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.comFrom 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
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.
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:
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:
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:
Welcome to CANAV’s Fall/Winter 2021-22 booklist. As usual it includes all the standard CANAV classics, with some excellent deals, especially for Air Transport in Canada at a give-away, all-in price. There are numerous new offerings, all enticing for the serious fan. It’s hard to say which is the real standout of the bunch., but I’m tending (for one) towards Chris Hadfield’s The Apollo Murders. I’ve just started to read it and I’m reminded right away (as far as writing style and enticing content go) of Ernie Gann’s Fate is the Hunter. That’s about as grand a compliment as I could give any aviation/space author. I think you need this book, but so do you need a boxload of others from this fall’s list. Take a look, you’ll see what I mean … stock up for winter.
Hot Off the Press … Red Lake Norseman Project Finale!
Norseman CF-DRD finally has been fully refurbished and again graces the Red Lake waterfront at the head of Howie Bay. To see this week’s posting, google:Kim posted an update to Save DRD – Red Lake’s Norseman icon Please drop a few bucks in DRD’s gofundme kitty while you’re there. How painful will that be? Not at all, but you’ll have helped push the project fund to its goal of $50K, a target that a couple of years ago must have seemed so impossible. Not today it isn’t! Cheers … Larry
Canadian Aviation Society: Beginnings
Canada’s premier aviation history organization for 60+ years has been the Canadian Aviation Historical Society. Lately, I came across two historic documents that reveal some key CAHS history. Have a look at the minutes of the society’s original meeting, when it was known as “The Early Birds of Canada”. This was a name suggested by the original US-based “Early Birds of Aviation”, which included pilots who had flown prior to December 17, 1916. Soon, however, we realized that this name would restrict the breadth in coverage, so the more general, all-encompassing “CAHS” name was adopted at our second meeting. To my knowledge, none of those mentioned in the minutes are still with us. The second document from a few months later in 1963 is under the CAHS banner and states the society’s rationale. These documents were printed on a 1950s “spirit duplicator”, so it’s a miracle that they haven’t faded away to nothing by now.
A Few Photos by the Great W.J. “Bill” Wheeler, CAHS No.5
Bill Wheeler (right) and Neil A. Macdougall were two of Canada’s leading aviation writers, editors and historians. Rick Radell took this wonderful photo of them at the 2011 event at the CWH in Hamilton, when Bill so deservedly was inducted into Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame.
Bill Wheeler (1931-2020, CAHS No.5, Member Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame, etc.)) spent more than 40 years as editor of the Journal of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society. As such, he really was the beating heart of the CAHS. He also spent a tour as CAHS national president. Residing in Markham since the 1960s, his day job in his younger years was commercial illustrator for such publications as Toronto’s legendary “Star Weekly”. He also produced some renowned book covers, and his illustrations fill our Journal from the early 1960s onward. For today, here are a few of Bill’s ordinary airplane photos, of which there are too many to count. We early CAHS members had much in common. While many had been involved in the development of early aviation, others were more the “arm chair” type, sharing such pastimes as reading aviation books and magazines, taking in airshows and CAHS events, being enthusiastic aviation photographers, etc.
When we met in 1962, Bill was still earning his living as an artist and illustrator. Happily, before long he got into teaching art, then enjoyed a long career at West Hill Collegiate in east Toronto, finishing as art department head. Over the decades as a hobby photographer he amassed other photos from countless sources. All these he kept lovingly in huge albums. For example, here’s a very rare photo that he saved ages ago of Leavens Brothers famous Pitcairn PAA-1 Autogyro CF-ASQ.
Leavens had started on a farm near Belleville, Ontario in the late 1920s, then moved to Toronto’s Barker Field and Pelee Island on Lake Erie. Leavens became legendary delivering supplies and mail to Pelee, teaching thousands of young Canadians to fly, and leading the way for years in spruce budworm aerial spray campaigns, and in aircraft sales and service.
Leavens’ sole Pitcairn had come to Canada in 1932, then spent more than 20 years doing everything from joyriding at country fairs to spraying and – as you see – banner towing. A bit of self-promotion is going one in this scene – Leavens always had a flying school. Thanks to Bill, this rare Pitcairn photo survives. I doubt that few in 2021 have ever before seen this one. Here also is an old b/w print from Bill’s collection showing a JN-4 on the Leavens farm in the late 1920s. One or more of the Leavens may have learned to fly on this old crate.
Here are three nice Bill Wheeler snapshots taken at Toronto’s Malton Airport c.1960. First is one of the Department of Transport’s beautiful little Piper Apaches, CF-GXV. This was an early Canadian Apache, having entered the CCAR in 1957. It served the DOT into 1965, then had a long list of operators including Calm Air in Manitoba and Drumheller Air Service in Alberta. It was missing from the CCAR by 1976. What was its fate, I wonder? Its registration eventually was assigned to a Maule. We always thought that this DOT colour scheme was the best over the decades. The only complaint here is the tiny registration. One would think that the DOT of all outfits might have known better.Bill’s nice shot of a pair of DOT Beech 18s at Malton: CF- GXT is nearest. Just beyond is the old Canada Customs shack at Malton’s north end. Looming in the background is the recently built Skyport hangar. It’s still there in 2021 “GXT” was ex-RCAF 1540. It served the DOT 1957-69, then St. Félicien Air Services to August 19, 1971, when lost in a northern Quebec crash. Types like the Apache and Beech 18 were work-a-day DOT planes. Inspectors used them daily to travel around to dozens of airfields. They were used for check rides for private and commercial pilots getting qualified. They tested new radio or nav equipment, etc. As time passed, the Apaches and Beech 18s were replaced by newer planes such as the Aztec and Queen Air. This is one of those photos printed on a popular paper from back in the day that was somewhat mottled, so (as you can see) it’s not easy to read small details like registrations. Photographic paper makers were always trying out such new surfaces, looking for marketing gimmicks, but if only they’d stuck with a nice flat, glossy surface our photos would have more archival value in the 2020s.Here’s a snap that Bill clicked off on the Genaire ramp at Malton showing one of the prototype Found FBA-2C bushplanes in the early 60s. CF-OZW crashed at Parry Sound on Georgian Bay in 1965. This really shows the Found for the tough little bushplane it was. It remains so to this day — a few of Founds built in the early 1960s still are at work in the bush. The first detailed history of Found appeared in Air Transport in Canada (1997). Then, in 2017 Rick Found wrote a further history – the “inside story” that he entitled Bush Hawk. With these two histories, the Found story is well covered.
Bill and Charlie
Charlie (left) and Bill out at Buttonville airport (near Toronto), where Charlie kept his beloved little CF-LVI. Looks as if this day he was doing some tinkering with LVI’s engine. Charlie was an ace of a tinkerer. Two finer Canadians one would be hard-pressed to find.
If the CAHS had two real pals from Day 1, those were Bill Wheeler and Charlie Catalano. While Bill was teaching, Charlie was a fellow who did almost anything. Once, he was managing a theatre where we held some early CAHS meetings, at other times he was repairing radios and TVs, yet again he was tinkering with a system of lights under the wings of his war surplus T-50. He’d fly over Toronto at night with the lights spelling out various advertising messages. Charlie was an innovative fellow. He and Bill were real CAHS stalwarts. There could have been no society without such members. For many years Charlie kept his own little 1945 Aeronca at Buttonville – CF-LVI. He flew it summer and winter. He and Bill made many a flight together. Here are shots that Bill took of Charlie’s “Airknocker” on skis, then towing a banner promoting a CAHS Convention some time in the 1960s. Last heard of in 2018, “LVI” was based in Sherbrooke, Quebec.
A History of Austin Airways
It was a big deal publishing CANAV’s short history of Austin Airways back in 1985, then adding to the details fairly substantially in Air Transport in Canada (1997) and The Noorduyn Norseman (Vol.2, 2013), but there’s much more to know about this great company than CANAV’s efforts. Long before I had a clue about it all, in the 1950s Neil A. Macdougall (1927-2021) of Toronto was covering the Austin story. By this time, Neil, having begun in aviation while in high school in Vancouver during WWII, was well known as a polished, professional aviation journalist.
On assignment from “ESSO Air World”, Neil did an in- depth study of Austin, visiting the company from its base at Toronto Island Airport to Sudbury and other points north. He talked to many of the key Austin people, flew in Austin aircraft, did all the photography, then put together this solid company profile. For the periodical genre, this is as good an air operator istory as you’ll find. If any writer in our so-shallow “social media” era could do half as well, he’d be a winner.
Here’s Neil’s finished product as it appeared in the January – February edition of the prestigious “ESSO Air World”. See what a professional writer and photographer at his peak could do out in the field 60+ years ago. Also, see Neil’s obituary at the end. Talk about a solid Canadian’s life well lived.
Fox Moth Discoveries
It’s always fun to come across any new airplane photo. Out of the blue, these two just popped up lately from Bill Wheeler’s files – a couple of D.H.83 Fox Moths. These planes were from the small batch built at Downsview in 1945-46 as DHC was getting back into civil aviation after its booming war years had come to a sudden halt in August 1945. Right away business in the north started to roll again, so airplanes were needed. While the DHC design team was working on what would evolve into the Chipmunk and Beaver, there was a small market for old pre-war Fox Moths. DHC turned out 53½ of these useful planes. Many went north, including one to Yellowknife for a young pilot, Max Ward.
I wonder who got this lovely air-to-air shot of Fox Moth CF- DIW? Notice the chief detail that makes this a Canadian-built version – its attractive sliding canopy. “DIW” was around Toronto when we were kids. Dave Marshall, a young fellow flying a DC-3 at Malton for the Abitibi Power and Paper Company, sometimes flew “DIW” (that looks like Dave in this shot). In 1959-60 it was based at Maple airstrip just north of Toronto. Its fuselage was red, the wings and tail feathers were yellow. I took a nice landing shot of “DIW” at one of the local fly-ins about 1960. Dave was flying that day. I happily used that shot in my first book, Aviation in Canada.
Fox Moth CF-EVK had a long career but it’s a bit of a complicated story. “EVK” had begun as the very prototype D.H.83 Fox Moth — G- ABUO. It came to Canada in May 1933, became CF-API, and that winter joined General Airways of Rouyn to toil in the northern bush. In 1937-39 it was in BC with Ginger Coote Airways, then returned to Ontario, where it hauled sturgeon in 1939 for Baillie-Maxwell of Nakina. Starting in 1940, it worked for Leavens Brothers from their Larder Lake base in northern Ontario. Damaged in a wind storm at Barker Field in January 1950, it was rebuilt by Leavens to D.H.83C standards, acquiring a new identity — D.H.83C No.54. This transpired when the salvageable parts of “API” were mated with the 54 th and last fuselage built by DHC. Re-registered CF-EVK, it appeared in DOT records as D.H.83C No.54. In 1959 it was listed in the Canadian Civil Aircraft Register to L. Lavoie of Amos, Quebec. Its C of A was current to March 1960, so it’s sometimes described as Canada’s last commercially- operated D.H.83C. After 1960, nothing is known about “EVK”. I once heard that it was destroyed when the shed it was stored in burned. Here, “EVK” looks very spiffy on skis, place and date unknown.
Three More Glorious Les Corness Photos
As usual, hardly a week passes that I’m not salivating over another of Les Corness’ wonderful old black-and-whites. First is a really classic scene from the early years of “modern” air transportation in Canada. A crowd of well-wishers is seeing off TCA DC-3 CF-TDT at Edmonton’s famous downtown airport. Here’s your basic definition of “airport security” in Canada c.1950. Delivered initially to the RCAF as FZ558 in late 1943, “TDT” next served TCA 1946-61. I photographed it in Winnipeg when it was in its final weeks with the company in September 1961, just before it was sold to Matane Air Service in Quebec. Last heard if, “TDT was derelict in Nassau in 1971 as N7709.Next is another classic Les Corness Edmonton airport scene c.1960 showing Wardair’s Bristol Freighter CF-TFX loading a Bell 47. Great ramp action and content, right, even it Les botched his focus a titch. Happily, “TFX” eventually was saved for posterity. Today, it flies on forever atop its pylon at Yellowknife.Since Edmonton was an aviation crossroads, hardly a day passed that it attracted some exotic transient airplane. Les must have been on Cloud 9 when he spotted this beauty one day – N5546N, a rare civilian Martin B-26 Marauder executive conversion. Having originally been USAAF B-26C 41-35071, in 1946 it was acquired by United Air Lines, then other owners followed. In 1949 it participated in the Bendix Trophy Race. From 1951-56 (or so) it served the Tennessee Gas Corp. I suspect that this was the period it visited Edmonton – there was much oil/gas industry corporate air travel to and from Edmonton and Calgary from the 1950s onward (to the present). Eventually, N5546N was acquired by the Confederate Air Force in Texas and restored to CAF warbird standards. It flew again in WWII markings in 1984. Airworthy B-26s were so rare that it a grave shock when N5546N crashed near Odessa, Texas on September 28, 1995. That day it was airborne with the pilot and four others aboard. It seems that power was lost in at least one engine, causing the plane to go down uncontrollably. All aboard perished.
Northern Aviation in 1977
In 1977 Hugh Whittington, the renowned editor of “Canadian Aviation” magazine, asked three writers to cover Canada’s Northern and Arctic Aviation scenes. Hugh Quigley headed for Yellowknife, Ted Larkin for Resolute Bay, and I for the heart of James Bay country along Quebec’s Great Whale River. This was a super opportunity for us. Besides, it always was a privilege to work for Hugh and Canada’s premier aviation trade magazine.
To start, I connected with SEBJ – la Société d’énergie de la Baie James – in Montreal to make arrangements to fly into its vast hydro development region, get briefed about what was going on up there, and how my transportation and lodging would go. In a few days I was at Dorval, where I met the man running SEBJ’s air transport operation, the legendary Frank Henley. A hardcore aviation fan and renowned aviator/businessman, Frank was keen to fill me in and get my flight north organized. Only recently he had set up an exclusive SEBJ corporate air operation using several Convair 580s. Their main task was to fly personnel, freight and mail back and forth between Dorval and SEBJ, with stops at Quebec and Bagotville.
This assignment was one of my first big breaks in aviation journalism. Even though I was getting published in the aviation press, there rarely was more than a few dollars in it for any piece of work. By comparison, Hugh was offering $750 for the SEBJ assignment. Our stories appeared in his November 1977 edition. My trip really panned out, including some very good flying in the Convairs, a couple of commercial Hercules, and some Bell choppers. I had one heck of an exciting few days. Here’s what I turned out for Hugh:
Forty-four years later? By now, the SEBJ that I saw in 1977 long-since has been producing hydro electricity for Quebec, New York and Ontario. The project has gone on to additional phases and still is on-going. Of course, the aviation scene is much changed. Long gone are the Convairs, DC-3s, Otters and Hercules. Today, such types as the PC-12, King Air and Dash 8 serve the region. Many of the fellows I met also have departed, from Frank Henley to Blake Smiley and Roy Heibel. Frank’s now a member of Quebec’s Aviation Hall of Fame. Roy later died in a helicopter crash.
Some of the SEBJ aircraft came to dramatic endings, including CF-DSX. Following SEBJ and other northern projects, in 1984 it became N39ST with Trans America, then was S9-NAI with Transafrik working in diamond mining regions of South Africa. On April 9, 1989 “NAI” was hauling fuel for the Angolan Air Force when it came under fire near Luena airfield. With two engines ablaze, it crash-landed. The 4-man crew survived, but that was the end of what once had been a famous Canadian Hercules.
The other “Herc” that I flew in on SEBJ, PWA’s CF-PWN, also had a bad ending. As N920ST, by 1989 it was doing shady work for the CIA. On November 27 that year was approaching Jamba airport in Angola. The “Aviation Safety Network” summarizes what happened: “The aircraft, flown by Tepper Aviation’s chief, reportedly was carrying out a flight on behalf of the CIA to provide the Angolan UNITA guerrilla forces with weapons. It crashed while coming in to land at Jamba. These flights were flown at night at a very low altitude to avoid MPLA radar detection. The runway at Jamba was dirt, the approach was over trees, and the portable runway lighting was probably marginally adequate.”
Here’s a page from Air Transport in Canada with photos of some commercial Hercules having Canadian connections, some quite sad. These days you can order “ATC” at a real bargain. Get this 2-volume, 5 kg, 1030-page treasure (usually $155++) for these all-in prices (pay by PayPal, etc. in Canadian dollars): Canada $65.00, USA $80.00, Int’l $160.00. No one ever has regretted having “ATC” on his/her bookshelf, and what a spectacular gift this duo always makes.
Canadair Revelation
Back in 1995 we published one of the grandest corporate aviation histories – Canadair: The First 50 Years. It really is a lovely book and will be treasured for decades by those who own the 24,000 copies that came off the bindery at Friesen printers in Manitoba. However, there’s always the reality that no matter how we try, we never really can produce the “all singing, all dancing” aviation book. All that our Canadair can do it whet a reader’s appetite for more. Well, today here’s a bit more for the avid fan.
Just like all aerospace companies, Canadair created hundreds of projects “on paper”, few of which ever developed. That’s too bad in some ways, for some of these surely would have made grand successes.
Out in today’s aviation boonies are hundreds of Cessna Caravans, DHC Beavers, Otters and turbo Otters, Kodiaks, AN-2s and other such common workhorses. They serve niche markets in a hundred-and-one ways. They’re absolutely indispensible for isolated northern communities from Labrador to Alaska, across Africa and Latin America, in the Aussie outback, in Siberia, etc. Each type has its general history, even some fame and glory, but who knew, for example, that the Caravan had its beginnings in the late 1970s as a glint in to eyes of Dick Hiscocks and Russ Bannock of De Havilland Canada in Toronto? Strange but true. The fellows envisioned an Otter replacement, took their idea to Wichita, and the rest is history (you might not see this part of the Caravan story in any official Cessna history).
All very interesting, but did you know that the first such brilliant and serious idea for an Otter replacement hailed not from Hiscocks/Bannock, but from Canadair at Cartierville in suburban Montreal? This was the Canadair CL-260 utility plane of 1970. As a builder of Sabres, Argus and CF-104s, who would expect the great Canadair to be dabbling with such a “small fry” project? That I do not know and nearly all the Canadair old boys from that era by now have passed. Does anyone out there know the details? Failing all else, here’s a nifty bit that emerged lately from the depths of the CANAV archives.
CL-260 Turbine Otter Caravan
Wing Span: 54’ 58’ 52’1”
Length: 43’2” 41’10” 37’7”
All-up Weight: 8000 lb 8200 lb 8000 lb
It’s just another fantasy airplane by now, but “what if” Canadair had produced the CL-260? Would it have changed the world long before the ubiquitous Caravan, and the other light utility planes that serve today? It’s always fun to speculate. Anyway, here are the GA drawings direct from Canadair. Who will be the first keen modeller to give this one a try? If you dare try and follow through, please send me some photos for the blog.
Have a look at John Ciesla’s fantastic transportation files. Lots of wonderful Canadian content from the great airliners of the 50s-60s to streetcars, busses, you name it. Many a trip down memory lane!
Bush Caddy Update
The last time I updated the story of the “Ghost” Canso of Gananoque, one of the photos (taken by Nick Wolochatiuk) shows a bit of a sorry-looking yellow Bush Caddy in the hangar beside the Canso. CANAV reader Jim Golz has found the story behind this interesting airplane. It’s a classic “cautionary tale” in detail, including some questions about of aircraft certification competence at Transport Canada. Use the blog search box to find our original story by entering “Bush Caddy”. Here’s the link that reveals this really amazing story … not to be missed by any true history fan, or anyone who aviates in kitplanes: https://www.eaa.org/eaa/news-and-publications/eaa-news-and-aviation-news/bits-and-pieces-newsletter/12-25-2019-wing-spar-failure-on-a-bushcaddy-l-164
One of the best sources for news and developments for Canadian aviation fans is Paul Squires’ monthly “News Round Up” blog-0-paul-squires. You can get on Paul’s list by checking in with him at paul.capa@aol.com or paul.squires.capa@mattamatic
Check in here to see the latest progress on Red Lake Norseman CF-DRD. See photos of the wings and fuselage recently coming together again. Here’s your chance to send your gofundme bit along to help with this very important (and expensive) Canadian aviation heritage project.
