
The demise of Norseman 495, about which Bob Cameron of Whitehorse adds some details. (John Biehler Collection)
All the best to CANAV’s great supporters over 2014! Thanks hugely to one and all of you solid folks, who go back to the birth of CANAV in 1981, but also to you many new fans/younger readers who are gradually getting to know CANAV and all it has to offer via its top-notch book list and always-informative blog.
For January 4, 2014 please note that I’ve added an addendum to blog posting “The Wartime Era Fades”. This is based on an obituary that I spotted in today’s newspaper. You’ll absolutely enjoy this item. Find it easily by using the search box.
Blog followers will love what Pierre Gillard is doing with Ralph Clint’s collection of old slides. Born in 1935, Ralph passed away in 2013. A long-serving TCA/Air Canada radio operator, Ralph was the commensurate aviation fan (nothing shallow for him) and one of CANAV’s hard-working researchers, proof readers etc. since the days of our Canadair North Star book.
Three cheers for Pierre, a professor at E.N.A. at St. Hubert, who does such a fantastic job with his blog. To see his fine gallery of Ralph’s airliner photos, have a look at this week’s headline offerings at his blog. Looks like most of Pierre’s “Ralph” photos were taken in the 1960s-70s at Toronto YYZ, mainly from the upper parking level of the original (now recycled) “Aeroquay” passenger terminal. This is really a great trip back into the days of such types as the stubby DC-9-15 and such Classic 747s as CF-TOA, a vintage -133. Each photo was decently taken by Ralph and and has been nicely “tweaked up” by Pierre. As to “tweaking”, Pierre explains: “Most of Ralph’s slides are easy to scan and process because they are not Kodachromes. So, I can use a function to virtually wipe dust and remove scratches, which is totally impossible to do with Kodachrome slides. This saves a lot of time.”
This week Pierre also covers the dismantling of a couple of Air Transat Airbus 310s (“On démantèle à Mirabel”, A310 “au recyclage”, etc.). Who would believe that these seemingly modern airliners so soon could be over the hill but … I guess we’re all getting there. Something to think about, eh!
“Merci bien” CANAV people and good reading (as usual) to one and all … Larry
A Norseman Aficionado Weighs In
Norseman readers are gradually getting back to me with their comments about our new books. I’ve just heard from Bob Cameron of Whitehorse. Bob led a small team back in the 1990s restoring Fokker Super Universal CF-AAM (dormant since a 1937 accident) to flying condition. He and his pals then toured Canada in this astoundingly historic plane, a photo of which graces the cover of Aviation in Canada: The Formative Years. CF-AAM today is permanently on show at the Western Canada Aviation Museum in Winnipeg. Last year Bob’s grand book, Yukon Wings, was published. You can read my review of this big-time beauty for more details.
Bob also is a veteran Norseman pilot, so who better to pass judgment on a Norseman book? Off the top, this is what he has to say: “The hi-lite of my Christmas was the arrival of your magnificent Norseman Vol. I! It is fabulous, and I am absorbing every millimeter of it!”

Encrusted remnants of Norseman 495 as they sit today on the bottom of Tagish Lake. (via Bob Cameron)
Bob adds some historic tidbits about the dramatic wreck of RCAF Norseman 495, pictured on p.151 of Norseman Vol.1: “That happened 40 miles south of here on Tagish Lake on St. Patrick’s Day, 1950. One guy was checking out another on skis. Unfortunately, they chose to shoot a landing too far off shore, in flat light, rendering depth perception next to impossible.” He then explains the final fate of 495. The RCAF salvage team stripped it of useful parts, then abandonned the wreck to settle to the lake bottom with the spring melt. If one flies over Tagish Lake today, the outline of 495 may still be spotted in the shallow water. Bob finishes: “Anyway, good work, Larry, I’ve waited a long time for a pictorial history of one of my favourite airplanes!”
The Gremlins are About!
Several typical typos have been pointed out in the Norseman volumes. These inevitably seem to occur no matter how hard we try to correct them before printing. Thanks to former Norseman pilot Rodney Kozar for spotting these. The real clanger is the one referring to the great Dishlevoy/Magnusson Norseman website as noorduynnorseman.com, when that should be norsemanhistory.ca. So please make a note (but do use both sites, eh).
In Vol.1: In Norseman Vol.1 p.119, the correct date for the Hazelton crash is the one shown on the grave marker.
