, which were parked on a run-up pad. Nobody was around, so I took a few snaps through the Frost fence. All of a sudden I heard yelling, turned and spotted a couple of uniformed Avro security cops huffing and puffing through the field heading my way. Soon they had me cornered and were giving me the gears. Who did I think I was, etc., etc. After confiscating my roll of 120 and jotting down my particulars, we parted on good enough terms. A couple of weeks later my negatives came in the mail, all of them, so Avro security had a heart after all. However, it had been a good lesson for a kid. After that I was a bit more cautious about when and where to push my luck at the airport. We had other even more exciting run-ins with airport security, about which I’ll write in a future book.

Planespotting … The Dos and Dont’s

blog-26-plane-spotting-background-and-tips-aerotime-december-1-2021-1Download

Famous Central Airways Piper Apache Restored

About two years ago Don McVicar of Hamilton put a team together to restore Canada’s first Piper PA-23 Apache – Central Airways’ CF- KFX. “KFX” was brought into Canada by Central’s always forward-thinking owners, Bobby and Tommy Wong. This is really a newsworthy story that any fan will enjoy. It’s all about how CF-KFX recently has risen from the boneyard. There are many interesting threads and the project has spun off some worthwhile activity. In one case, it’s brought some old time Central Airways (Toronto Island Airport) staff and former students back in touch with each other. Here’s your link to this nifty story:

blog-27-apache-piper-history-oct-22-2021-iiDownload

C-117 Loses and Engine at Anchorage

Click on this link to see the stills and action-packed videos showing the crash landing on December 9 at Anchorage airport. In spite of it all, this C-117 “Super DC-3” should be flying again before long:

https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2021/12/08/transnorthern-plane-makes-emergency-landing-merrill-field-no-injuries-reported/

Grumman Albatross Revival

In the late 1950s the RCAF ordered a small fleet (10) of Grumman G-111 Albatross amphibians for its search-and-rescue units. These replaced Canada’s long-serving Cansos and complemented the RCAF’s Otters, Dakotas, etc. doing SAR work. Retired in 1971, our Albatrosses returned to Grumman, then were re-sold, some to the Mexican military.

In 2022 the Albatross is having a revival. Many of the 466 built survive, and there is a plan to refurbish some, and maybe build new examples in Australia powered by Canada’s famous PT6 turbine engine. Will this actually happen? We shall see, as usual. Pratt & Whitney Canada’s recent press release explains (the PT6 stats are amazing):

The G-111T is the only large transport category amphibious aircraft for passenger, cargo and utility in the marketplace,” said Chairman of Amphibian Aerospace Industries, Khoa Hoang. “Because of its ability to land and take-off from both land and water, the G-111T is ideal for use in inland rivers, ocean rescue, mountainous terrain and tropic river basins.”

Pilots and operators fly the PT6A engine with confidence, even in the most challenging of conditions. The engine builds on the experience gained from more than 900 million hours of operation expertise across our portfolio and reliability of the PT6 family. With more than 50 years of experience in general aviation, the PT6A engine further benefits from 425 million flying hours – more flying hours than any other engine on the market – the PT6A is a proven engine and the most prolific in the segment.

PT6A-67F engines have been identified as the engine of choice from within the PT6A family for the G-111T aircraft application,’ said Anthony Rossi, vice president, Business Development, Pratt & Whitney Canada. “We have been working with Amphibian Aerospace for the past five years on this program and have developed an effective and productive relationship that bodes extremely well for the success of the program.

Pierre Gillard Blog

If you are not familiar with the superb aviation blog by Pierre Gillard, please take a look. This week, Pierre features a wonderful gallery of Nordair 737 photos:

http://www.pierregillard.com/blog/index.html

*If you’re not exhausted by now, start scrolling back. You’ll find an encyclopedic amount of Canadian aviation history that you’re bound to enjoy.

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