Some Exotic Flying Test Beds of the Fifties
When it comes to old airplane photos, treasures keep popping up in dusty files, boxes and forgotten albums. Recently, in sorting some things, I found this exotic black-and-white by aviation photographer, Ira Ward, of Needham Heights, Massachusetts. In 1964 Ira had mailed this one to his pal in Toronto, the great M.L. “Mac” McIntyre, an early member of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society. Subject matter? The one-off Curtiss Wright B-17 engine test bed N6694C, which Ira had shot at Woodbridge, Connecticut. Built as a B- 17G by Lockheed-Vega in Burbank in May 1945, it originally rolled out as USAAF 44-85813, but would not see military service. Instead, it went straight to Curtiss Wright that October for engine testing as a civil B-17. The major mods were done at Wichita by Boeing. N6694C’s initial “5 th ” engine was the 5500-shp Wright XT35 Typhoon turbine. First flight was in September 1947, but the T65 proved to be a dud. Not everything has been published about N6694C’s career, but its second big assignment seems to have been testing Curtiss Wright’s licence-built version of the UK’s Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire turbojet. In the US, this became the J65, widely used in such fighters as the FJ-4 Fury and Grumman Tiger.
In 1966 Curtiss Wright sold its exotic test bed to Ewing Aviation. It then was ferried to South Dakota for conversion back to a more usual B-17 for fire bombing. On April 16, 1980 it crashed while working a fire at Bear Pen, North Carolina. For further details see Scott A. Thompson’s essential book, Final Cut — The Post-War Flying Fortresses: The Survivors. Having a chance to catch such a nice set-up of N6694C would certainly have made Ira Ward’s day. Mac, of course, would have delighted in getting Ira’s print in the mail – those were the days when most of us swapped airplane photos using the always-efficient postal services of the day. We never followed the Curtiss Wright B-17, but as kids used to delight in seeing any B-17. In the late 50s we often saw Kenting’s aero survey “Forts”, CF-HBP and CF-ICB at their base in Oshawa, then at Malton, starting around 1960, once Field Aviation had built its new hangar at the north end of the airport. The Kenting fleet then started using Field for mods and servicing.
Local Flying Test Beds
This is mostly forgotten history, but Toronto had some flying test beds of its own. In the early 1950s Avro Canada was using a Lancaster to test the jet engines being developed by its Malton subsidiary, Orenda Engines. These were produced initially for the CF- 100, but they later powered hundreds of Canadair-built F-86s. I never saw this “Lanc”, since it was destroyed when Avro’s flight test hangar burned on July 24, 1956 – a bit before my time at Malton.
Avro Canada’s Lancaster FM209 was on loan from the RCAF. It first flew as a test bed for the early Orenda jet engine in July 1949, then served usefully until the fire. Also seen here is the USAF F-86A on loan to Avro for testing early Orendas. USAF tail number 47-616, this Saber was the first airplane to fly solely under Orenda power.
In 1956, when Orenda was developing the Iroquois engine for the Avro CF-105 Arrow, USAF B-47 51-2059 was borrowed from the USAF to use as a test bed. For this program the B-47 was taken on RCAF strength as X059. Its first destination in Canada was Canadair at Cartierville, near Montreal, where the mods were installed to accommodate the 30-foot-long Orenda engine. This made X059 one of the rare 7-engine B-47s (a second was used to test fly the GE TF34). For Canadair purposes, the B-47 was designated the CL-52.
Here’s an excerpt from our book, Canadair: The First 50 Years, that explains a bit about the B-47 Orenda Iroquois test bed. The Iroquois eventually flew 31 running hours in flight on X059.X059 flying gear down near Malton during the Iroquois program. Test pilots Mike Cooper-Slipper of Avro Canada and Len Hobbs from the UK, and Avro flight test engineer, Johnny McLaughlin, spent 10 weeks training on the B-47 with the USAF in Wichita. This made the trio very exclusive airmen, since the B-47 was ultra-secret. It almost was anathema for the Americans to allow such “foreign aliens” to get so close to the B-47. However, it was in their interest, since the Iroquois was destined for the Arrow, which was to be a key NORAD fighter. Besides, along the way the Americans certainly would have gleaned some worthwhile technical “intel” about the Iroquois. There might even have been an information sharing agreement. Long ago Mike Cooper-Slipper told me about what a dicey plane this exotic test bed was to fly. It was a slide rule operation all the way. Landings were especially tricky, since the huge engine pod at the tail created its own ground effect just as the pilot flared to touch down. At the end of the test program (February 20, 1959, when the Arrow suddenly was cancelled) the B-47 was re-converted to standard configuration, then the Avro crew ferried the plane to Davis Monthan Air Force Base near Tuscon. “DM” was the USAF’s main storage and scrapping facility. There, X059 soon was unceremoniously chopped to pieces and melted down. History bites, right!The P&WC Beech Expeditor flying test bed. Then, the fine crew of Fowler and MacNeil who first flew HB109 from Downsview in 1961. When the Arrow and Iroquois were cancelled, there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth throughout the land. How could there not be, since something like 15,000 people instantly were out of work on that February 20 – “Black Friday”. This soon worked itself out, however, since pretty well anyone of the 15,000 who wanted a job soon had one somewhere in Canadian industry. A few even moved south, finding jobs in the US aircraft industry and NASA. In this bubbling atmosphere, a number of Orenda engineers got wind that Pratt & Whitney Canada at Longueuil, near Montreal, was looking for engineers. These fellows packed their bags and, as they used to say, “went downstream” to join “Pratt”. There, they eagerly started work on an exciting new project to develop a revolutionary small gas turbine engine that became the PT6. Soon the PT6 needed a flying test bed. The RCAF obliged, lending Pratt its Beech C-45 Expeditor HB109 for the duration. The contract to modify HB109 to 3-engine configuration went to De Havilland of Canada at Downsview. On May 30, 1961 DHC test pilot, R.H. “Bob” Fowler, and P&WC ‘s John MacNeil flew HB109 initially with the PT6. Soon the program was under way. Although it was a long learning curve, MacNeil eventually was satisfied, commenting in a report of September 7, 1961: “I am very pleased with our engine operation to date. It starts quickly both in the air and on the ground, and makes its thrust very obvious from the surface to 25,000 feet. The engineers and technicians who have made this possible have my humble respect and heartiest congratulations.” As we all know, the PT6 has become a world class engine. More than 41,000 have been delivered. The wee engine that started its flying days on the nose of an Expeditor by today has logged an astonishing 335 million flying hours in a host of versions on thousands airplanes. After more than 60 years the PT6 remains in development and production. As to Pratt’s faithful test bed, it’s been saved for museum purposed by L’École nationale d’aérotechnique St. Hubert airport, Longueuil. For more info about this P&WC Expeditor (also about Pratt’s 3-engine CF-100) see https://www.pierregillard.com/blog/page65.html#20211555HB109 in a classic in-flight portrait. See more about Canada’s flying test beds in such books as Canadair: The First 50 Years, De Havilland in Canada and Power: The Pratt & Whitney Canada Story. This is a fascinating and important bit of our aviation heritage. I wonder if there’s “someone” out there willing to research this important subject in proper detail? The story is certainly worthy of a book.
NORAD ECM/EW – The Story of 414 Squadron and the 134th DSES of the Vermont ANG
Beginning in the 1950s, the RCAF began experimenting with a new concept – electronic counter measures (ECM). This eventually became known more commonly as electronic warfare (EW). The first I wrote about this was a 1980 feature item in Carl Vincent’s superb journal, “High Flight”. The topic was enticing, especially since NORAD was using some interesting airplane types.
In Canada, the first RCAF EW unit was 104KU (Composite Unit) at St. Hubert. Using Dakotas and C-119s, “104” trained ground radar stations to deal with airborne radar jamming using electronic means and chaffe dispersal. In 1956, 104 added its first CF-100 equipped for the same tasks. Communications jamming soon was added. In April 1959 the RCAF stood up its Electronic Warfare Unit at St. Hubert with C-119s and CF-100s. The CF-100 pilots came from existing NORAD squadrons, while their “back seaters” – the electronic warfare officers (EWOs) — usually had been CF-100 navigators, trained later in EW by the USAF. The EWU came to be a busy operation, always in demand to fly ECM exercises across North America. In September 1967 the EWU became 414 (EW) Squadron. For all the details of the famous RCAF EW unit see the detailed history in my 1980 book The Avro CF- 100.
While the RCAF was perfecting its EW capabilities, the USAF had a similar but much grander operation, comprising several squadrons flying the EB-57 Canberra. In the early 1980s I was getting deeper into this special NORAD topic. Having covered the EWU/414 closely and flown with 414 in 1980 (by then at North Bay), I needed to learn about the USAF operation. This led me to spend a few days in Burlington, Vermont with the 134 th Defense Systems Evaluation Group of the Vermont Air National Guard (part of the 158 th Defense Systems Evaluation Group). This really solid field trip (the 134 th was all in with me for this project) culminated on March 17, 1980 with a 2-hour flight in a B-57. To my delight this included shooting air- to-air Kodachromes of EB-57s. Under the heading “The Black Knights and the Green Mountain Boys: Electronic Warfare in NORAD”, my story appeared in October 1980 in the lead UK aviation journal, “Air International”. Here it is for your enjoyment.
By 2021 NORAD’s EW training role is very different from CF-100 and EB-57 days. To a large degree, such training is done by commercial contractors flying civil-registered types including the Lear Jet, Alpha Jet and MU-2. Much training also is done using simulators. Such types as the USN EA-6B and EA-18G are important EW operational assets. Electronic warfare has become a huge specialty by comparison to 1980.
134th Scorpion Nostalgia
My first meeting with the 134th was one of the most exciting that a 16-year-old aviation fan could have. The date was May 16 1959 and my sidekick Merlin “Mo” Reddy and I were visiting the USAF base at Niagara Falls, NY. It was “Air Force Day” and turned out to be one of the highlights of our airplane spotting hobby. We drove down from Toronto early to make sure we got as many photos before the place got too crowded. Naturally, the sight as we arrived of such aircraft as the B-47, KC-97 and H-21 got us fired up.
Then various visitors started arriving, the highlight for me being a flight of five gorgeous F-89D Scorpions of the Vermont ANG. This was really something and there we were wandering around the ramp with our cameras. Can you imagine? An F-89 taxiing in but no one yelling at you to clear off. Talk about the good ol’ days, right! As you can see, Scorpion 54-0193 was magnificent as I photographed it. Doesn’t it look 100% operational with its wingtip rocket pods, long- range fuel tanks and VTANG markings. (Aircraft of the 134th VTANG: P-47D 1947-51, P-51D 1951-54, F-94A/B 1954-58, F-89D 1958-65, F-102A/B 1965-74, EB-57 1974-81, F-4 1981-86, F-16 1986-2019, F- 35 2019-XX. For an excellent history of the 134 th … google “Vermont Air National Guard” to get on the unit’s excellent website.)
“The Six”
In our last blog session, I wrote a bit about the Convair F-106, one of NORAD’s greatest interceptors. Here’s one of the Kodachromes that I shot off on January 6, 1985, when the 49 th FIS took me up in a 2-seater “Six” from Griffis AFB, New York. Talk about a golden opportunity for any aviation writer/historian, but these did arise back in the day, if a fellow was giving something worthwhile back to the airforce, navy, etc. I remember, for example, when my (late) UK pal, Roger Lindsay, crowned his many long years compiling the history of the RAF’s Lightning interceptor with a flight in that exotic Mach 2 fighter. Happily, the USAF, RCAF, etc. have always fairly recognized we aviation historians, writers and publishers.
This Month’s Reads … Three Books for the Avid Reader
Three aviation books are on my list this time around. To start there’s the incomparable Fate is the Hunter. This is the great Ernest Gann’s 1961 in-depth history covering his days starting back in the “Golden Years” of aviation when he started into his career at the very bottom. You absolutely will be spellbound by this gem of a classic. Inch by inch Gann progresses, at first spending years as a lowly American Airlines co-pilot on the DC-2, then DC-3. He learns the ropes and eats a lot of crow, as captains and other superiors show their distain for his nothingness as an aviator. His captaincy finally arrives, but he’s still at the bottom.
Along the way Gann describes in his inimitable style all the adventures of flying, the many close calls in those early years, the sheer joy of being in the flying game, yet its all-too-many tragedies. A stint delivering Lodestars to South America ensues – the details will make you squirm. With WWII, Gann flies the global airways on the DC-4 and C-87. The adventures multiply, then the war ends and he strikes out to make his way (rather than returning to American Airlines with his low seniority number) with a new trans-Pacific carrier using DC-4s. This soon falls apart and the once proud captain of the airways finds himself scrounging for jobs.
All along, Gann his weaving his story in wonderful prose, just the best you’ll find anywhere, while philosophizing about aviation and life. How have things panned out? How is it that so many of his aviation friends have given their lives? How is it that fate in the hunter? If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of this aviation beauty, here you go! 390 pages, paperback. $38.00 all-in
A Wrench in the Wings is a fantastic book covering Sam Longo’s busy and productive aviation career on the technical side. One of the early graduates in the 70s of the unique Centennial College aviation technicians course in Toronto, Sam works far and wide in aviation, maintaining everything from DC-3s to Electras and Twin Otters . He has but 3 words for the Twin Otter – “Simple, rugged and reliable.” He also covers his years at De Havilland Canada and Air Canada, so you’ll be reading a lot of history and inside stuff about anything from the Dash 7 to the DC-8 and L-1010 (how about the shift at Air Canada when some tech retracted the nose gear on a 747). Sam even has a few pages about his most favourite aviation book Fate is the Hunter – fancy that! He also has some choice things to say about his 22 years teaching aviation mechanics at Centennial College. This book is one fantastic page after another. You’ll love it, guaranteed. (Samhas over 40 years’ experience as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer and Professor-Coordinator at Centennial Colleges Aerospace Department. He holds an FAA A&P rating as well as a Certificate in Adult Education from St. Francis Xavier University. He’s a qualified trainer in Aviation Human Factors and is the past president of both the AME Association of Ontario and Aircraft Maintenance Engineers of Canada. His extensive writing has been published in aviation and motorcycle publications across Canada. What’s the bottom line about Sam’s book? Cheap at twice the price. $32.00 all-inSprog is the very close-in story of young men enlisting early in the RCAF during WWII. Author Malcolm Kelly is a former sports columnist turned broadcast professor at Centennial College. Somewhere along the line, he became fascinated by the story of RCAF wartime training. He started reading voraciously. He read everything he could find, even a bunch of CANAV books, then started envisioning the daily, weekly, monthly lives of all those kids “joining up” to do their wartime bit. Sprog (the RCAF slang term for a raw recruit) covers some keen young fellows, including the inevitable “Tex”, who came up from the States to try his luck in the RCAF. It takes the readers from enlisting to the fellows starting their indoctrination at RCAF No.1 Manning Depot in Toronto. Of course, there are all sorts of shenanigans, and every day is an adventure. From manning depot the fellows progress through the predictable stages – guard duty at Camp Borden, ITS (Initial Training School) back in Toronto, etc. Malcolm introduces a host of sprogs, delving deeply into each fellow’s character and experiences. Definitely a book for anyone with a yen for RCAF WWII history. Something really quite different. 592 pages paperback. $35.00 all-in
*Any two of these $60.00 all-in. Buy the three for $95.00 all-in. You can order via PayPal or Interac paying straight to larry@canavbooks.com Any questions? Email me at the same address. Good reading to one and all. Cheers … LarryMilberry
PS … Scroll back for loads of other Canadian aviation history coverage.CanForces readers will be interested in some of these stories:
Red Lake Norseman “DRD” needs your personal help. Restoration has been underway and the job nearly is done. The wings have just arrived back in Red Lake from Gordy Hughes’ shop in Ignace. If you can help with even $10.00 “DRD” will love you forever. Here’s your chance to be part of Norseman heritage … right here, painlessly: Save DRD – Red Lake’s Norseman icon It’s easy as pie, give it a shot!
Homebuilt Fly-In Have a look here at the wonderful photography of the great Gustavo Corujo. All through the summer, Gus and Clara cover flying events across Southern Ontario. Here’s their latest adventure. Miss this lovely slide show at your peril:
You’ll notice the sweet photos of Corben Baby Ace CF-RAC. I first photographed “RAC” 60 years ago at Oshawa and Kitchener. Here it is in 2021 in front of Gus’ lens … still on the go. You can see the squib I did about this historic plane earlier on the blog. Just enter CF-RAC in the search box and it’ll put you right there.
Calgary Mosquito Society Have a look at what this important organization is doing. Please take a moment and join. How better to show your support, right. No such society can get by without an involved membership. Members always get their money’s worth, guaranteed, and the price of admission is always a bargain:
Last week’s blog item covering the longevity of Colombia’s DC-3s includes a headline photo of Colombian police Basler turbo DC-3 PNC 0213 – formerly CF-POX from Ottawa. As with any such surviving DC-3, this is an enticing story for any curious reader. Built in August 1944 with Douglas serial number 20875, a few weeks later this “Gooney Bird” was with the USAAF in North Africa. The war soon over, in January 1948 it was acquired by the French Air Force at Naples, then gave 20+ more good years of service. Appearing briefly on the French civil aircraft register as F-BTDG, in late 1971 it was sold to John Bogie’s famous Laurentian Air Service of Ottawa. Transport Canada documentation dated September 18 of that year noted that total airframe flying hours then were 10,283.6. Also mentioned was how both engines were low time. Being under 100 hours per side was a very big “plus” for any purchaser. TDG’s legal all-up weight listed as was 26,900 lb.
After many repairs and mods were done in France to make it “legal”, “TDG” was re-registered CF-POX. Early in 1972 it set off for Canada burdened with a planeload of paperwork and spares. LeaIt followed the time-honoured Greenland – Goose Bay trans-Atlantic ferry route. Joan Turner photographed it at Ottawa Uplands airport on June 3, 1972 and Ian Macdonald provides us with Joan’s lovely photo.
As one of the last DC-3s imported to Canada, “POX” soon was toiling in the north. In the spring of 1973 and winter of 1975 it had short leases to Austin Airways. Along the way it took some lumps, including being put on its nose at Schefferville in May 3, 1975. Repairs were made at St. Louis Aviation of St-Jean, Quebec. However, by then the log books and all maintenance data for “POX” had been lost in a fire at Lachute, Quebec airport in early October Subsequently, “POX” spent a long period collecting dust at Ottawa Uplands airport.
Finally, in early 1980 “POX” became N8059P with Sunset Aircraft (a bit of an ominous name?) of Miami. Then came a long list of owners. Who knows what “under the radar” activity was going on. Then, in 1984, “POX” was purchased by USAC Turbo Express of Phoenix for conversion to PT6-45R engines. Nothing seems to have come of this, then this prototype was acquired by Warren Basler of Oshkosh, where in 1988-89 it became Basler’s first turbo DC-3s using the PT6-67. It was the company demonstrator until sold in 1994 to Air Colombia. Having soon been caught in the illicit drug trade, it was seized and transferred to the Colombia national police. As far as I know, there ol’ “POX” remains to this day.
English Language Beat Down: Only in Canada
If you’re age 50 or more, you’ll be mortified at the decline of the English language in the 2000s. In Canada this is the result of ministries and school boards deliberately launching offensives against the language. Where else in the world would you find this? Try it in Quebec, where the language cops soon would straighten you out. Quebec, happily, is fully aware of the importance of language as a foundation block of any civilization. Most countries are the same – language is paramount and sacred. Meanwhile, do you think that China is undermining its educational standards?
Try messing with the national language in any civilized, even, half-civilized nation, and you quickly will be called out. Not in Canada, however, where liberal “progressives” are on the rampage against anything to do Canada’s incalculably fantastic accomplishments over the decades/centuries. Pull down a statue, re-name a street or building, go for it! Sabotaging anything genuinely cultural is what the “progressives” in Canada call a good day’s work. And look who approves – our self-besmirched PM leads the charge, the “progressive” mayor of Toronto is gung ho. Anything to appease the obnoxious minorities, few of whom have read a history book in their shallow lives.
These “progressives” have decided that, if anything good in Canada has been accomplished by the Euro-North Americans (i.e. pretty well everything worthwhile about Canada and the civilized world as we know it today), that must be torn down and its defenders made to apologize. The “progressives” are not messing around. They’re high stakes campaigners — the language, the great founders and achievers, Canada’s global record for doing good (see the following article about Honduras), etc. Leading the charge are the PMO, the CBC, then the rest of the go-with-the-flow mainstream media.