For p.120 somehow the caption for Norseman 2477 got transposed. In an earlier version of the galleys the correct caption is in place — can you believe it! So how in the world did it end up with a caption for Norseman 2469. The desired caption is: Camping with 2477 at Crystal 1 in March 1942. From February 6 to April 4, 1942 this Norseman was on loan to Ferry Command for the Eastern Arctic airstrip/weather station survey. Postwar, it was CF-PAB. While serving Associated Airways of Edmonton, in August 1954 it was damaged beyond repair in a landing accident. (A.W. Baker Col.)
p. 197 – the correct month for the Nelles incident is August.
In Vol. 2 – p.11, line 2 of caption, change RCAF to RCMP
p.13 – lower caption, change Ontario to Canadian
p.14 – top caption for CF-OBG incorrectly gives the info for CF-OBF
p.17 – in the chart, change CF-UDD to CF-UUD
p.20 – lower caption change CF-SAN to CF-SAH
p.41 – at end of CF-GUE entry, the Huron Air mention applies to above entry for CF-GSR
pp.62/63 – all registrations should read CF-EIH, delete CF-EIN
p.74 – CF-GUM Mark IV, change to UC-64A; CF-HFV change serial no. to N29-50; CF-SAHI V, change to CF-SAH IV; CF-SAM Mark IV, change to V.
p.123 – lower caption change OK-XDB is OK-XBD
p.194 – lower caption, change CF-ORD to CF-OBD
p.239 – 2nd para, col.3 CF-DRD went on permanent display in 1992
p.246 – top caption change CF-GTN to CF-GJN
p.286 – lower photo, Norseman shown is CF-JIN, not CF-JEC
Pierre Gillard Reviews Norseman Vol. 2
Probablement que, pour Larry Milberry, les 232 pages du premier volume consacré au Noorduyn Norseman avait un “goût de trop peu” car il a immédiatement embrayé, en solo cette fois-ci, avec un second volume ne comprenant pas moins de 304 pages ! Il restait donc beaucoup de choses à dire encore au sujet de cet avion de brousse produit à Cartierville. Et vous n’allez pas me croire quand je vous dirai que l’auteur a reçu des commentaires acerbes de certains frustrés mentionnant qu’il manquait de détails au sujet de quelques opérateurs “oubliés” par le récit!
Toujours est-il que ce second volume traite essentiellement des Norseman utilisés après la Seconde guerre mondiale par la Gendarmerie royale du Canada (GRC-RCMP), les opérateurs civils canadiens ainsi que les opérateurs étrangers, toujours avec le souci du détail et la minutie que l’on connaît à Larry Milberry. Une place importante est réservée aux résultats de nombreuses entrevues et échanges que l’auteur a eus avec des personnes pour qui cet avion était le gagne-pain. C’est ainsi que j’ai retrouvé une belle participation de mon ami Paul Gagnon, à ses débuts en qualité de pilote de brousse, dont des récits de quelques “aventures” vécues avec des Norseman.
Sur le plan des illustrations, un grand nombre de photos en couleur, dont certaines sont absolument magnifiques et relèvent du grand art, complètent les archives extraordinaires en noir et blanc publiées dans les deux volumes. Comme toujours, à la lecture des ouvrages de Canav Book, on peut se demander comment il est possible de rassembler autant de documents photographiques inédits. Avec ces deux volumes au sujet du Norduyn Norseman, Larry Milberry et Hugh A. Halliday ont définitivement comblé un vide historique pour cet avion construit au Québec.
For Pierre’s review of Norseman Vol. 1, click here.
Reminder to UK and EuroZone bibliophiles … pick up your copy of Norseman Vol.1 and Vol.2 at Simon Watson’s Aviation Bookshop in Tunbridge Wells, UK. Email: simon@aviation-bookshop.com. Or … visit Henk Timmers’ Aviation Megastore at Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport. Email: henk@aviationmegastore.com.
CAE: “A great company & a family affair”
Fred von Veh chats at the book launch with C. Douglas Reekie, CAE’s longest-serving CEO (1967-85), who retired in 1995. Fred served many years with Stikeman-Elliot, the law firm which for decades had such a prominent influence on CAE’s affairs.
On September 30 CANAV Books officially launched Aviation in Canada: The CAE Story. We had the ideal venue — the Royal Canadian Military Institute on University Ave. in downtown Toronto. Gus Corujo, who is the ideal fellow to cover any such aviation event, took most of the photographs, which you can see on his blog gusair.com.