I’ll give you a few simple examples today from the language front. All these come straight from the airwaves, chiefly from radio hosts, many times from Radio Canada. Each is a stupid little gaff, you might say, but these snowball and soon your grandchildren can’t spell. The “progressives” know that they are bungling the language, rattling off one faux pas after another, the sorts of gaffs that Grade 3 kids 50 years ago would not commit, since they were being so well taught. Try these beauties on for size:
Some politico on the radio invents a new phrase: “public outbringings”. The liberals just love to make up a totally moronic non-word. “Outbringings” already!
Most, however, are straightforward language errors. Let’s hope that our radio station managers start doing something about these travesties. How do you like this one? “Some of the other topics we cover is …” Is they, really!
“My expectations is …” Perfect, Homer!
“There has been rumblings…” I guess there has been, if you say so..
“The most common drugs was …” Was they?
“There has been many cases …” Of course, there has. Go to the corner, you dunce, for being so clueless about the fundamentals of singular and plural.
Someone, “may of threw a wrench into the works”. No, this is not a “Don Cherryism”, but some radio host or news reader showing his/her lack of English language skills. Of course, they’ll explain that learning is “way too hard”, so go away with your language rules.
“There is a lot of guests.”
“There was a couple of storms.” If you respect the English language, you’ll probably be starting to feel a bit ill by now. Hang is, check out a few more gems.
Some yahoo with a microphone recently put this one out: “to fragilize”! Google almost melted down when I searched for this one, telling me, sharply: “No results found for ‘What does it mean to frangilize?”’
Here’s another category of language atrocity. My wonderful old Grade 13 English teacher, Brother Ignatius, would have had a stroke if he ever heard this one — “a hot heatwave”, which a TV weather “reporter” spouted recently. I had to change channels. On top of this, here’s another prize-winner: “Mendacious lies”.
“Workers at de Havilland and Bombardier have went on strike.” Arghhh!
And no … I am not making these up. They pour from my radio all day long.
Moving right along … “There was a thousand revellers”. Next to churn your stomach ulcer — “Flames have destroyed everything in its path …”
Sometimes there are subtler examples. Since spelling, grammar and handwriting no longer are serious subjects in most Canadian public schools, I suppose we can understand how a radio voice has no clue that there is a difference between “number” and “amount”. Such subtleties used to be commonly understood by Gr.7 or 8. Here’s an example: “a good amount of games”. No … that would be “a good number of games”. Look it up.
While I’m at it, what about “between” and “among”? In Toronto, if there is a lone on-air voice who knows this difference, that would be John Oakley on 640 AM. Oakley is one of the few on Toronto radio with an understanding and respect for the importance of the English language on the public airwaves.
Besides all such language abuses across Canada, it seems that there no longer are standards for pronunciation. When I was a boy in the 1950s, future broadcasters attended such schools as the Radio College of Canada. There they learned the finer points of accurate English usage. No excuses were accepted for the least faux pas. The CBC had the best broadcasters in the country, the likes of Lorne Greene. An announcer with poor pronunciation would be unemployable. Today? Being a klutz may be an asset at the job interview.
Elocusion was a vital course for every broadcasting student. Today, of course, few people on-air could spell the word, let alone know its meaning. However, decades ago grade school children learned elocution:
“el·o·cu·tion /ˌeləˈkyo͞oSH(ə)n/noun the skill of clear and expressive speech, especially of distinct pronunciation and articulation.”
Well, that sure sounds hard, so fergit about eleyqushun, eh.
What do we have these days? Turn on your radio and find out. If you can stand the punishment, you’ll soon hear such brutalizing of the English language as: “miracusly” (miraculously), “fortunly” (fortunately), “vunable” (vulnerable), “definly” (definitely), “measural” (measurable), “differutly” (differently), “corinated” (co-ordinated), “Chrona” (Toronto). It’s a laugh a minute. Many of these blunders were heard on CBC. Apparently, the CBC no longer has a language ombudsperson and it’s open season there in 2021 on the English language.
Here’s a final example today of a “CBCism”: “a lot of parents who doesn’t”. No, wait … one more beauty: “It’s not based off of anything”. “Off of”? Right – an actual “Don Cheeryism”. CBC people used to mock Don’s slaughtering of English, “now they is Don himself”. Well, the “progressives” are doing an ace of a job tearing down Canada. They’ve sure been brilliant in their campaign to wreck the English language – simply punt formal lessons “off of” the school curriculum. Makes all the rest of their campaign that much easier – cancelling this, cancelling that, etc.
PS … don’t get me going with “exact same”! Grade 3s used to know how stupid a saying this is. Today? What radio host doesn’t use “exact same” as if it was correct English usage. One last turn of the knife in your gut – here’s another real CBCism – “logicality”. There aren’t enough corners in the big classroom of Canada to accommodate all these dunces, I fear.
Media Coverage
With book publishing in Canada, there are two essentials if a publisher is to succeed: produce a top quality book for which a readership exists, then, somehow win some media support. As you’ve seen in our past few blogs, CANAV Books has done exceedingly well at both. As I continue going through the CANAV archives, almost daily I still turn up long forgotten media clippings about our many projects.
July 4, 1995 was a red letter day for us – the launch at Marché Bonsecours in Montreal of Canadair: The First 50 Years. Sponsored by Bombardier, this was the glitziest of all our book launches. Soon, I had distributed the usual batch of copies to the aviation and general press, and the reviews starting to appear. To this day, not a negative line has appeared about this magnificent book. This week I came across some typical press coverage. This was from the inimitable Mike Filey, best known for his regular columns in Toronto’s “Sunday Sun”.
I met Mike about 1980, when he already was immersed in his passion for Toronto history. Since then, he has turned out dozens of important Toronto books, and become famous at the “Sunday Sun”. This is Mike’s 1995 column featuring our Canadair book. As to the book, it’s now long out of print. All 24,000 copies sold, but you always can find a nice example on the web. For example, this morning (July 26, 2021) I noticed 134 copies for sale at www.bookfinder.com . Most are very affordable at less than our $50.00 sticker price. Any fan of Canada’s great aviation heritage will revel in this book. Thanks you for you comments, Mike … Larry
Massey-Ferguson Flight Department c.1960
In earlier CANAV blogs you’ve seen quite a bit about corporate aviation in Canada 50 – 60 years ago. Lately, one of the “Massey” old timers asked if I might have photos of their other aircraft, besides the Lodestar and Howard Ventura, which you can see on the blog by scrolling back a bit. A look through my ancient negative files yielded these two lovely old Massey aircraft, which I photographed at Toronto’s Malton airport in 1960. First is the company’s De Havilland Dove CF-GYQ, then, Gulfstream CF-MUR. Once “MUR” arrived, the older piston-powered types quickly were sold in various directions.CF-MUR later had many operators, starting in 1968 with Hollinger Ungava Transport. Then, it joined the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway in 1977. This led to a long stay in Sept-Iles, Quebec. In 1985 it moved on the Air Inuit, the City Express. In 1989 it went back to the US as N26AJ. As such it had nine owners to 2002, the last being Phoenix Air Group of Cartersville, Georgia. Flying “MUR” from Sept-Îles for at the railroad was Jim Court. Lately, Jim sent me some important “MUR” history.
No, sorry I’ve nothing on MUR after it went to Austin Jet. I do know they sold it, and it did some rendition flights from the US mainland to a certain island in the Caribbean, but that’s it. Charlie Clifton and I did the very last PAR [precision approach radar] at Montreal Dorval with MUR. We arrived there about 11:45 AM that morning, and they closed the PAR facility at 12:00. I was flying, and approach asked us if we wanted to do the last PAR before it was shut down. I said yes, and they switched us over to the final controller. After all the proper questions were taken care of, they asked us what altitude we wanted to descend to – minimums were 200 feet. I told them all the way to the ground. The wind was right down R06R and, once I’d set up approach power and flap, the most the guy had to do was say was “On localizer, on glide slope”. He called at 200 feet, 100 feet, 50 feet, then called “Commence your roundout.” Best landing I ever did with a G1. Just as the wheels touched down, the stick shaker went off.
I contrast to MUR’s long and useful career, Dove “GYQ” did not fare well once sold by Massey. Having left Canada late in 1961, it became N424SF, but I have few details. By 1972 it was serving Trans National Airlines of San Francisco. On March 6, 1975 it was hauling freight in bad weather from Paso Robles, California to Los Angeles. Along the route it crashed into 3000-foot terrain, killing the pilot.
Backseat Excitement in the F-16D
I can’t recall why we flew this runway profile with our wingman 90-797. Probably just a photo op that I suggested. Last heard of, “797” was based at Edwards AFB on test flying duties.
On June 16, 2000 I was at Cold Lake hoping for a famil flight in an F-16. This story went far back to the mid-80s, when I met Capt Grant Bruckmeier, a young F-106 pilot with the 49 th FIS, Griffis AFB, New York. What was I doing down at the 49 th ? It all had to do with an assignment from “Air Classics” to do a feature story about the 49 th . Having made 2 or 3 trips from Toronto to gather my basic story material, in the end I was scheduled in January 1986 for a flight in “the Six”. Naturally, this included cockpit famil and the ejection seat course, also some basic winter survival training, and how to extricate myself if I ever ended stuck in a tree after a parachute ride. All this was exciting stuff for any “civvie”, and was very seriously taught by the safety systems staff at the 49 th . In the end I was scheduled on January 6, 1985 to ride along on an F-106 2-ship ECM mission against a pair of EW T-33s. LCol Steve Rogers, CO of the 49 th , took me flying for an hour and what a fantastic trip it was. After the EW training, we formatted with the other Six and the T-birds for a brief session shooting air-to-air Kodachromes.
What a wonderful opportunity this all was. You can see the results of my efforts in “Century Series Survivor” in “Air Classics” July Later, I bumped into Grant Bruckmeier at an airshow at CFB Trenton, where he was showing off the F-106, again in July 1986 when we attended the stand-down of the 49 th FIS at Griffis. As the years passed, we occasionally touched base and always had the idea the we should do a ride together. Ages later, this panned out. One day Grant called to say that about a year down the line he would be leading his F-16 squadron from Hill AFB to CFB Cold Lake to take part on Ex. Maple Flag. If we got started on the paperwork now, maybe Grant could get approval to fly me.
So it happened that in June of 2000 I travelled to Cold Lake to meet with Grant and his squadron, the 4th FS from Hill AFB, Utah. The base people made sure that I was well received and got to cover all the exciting Maple Flag actvities. However, Grant still didn’t have approval to fly me. The wheels had been turning slowly in the Pentagon. Then, the day before the 4th FS was to fly home, approval came through – some USAF General had decide to put his neck on the chopping block for us. The 4th FS medical officer gave me a look- over, I was given a cockpit and ejection seat checkout, then Grant and I walked out to his sparkling new, 2-seat F-16D-40. We strapped in and fired up, then away we went in a 2-ship for a wonderful hour- long trip around the Cold Lake area. Such were the types of great aviation connections I had built up over the decades. There always were serious folks in uniform who recognized we little people in the aviation press and could make things happen for us. With Grant and I, it took about 15 years of waiting, but the day came that we got finally together in F-16 89-2174. But … it was easily worth the wait!
Grant snapped this shot of me as the crew chief was getting me squared away in the cockpit. Where is our F-16D today? Last noted, 89-2174 was flying with the 175th FS of the South Dakota ANG.
Canadian Civil B-25s Update
If you search here for CF-DKU, you’ll find an important little article about how some keen fellows once operated a fuel hauling business in Western Canada using B-25s. You’ll enjoy this item. Lately, someone with a special interest in this operation – Aurora Aviation – dropped me an email:
I just came across this article, brings back many memories! My dad was Harley Koons, and this was such a dream for him. I remember at the age of 15 occasionally helping out during the post- purchase re-fit, and also having a couple of exciting shake-down flights in DKU. Thank you!
Airside at YYZ, September 1 and 3, 1990
It’s always great fun to get airside at any airport with your camera. As you’ve seen at the CANAV blog, 50 – 60 years ago my pals and I got airside pretty well any day of the week at such a place as old Malton Airport (today’s YYZ). There were many openings to the ramps, so we could wander around when it clearly was safe to do so. By the 70s, however, there was no such a chance, for better security was needed. Traffic was increasing at all commercial airports. Then, with the era of the aviation terrorist, there was no choice but to tighten up to the max with fences, patrols, checkpoints, etc. No more airside, except on special occasions. Today, many rules for airside visitors have to be observed – escorts, badges, etc. All fair enough.
Those of us who had some connections with the aviation press or general media often have enjoyed a day “on the ramp”, when there was some special event. Case in point: September 1 and 3, 1990, when I was invited to join the media at YYZ for a Canadian International Air Show session. Of course, it was great to hang out with the team and photograph the flightline. Here are a few old K64s that show the media buzzing around, the team and their colourful little Tutors. This was always a great chance to mingle with the who’s who of the local media, so I made sure to photograph some of these great characters, Boris Spremo included. Meanwhile, the airliners were coming and going over our heads, so that distracted some of us. We always looked forward to all such CIAS fun. For me and the other early Toronto spotters, there couldn’t be a more enjoyable summer’s day. These airliner shots are run of the mill side views, but most of these planes long since have gone to the scrap yard, so their colour schemes and individual stories remain fascinating.
Some of us like to shoot the whole airshow from the planes and people to the tarmac activity. Here are scenes as the media were starting their interviews and getting set up for their Snowbird media flights on September 1, 1990.The great Canadian photographer, Boris Spremo (1935-2017), pulls on his flight suit. Boris had several Snowbird rides over the years. See his book Twenty Years of Photojournalism, also his wiki site.Another famous old Toronto media man, Charles Doering, gets briefed, then straps in. His pilot was Les Racicot. A few years earlier, Les had flown me in a T-33 doing air-to- airs of 414 Squadron’s big, black “Electric Voodoo”. You can see my favourite shot from that mission in Canada’s Air Force Today (CANAV Books 1987). Les was keen enough that day to do a roll over the Voodoo, so I could shoot down on it through the top if the canopy. It worked! Back to Charles … he was a seasoned Toronto radio newsman, who put in 40 years at CFRB. In 2021 he still was on the go at age 94.Here are a few of the other aircraft that we spotted at YYZ on these two CIAS media days. Airbus A310 C- GDWD is seen on approach. Delivered to Wardair in March 1988, it was named in honour of the great Austin Airways bush pilot, Thurston “Rusty” Blakey. When Wardair was acquired by Canadian International Airlines International, “DWD” moved there, then had various other owners and operators, Montreal’s Royalair and Toronto’s Canada 3000 included (where it flew as C-GRYA). Finally, it became N627SC just before being broken up for scrap in 2014 at Pinal Airpark in Arizona. For extra fun, here’s a satellite view of Pinal Airpark, where the main business is scrapping old airliners.Wardair’s A310 C-GLWD “C.H. ‘Punch’ Dickins” also was at YYZ on September 3. It also went to CAIL, but in January 1993 was sold to Canada’s DND to serve 437 squadron at CFB Trenton as CC-150 Polaris 15002. It remains there after almost 30 years in CanForces service.Air Canada 767-200 series C-GDSP on arrival. Boeing serial 24142, it was delivered in July 1988, served to around 2010, then went to Roswell, New Mexico, where it was scrapped in In 2021, C-GDSP is a Cirrus SR-22.Ironically registered C-FTCA, this 767-300 came to CAIL in April 1989. Following Air Canada’s CAIL takeover, “TCA” served there from 2001, but also had leases (Ansett Australia, QANTAS, etc.). Its long career included 3 – 4 “incidents”, including twice when severe turbulence injured people aboard. Then, on March 4, 2019, while landing at Halifax from Toronto with 219 aboard, “TCA” ended in a snow bank facing the wrong way – that must have caused a bit of grief on board! One report explains: “About 2570 meters down the runway the aircraft skidded, turned around by 180 degrees and came to a stop in a snow bank … Ground services reported the runway was 100% ice, the chemical truck had just broken down while trying to spray the runway.” Although it’s 30+ years old, “TCA” presently is in Tel Aviv for conversion to freighter configuration for Air Canada’s expanding cargo fleet. Air Canada DC-9-32 C-FTLR f/n 717 departing YYZ. Views from the underside often reveal that an airliner is overdue for a good wash. Having served the company from September 1967 to April 1997, “TLR” was sold to Philippine operator CEBU Pacific Air, where it served as RP-C1508 into 2006. Then, CF- TMA f/n 727 on approach. It also went to CEBU for a short second career as RP-C1535.Air Canada 727-200 C-GAAE joined Air Canada in October 1974. After almost 20 years of good service, it went to FedEx as freighter N254FE “Courtney”. In 2010 it went into final storage at Victorville airport, California. It was scrapped, then cancelled from the US civil aircraft register in April 2013.Boeing 757 C-FOOE began with Canada 3000 in May 1989, then was G-JMCF with UK operator JMC Airlines. Other operators followed until it was sold to FedEx in 2010 to become freighter N928FD. There it has served solidly as a freighter. On July 16, 2021, for example, it operated Indianapolis-New Orleans-Atlanta, logging 2:36 hours.CAIL 737-200 C-GCPY at YYZ on September 3, “CPY” joined CAIL in October 1981 as “Empress of Grande Prairie”, then plodded along into 2003. In 2004 it migrated to Indonesia as PK-MBS. It’s listed as sent for scrapping in 2006.Many smaller “bumble bees” came and went as we waited around watching for the next interesting plane to come or go at YYZ. Here is a typical case — Ontario Express Jetstream 31 C-GJPU. A typical 19-seat commuter airliner, “JPU” served 1987-94, then became LN-FAZ with Coast Air in Norway. In 2021 it was ES-PJA with Tansdaviabaltika in Estonia.By mid-afternoon, when we were getting ready to head home, the overseas jumbos starting to appear, Lufthansa 747 “combi” D-ABYZ included. Delivered in 1985, it went exclusively into Lufthansa cargo in 1994. Finally, it joined Evergreen International Airlines in 2005. As N487EV, it toiled into 2012, then went for pots ‘n pans at Pinal Airpark in 2017.Attending the CIAS this year was RAF Nimrod XV230, the first of the RAF’s 38 Nimrods to enter service (1969). We caught it departing to do its show a few miles away along the Toronto waterfront at the Canadian National Exhibition. In 2003, XV230 was modified with intelligence-gathering equipment. While on operations against the Taliban on September 2, 2006, it exploded over Afghanistan and crashed, taking all 14 crew to their deaths. Investigators concluded that the likely cause of this disaster was an overflow during mid-air refueling. This soon met hot air pipes, ignited, then XV230 exploded.
Canada to the Rescue in Honduras
Some of you will remember how “Hurricane Mitch” ploughed across Honduras in 1998 causing huge devastation. In typical form, Canada and the United States were quick to respond with a full humanitarian relief effort.
No sooner was Canada mobilizing to send aid, than I received a call from CFB Trenton. Would I be interested in accompanying this mission to cover it for CANAV Books and the press. Well, since the 1960s I’ve never turned down such an offer, so, on November 15, I rendezvoused at Trenton with 436 Squadron and soon was southbound on a Hercules laden with relief workers and supplies. We refuelled in the dead of night at McDill AFB, Florida, then pushed on for a dawn landing at LaCeiba on the Honduran Caribbean coast. I spent the next few days covering the scene, mainly the dreadful damage caused by “Hurricane Mitch”.
To get my work done, I took helicopter flights to different areas aboard a Honduran Air Force Bell 212, a Venezuelan Puma, and a CAF 427 Squadron Bell CH-135. The results of these travels were published in “Aircraft Illustrated” of February 1999. Here’s the story for your enjoyment. This operation was so typical of Canada at its normal humanitarian best.
*For similar in-depth articles about Canada’s military operating on humanitarian duties, check out these detailed blog items:
July 20, 2021 … Here’s a superb summary of the Blue Origin project & its first space tourism mission. What incredible technology, great to see all the pieces coming together:
Please take a good look at our current booklist. You’re sure to find some enticing titles for your home bookshelves.
The Canadair North Star
Here’s a book for any avid aviation history fan and keen reader — The Canadair North Star. Most of our “regulars” know this one and treasure their copies. But some more recent readers may have missed out.