Chris Hadfield with RCMI President, Gil Taylor. It was great having Chris on hand, since he had pioneered with the CAE-developed “3 degrees of freedom” Canadarm hand controller used on the Shuttle and ISS.
CANAV supporter Tom Appleton (left) had a long career at de Havilland Canada, where he influenced such key programs as the DHC-5 Buffalo (test and demo pilot, etc.). Tom later was vice-president at Bombardier’s amphibious division and in 2015 was Chairman of the Board at Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame. With Tom is Dr. Richard Goette, who teaches history at Canadian Forces College and for years has been prominent in the Canadian Aviation Historical Society.
Key family members throwing in their support at the book launch: Milberrys Foster, Owen, Marin, Simon and Amanda with U of T staff alumnus Dr. (and Grampa) Jack Pitre in the red sweater.
Then, Shannon, Owen and their dad, Simon, taking off a few minutes to catch up on the Blue Jays.
Publisher Milberry (right) with Trent Horne. Fred von Veh and Trent were the Bennett Jones lawyers who kept the publisher from self-destructing as the CAE project came down to the final stretch.
Fans Donald Hall, Lillian Roberts, Sheldon Benner, Gordon Roberts and Chris Hadfield.
Early Reaction from Our Readers
There already have been many supportive comments about the CAE book (so far the nitpickers have been keeping a low profile):
Former CAE CEO C. Douglas Reekie observes: “I am impressed with what you have accomplished. You deserve a great deal of credit for undertaking this task and for doing it so well. There should be a medal for you for perseverance.”
Notes Fred Moore, the test pilot who, as a young man, helped CAE salvage the CF-100 flight simulator, when the project was on the brink of collapse, “What an impressive book full of historic detail and a wealth of photos. On top of that, it’s an easy, entertaining read.” Fred is a member of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame.
General W.K. “Bill” Carr, DFC, founder of Canadian Forces Air Command, and also “a Hall of Famer”, simply observes, “The book is fantastic!”
Long-serving CAE evaluation pilot, Roy Lefebvre, notes: “Thank you, Larry. I have received my CAE book and can only say that it surpasses my fondest expectations. The quality of the book is exceptional.”
Dave Tait, who joined CAE in 1958 and eventually was a senior vice-president, writes: “You are very well regarded by the Canadian Aerospace Industry, including by a large number of retired CAE employees and much of the present staff. I am pleased that you stayed with your project. Thank you for this valiant effort.”
Robert “Bob” Hodge submits a detailed, almost page-by-page review of the book, which brought back for him a tidal wave of memories. I’m hoping to hear similarly from others, so that small gaffs can be corrected and new history added for any future version of the book. In part, Bob writes: “To me, CAE was the most exciting and interesting place to work from 1965 to 2002. The variety of research and technological developments, plant expansions, etc., going on were seemly endless.”
Here are a few of Bob’s “Memory Lane” observations:
What Else Is Up So Far in October?
On October 5 I joined some of CAE’s people for an exclusive tour of the Vintage Wings collection at Gatineau airport near Ottawa. VW CEO, Peter Allen, was our guide, giving a running commentary about each of the aircraft from Tiger Moth to Swordfish, Lysander, Hurricane, Spitfire and Sabre. Later that day I spoke briefly to the CAE contingent, each of whom received a copy of the CAE book.
CAE people take a break during their meeting in the Vintage Wings library to flip through their copies of “The CAE Story”.
Peter Allen of Vintage Wings briefs some of his CAE guests about the museum’s WWII Fleet Finch trainer.
Peter’s guests with the airworthy Vintage Wings F-86 Sabre, which Chris Hadfield has been flying since 2008. (CAE Photo)
On the same trip, I met up with my old book publishing compatriot, John McQuarrie. As sometimes has happened over the decades, we each had a new title out at the same time, so we traded books in the bar in The Hilton Lac Leamy. John’s 2016 book will be a spectacular trans-Canada photographic cavalcade. See magiclightphoto.ca for info about John’s wonderful line of books.
Next morning Hugh Halliday picked me up for a drive into the Gatineau hinterland, mainly to spend a couple of hours at Kingsmere. This national heritage site is the legendary get-away that William Lyon Mackenzie King built for himself back in the early 1900s. Here is a view up to the great man’s abode.
Hugh “among the ruins”, which King collected from demolition sites around Ottawa in the early 20th Century, then reconstituted in the Gatineau Hills.
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Posted in Aviation history, Aviation in Canada, CAE, Reader comments
Tagged Chris Hadfield, Hugh Halliday, Simon Milberry