In case you don’t yet have your copy of this CANAV Books classic, here’s a quick introduction and offer. You can start by taking a look at our CANAV Blog coverage of our book launching – one of our most famous book events over our 40+ years. You can find this coverage by using the search box on the blog www.canavbooks.wordpress.com and entering “North Star Nostalgia”.
Our history of the North Star to this day is considered to be the model for any detailed aircraft history. It’s the story of Canada’s first airliner from conception to demise.
The Canadair North Star begins with the exciting details of how Canadair and TCA in Montreal engineered the North Star by somewhat crazily combining the DC-4 with the Rolls-Royce Merlin wartime engine. All things considered, the plan eventually came together. TCA, CPA the RCAF and BOAC adopted the North Star for their main postwar routes, especially the international ones. BOAC would operate its “Argonauts” (as it dubbed its version) to such distant destinations from London as Hong Kong, Cape Town, Sydney, New York and Buenos Aires (it took several days to make such a trip). The RCAF would be lauded for its incredible North Star operations on the Korean War airlift, while CPA even flew into Shanghai in 1949 as Mao’s artillery could be heard in the distance.
The book covers all this mainline history, then picks up the excitement, as these aging propliners were replaced by such types as the Vanguard and Yukon, then were relegated to the smaller charter and freight operators. The story comes into the 1980s, as the last North Stars fade. Today, a solo North Star survives. After decades of rusting outside at Canada’s national aviation museum in Ottawa, it’s now slowly being brought back to its glory.
Our book has 100s of photos and diagrams, plus glorious original artwork, foldouts included. There’s a detailed appendix and index. The North Star still inspires readers to contact me. Lately, one satisfied CANAV fan emailed: “I have started re-reading your North Star book. What a contribution to Canada’s aviation history.” Noted the late, great Air Pictorial, “A magnificent book in every respect.” It just takes a few words, right!
Lovely autographed copies are available for you at these all-in prices: Canada $60, USA CAD$70, International CAD$80. You can order by paying straight to larry@canavbooks.com by PayPal, Interac, etc., or by posting your cheque or money order to CANAV Books, 51 Balsam Ave., Toronto, Canada M4E3B6
Here’s your chance to pick up one of Canada’s grandest aviation books before the last new copies disappear. Also, The Canadair North Star makes the perfect gift for any relative, pal, employee, etc., who enjoys the best aviation history you can find on the printed page.
All for now and enjoy your summer … Larry Milberry
More Lockheed Twins
Today’s blog offerings are headlined by a few more of my ancient b/w photos of Lodestars Twins operating in the corporate role. As noted in Part 1, 60 years ago we high school aviation fans always considered it a good day at the airport if we saw a new Lockheed, especially if we got to photograph it.
Looking in my airport notes, we sure saw a lot of Lockheeds. We photographed some of them, but, why did we pass on so many others? Sometimes a Lockheed was taxiing out at a distance, or, it could be jammed in among other planes on the ramp. Maybe it was in a hangar, or, the light didn’t seen right, we were short on film, etc., so, we’d either miss the “photo op”, or, decide to pass on it. Too bad, but as teens, we didn’t appreciate the concept of taking a particular shot for posterity, or, as we used to say, “for the record”. It was all about the here and now. We never thought, “Years from now even a poor photo of this Lodestar is going to be really important.”
Otherwise, if a chance to take a photo didn’t “look right”, we’d turn up our noses at it. In our narrow little view of photography, we were looking for a shot with the airplane in the clear (no obstructions in the foreground or background, no people in sight, etc.), and just the right lighting, i.e., with the sun at our backs. I wish now that I had photographed a lot more of those Lockheeds by breaking our dumb little rules.
Another thing about our spotting days was how we kept our notes. Happily, we often would note a plane’s colour scheme. Since those were the days of b/w film, how else (six decades later) would we have a clue about a paint job? I was emailing about this lately with the great Norman Franks in the UK. I had a question about the checkerboard scheme on the Sopwith Camel flown in Italy in 1918 by the great Canadian ace, C.M. “Black Mike” McEwen. Getting a definitive confirmation about such details is rare a hundred years later. Thankfully, sometimes there are casual remarks in a squadron’s daily diary about the colour scheme of a particular Camel. Also, maybe someone mentioned it in a letter home, a letter that has found its way into an archive. Norman mentioned that red paint was usually in better supply at RAF squadrons at the front c.1918 than other colours, so, failing all else, an assumption might be made about a checkerboard paint job. Hence, over the years, it’s been pretty well assumed that McEwen’s checkboard was red and white. So keeping of even brief notes about a plane’s colour can be useful in 2021, if colour photos can’t be found. Another interesting thing about my Lockheed notes is that I often listed the plane’s c/n (constructor’s number). I don’t recall, but this must have been on a data plate somewhere on the exterior, the way it was on the Beech E18 – under the stabilizer. Since these were the days when we (mostly) could get close to a plane on the ramp, if we knew where to look, we could read the data plate. I recall how crew and airport workers sometimes asked what we were doing snooping closely around some plane, making notes, but no one ever rousted us. Rambling asides for now, here’s “the good gen” about today’s photos:
On November 20 we spotted Fairchild Aerial Surveys Lockheed L.18 Lodestar N69415 at Malton airport. It was nicely set up on the ramp across Runway 10-28 from the main terminal and TCA hangar. My notes remind me today that its colours were orange and white, Fairchild’s fleet scheme. Such aero-survey visitors usually were transients, routing through Toronto on distant positioning flights, or, coming in to Field Aviation for special mods. Survey planes always were a treat for we spotters, as on the previous August 15, when we photographed a Fairchild PB-1G (ex- US Navy B-17G) and Beech AT-11 on the same ramp. These had stopped for overnight crew rest, fuel, etc., while en route from Los Angeles to a job in the Middle East. Note the under-fuselage attachment on N69415. This held the aeromagnetic equipment that trailed behind the plane during survey operations. Originally C-60A Lodestar 42-32215, N69415 served to US military into May 1945, then was sold as surplus through the US Reconstruction Finance Corp., the US equivalent to Canada’s War Assets Disposal Corp. The Flying Tiger Line acquired it in 1947, then converted it for civil use. Fairchild acquired it in September 1951, it served into 1966, then came its downfall. Sold off, it got into drug smuggling, a role for which the Lodestar was appreciated by the cartels, mainly due to its high cruise speed (about 200 mph), and good payload and range. Some time in the mid-70s N69415 was seized in Uruguay for drug infractions. Happily, it ended with the Museo Aeronautico in Montevideo, unhappily, it was destroyed there in a 1997 fire. There are many sources for all such always-fascinating details, the best of which is Peter J. Marson’s seminal Air-Britain book, The Lockheed Twins, truly a book that any real fan will treasure. See if you can find a copy on the web. In its smuggling days, N69415 was listed to Lorenair Inc, one of those shady Florida outfits. Lorenair also owned Lodestar N6L. On October 19, 1967, N6L was shot down by Argentine forces when intercepted while on a smuggling run. My photo of N69415 isn’t what we considered ideal. Somehow, I was sloppy by not shifting left a bit to include the tip on the tail to show the full registration and the company name on the side. We weren’t always careful enough in composing a photo. Note the fleet number “26” on the stab.Here’s another survey Lodestar at Malton, this time on April 9, 1961. What caught our eye about it was its huge nose mod, likely a camera installation. Originally USAAF C-60 42-55887, this aircraft became NC66408 in late 1945. After working in the US for such companies as Slick Airways, it came to Canada in 1957 for little-known, Montreal-based Commercial Transportation Co. Registered CF-IZN n 1960, it joined Vancouver-based Survey Aircraft Co., which also operated the glorious P-38 CF-JJA (use the search box here to find the story of “JJA” – another great Lockheed Twin). Back at Malton on April 23, I noticed that “IZN” had been stripped of its external modifications. I also noted its colour scheme as white and gray with red trim. This scene is at the north end of Malton, where Field Aviation recently had built a large hangar, just the second building at this remote part of Malton, after the Imperial Oil hangar. It often was tricky to get a good shot on the Field ramp, due to airplanes being parked so closely together. Here, “IZN” sits tightly up against a Kenting B-17, but I still managed a passable photo. From Toronto, “IZN” became OB-LIE-582 with a survey company in Peru. I don’t know its story after it left Canada.An earlier view of CF-IZN taken by the late Al Martin c.1955 at Toronto Island Airport. At this time “IZN” was with Commercial Transportation, an early charter operator based at Dorval. The paint job of previous owner, Slick Airways from California, remains almost unchanged: white, blue and gray.Another of the gorgeous Malton-based Lockheeds was BA Oil’s CF-BAL. I shot “BAL” on a spring day in 1960 (scroll back a bit to the previous blog to see its hangar mate, “BAO”). In these years, Ralph Matthews was chief pilot for BA. Originally USAAF 42- 55946, “BAL” had gone first under Lend-Lease to the Royal New Zealand Air Force in June 1943, served postwar in New Zealand as ZK-ANB, then returned to the US in 1952, becoming N4640V. It was registered in Canada on February 21, 1955, then was upgraded in 1957 to Learstar specs (streamlined nose, new interior, etc.). After its BA Oil glory days, “BAL” was sold to Murray Watts Exploration in 1970, then had a career supporting mineral exploration in northern Canada and Alaska. In July 1972 it was damaged on takeoff at Lost River strip, Alaska, where it remains to this day.You can see that the typical Lodestar photo shows the plane just sitting there, but sometimes we got lucky to catch one running up, or, taxiing. Here’s Imperial Oil’s CF-TDB static at the north end of Malton on June 11, 1961, then taxiing in the same time frame. Having served TCA 1942-47, “TDB” was picked up by Imperial Oil, a company that pioneered in Canadian corporate aviation. Having begun in 1920 with a pair of rugged little Junkers bushplanes doing exploration far down the Mackenzie River in Canada’s north, Imperial later used such types as the Beech 17 in promoting its business affairs. Note how a ¾ rear angle of a Lodestar made for an attractive view, compared to the standard side-on angle. My notes mention that I also saw Imperial Oil’s new Gulfstream CF-IOL on this day. This was Imperial’s glamorous new turboprop. Along with a new Falcon 20, “IOL” spelled the end for Imperial’s Malton- based Lodestars, DC-3 and Convair 240. In 1966 “TDB” was sold to Pete Lazarenko’s Northland Airlines of Winnipeg. Pete used it as a freighter, especially for hauling whitefish from Northern Manitoba to Winnipeg. In 1974, I saw “TDB” at Harry Whereatt’s farm in Assininboia, Saskatchewan (Harry was an avid collector of historic airplanes). Last heard of, it was stored at the Reynolds Museum in Wetaskiwin, Alberta. A few years ago, I heard that TDB’s wings had been shipped to the RCAF museum in Trenton for use in restoring a Lockheed Hudson.Following WWII, this Lodestar had been in El Salvador, later became N1229V, then migrated to Canada, where it was registered CF-EAE on May 17, 1954 and listed to Oilwell Operators Ltd. of Calgary (soon after, it was noted as belonging to Home Oil of Calgary). In these years, oil companies had an affinity for Lockheeds, chiefly because of their good edge in speed over the more luxurious DC-3s. After all, in oil, speed was king when it came to moving company brass around North America. Here is “EAE” at Malton on October 10, 1959, just as Home Oil was transitioning to its new Grumman Gulfstream CF-LOO (Gulfstream No.7). Its colours were: white top, darkish green and gray. I first had noted “LOO” at Malton on June 4, 1960. My guess is that this is when “EAE” had been picked up by John Timmins of Timmins Aviation in Dorval. John quickly sold “EAE” to upstart corporate airplane charter company, Execaire of Dorval. Chief pilot for Home Oil was the legendary Donald W. Douglas (1922-2009). A pilot with Ferry Command in WWII, then with KLM and BWIA in early postwar years, Don settled in Calgary with Home Oil in 1953. Likely on Don’s sage recommendation, Home Oil pioneered with the Gulfstream, Falcon 20 and Gulfstream G.II. With the passing of such great Canadians, the chance of producing a thorough history of corporate aviation in Canada has faded. Sadly, interest in Canadian corporate aviation’s great heritage has been rare inside that community. Wouldn’t you think that corporate aviation would care? Well … it never really has, so all that great history is pretty well buried for now. Sure, the occasional pilot and air engineer has been enthusiastic about this, but they are rare birds. Happily, at the behest of the CBAA, in 1991 the great Fred Hotson authored Business Wings: 30 Years of the Canadian Business Aircraft Association, a brief history in magazine format. Next, Fred published his Flying High: Confessions of an Old Corporate Pilot, the fine story of his career flying the DC-3 and Mallard for the Ontario Paper Company. Other than Fred’s efforts, the only other Canadian business aviation history in book form is in Ch.48 “Corporate Aviation” in my own 1997 book, Air Transport in Canada. Notice the glorious afternoon cumulous clouds in this photo. These always gave the perfect background for photography at Malton. Sometimes we’d use our K2 filters to exaggerate the clouds a bit. Unfortunately, these puffies had a habit of eventually taking away our sun by mid-afternoon. My old pal, Merlin “Mo” Reddy, one-upped me with CF-EAE that day. Somehow, he got up on something (the porch of Carl Millard’s little shack comes to mind) to see over “EAE”. Beyond is Lodestar “TCV” and the local skyline. Left to right in the distance runs Airport Rd., which today is a 6-lane thoroughfare. The newly-opened Woodbine racetrack stands can be seen, otherwise it was all farmland in 1959. Today, the impression is the opposite – high-pressure megacity all the way, no horizon visible, just a wall of high rises. Anyway, look at what a better view of a Lodestar Mo’s shot is compared to mine at tarmac level.Yet another classic Malton Loadstar – Noranda Mine’s Lodestar CF-TCV on July 6, 1960. “TCV” was white, light gray with blue trim. It had had served TCA from 1941, until sold to Imperial Oil of Toronto in 1949. It next moved to Mannix Construction of Calgary in 1954, then to Leasair of Ottawa in 1957, finally to Noranda in 1958. “TCV” also is seen in an early TCA publicity photo taken near Halifax. In 1968 “TCV” was exported to the USA, where it became N655KC. Thereafter, its story remains a mystery. In this set-up shot, in the far distance under the nose is the new Field Aviation hangar. To the right of Field is the Imperial Oil hangar. Both buildings survive to this day. The big hangar in the distance on the right is Avro Canada’s flight test hangar.Built in 1941, Lodestar CF-TCY served TCA into 1947, then was purchased for $30,000 by Canada’s Department of Transport to serve along the St. Lawrence River as an ice patrol plane. By this time it had logged more than 16,000 flying hours. However, as reported to me lately by aviation historian, J.E. “Jerry” Vernon, “TCY” instead was converted for government VIP duties. An executive interior and other upgrades costing $16,000 were installed by TCA, then “TCY” went to work mainly as a personal VIP plane for government kingpin, C.D. Howe. Many trips were made around North America, e.g., frequently with government higher-ups and foreign dignitaries between Ottawa and Washington. In effect, “TCY” became Ottawa’s “Air Force One”. In late 1956 radio improvements were begun, “TCY” being ready for service again in March 1957. Then, in an old Ottawa story, suddenly, “TCY” and its Lodestar hangar mate, “TDC”, were put up for sale as obsolete equipment. DC-3 CF-DOT took over as the government’s prime VIP airplane. A quick sale was anticipated, but “TCY” did not sell until late 1959, when W.L. Hanaway of Winnipeg purchased it from Crown Assets Corp. For some reason, however, “TCY” seems to have made it only as far as Chicago Midway, where it was abandonned. This is where I photographed it on August 23, 1963, while my pal Nick Wolochatiuk and I were covering the Chicago aviation scene. In 1968 “TCY” was moved to a small Illinois museum. Eventually, Ed Zalesky of the Canadian Museum of Flight and Transportation in Surrey, BC, made a deal to acquire it,” after it had been inspected by Jerry Vernon. Many TCA retirees and Air Canada itself donated to this cause and, as Jerry recently explained, “In August 1987, CF-TCY was hauled from Chicago to BC by Gerry van Humbeck and Peter DeVries.” Subsequently, important parts were scavenged from the 1947 BC crash site of TCA Lodestar CF-TDF. By 1997 “TCY” was at Delta Air Park outside Vancouver, where restoration began. In 1998 the salvaged engines from “TDF” were installed. Some time later, “TCY” was moved a short distance to the College of the Fraser Valley hangar at Abbotsford Airport, where students in the aeronautics program continued with restoration through the 2000s. In recent years, however, little progress has been made.This sleek-looking Learstar was fading away under the prairie sun at Red Deer when I passed through on July 21, 1974. It’s the last big Lockheed Twin that I photographed in black-and-white. Having served the US military as 41-23166 from 1941-45, it then became NC60200 in 1946. When converted to a Learstar, it became N711L in 1959. In 1962 it came to Canada as CF- CEC for the Turnbull Elevator Co. of Toronto. Other operators ensued until “CEC” seems to have ended abandonned at Red Deer. Eventually it was acquired by the Reynolds Museum of Wetaskiwin, Alberta, where it has been stored for decades. This museum has done exemplary work preserving and restoring many historic Canadian aircraft.One of the great additions on the Malton scene came in 1959, when Massey Ferguson added Lockheed Ventura/Howard 350 Super Ventura CF-MFL to its flight department. “MFL” joined the company’s Dove and Lodestar. Overseeing the fleet was chief pilot Bill Poag who, during the war, had flown Cansos with 162 Squadron in Iceland against the U-boats. Ken Stevenson was the air maintenance engineer (AME) and Fred van Brussel, Gerry Smith and Joe Gabura were otherl pilots. Originally RAF FD568 and USAAF 41-38020, in 1947 this Ventura belonged to the Cuban military. The Babb Co. acquired it in 1951, then it went to Dee Howard’s aircraft conversion operation in Texas in 1954, where it was N1489V. Howard was making good sales at this time, even though the first big corporations were turning to Gulfstream, Friendship and Convair 580 turboprops for corporate transportation. Massey Ferguson somehow was impressed enough by the Howard to go for “MFL”, which was delivered late in 1959. However, about this time, Massey also acquired Gulfstream CF-MUR, so “MFL” was sold to Canadian Inspection and Testing at Dorval, where it remained into 1971. Next, it returned to the US where there was a dizzying list of owners and registrations. Of course, the Howard 350 was a very speedy airplane, having a cruise speed of 350mph and range exceeding 2000 miles. So … guess what! It was perfect for drug smugglers, and that’s how “MFL” finished its days. By then known as N8GW, it crashed while landing during a drug flight in Florida on April 11, 1979. Colliding with trees, it caught fire, but the solo pilot was never seen again. Authorities found 2 tons of marijuana aboard. I caught “MFL” taxiing on June 21, 1960. Pretty well as nice a photograph as we ever expected to get on a fine day at Malton.Many big Lockheeds visited Malton from the US during their heyday in the 1950s-60s. Here’s a typical example that I spotted one day (I’m still looking for the date). N111M was an ex-South African AF PV-1 Ventura. Acquired by Dee Howard in 1960, it was converted for corporate use for Gamble Skogmo Inc., a giant retail store conglomerate from Minnesota. N111M occasionally came into Malton, since the company owned the Stedman chain of general stores in and around Toronto. It was sold in 1966, then had various owners, registrations and adventures. Last heard of c.1986 it was N65PC. One rumour is that it was used by the CIA during covert operations in Nicaragua in the early 1980s.Ventura N420L has quite the story. Having begun in WWII as RCAF 2232, postwar it was acquired from Crown Assets by Spartan Air Services of Ottawa for aerial survey work. In 1959 Spartan sold it to Dee Howard, where it became a Howard 500. It then served Avco Distributing Corp. beginning in July 1960. In October 1965 it went to Republic Steel Corp, where it became N4201. A long list of owners/registrations followed, until as N80BD it crashed in Yosemite National Park, California on December 9, 1976, while smuggling drugs from Mexico to Reno. It wasn’t found until June The distribution of wreckage suggested that the crash was caused by structural failure, since a wing was found some distance from the main wreckage. I took this photo of the glitzy-looking N420L at Malton on October 17, 1961.Howard 250 N789CC at Malton on August 23, Originally a US Navy Lodestar, it stayed on USN strength into postwar years. From 1954 it served the Celanese Corp., a vast New York City-based chemical and fabric company with factories across the US, Canada and in Mexico. N789CC would have earned its salt with Celanese. To date I have no info about this plane’s the final years.
While the Lockheed Twins Have Faded Away, The DC-3 Soldiers On
Our blog have several items featuring Canada’s DC-3s. You can enjoy these by scrolling back or using the search box. For today, here’s an important update, an ace of a story for any true aviation history fan. In this detailed “AeroTime News” item, Valius Vencknas covers the DC-3 and its refusal to go away. At least 200 of these classic propliners remain in worldwide use, especially in Columbia where, over the decades, several former Canadian DC-3s have resurfaced. Naturally, some have come to grief. Enjoy Valius’ DC-3 report. Also, become an “AeroTime News” subscriber to receive important daily aviation news stories: go to World Aviation News, Aerospace Industry News | AeroTime Hubhttps://www.aerotime.aero
On July 8, 2021, a Douglas DC-3 registered as *HK-2820 of Aliansa went missing in Colombia. The aircraft disappeared from radars five minutes after taking off for a training flight and, reportedly, was found in a riverbed. Read more: “Douglas DC-3 goes missing minutes after takeoff in Colombia”. Yes, the DC-3 is a WW2-vintage aircraft. In fact, the crashed one was built either in 1943 or 1944 (depending on the source) and may have very well participated in the closing actions of the war, before being sold off by the US Air Force in the 50s.
Some might remember that in 2019 Colombia already had a prominent incident involving a DC-3 – an aircraft, built in 1945 crashed killing 14 people. Later that year, the same DC-3 of Aliansa was damaged in a runway excursion. In total, according to the Aviation Safety Network, the country had eight accidents involving the type in the last decade, not including the ones that remained unreported. How come Colombia has so many accidents involving vintage aircraft?
Airliner-sized bush plane
The reason, obviously, is that Colombia has a lot of these vintage aircraft. Before July 8th, Aliansa alone operated four of them, not including three more that crashed since the airline commenced operations in 1995. According to Steve Hide – a journalist who had a chance to experience the Colombian DC-3 culture a few years ago – it is virtually impossible to establish how many aircraft of this type are operated in the country. By any estimate, it is dozens.
The DC-3 itself is quite definitely the only war-time aircraft that is flown around the world in a significant number. According to the DC-3 Appreciation Society – because such a group obviously exists – there were 172 aircraft of this type in active operation in mid-2020. The number of airworthy examples is estimated at over 600, although it is impossible to say for sure. A part of this number belongs to enthusiasts (mostly in the US and Canada) who operate the aircraft as a historic piece, flying them at airshows and trying to preserve an important part of aviation history. But another significant part is commercial operators: companies, such as Aliansa, fly them because, well, there is no alternative. A turboprop-converted DC-3 belonging to Colombian police. Private companies are not the only ones operating this aircraft; in fact, just hours after the DC-3 crash on July 8, a Colombian Air Force DC-3 was circling in the region, possibly as a part of the search effort. (Image: Markus Mainka / Shutterstock)
The aircraft has a number of crucial advantages that are well known to anybody who ever came in contact with it. It is sturdy and reliable; it is easy and not too expensive to fly; it is simple to maintain and, thanks to the fact that a lot of them were manufactured, there is a steady stream of spare parts – even though the production stopped in 1950. It also can land on short and unprepared runways, basically being a bush plane in an airliner form.
A result of that is a sort of “DC-3 culture” that formed around the aircraft in countries that are in dire need of connecting geographically distant population centers through the air, mostly in South America. Colombia is a hotspot of that culture. In 2018, Al Jazeera filmed a short documentary about it, highlighting the romanticism and above all – the danger of flying vintage planes in tropical conditions of the country: https://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/xr74kx
DC-3 – a departing legend
The underside of such dangerous operations is the high toll they take. With the latest crash, more than half of Aliansa’s fleet have already perished in fatal accidents in the span of two-and-a-half decades.
There is a well-known saying among the enthusiasts of the plane – “the only replacement for a DC-3 is another DC-3”, as, supposedly, no other aircraft can take on the job. Outskirts of small Colombian airports usually house several non-operational DC-3s with the explicit purpose of being cannibalized. Nevertheless, at that rate, the country is going to run out of the type sooner or later.
To be fair, retirement is a thing that does not really apply to the DC-3 – most of the operating aircraft of this type have already been retired at one point or another, only to be sold off and proceed with operations. Nevertheless, as no new DC-3s have been manufactured in over seven decades and the existing ones do not multiply, from time to the tragic time they have to be replaced by something.
It appears old Antonovs – mostly the An-24 and its derivatives – are pretty much the only ones that can take on the role. The ex-Soviet planes have already established their reputation in Africa, proving to be reliable, simple to maintain, and well-suited to extreme climates. It is only a question of time before the Colombian routes operated by DC-3s from the 40s will be replaced by Antonovs from the 60s and 70s. A small upgrade, but an interesting – and unprecedented one – indeed.
Here’s the report about this sad event as per the Aviation Safety Network:
Narrative: A Douglas DC-3 crashed in a mountainous area after takeoff from Villavicencio-La Vanguardia Airport, Colombia. The aircraft was performing a training flight. All three occupants suffered fatal injuries.
The civil and military strife in the Horn of Africa never ends. Century after century, one ethnic group or another there is at brutal odds with the next (Ethiopia alone has 10 major ethnic groups and 75 languages). In 2020, war erupted between Ethiopia and its rebellious Tigray region, which borders Ethiopia’s long-time enemy, Eritrea, one of the world’s most despotic and closed societies. In recent months, the Ethiopian military rolled into Tigray, bolstered, ironically, by Eritrea. The plan was to break up the rebellious Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front.
Ethiopia again seems on the verge of collapsing into the hopeless state it experienced in the 1980s-90s, when chaos and famine ruled and more than a million died. For a good back-grounder, google this item in the “New York Times”: “Why Is Ethiopia at War With Itself?” Also, see the report right here on the CANAV blog about my 1991 trip to Ethiopia with the Canadian air force: Canada’s C-130s to the Rescue – “Operation Preserve” August to December 1991. During this trip, one of the aircraft that I photographed was Ethiopian Airlines L-100-30 Hercules ET-AJK (a civil version of the C-130H). Here’s my shot of “AJK” loading at Djibouti. Subsequently, it was acquired by the Ethiopian military, but its new ID isn’t known to this date. The loss of “AJK” was first reported at the “Aviation Safety Network” — one the the best internet aviation history sites
A Lockheed Hercules of the Ethiopian Air Force has been destroyed in an accident near Gijet, Ethiopia. Unconfirmed reports suggest the aircraft was downed by the Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) during the armed conflict known as the Tigray War that started in November 2020 between Ethiopia and the Tigray Region. The aircraft was a Hercules, formerly operated by Ethiopian Airlines as ET-AJK, was seen in an all white colour scheme at Addis Ababa – Bole International Airport in 2006 without any serial number.
A Great Offer for an Incomparably Wonderful Aviation Book — “The Bell 47 Story”
Normally selling at $130 plus shipping and tax, Bob Petite’s world-class book is now offered at $89.95 all-in. Yes, a straight $89.95 gets you a copy of this beautifully-produced history of the world’s most famous helicopter. Included is a vast amount of Bell history in Canada from early post-WWII days to the present. Really, this book sets the highest standards in content and book production qualities. Here’s one for the true fan who savours every aspect of aviation history. Do yourself a huge favour and contact Bob in Alberta at bpetite@telusplanet.net You’ll thank yourself for having been so clever! See the attached review of this special book.
Book Review Dec. 2013: Long Awaited Bell 47 History Now in Print
The appearance of a stand-out aviation history book was commonplace in decades gone by. Progressing into the 21st Century, however, not many such books are making it beyond the concept stage. Even worse, knowledgeable and sympathetic “book people” are a dying breed. These days if I happen to mention about working on a new book, it’s possible for someone to interject, “I guess he means an iBook, right?” Well … not really, buddyboy. What I mean is an actual book made of actual paper, ink and glue, that’s full of actual information that you will not find on the great seducer of feeble minds – the internet. But that’s another story.
Right now I want to talk to you about something real, not fanciful, definitely not a video game. I’d like to introduce you to the Grand Champion 2013 example of a fabulous new aviation book — The Bell 47 Helicopter Story. The creators are long-time CAHS and AAHS members Robert S. Petite from Alberta and Jeffery C. Evans from California. Bob and Jeff have devoted decades studying everything imaginable about the Bell 47, history’s most famous light helicopter, a type that’s been familiar on the Canadian scene for nearly 70 years. Our authors have their credits — they’ve been honoured by such groups as the American Helicopter Society International and by the Twirly Birds. Not surprisingly, they’re rarely missed a Helicopter Association International annual convention.
Whatever high award there might be for aviation history authorship in 2013-14, these fellows own it. To start, they thoughtfully explain how they did their research. Basically, they used all possible ways and means, from plowing through archival documents and personal records, to travelling all over doing face-to-face interviews, attending conferences, etc. Few aviation researchers would go a fraction of the distance. Here’s what they tell us: “Data used … came from early handwritten and typed Bell production records, sales records, Bell flight reports for the preproduction Bell 47s, early Bell brochures, Bell press releases, actual typed progress reports to Larry Bell, Bell accident reports, Bell Rotor Breeze first edition … Bell 47 Customer Service Maintenance Clinics, Bell Helicopter Mechanics School and early Bell Ringer newsletters.” So … we’re guaranteed to be getting the solid goods about this mighty little piece of mid-20th Century technology called the Bell 47 and everything it has meant on the worldwide aviation scene. Bob and Jeff sought out the info and have beautifully laid out their final results in one of the most impressive aviation publications in a hundred years.
Any aviation fan over age 30 knows the Bell 47. Failing all else, millions have seen one doing joyrides at local town fairs. Somewhat older folks know the bubble-canopy little bumblebee from episodes of MASH. I first met the Bell 47 in the headlines during Hurricane Hazel in October 1954. Toronto’s “Tely” and the “Star” ran photos of an Ontario Hydro Bell 47 saving stranded victims following Hazel’s rampage along the city’s Humber River. Being a Tely paperboy, I eagerly watched the story unfold. Decades later I met that very Bell 47 pilot, the astounding Bruce Best, later a CAHS Toronto Chapter stalwart. Over the years I had great fun photographing Bell 47s all across Canada.
Bob and Jeff open their massive tome with an in-depth history of how the Bell 47 came about under two geniuses — Larry Bell and Arthur Young. The story starts in 1942 with “Ship No.1” at the Bell facility in Buffalo, NY. All the trials and tribulations are described, enough to discourage anyone from a career in aviation. Yet, Bell, Young and their solid team persevered. In March 1946 Bell 47 NC-1H won the world’s first commercial helicopter licence. From there the book carefully traces developments through endless R&D, modifications and certified models.
Canada’s first Bell 47 was CF-FJA, imported by Kenting of Oshawa. Carl Agar, whose company, “Okanagan”, would become one of the world’s great helicopter operators, soon brought in CF-FZX. Toronto- based prospector Sten Lundberg pioneered with a Bell 47 doing aerial electromagnetic mineral exploration. Other Canadian operators appear as you turn pages loaded with incredible anecdotes and photos. The Bell 47 explores in the Arctic, goes aboard ship with the Canadian Coast Guard, supports mineral exploration, does forest seeding and fire suppression, crop dusting, hydro and pipe line patrols, search and rescue, etc. Its military career is covered under fire in Korea, but everywhere else, including with the RCAF. Bob and Jeff cover it all in depth and so enchantingly that you just have to keep turning the pages. Their book also has the essential technical gen, including many illustrations from the engineering manuals.
The authors cover every imaginable version from the earliest 2- seat Bell 47B to the 4-seat Bell 47J Ranger. The transition to turbine power is described, so we see how the Bell Cobra gunship and Bell 206 Jet Ranger series had their beginnings. The last word explains how the Bell 47 is back in the headlines through the efforts in the US of Scott’s Helicopters, which in 2014 will be producing new Bell 47s. It all brings an interesting thought to mind: We all know about the Renaissance Man, now it seems there’s an argument for the Renaissance Helicopter — the Bell 47. Besides everything else, The Bell 47 Helicopter Story has a valuable appendix with such detailed content as production history and the specs for each version. Interestingly, of some 5000 aircraft manufactured from 1945 – 1974, more than 1000 remain.
The book has been very nicely printed and bound by Friesens of Altona, Manitoba. Bare bones it weighs 2.9 kg. It’s a hardcover with dust jacket. There are 730 pages with 1200 b/w and colour photos. Sincere fans of aviation history owe it to themselves to get hold of a copy of The Bell 47 Helicopter Story. If you have not yet delved into helicopter history, a fast flip through this book will make a convert of you. Order your copy at helicopterheritagecanada.com or e-mail author Bob Petite at bpetite@telusplanet.net . Cheers and good reading to you all … Larry
While you’re at it, don’t forget that Air Transport in Canada is for sale at CANAV these days at the lowest price ever – CAD$65 all-in for Canada, $80 USA, $160 international. Order by direct payment (PayPal, Interac) to larry@canavbooks.com
See you next time … probably with “Episode 3” of the Lockheed Twins, among other good reading.
Storm Damages Bushplanes at Sioux Lookout
“The Lord hath blew!”* On June 23 a fierce storm ripped across Sioux Lookout, badly damaging parts of town, including several bushplanes at the waterfront. Rich Hulina sent along this photo of two Slate Fall Airways aircraft that took some of the punishment — Cessna 206 C-GGPW and Turbo Otter C-FCZP. (*From W.O. Mitchell’s “Who Has Seen the Wind”)
Oldest 747s Still in Service?
According to AeroTime aviation news, the oldest commercial Boeing 747 still in use is a 32-year-old 747-400 with Iranian carrier Mahan Airlines. The oldest Boeing 747s of all still flting are with the Iranian and United States air forces:
The Iranian Air Force still operates a 50.8-year-old Boeing 747-100, which is considered the oldest jumbo jet used for non-commercial passenger operations. The oldie, carrying the N93113 registration at the time, used to fly the major American air carrier Trans World Airlines’ routes since October 1970. Then, in March 1975, it was converted into a freighter and was taken over by the Iranian Air Force two months later. Ever since 1975, the jumbo jet has served the new owner’s operations.
The United States Air Force also has four of the oldest Boeing 747s in service. All four Queens of the Skies are the -200 variant and their ages vary from 48.1 years in service to 46.2 years in service. The government of the United States has been the only owner of the four planes.
The 48.1 years-old jumbo jet, registered as 73-1676, has been flying governmental flights since July 1973, according to Planespotters.net. The 47.8-year-old 73-1677 joined the fleet in October the same year. The government-owned 74-0787, which currently counts more than 47 years in active operations, was delivered to the states in October 1974. The youngest of the four, the 46.2-year-old 75-0125, entered service in August 1975.
Air Force One Spotters + Canada Post on the Rampage Again + The Fabulous Lockheed Twins + The “Air Transport in Canada” book deal of the decade + The Great Janusz Zurakowski’s Autobiography + Air-Britain and the Nastiest of Nasty Book Reviews
Good day to all CANAV fans and I hope that your summer is humming nicely along so far.
The Spotters are a Diligent Bunch … The comings and goings of Air Force One sure have been closely watched and enjoyed by millions in the UK and EU this week. Check out some of the pix & footage on the web. Google VIDEO: Air Force One lands at RAF Mildenhall for G7 conference, etc. Well worth a look at this spectacular flying machine!
Hot Off the Press for June 9! Canada Post Lays It on the Peasantry Yet Again (It’s Time to Sheer the Sheep)
Today, Canada Post announced a series of painful rate increases for this fall. If you’re feeling masochistic, you can get the ugly details from the Canada Post website. I’m writing about this to Mr. Doug Ettinger, Canada Post CEO and cc’ing my MP Hon. Erskine-Smith. Let’s see if I hear anything back — I’ll let you know. However, a few months ago I requested a replacement “Venture Card” from Canada Post. How simple, right. So far? Dead silence. But really … what a miracle it is to hear back from any Ottawa bureau, MP, etc., other than perhaps getting one of those insulting “Dear Sir or Madam” letters. Isn’t it great how closely connected and loved we peasants are to/by our masters in Ottawa? Here are my thoughts to Mr. Ettinger about this season’s postal rate hikes:
Thanks but no thanks, Canada Post. Each time you do this, you drive more small Canadian enterprizes such as CANAV Books out of business. Because of your Mafia-like rates, CANAV Books, for example, today has few USA or International customers. We used to have hundreds.
Your rates also have driven away hundreds of our domestic readers. Who will buy from us when postage exceeds the price of a book? You are out of touch and — sadly to say – appear instead to be greedy exploiters and tax collectors, instead of intelligent, clued-in, pro-Canada public servants who understand and respect Canadians’ needs and interests first and foremost.
Isn’t it ironic how the objectives of the Canada Council in promoting Canadian history, cultural affairs, etc., are directly undermined by what Canada Post does every year by punishing book publishers with higher postal rates? Aren’t the ministers involved supposed to be collaborating instead of torpedoing each other?
Too bad for your customers, for you certainly have us over a barrel, right. We small-volume businesses have few options, all things considered. Who else is going to deliver our books to Nunavut, NWT, remote areas of BC, Northern Ontario, etc?
Besides again hitting every average Canadian taxpayer in the pocket book, your actions today seriously undermine the important “Small Business” sector of our economy. Instead of giving us some postal rate relief, you’re once again happy to lead small business off for its annual Canada Post sheering.
One of our readers has made a good point. Canada Post presently couldn’t be much of a cash cow, as I earlier stated. This news release explains: “Canada Post recorded a loss before tax of $779 million in 2020, even while delivering record-high Domestic Parcels volumes.” That’ll be a story unto itself, right –volume of work soars, revenue pours in, profits head for the dumpster. With that out of the way, it’s on with the show:
The Great Lockheed Twins
Our main new item today covers the great Lockheed Twins in Canada – the L.14 Super Electra and L.18 Lodestar, with more to come in the next installment (and … if you search for it, trhere’s an earlier item about another great Lockheed Twin — the Jetstar). A bit further down there’s also the story of the great Jan Zurakowski’s autobiography, my first big aviation road trip, 400 Sqn at Camp Borden, Great Lakes freighters, and the world’s most horrendous aviation book review.
If you have an interest in northern flying, take a few minutes and search out these older blog items. Just enter the dates in the search box: June 29, 2012 … January 13, 2013 … February 27, 2017 … March 25, 2017 … and April 11, 2018. This is all solid history with loads of original photos and aviation trivia that any fan will love.
An item covering the great Lockheed Twins came to mind as I flipped through some ancient negatives. If you go back to our earlier blog item “Postwar Adverts” (find it by using the search box), you can get a bit of background to this story in the advert telling how TCA was selling off the last 18 of its 10-passenger L.14s and 14-passenger L.18s. Many of these soon were converted for corporate VIP use. In a nutshell, today’s item is about the tail end of the glory days for these great, pre-WWII and wartime airliners. Most of those with which we had become familiar already had given years of top service at CPA, TCA or the RCAF.
As boys hanging around Toronto’s airports in the 50s and 60s, spotting one of the big Lockheed twins made any visit worth the day’s effort. In fact, rarely a visit passed without spotting one, especially since several were based at Malton: BA Oil CF-BAL and CF-BAO, Canada Packers CF-CPL, Imperial Oil CF-TDB, Massey Ferguson CF-MFL and CF-TDG, Noranda Mines CF-TCV. Then, there frequently were visitors . We often saw the Kenting aero survey Hudsons and L.14s, the oil company “exec” Lodestars from Calgary, then there were the many US corporate Lodestars and Venturas. There was a certain allure about each of these handsome Lockheeds. While we seemed to take for granted all the lovely exec DC-3s, the Lockheeds stood apart, somehow.
With the war over, the RCAF fleet of Hudsons and Lodestars quickly had been put on the market for civil operators or scrap dealers. This business was conducted by government-run War Assets Corporation of Ottawa. Big dealers such as the Babb Co. of New York, Los Angeles and Montreal took the lion’s share of the business, buying up fleets of Harvards, Cansos, Lodestars, DC- 3s, etc., then re-marketing them to operators from the USA and Europe to Brazil, Indonesia, etc. To follow what happened to all the RCAF Lockheeds, the ultimate source is Air-Britain’s seminal book, The Lockheed Twins (Peter J. Marson, 2001). Many other important Lockheed books are available to broaden the interested reader’s horizons, including Beyond the Horizons: The Lockheed Story (Walter J. Boyne, 1998). Naturally, much also is on the web, but start first with your books – the ultimate information goldmines. Copies of any of the Lockheed titles always can be found at such used book sites as www.bookfinder.com
For Part 1 of this presentation, I’ve pulled out a dozen of my by-now 60- year-old 2¼ b/w negatives, wiped off most of the dust, and made the scans. Most of the caption information comes from my old airport notes and several Canadian Civil Aircraft Registers of the day. Supplementing this is good info from various books, and Terry Judge’s important Canadian civil aircraft history website https://www.historicccar.ca Here you go, Enjoy the show!
Ex-RAF Hudson CF-CRJ is one of my earliest Lockheed Twin photos. Here it is in a standard ¾ front view at Malton Airport on October 9, Originally USAAC 41-23631, it was transferred to the RAF under Lend Lease to become BW769. It was delivered to RAF 45 Group (Ferry Command) at Dorval around October 1942, but some accident ensued. It then was acquired by Canadian Pacific Airline in 1946, repaired and registered CF-CRJ. CPA added six such Hudsons, but I know little about their use. Perhaps they were spares for CPA’s small fleet of L.14s. In 1949 CPA sold its Hudsons to the Photographic Survey Corp., which was more commonly known as Kenting Aviation Limited of Oshawa (base) and Toronto (offices). My earliest copy of the CCAR (1955) listed CF-CRJ, ‘K and ‘L. These served through the 1950s and early 1960s from the Canadian Arctic to South America, even distant Ceylon on aero-survey contracts. By good fortune, in 1967 “CRJ” was donated by Field Aviation of Toronto to some history-minded Newfoundlanders headed by A.J. Lewington, DFC. Thanks to this foresight, it survives today in wartime colours at the North Atlantic Aviation Museum in Gander.L.14 CF-TCH originally joined Trans-Canada Air Lines in August 1938. Perhaps replying to the advertisement you’ll see in “Postwar Adverts”, Nickel Belt Airways of Sudbury bought “TCH” in January 1948, but this deal may have gone awry, or else, Nickel Belt suddenly re-sold “TCH” to the British American Oil Co. of Toronto. When “BA” upgraded to a Lodestar in 1953, “TCH” was sold to California-Atlantic Airways in California, where it became N66578. In December 1956 it resumed its old registration when brought back to Canada by Photographic Survey. While on an Arctic contract, “TCH” suffered an accident at Hall Lake on the Melville Peninsula, NWT in July Likely because Hall Lake had access to the summer supply barges serving the Canadian Arctic, “TCH” was shipped south for repairs. These were made, for here sits “TCH” at Malton on January 21, 1961. However, the era of such big old planes in aero survey was near its end, for companies such as Photographic Survey were starting equip with modern types such as the Aero Commander and Cessna 310 to fly many of their contracts. “TCH” went for scrap in 1962.Another famous old TCA L.14 was CF-TCN, which had begun its Canadian career in May 1939. However, with its new fleet of DC-3s serving Canada so well postwar, in 1947 “TCN” was sold to Montreal Air Service. In May 1951 it moved west to Winnipeg for Central Northern Airways, then joined Argosy Oil and Gas of Calgary in 1956. Through the 1950s such Lockheeds were favored by Canadian oil companies. While a DC-3 offered a more comfortable VIP cabin, the Lockheeds had speed, so could reach their business destinations across Canada in Toronto, south to Texas, etc. much faster. I was quite excited when spotting “TCN” at Malton on November 25, Commander Aviation of Toronto had acquired it, so the freshly-painted “TransAir” colours were baffling. Others had title to “TCN” until in 1964 it finally went to Execaire of Montreal, an upstart corporate charter company. I’ve heard that “TCN” was Execaire’s first aircraft. The company gradually grew into Canada’s premier bizjet charter operation. Today it operates a fleet of Challengers and Globals. Does Execaire remember its humble beginning with a beautiful little 1939 Lockheed 14? I took this shot on the Airport Road side of Malton on the Sanderson Aircraft lot. Across the field (and across Runway 28- 10) you can see one of the old wartime hangars, which by this time mainly were occupied by corporate DC-3s, Lockheeds, Doves, Beech 18s, etc.Another Kenting Lockheed 14 was CF-TCO, which had begun with TCA in July 1939, then joined Kenting in October 1947. It suffered a belly-landing at Aklavik in the Arctic in August 1959, then had another crash- landing at Cambridge Bay north of Aklavik about a year later. One can only imagine the brutal cost in manpower and expense in making major repairs at these remote sites. Around 1970 “TCO” was stored at the Bradley Air Museum in Connecticut, where it remained to the early 1990s, and where it received some storm damage. Today, it’s at the Kermit Weeks Museum in Florida. When “Hurricane Charley” hit the museum in 2004, “TCO” suffered more damage, so is not likely to be seen in pristine form in the very near future.CF-TCO was a fine sight at Oshawa on July 9, 1960 as it taxied for takeoff. The only visible mod on these ex-TCA planes was their Hudson-type nose from where the navigator guided the pilot when they were flying photo or electro- agnetic lines. With these two views of “TCO”, you can see how photogenic a Lockheed was from any angle. Having started as USAAC C-60A 42-56041, Lodestar CF- CPK came to Canada for CPA in July 1943. It then served the company’s far- flung routes from Vancouver, across the Rockies to Edmonton, and north down the route to Whitehorse and other points on the Northwest Staging Route. Duties included supporting wartime construction projects such as the Alaska Highway and the CANOL pipeline. With the advent at CPA of the DC-3, “CPK” was sold in 1950 to Canada Packers Ltd. of Toronto, a major meat processing company. With the market for surplus military and airline Lodestars then booming, several specialist aircraft refurbishment companies thrived at converting Lodestars, DC-3s, A-26s, etc. for executive use. These mainly were American-based, as was Remmert Werner of St. Louis. In Canada, however, Canadair of Montreal also turned out several impressive conversions from a Lodestar for Massey Harris, a Lodestar for BA Oil, a PBY-5 for Texaco and a DC-3 for Goodyear Tire and Rubber. On February 10, 1960, in the same ice- storm at Malton that led to a TCA Super Connie crash-landing (see blog item “CF-TEZ Comes to Grief at Malton”), “CPK” flew through a tree while trying to land, then diverted to Niagara Falls, NY. Soon afterwards it was sold in the US as N170L, where a list of owners ensued. Canada Packers then acquired Lodestar CF-CPL. On October 16, 1969 “CPK” was flying between Opa-locka and St. Petersburg, Florida when fire erupted. A successful crash-landing was made, but the old Lodestar was a dead loss. In this classic view, notice how “CPK” proudly flew the company logo. These still were the days when a corporate plane often showed the company colours, unlike today, when nearly all such aircraft operate in as much secrecy as possible. I photographed “CPK” running up at Malton on February 5, 1961. On June 29, 1960 we again were skulking around Malton. When checking out the wartime hangar line, the magnificent Massey Ferguson Lodestar taxied in. What a shot it made with that great background of afternoon cumulous cloud. Ordered originally by LAN Chile, the Lodestar had been diverted as a C-57 to the USAAC, was delivered in April 1943, then loaned to CPA, where it became CF-CPJ. In August 1944 it moved to TCA, becoming CF-TDG. In 1948 it was converted by Canadair for the Massey Harris farm implement company of Toronto, and later was upgraded to Learstar specs, e.g. with the long, slim nose. Massey Harris soon became Massey Ferguson with a corporate fleet at Malton including the Learstar, Super Ventura CF-MFL and D.H. Dove CF-GYQ. By 1960 some flashy new turboprops were appearing in Canada. Massey Ferguson’s three older planes soon were replaced by one of the spectacular new Grumman Gulfstreams, CF-MUR. “TDG” briefly was registered in the 1960s to Execaire of Dorval, then ended its days as an attraction in a Montreal children’s park. Sadly, vandals spoiled TDG’s retirement when they set it on fire! Lodestar CF-INY fires up at Malton on October 6, 1961, then is seen landing on Runway 23 date not known. Originally USAAC C-60A 43-16444, “INY” had spent the war with the Free French Air Force, then returned to the US in 1951, becoming N94539. It went to American Liberty Oil Co. in 1954, then became N30R with Continental Oil. In April 1956 it came north to become “INY” with Hudson Bay Oil and Gas of Calgary. It returned to the US in 1962 as N7994A, after which it faded into obscurity. BA Oil’s glorious-looking Learstar CF-BAO at Malton on June 29, 1960. Starting as USAAC C-60A 42-55903, it served at a glider school, maybe as a tow plane. It was sold as war surplus in August 1945, becoming NC44886. There were various owners until Bill Lear acquired it in 1954 to make his first Learstar (N16L). Lear sold this flashy new conversion to BA Oil in February 1955. BA eventually became Gulf Oil and acquired a Convair 440 for its Toronto base. “BAO” still was registered to BA Oil in 1966, then was sold to the Clairtone company in Toronto. In 1968 it went to Newfoundland’s famous Lundrigan family, where it stayed into 1971, then returning to the US, becoming N41CA. Last heard of “BAO” was owned in Plymouth, Michigan, from where it finally was de-registered in 2012.Another oil industry Lodestar visiting Malton from Calgary: CF-IAX had begun as USAAC C-60A 42-32181. Early after the war it went to Mexico, returned to the US in 1954 as N4652V, then moved to Calgary in 1965 for the California Standard Oil Co. It returned to the US in 1963 to fly as N3779G for such companies as Coast Redwood Products. “IAZ” is one of the rare former Canadian Lockheeds to have survived – it may be seen in RAF colours at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California. I can’t find the exact date when I shot “IAZ” on the Genaire ramp at Malton c.1960.Our presentation finishes with the first Lodestar the I ever photographed. CF-TDE of Southern Provincial Airlines was based at Toronto Island Airport when I shot it there on September 26, 1959. Having joined TCA in October 1942, it later served BA Oil as CF-BAO (a previous “BAO” to the later Learstar), then reverted to “TDE” when sold to Canadian Aircraft renters, the parent company to Southern Provincial. This company then was searching for a raison d’être as a small charter airline, but soon realized that this market did not yet exist. “TDE” was sold in 1960 into the US as N9063R, then moved on to Peru to work in aero photography.
“Air Transport in Canada” — An Offer You Can’t Refuse
No Canadian aviation books covers the Lockheed Twins better than Air Transport in Canada. This massive (1030 pages, 2 volumes, 5 kg, etc.) title is a real treasure (see the details and reviews in the attached booklist). Besides everything else under the sun, “ATC” covers a long list of Lockheeds in their roles as airliners, executive planes and aero survey workhorses. You’ll be happy to hear that “ATC’s” $155++ sticker price no longer applies at CANAV. You can get an autographed set for yourself or an aviation pal for $65.00 all-in delivered anywhere in Canada. Really, no kidding! (USA CAD$80.00 all-in, International CAD$160.00 all-in)
Pay directly to larry@canavbooks.com with PayPal or Interac. Or … post a cheque in Canadian dollars (or US$ equivalent) to CANAV Books, 51 Balsam Ave., Toronto, Canada M4E3B6 (email me if any questions larry@canavbooks.com)
Janusz Zurakowski – Not Only about Flying
At long last here is the life story of the great Avro Arrow test pilot, Janusz Zurakowski. Originally written by Janusz in Polish, it’s now in English. This is what we’ve been awaiting for decades — the great man’s story starting with his boyhood, education and early years in the Polish Air Force. With the sudden fall of Poland in 1939, Janusz joins thousands of Poles escaping to the UK to continue the fight. The RAF/Polish fighter squadrons in the Battle of Britain help turn the tide against the Luftwaffe. Janusz shoots down several enemy planes and commands Spitfire squadrons. Late in the war he attends Course 2 at the Empire Test Pilots School.
The war over, Janusz’s joins Gloster as a test pilot first flying the Meteor, then the Javelin. Politics at Gloster leads him to Canada, where he becomes chief test pilot on the Avro Canada CF-100 program. Starting in 1957 he adds to his renown by making the first flight of the CF-105 Arrow. Finally, we hear from the great man himself about the Arrow – this you need to know. This exciting period suddenly ends with the demise of the Arrow, which Janusz had flown 20 times. The book finishes with the post-Avro years. Janusz keeps up his interest in aviation, but focuses on family and the famous Zurakowski summer resort in Barry’s Bay, Ontario. This is a really important addition to understanding and enjoying Canada’s aviation heritage. You’ll enjoy this well- crafted book with every page you turn.
224 pages, softcover, photos. $30.00 all-in (USA and International CAD$40.00) Pay directly to larry@canavbooks.com with PayPal or Interac. Or … post a cheque in Canadian dollars to CANAV Books, 51 Balsam Ave., Toronto Ontario M4E3B6
Air-Britain Goes After CANAV Books: The Nastiest of Nasty Book Reviews
We ran this item last time around. If you are new to our blog, for the full context you can scroll back and read the series covering the history of CANAV Books since 1981. For now, I want to keep this item front and centre, so all our visitors can get an idea about how organizations such as Air-Britain and their so-called book reviewers can be ever so nasty, deliberately causing real damage to small publishers such as CANAV Books over here “in the colonies”.
As expected, Air-Britain has not issued an apology to CANAV, but we live in hope. The “reviewer” himself has not yet crawled out from his slimy depths. Here’s the story:
So far there are 40 years of CANAV titles – 40 years, 39 books. As you have seen over this 7-part series, all have been eagerly received by readers and reviewers alike. Few aviation publishers have had such grand reviews. This leads us to scratch our heads at a review published by one of the world’s most respected journals, “Air-Britain Aviation World”. No serious aviation researcher can get by without Air- Britain’s books and other incomparable publications. We all lean in Air- Britain.
A particular review of Noorduyn Norseman Vol.2, appeared in Air- Britain’s June 2014 edition. Here at long last is my response to this outright attack against CANAV Books and myself by supposed professionals. Somehow, the Air-Britain train came off the tracks for this one. Instead of publishing a serious piece, the reviewer (sounding much like the fellow “reviewing” Pioneer Decades)and his publisher seem more like really angry people with some personal score to settle. (I equate the reviewer and Air-Britain, since they combined to produce this travesty.)
First some background: In its December 2013 edition, “Air-Britain Aviation World” published a so-so review of Norseman Vol.1, describing it as “well illustrated and full of personal accounts”. We can see, later, that this anonymous fellow has distain for the “personal” side of a book, as he demeans our Norseman Vol.2 for making use of personal accounts. This may trace back to the standard Air-Britain book, where references to human beings can be scarce to find among the masses of dates, places, and tail and serial numbers.
Next, this reviewer diminishes himself and his publisher by grumbling about how “expensive” the book is. Even worse, he rues the day that the second volume arrives, implying that no reader will be able to afford such a horrendously “expensive” pair of books. This sounds like someone with zero knowledge of book publishing. He apparently doesn’t even realize that most Air-Britain books cost more than our Norsemans! I’m looking for some logic here, but not finding any.
What devoted lover of aviation books ever fusses about sticker price? The book is the thing, the price is inconsequential, other than for those few idiosyncratic and obsessive cheapskates. They have a problem, but it’s not our. The question for a professional book reviewer is: how is CAD$50 “expensive” for such a large-format, beautifully turned out/costly-to-produce book? After all, $50 is not out of line these days even for a paperback! What gets into a “reviewer’s” head to make such a doltish comment? Notes this clueless person, “the two volume set will be expensive and we would have preferred to see the whole history combined in one book at this price”.
How Air-Britain’s editor accepted this submission boggles the mind. Nonetheless, he approved it and our book now officially is condemned as “expensive”. This is doubly stupid when, as mentioned, one looks at Air-Britain’s very own list of books. This is too funny. Here is a sampling of recent Air-Britain titles, each by no means over-priced, yet ll pricier than our Norseman books. The Air-Britain staff and board should be ashamed of themselves for accusing CANAV of producing unfairly-priced books: Auster Production History £39.95 (approx. CAD$69.50)
By comparison, Norseman Vol.1 is a bargain, especially considering its premium production qualities – the paper, glue and ink of any book. I’ve purchased many Air-Britain books over the decades and have never given thought to their sticker prices. These prices always are fair. To the true aviation bibliophile, we need all such books, we love them, we buy them. What does price have to do with anything? Another point about Air-Britain’s line of books … they are prized for their content, but rarely for their production qualities. Is this really what bothers Air-Britain about CANAV? That Air-Britain books are not beautifully-produced? I’m just floundering for an explanation here. With Air-Britain books, the paper and binding always are cheap. I have several which, after years of use, are falling apart (not that I care). However, show me a CANAV book that isn’t holding up. So … what is the logic with this so-called Air-Britain book review?
Its mind made up about “expensive” books, and with little interest in our Norseman books’ content, Air-Britain then lay in wait for a year for Norseman Vol.2. Finally getting his hands on a copy (but perhaps not, by the final look of his “review”), the reviewer was eager to tear Vol.2 to pieces – the only person in the world to date with such a twisted passion against our books.
“We have to say we are disappointed”, he begins, starting straight in about the price. This fellow is a laugh a minute. Then he attacks Vol.2 for not including enough about Norsemans outside Canada. Really? There is a mass of information and piles of photos, including a beautiful stand-alone chapter. How does this fellow put it? “We would also have expected more recognition of Norsemans outside North America than a couple of photos.” Here he really tips his hand – this is not a book review, it’s a personal, belittling attack by him and Air- Britain on a particular author and a particular publisher. Mr. Anonymous then moronically complains about no mention in our book of the Widerøe /Norway story. In fact, there are five pages devoted to Wideroes/Norway, all this good material gathered with the help of several competent Norwegian aviation historians, including an old-time Widerøe Norseman pilot. One wonders just how much further an author must go to please the hard-nosed, implacable people at Air- Britain?
Air-Britain continues by ranting that the French Norseman conversions are not included. No? Kindly see p.291. It then bemoans the lack of a production list. Of course, much of what Air-Britain produces is straight production lists and thank goodness that that is their passion – the rest of us need all that good material. So … where is CANAV’s Norseman production list?
CANAV Books knows all about production lists. From “Day 1” with our CF-100, North Star and Sabre books, etc., there are detailed lists galore in the appendices. All the top UK periodicals over 40 years have raved about our magnificent production lists.
However, Norseman Vol.2 already was at 304 pages. To add a production list and do it justice would have meant a good 40 extra pages, so made publication tougher to finance. Nonetheless, had a superb Norseman production list not already existed, CANAV certainly would have gone beyond the limit and included one. Anyone knowing CANAV understands that. However, our “reviewer” is so clueless as to be unaware that the very best Norseman production list imaginable already was available in 2014 at noorduynnorseman.com (today’s norsemanhistory.com ). Had this doltish fellow simply read the Preface of our book, he would have seen this explained. Right there on Page 8, I praise this world-class production list and urge all to go there for what further they may require about individual Norsemans. (This makes me wonder … did Air-Britain actually ever have a copy of our book in its hands? It appears not.)
With such a beautiful, professional resource as norsemanhistory.com at one’s finger tips, CANAV was saved the huge extra cost of creating a Norseman production list and the months/years of work and cost required. Of course, there is no way that our “reviewer” might grasp any of this. But the Air-Britain staff and board surely understand such things, so why did they become partners in this nasty business?
To put the icing on his cake, look how this travesty of a book review ends: “The author seems to have little interest in the history of the aircraft and concentrates on the soft and easy focus on personal anecdotes and experiences and some pretty pictures.” So ends what likely is the most damning and utterly moronic so-called review in aviation book publishing history. Shame on this nasty dimwit and on Air-Britain, which is hugely diminished in the eyes of decent, intelligent, objective readers, historians and others who love good books.
By permitting such garbage to stink up the pages of their normally superb journal, the Air-Britain staff and board have done their organization a wretched disservice. Sadly, in pushing their role as an anti-CANAV outlier, they effectively managed to blacklist our Norseman books in the eyes of Air-Britain readers. They also turned booksellers against CANAV. Are they proud of this? This simply smells too much of being a planned conspiracy between Air-Britain and its “reviewer” to torpedo CANAV Books, certainly to keep our books out of UK bookstores, at which – sadly to say — they succeeded. What a poor show altogether.
Snowbirds Update, Some Top News Reporting from the Soo
Being stuck in Toronto, it’s not so easy to find a nicely written, factually solid and interesting piece of reportage of local interest. Much of what we get in the Toronto Star, for example, is far left political rants. A good day for the Star is to publish 3, 4, 5 so-called news items rampaging against the ruling Conservatives at Queen’s Park. Don’t they get tired of this? It’s as if the Star was on the Liberal party’s payroll. They really need to calm down and get a grip. We subscribers would appreciate much more in-depth local, national and international news that isn’t spoiled by political haranguing. To be fair, however, there always is some excellent local coverage in the community newspapers. Thank goodness, right. My own neighbourhood Beach Metro News provides an escape from the all-too-unedifying Star.
I’ve always been impressed by the solid, in-depth news coverage from our smaller northern press, those stalwarts such as the Soo Star, Sudbury Star and North Bay Nugget. Lately, Darren Taylor of the Soo wrote this superb item profiling Snowbirds pilot, Patrice Powis-Clement. Here it is for your enjoyment. What a decent, edifying bit of hometown coverage. Certainly well worth clipping by the Snowbirds for their archives at Moose Jaw: https://www.sudbury.com/around-the-north/snowbirds-no-9-5-job-says-northern-ont-man-joining-aerobatics-team-3767643
Amazing Good Fortune after a Mid-Air Collision
Check out this story from Colorado yesterday. We know how such events usually end. But, on May 12, 2021 things panned out for all involved:
Narrative: A privately registered Cirrus SR22 (N416DJ) and a Key Lime Air Swearingen Metro II (N280KL) collided on approach to Denver-Centennial Airport, Colorado, USA. The Cirrus pilot activated the CAPS rescue parachute. The Key Lime flight reported issues with the right-hand engine and continued the approach for a safe landing on runway 17L. Accident investigation:
Investigating agency: NTSB
A Few COVID Thoughts for May 7, 2021
West of New Brunswick, Canada’s ruling classes still seem to be clueless about Covid 19. Were they otherwise, Ottawa and the provincial governments long ago would have imposed the scientific/medical measures known to be effective in controlling the virus. Had they done so, the country today likely would be wide open and Mothers Day would not be down the drain again. So here we are in Year 2 with most of Canada overwhelmed by illness. Extra aggravating is our legion of deniers. They proudly remain tuned out to reality, preferring to protest about their supposed “rights” being trampled upon (with no mention, of course, of the duties that are emblematic of any civilized society). Google this and see some classic Canadian redneck yahoos: “Protesters, most not wearing masks, gathered in Montreal on Saturday to demonstrate against Quebec’s public health restrictions such as the curfew.” What’s the collective IQ in this photo?
Statistics for May 4 to 6, 2021 show how backwards Canada remains compared to other regions around the planet that got out ahead of Covid-19 from the start. These are simple, basic stats, but anyone without blinkers will get the message.
One wonders why the mainstream news networks are not highlighting such shocking data every day on the evening news and on the front pages. If they would, then maybe the government would sharpen up a bit. Where is the media’s conscience about this? Note the stats for Sweden, which pooh-poohed lockdowns, etc. from the start. Nonetheless, the anti-measures people still laud Sweden for its supposed iconoclasm in going against the grain. Well, compare Sweden’s neighbours Finland and Norway. Of course, Finland has been considered by the anti-everything clods to have gone overboard with its strict measures. But who gets the last laugh! The numbers don’t lie, take a look:
Country Population 2019 New Cases May 4, 5 or 6, 2121
USA 328.2 million 43,235
Brazil 211 million 73,380
Germany 83 million 17,917
France 67 million 21,712
South Korea 51.7 million 525
Canada 37.6 million 7,961
Australia 25.4 11
Taiwan 23.6 13
Sweden 10.2 6526
Israel 9 61
Finland 5.5 280
Norway 5.3 506
New Zealand 4.9 1
In Canada (7916 cases compared to Australia with 11) the eastern provinces took the unpopular, yet, valiant approach of strict lockdowns right from the start. Provinces such as Ontario played a complicated political game that blew up in their faces. Here are some cases. Read ’em and weep, Ontario:
New Brunswick 777,000 4
Newfoundland 522,000 6
Ontario 14.6 million 3166
Quebec 8.5 million 915
Alberta 4.4 million 2211
Being a bit excited about my first Viscount flight, I snapped off a few “cloud shots” on the way in CF-TGR from Toronto to Fort William on September 3, 1961.
Chasing Airplanes: My 1961 Road Trip
By 1961 I had been on many airplane-chasing trips all around southern Ontario from Windsor to Ottawa, down to Montreal, even across the border. These ventures usually were with such pals as Merlin Reddy, Nick Wolochatiuk and Paul Regan. Eventually, some of the fellows had a car, but early on we got around via that tried and true method – hitchhiking. As such, we used to call ourselves “The Knights of the Road”. Hitchhiking still was a respectable way of getting around. We invariably reached our destination, although at times we had to wait for our next ride. Summers were busiest, since we were off school, but that never kept us from thumbing 25 miles out to Malton Airport to look for interesting planes to photograph when it was -20F in December.
In the summer of 1961, I was coming up to my 18th birthday and waiting to get back to Malvern Collegiate in Toronto’s east end. I’d spent the summer taking academic courses needed to move on to Grade 13, the final year of high school in Ontario. I’d also been working at my part-time job as a helper and delivery boy at Oakley’s Meat market at Kingston Road and Main St. For a few months I’d been thinking of doing a solo road trip across Northern Ontario, maybe as far as Winnipeg. I’d saved enough money to pull this off and worked out a plan. I did some serious research into what interesting aircraft I might see along the way. This mainly was done by scrutinizing every page of the 1959 Canadian Civil Aircraft Register. Various rare airplanes were listed between Winnipeg and Toronto, but which ones might I find? The register gave me the basic details for each of these plus the owner’s name and address.
The standard cover of the Canadian Civil Aircraft Register. A copy cost a mere $2.00 and the information provided was priceless.
Deciding to venture forth, for $50 I purchased 1-way ticket on Trans-Canada Air Lines to Winnipeg. I’d take an early flight to Fort William at the Lakehead, spend the day knocking around, then catch the late flight to Winnipeg. I loaded up on 120 b/w film for my main camera (Minolta Autocord) and splurged on one “36” roll of Kodachrome. I squeezed everything into one small bag and off I went to Malton on Sunday morning, September 3. Soon I boarded TCA Flight 59 (Viscount CF-TGR) departing at 0755. This was my first Viscount flight. By now (60 years later), I barely can remember how this went, but from my old notebook I see that we landed at Fort William on time at 1000. It pays to keep notes, right!
The TCA Viscounts that took me to Thunder Bay and Winnipeg on September 3 sixty years ago.
I immediately got to work snooping around Fort William airport. However, for some reason I didn’t get full photo coverage on the ramp. Although I noted RCN Tracker 1564, RCAF T-33 21463, a couple of North Central DC-3s, and other interesting planes, for some reason I didn’t shoot them. Maybe I got rousted off the ramp, or, was hesitant to give the ramp a try. However, around the hangers I shot such types as Lockheed 12A CF-EPF, and a rare BT-13 Valiant CF-HJB, which “OJ” Wieben of Superior Airways had converted to a single-cockpit fish hauler.
Lockheed 12A CF-EPF. My 1959 CCAR told me that it was Serial No. 1269. It looked as if it had been sitting for some time. Today, we know that 1269 had begun in 1939 in the US as NC17397 with the Reiss-Premier Corp. Many owners followed, then it came to Canada in 1953 for Argosy Oil and Gas of Calgary. “EPF” was sold in 1955 to Central Northern Airlines, which soon became Transair. It was somehow damaged at Winnipeg on January 10, 1958, patched up and sold to OJ Wieben’s Superior Airways. OJ’s daughter, Liz, recently told me that “EPF” wasn’t used in fish hauling and soon was sold. Most recently heard of in the 2020s, it was in storage on a farm in Southern Ontario.In the early 1950s OJ Wieben added this Vultee BT-13, a type that had been an important trainer for the US military in WWII. Thousands of these were sold cheaply after the war, but few made it to Canada, where there already were plenty of cheap ex-RCAF Cornells, Harvards, etc., for sale. Wieben converted his BT-13 for fish hauling by installing a tub in the front cockpit, then fairing it over for streamlining. Hauling fish from northern Indian reserves still was huge business in the 1950s-60s and shipping by air was the way to go in those times, when planes, gas and pilots all were cheap.
One plane that I especially wanted to catch was Superior Airways’ Bellanca 31-55 Skyrocket CF-DCH, one of a small batch built postwar in Edmonton. At the airport I asked around to learn that “DCH” was in town, but at Superior’s water base on the Kaministiquia River – the “Kam” as locals called it. I got the directions and hit the road. Reaching the Superior base, I found that this also was where the Wieben family lived. Mr. Wieben met me at the gate and showed me around. He was keen to hear that some kid from Toronto was interested in photographing his big, tough Bellanca fish hauler. By this time the weather was overcast and it was drizzling – the hitchhiker’s curse. In 1961 Superior Airways Bellanca Skyrocket CF-DCH was on my list of exotic aircraft to track down between Winnipeg and Toronto. In the end I was happy that I took the time to track it down. Recently, Ev Makela of Sudbury told me about “DCH” passing through that northern town late one season. It stayed overnight at the Austin Airways dock on Ramsay Lake, but in the morning was totally frozen in by an unexpected cold snap. There it stayed for several weeks. Finally, OJ Wieben sent a crew to Sudbury. With old-fashioned manpower they chopped “DCH” from the ice, fuelled it, checked it over one last time, then took off on floats on the ice and flew back to the Lakehead. In 1965 Superior sold “DCH” to Mattagami Skyways of Moonbeam, near Kapuskasing. Its C of A remained current only into July 1966, then “DCH” went to Georgian Bay Airways at Parry Sound, south of Sudbury. Plans were to do a rebuild, but this never happened and “DCH” faded away. For $500 Ev Makela’s brother, Reino, bought the floats off “DCH” to use on his Lauzon Aviation Norseman CF-DTL (“DTL” still flies on these very floats). Nothing much was heard thereafter, so what of “DCH” today? Happy to say, it’s been beautifully restored to flying condition by the Reynolds Museum in Alberta. In case you might be travelling in Alberta, you will be very pleased if you visit this important Canadian aviation collection at Wetaskiwin airport. The airport also is the home a separate institution, the Reynolds-Alberta Museum, also of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame.
As I looked over the Bellanca down on the Kam, there was a sudden roar of some exotic plane in the overcast. This was tantalizing, so I decided to hustle back to the airport. I thanked Mr. Wieben and easily caught some rides. My timing was perfect. What was that mystery plane? I couldn’t have hit a bigger jackpot – the sun was out again and there on the ramp was a gleaming Lockeed P-38 Lightning. As the pilot was getting his kit out of his P-38’s long, photo-recce nose, I hustled across to start shooting. He was friendly and happily agreed to re- start his engines, so I could get a few action photos. The whole exciting scene had me fired up to the point that I later realized that I probably had clicked off too many frames of my lone roll of Kodachrome.
Operated by Survey Aircraft of Vancouver, P-38L CF-JJA was heading for Toronto, then on to Argentina to do high level aerial photography. It later entered the Argentine civil aircraft register and eventually was wrecked in an accident. For more about aviation at the Lakehead, check out these CANAV blog items: “Return to Northwestern Ontario 2017 Part I YQT Thunder Bay Photo Coverage”; “Visiting Lakehead Airport 1961 – 2012 Update”; and “Canadian Car and Foundry and the Curtiss SBW Helldiver”.
I knocked around Fort William airport for the rest of the day, until boarding TCA Flight 53 (Viscount CF-THX) for Winnipeg. Taking off at 2145, we landed 1:50 hours later. Having no options, I slept in the passenger terminal, then was up early to start the day. I had set myself a budget of $2 a day, so needed to be innovative about meals and accommodations. I could get something like a fried egg sandwich, or, wieners and beans plus a drink for about 50 cents. That was about the extent of the “admin” side of my trip.
I noted three TCA DC-3s at Winnipeg on September 4. These still were needed to cover TCA’s prairie routes to such smaller communities as Brandon and North Battleford. Here are views of CF-TES awaiting its day’s work. Originally RAF FL547 in January 1944, in 1946 “TES” was converted by Canadair for TCA. It later served Transair and Lambair.What became of CF-TES once its flying days were done? The story came to me recently from Robert Arnold, one of the originals in the small group that decades ago evolved into the Western Canada Aviation Museum in Winnipeg. Robert became one of the museum’s most accomplished scroungers and wreck salvagers. He tells me that during the war, when “TES” had been Dakota FL547 in the RAF, it had a Polish crew under skipper Jazefa Tyszko. The crew named their “Dak” “Spirit of Ostra Brama”, a holy site in the city of Wilno (now Vilnius, Lithuania). The name also relates to “Operation Ostra Brama”, the battle led by the Polish Home Army to free Wilno from Nazi occupation in July 1944. FL547 was also used as a personal transport of the General Inspector of the Polish Armed Forces, General Kazimierz Sosnkowski, whose son, Joe, became a leading postwar RCN and CAF fighter pilot. Once its civil career ended in 1970, FL547 was acquired by WCAM (today’s Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada). Its colourful military history later came to light, so it was transferred to Canadian Forces 17 Wing (Winnipeg) for storage and preservation. This got underway in October 2016. RAF/Polish markings eventually were added. You can see by these photos provided by Robert how this went. On March 12, 2018 parts of “Ostra Brama” were moved to 17 Wing’s Hangar 16 for cleaning before shipment to Warsaw. On March 8, 2019 Canadian and Polish military, the restoration team, and others gathered for the handover; then everyone enjoyed food and festivities in 17 Wing’s Warrant Officers and Sergeants Mess, the food catered by Winnipeg’s Polish community. The RCAF Air Command Band provided an extra touch for this important event. Next day “Spirit of Ostra Brama” was loaded aboard a massive Antonov AN-124 cargo plane and departed for Warsaw later that afternoon.
At first light I was wandering around the Winnipeg ramp photographing and making notes about the many airplanes that caught my eye. I especially hoped to see Transair’s last Avro York CF-HAS. A Transair mechanic told me that “HAS” was up north, but he could get me on a flight if I was interested. Of course I was, but there was a clanger in the deal – I’d have to “give myself to Jesus” right now in the hangar in front of this Christian mechanic, otherwise — no flight. I decided that the price was a bit out of my range, so returned to the airplanes on the ramp, doomed to hell. There was plenty to see and shoot.
For my first time at Winnipeg I couldn’t complain about the great variety of planes waiting to be photographed. This Mallard looked fine in the early light. Notice the Spartan Air Services logo on its tail. Ottawa-based Spartan by this time had been bought out by Bristol of Winnipeg. Bristol had acquired CF-HWG from Timmins Aviation of Montreal, which had taken it in on a trade from J.F. Crothers Ltd. of Toronto. There it had flown as CF-JFC for many years, but Crothers recently had bought a new Grumman Gulfstream. Spartan soon sent “HWG” on a surveying contract to the Seychelles in the far off Indian Ocean. Last heard of many years ago, “HWG” was in storage in Texas.The Transair ramp also included Canso CF-IEE. The historic type still was an essential freighter and passenger plane, chiefly for serving remote Indian reserves in northern Manitoba and NW Ontario. This was 1961, so almost none of these destinations yet had a runway. Lakes and rivers, however, were plentiful for a Canso. “IEE” had begun as a US Navy PBY-5. Transair imported it in 1953. After many years, it was sold to Austin Airways. While at Sugluk far up Hudson Bay’s east coast one day in 1970, there was an unexpected storm and “IEE” sank and was never recovered.One of Transair’s fleet of hard working DC-4s serving the DEW Line at this time. DEW Line resupply contracts periodically changed. In the early years Maritime Central Airlines of Moncton dominated the show. Later it was Nordair from Dorval, periodically Transair, at other times PWA and CPA on the western DEW Line. CF-TAL was acquired in the US early in 1961 to bolster DEW Line capacity. It returned to the US in 1973, a time when Transair was modernizing with such types as the Argosy and 737. Last heard of (1983) “TAL” was N301JT in storage under the Arizona sun.Of special interest to me was this ex-402 Squadron “City of Winnipeg” Aux. Sqn P-51 Mustang lying neglected in the open air. Having been on USAF strength since 1945, it was sold to the RCAF in 1951, going directly to 402. After an accident at Winnipeg in 1956, it was pretty well abandonned. In 1959 it was sold by Crown Assets Disposal Corp. of Ottawa. In 1962 it was rebuilt in Winnipeg by the Cavalier company of Sarasota, Florida, then flown stateside. Many owners came and went over the years. Today this old warbird is the beautifully-restored, airworthy N151BP with the Palm Springs Air Museum in California.
Next came the RCAF side of the airport, which I reached by hiking across the field and skirting the end of a runway. This got me right onto the RCAF ramp, where I started photographing the many aircraft shining in the early sun – mainly B-25s and Dakotas, but also Lancasters and a pair of new Albatross. I was acting as if I owned the place, until an officer appeared to ask what I was doing. Somehow, he bought my line, let me finish, then drove me to the gate.
No. 111 Composite Unit search and rescue Lancasters FM219 and FM224 still were at Winnipeg. I was lucky to catch these, since their replacements recently had arrive – a pair of factory fresh Grumman Albatross. These Lancasters had done years of solid SAR work. FM219 previously had served 407 Sqn at Comox 1955-59. From Winnipeg it was ferried to Dunnville, Ontario, from where it was sold to Toronto scrap dealer, G. Solway.One of 111 KU’s new Albatross amphibians. The Albatross was a welcomed addition to RCAF SAR operations, where it replaced the Canso and Lancaster. However, no replacement could come close to the “Lanc” for high cruise speed and long range. 9309 served Canada into 1971, then returned to Grumman. It later was with the Mexican Navy.RCAF 2 Air Navigation School in Winnipeg recently had retired its fleet of B-25J trainers. Eleven of them were lined up in the sun for me to photograph on this brilliant Manitoba morning. 5201 had joined the RCAF in 1951, then served 3 (AW) OTU at Cold Lake, Alberta training CF-100 navigators. It moved to Winnipeg in 1957. Shortly after my visit, it was ferried for storage to Calgary. From there it quickly was sold into the US, where it had several owners until fading from the scene in the early 1970s. Last heard of it was in the US BVIs.One of the 15 Dakotas that I noted this morning on the RCAF navigation school ramp. KN201 had joined the RCAF in 1945, initially with Western Air Command at Patricia Bay/Victoria. Its tail number changed in 1970 to 12903. Crown Assets sold it in 1976, then it reappeared with Basler Airlines as N46938. Some time later it’s said to have migrated to Africa for the Malawi Air Wing.
My visit to the Winnipeg Flying Club hangar turned up a pair of one-of-a-kind 1936 Canadian biplanes – D.H.87 Hornet Moth CF-AYG, which was on my list, but supposedly far up north in Dauphin; and CF-CDQ, an Avro Avian. Both were in the back of the hangar, “CDQ” with its wings folded. The AME on duty was a friendly fellow, who was happy to find a kid with an interest. Before long, we had pushed some planes out of the way and had “AYG” on the tarmac to photograph. All was fine, except that the visibility was the pits, since forest fire smoke had reduced the airport almost to IFR conditions. (Google the “Maclean’s Magazine” article by Peter Gzowski “1961: Summer of the Angry Forest Fires”. This was 60 years ago, long before anyone heard the term “climate change”. These fires were worse than anything seen in Canada in the 2000s. Such fires have been roaring around the continent since time immemorial. Meanwhile, the climate has never stopped — and never will stop — changing.)
The lovely red-and-white Hornet Moth that I spotted in the corner of the WFC hangar. This was a peach of a find. Today you can see CF-AYG on show at the Reynolds Alberta Museum in Westaskiwin, Alberta now in the yellow and silver colour scheme reminiscent of its days in the 1930s with Consolidated Mining and Smelting of Trail, BC.
Early on September 5, I was watching a Winnipeg Flying Club Aeronca getting ready for a flight. I chatted with the young pilot, mentioning that I was headed over to Rivercrest airstrip a few miles to the west. For a bit of gas money ($2) this fine fellow was happy to drop me off there. Seemed like a deal, so away we went, landing 17 minutes later. Rivercrest was an interesting spot, especially with Beech 18 CF-NKL-X, sitting at the dock on new Bristol of Canada floats. I learned that the “X” in the plane’s registration was needed, since the floats still were experimental.
The Aeronca in which I flew from Winnipeg to Rivercrest. CF-IRX spent from 1956 to 2006 in Canada, then went south of the border as N9049F.Beech 18 CF-NKL-X at the dock at Rivercrest. Since 1965 “NKL” has made its home with North Western Flying Services at Nestor Falls, Ontario in the Lake-of-the-Woods district. There are few airplanes that can claim such longevity. Another that comes to mind is Found FBA-2C CF-SDC that still operates from the same base in Hudson, Ontario to which it was delivered in 1965.
From Rivercrest I decided to hitchhike north to RCAF Station Gimli to try my luck. In those days, Gimli was a busy jet training base with 100+ T-33s. Off I headed using my trusty Shell roadmap to find my way. This all ended as a big flop, for there were no rides to be had. Also maddening was how I was pestered for an hour along a dusty road by a nasty big farm dog. Finally, I decided to backtrack and head east to Kenora. Rides remained scarce – it was just a lousy day. However, I had made it as far as Whitemouth when I got really lucky. A bus came my way, I flagged it down and happily paid $2.40 for a ticket to Kenora.
I still have the receipt for my bus fare from Whitemouth to Kenora on September 5, 1961. Arriving in Kenora late in the afternoon, I hitchhiked out to the airport, where I found several interesting airplanes. I took a few late evening shots, then the airport manager let me spend the night in his little shack. Soon after sunrise next morning I did my photography, made my notes, then headed downtown to shoot the bushplanes.Ontario Central Airlines Canso CF-IDS was a great find at Kenora airport on September 6. Built by Canadian Vickers at Cartierville, Quebec in late 1943, it began as RCAF 11029. Eventually surplus to RCAF needs, “IDS” served Queen Charlotte Airlines 1956 to 1959, when it was sold to OCA. Through each summer season, it mainly supported sport fishing and hunting, most of the sportsmen being Americans, but general duties also were served. In 1963 “IDS” was based in Winnipeg with Northland Airlines, a fish hauling outfit. Next in the Canadian Civil Aircraft Register, it’s listed in 1969 with North Canada Air of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan as a fire bomber. On September 1, 1971 it was in the circuit at a forest fire near Pine Point, NWT, when it collided fatally with PBY CF-HTN. As I recall, the colours here were dark blue and gray with some yellow trim.Wearing the same colours as “IDS” was OCA’s Grumman Goose CF-GEB, equipped with 3-blade vs the usual 2- blade propellers. An ex-US Navy JRF-5 Goose, it had come to Canada in March 1944 as RCAF 384. Struck off RCAF charge in 1947, it became “GEB” serving BC’s forest industry. After a fatal accident at Vancouver in 1966, it was sold in the US, rebuilt, then operated in Alaska until wrecked for good in a May 1978 crash.Always great to see were any Spartan airplanes. These were the days when the company still was flying the last of its Mosquitos. It was a legendary operation. Here for me to shoot at Kenora bright and early on September 6, 1961 was Spartan’s Beech 18 CF-MJY and its Anson V CF-HXA. “MJY” had been a USAF C-45, then was N3734G. In 1960 Bristol of Winnipeg bought it from John H. Horrell of Arizona (by this time, Bristol was taking over Spartan). “MJY” later did some offshore contracts, then was sold in 1973 to Kenting, another famous Canadian survey company. You can see “MJY” today at the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Museum in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.Spartan Anson V CF-HXA on the same magnetometer mineral survey job at Kenora as “MJY”. Ex-RCAF Anson served far and wide in Canada after the war. Good examples could be bought for two or three thousand dollars in the late 1940s, and many still were giving good service by 1960. “HXA” lasted into 1962, then went for scrap.OCA’s newly-acquired 1958 Piper PA-23 Apache CF-NPZ. In 1963 “NPZ” was sold to Smith Airways in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. In 2021, by when it had accumulated more than 4200 flying hours, this vintage Apache was in Texas as N469ET.While I was keen to find Fox Moth CF-DJB in Kenora as per my CCAR research, I was pleasantly surprised on reaching Kenora airport to spot another Fox Moth — CF-BNN. It was looking a bit tired, but likely had been flying recently. Built at DHC in Toronto in 1946, “BNN” had been purchased new by Sherritt Gordon Air Transport, the aviation subsidiary of the huge Manitoba mining company, Sherritt Gordon. SGAT sold “BNN” in 1949 to Parsons Airways. Later it was listed to Wilbert K. Parsons of Kenora, then was bought by prospector Jack H. Edwards in 1959. By the time I came along this day, it was owned by two young fellows — Neil Walsten and Richard D. Jackson. Just lately, Neil told me that in 1961 he had bought “BNN” from Jack Edwards for $500, including floats and skis. Neil sold a half share to Richard. Then, they used the plane for about two years to build hours and haul fish for Bill Cameron, whose operation was on Stork Lake, about 70 miles north of Kenora. Without telling Neil, Richard sold BNN and left Canada. R.S. “Bob” Grant then takes up this great bushplane tale. In 1970 Bob, then flying for Georgian Bay Airways in Parry Sound, Ontario, heard that Paul Sigurdson of Winnipeg had “BNN” for sale. Bob was interested, since Sigurdson described it as almost ready to fly. Bob sent him the agreed-upon $1400, but this did not go well, as Bob told me: “The gamble did not pay off – the boxes that arrived at my parents’ place in Belleville, Ontario, actually contained many bicycle parts and no logbooks. The aircraft had been smashed with an axe to get it into the boxes. When I called Sigurdson, he said I had a real prize on my hands and no, he would not refund a penny. In desperation, we gave the boxes to the CPR to send back to Winnipeg, and that was the last we saw of them. So much for my dream of restoring a classic airplane. Over the years, I would hear many a Sigurdson story, none of them pretty.
Heading into town early on September 6, I looked forward to photographing the of Lake-of-the-Woods bushplanes most of which were at the OCA docks right downtown.
At Kenora’s downtown float base I was really happy to find this impressive yellow-and-red OCA Norseman. Someone loaned me a canoe so I could get some nice clear shots. Originally US Army UC-64 44-70407 delivered in October 1944, CF-IRI was the 672nd Norseman. Postwar, it went first to Byrd Aviation in Texas, then was acquired by OCA in 1956. Later with Canadian Voyageur Airlines, on May 25, 1966 it was wrecked in the Fort Francis area when the engine failed. Happily, all aboard survived.Parsons’ CF-PAL was a vintage 1945 US Army Beech C-45 that still was in military colours into 1957, when it became N6789C. Parsons had just acquired “PAL” from Florida when I happened by. It later went to Chiupka Airways in northern Manitoba. Its last appearance in the CCAR is in the 1970 edition.Needless to say, I was excited to find prospector Jack Edwards’ Fox Moth tied up at his lakefront property. Too bad, but no one was home, so I never met Jack. A photographer couldn’t be happier with a shot like this, right! “DJB” later was acquired by Wardair and restored to like-new condition as the first airplane owned by Canada’s great aviation luminary, Max Ward. It resides today in Ottawa at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum. However, very little of Jack Edwards’ “DJB” can be found in the completely rebuilt replica.Here’s an excellent photo by Gary Vincent showing “DJB” as you’ll see it at the CASM. Don’t aviation fans have just the best hobby!
Now it was time to hit the road. Always in my mind was the first day of school, for which I had planned to be on time — but hope was fading. Heading towards Fort William, I next was looking for the rare Stinson SR-JR bushplane, CF-HAW, said to be around Ignace. Too bad but I couldn’t find it. I pressed on and straight through Fort William, not stopping to see the airport again. My guess is that it likely was raining at the time. The weather sure was crappy for 2 or 3 days. At Nipigon I managed a ride in the back of a pick-up with some local Ojibwa fellows. The guys were friendly, sharing their moose meat sandwiches and trying to enlist me to go cutting pulpwood with them. It was a tough bush job, paid $16 a day, but I had to buy a chain saw and some bush gear. I thought about it, but finally begged off. By this time I had peeled off the Trans Canada (which still was unpaved and under construction for long stretches). Instead, I took the long way up Hwy 11. This turned out to be a dumb move.
There sure wasn’t much for me going this way. When it was quiet, I’d hang around the restaurant at whichever Husky gas station. For accommodations, I spent two nights with the Ontario Provincial Police at Geraldton and Hearst. I was able to sell the officers in charge to let me overnight in their drunk tanks. This wasn’t so bad, as my cellmates all seemed OK fellows. Mainly … the price was right for a kid on the road. At Kapuskasing on September 8, I hoped to catch the US Air Force Beaver belonging to the nearby radar site, but it was away. I pushed on with no luck until away down at New Liskeard and Temagami on September 9. Hitchhiking then became a real bind. I was stuck hanging around truck stops for a couple of days.
All I saw while passing through New Liskeard was this pretty little red-and-white 1946 Fleet Canuck on floats, owned then by A.J. Murphy Lumber Co. of nearby Latchford. Last heard of in the early 2000s, “ENE” was in Alberta. Not far from New Liskeard I checked out the float base at Temagami, where I was happy to find a famous old Northern Ontario Stinson SR-9 Reliant, CF-BGM of Lakeland Airways. Having come to Canada in 1937 for British North American Airlines of Toronto, it briefly served the Ontario Provincial Air Service, then spent several years with the Department of Transport. In 1950-52 it was with Ball Lake Transportation of Kenora, with OCA 1952-55, then it went to Lakeland. Sadly, “BGM” crashed on August 12, 1973. It had been on a charter with four passengers, when it crashed while taking off on Sugar Lake in the Temagami area. Two lives were lost. The Reynolds Museum in Westaskiwin has beautifully restored a V77 Reliant to flying condition. It’s registered CF-BGM in honour of the famous original.
Reaching Sudbury on the 11th I was happy to see a Kenting B-17 that was getting set to fly south to Wiarton – somewhat in my direction. I tried my luck for a ride, but the boss wouldn’t bite. Even so, I still made it home later that day on the 200 mile standard route down Hwy 69. I was a week late for school, so was a bit nervous showing up next day. Nonetheless, our great vice-principal, Mr. Stubbs (RCAF WWII), welcomed me back like the Prodigal Son. So ended my first big solo road trip.
Austin Airways Anson V CF-JAW at Sudbury on September 11, 1961. Notice its magnetometer “bomb” under the belly. Austin Airways Ansons in this configuration usually were working for International Nickel Co., Sudbury’s biggest employer. “JAW” had been RCAF 11904 during the war. It finally was struck off strength in June 1954, then went to Leavens Brothers Air Services in Toronto, finally on to Austin Airways. Somehow, over the last 60 years I seem to have misplaced my negatives taken that day of the B- 17For many years Austin’s CF-JAW has been stored for future restoration at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada. Notice the remnants of its original RCAF WWII yellow paint job. (via Gerry Norberg)
New Brunswick Aviation Museum
Are you familiar with the New Brunswick Aviation Museum? Now in growth mode, this important regional organization aims to build an RCAF aircraft collection (Vampire, Sabre, T-33, etc.). The museum explains, “We plan to become a centre of excellence for the preservation of aviation history and the promotion of aerospace careers among New Brunswick youth.” Learn more at www.nbaviationmuseum.com Please show some support by taking out a membership.
Bush Flying Nostalgia
Several lovely old bushplane scenes recently popped up from the CANAV archives. Knowing this era of aviation in Canada is as important and interesting as contemporary content about F-35s, 787s, etc. (the aviation history “grown-ups” know this). I’ve covered much of this ancient history, chiefly in Air Transport in Canada and in Aviation in Canada: The Formative Years.
Built by Canadian Vickers in Montreal in 1930, Fokker Super Universal CF-AJH is shown in a typical bush setting, likely while with Dominion Skyways of Rouyn-Noranda (northern Quebec) in 1934-35. The engine “tent” was standard for winter operations. The engineer spent hours each day under his tent doing his daily maintenance. Note the dog team, another typical feature in any such scene of the times.Fairchild 71C CF-AWU operated first with Northern Skyways of Noranda, then with Dominion Skyways. It went through the ice on a remote northern Quebec lake in January 1940. While being salvaged in February, it somehow caught fire and was lost. The Fairchilds and Fokkers were forerunners in the Canadian bush of the Beaver, Otter and Husky, then of today’s Turbo-Otter, Caravan and Twin Otter.Another quintessential scene from Canadian air transportation history: No.1 Norseman CF-AYO. Pioneer bush aviator Syd Walker of Dominion Skyways took this snap of a situation at the company’s Rouyn base. “AYO” likely had been readied the night before for a morning departure. By morning, however, this part of Lake Osisko had frozen lightly, so plans for AYO’s first trip of the day had to be modified. That’s likely the pilot atop “AYO” with his broom ready to sweep the light snow and hoar frost from the wings. The other fellow is fuelling, while someone on the float is breaking ice. After the sun warmed things a bit, it’s likely the ice was soft enough for “AYO” to taxi. Out further there probably was open water for takeoff.A classic scene at the Dominion Skyways base at Rouyn. FC-2W2 CF-AHG had been built by Fairchild of Long Island, NY in 1929. It came to Dominion in 1935, then served into 1941, when it went to de Havilland in Toronto for conversion to a “71C”. Its career from then to 1946 isn’t noted – it may have been stored at DHC until a buyer could be found. Finally, by 1946 it was hauling fish in the west. On January 2, 1947 it was lost at Cold Lake, Alberta when it caught fire on start-up. This was an old problem with fabric-covered bushplanes with their layers of paint, oil and other flammable crud. CF-ANU was one of the rugged old Bellanca Pacemakers built in New Castle, Delaware in the late 1920s. Dominion Skyways operated it 1936-40, after which its fate is unknown. Most such aged bushplanes ended as scrap, once their useful parts had been removed. Behind is an unknown Super Universal.
Today’s Great Lakes Page
For our shipping fans, here are some scenes that I caught along the Welland Canal on May 5, 2004. (I had detoured to the canal while heading for Niagara-on-the-Lake to meet for lunch with the Canadian Typhoon Pilots Association. What came up first on my canal sidetrip was the 730-foot Upper Lakes Shipping Ltd.’s John D. Leitch. Here it is rising in a lock, exiting, then sailing on. In the fourth scene, I had crossed the canal to get the ship coming on in its quest for Lake Erie. You can see that it’s empty. It likely was heading for a US port on Lake Erie for coal. A self-unloading bulk carrier, this vessel was built in Port Weller (St. Catharines) in 1967 and christened Canadian Century in honour of Canada’s centennial that year. Depending on the season, it could carry from 25,700 tons to 31,600 tons. Its main duty was carrying coal to Ontario Hydro generating stations, but trips also were made to such destinations as the steel mills in Hamilton. For its first season, Canadian Century made 63 revenue trips carrying 1.7 million tons of coal. It was overhauled and modernized at Port Weller in 2001, then re-christened John D. Leitch in 2002 in honour of Upper Lakes Shipping’s chairman. In 2021 this classic laker sails under the Algoma Central Corp. flag. Much detailed history of any such vessel can be found on such websites as boatnerd.comCSL Niagara also was in the Welland Canal this day. Launched in 1971 as the J.W. McGiffin, it was built for Canada Steamship Lines in Collingwood, Ontario. According to the info at boatnerd.com, the price for this contract totalled $13 million. The 730-foot ship was built specifically for the coal trade, its first revenue trip being from Sandusky, Ohio to Hamilton on April 25, 1972 with 30,624 tons of coal. boatnerd.com adds about this ship’s usefulness: “Although much of the J.W. McGiffin’s activities were focused on the Lake Erie eastern coal trade between Ohio ports such as Ashtabula, Conneaut, Sandusky, and Toledo bound for the Canadian steel plants at Hamilton, Nanticoke, or Sault Ste. Marie; or the Ontario Hydro steam power generating plants at Courtright, Nanticoke, or Port Credit; the self-unloader also carried cargoes of grain, coke, stone, and iron ore. The vessel set a Thunder Bay, ON grain record on October 5, 1973 when she loaded 1,006,672 bushels; then broke her own record in 1980 when she loaded 27,566 metric tons of the same commodity from Thunder Bay to Montreal, QC. She also broke another eastern coal record when, on July 25, 1975, 35,292 net tons were loaded on board at Conneaut for Nanticoke.” After a major refit at Port Weller in 1998-99, the ship was re- christened CSL Niagara. Notice how the business end of CSL Niagara is at the stern, while for the John L. Leitch it’s at the bow. boatnerd.com notes the basic specs for the CSL Niagara as:
Overall Dimensions (metric)
Length 739′ 10″ (225.50m)
Beam 78′ 00″ (23.76m)
Depth 48′ 05″ (14.75m)
Capacity (mid-summer) 37,694 tons (38,299 mt) – CSL data at draft of 31′ 04″ (9.556m)
Capacity (Seaway) 30,223 tons (30,708 mt) – CSL data at Seaway draft of 26′ 06″ (8.08m)
Power (diesel) 9,000 b.h.p. (6,620 kW)
400 Squadron Ride-Along
In May 2007 Paul Hayes, Honorary Colonel of 400 “City of Toronto” squadron, invited me to ride along on May 18 for a shoot organized by Mike Reyno of “Skies” – Canada’s premier aviation magazine. I drove up from Toronto to 400’s base at CFB Borden, where several other air force supporters had gathered for this “photo op” on a fine bright morning. First, we sat in on the aircrew briefing. Naturally, there was an emphasis on safety, as there would be civilians in the four CH-46 Griffin helios, and we’d be flying over a densely-packed urban landscape on our way to Toronto Billy Bishop Airport about 50 miles to the south.Once at the island, the photographers were dropped off, then the Griffins took off directed by Mike Reyno, so he could get just the photos he needed – the perfect set up with the CN Tower as his backdrop. I was just along for the ride, but still fired off some colour print film. Here are a few shots from the briefing to getting ready on the ramp at Borden, to the helios manoeuvring with the city backdrop, then, back at Borden where I caught a Griffin over one of the ranges as we headed in to land. All things considered … not too painful a way for an aviation nerd to spend a morning, right and all thanks to Paul Hayes, an old time F-86 pilot, and one of the solid supporters of RCAF heritage.
CANAV Books Moves Ahead — “Aviation in Canada”
To 2021 Canada Books has produced eight volumes in its “Aviation in Canada” series. As expected, those with a serious interest in and love for good aviation books have been enjoying this mini-encyclopaedia devoted to Canada’s aviation heritage. Having begun in 2008 with Aviation in Canada:The Pioneer Decades, the series goes well so far, mainly since the standard CANAV philosophy of the book universe remains unchanged. All the solid “book people” who have been watching the series get this.
Our Vol.1 Aviation in Canada: The Pioneer Decades book reviews are what anyone would expect (ref. Parts 1 to 6 of this blog series), with one gross exception. One really nasty fellow in the UK set out to spoil our 40-year record. He lashed out against the book, finding only the most rotten things about it. This guy is the master belittler! My guess? This was strictly a personal attack on me and CANAV. This fellow has serious head problems. His editor should have intercepted this unprofessional rampage, and rejected it outright. Such garbage does not do wonders for the reputation of any aviation periodical. Intelligent readers notice these things. Here are some far more typical reviews of The Pioneer Decades, starting with Vol.57, No.2, Summer 2010 of “Air Power History” (the voice of the USAF “Air Force Historical Foundation”). Here is its take on The Pioneer Decades. Our reviewer was the late, great Robin Higham, PhD, professor of aviation history and author of several academic-level books. His reviews always were fair and balanced, with the strengths of any author and book highlighted. Dr. Higham begins: “Larry Milberry, the dean of Canadian aviation historians outside of the Directorate of History of the Department of National Defence, has spent a lifetime and a fortune pursuing many of the aspects of our northern neighbor’s flying history. This book, his newest offering, looks at the beginnings of Canadian aviation …” Since he’s writing for a learned journal, Dr. Higham describes the content of the book in detail – an older style but helpful for any librarian or general reader deciding “to buy or not to buy”. He ends simply: “The book concludes with a gallery of photos and biographies of Canadian airmen and a description of their lives on the Western Front. All in all, this is a pleasant and informative book. Dr. Robin Higham, Professor Emeritus, Kansas State University.” Other reviews mirror Dr. Higham’s. In Quebec’s beloved “Plein Vol”, Pierre Gillard built up interest by mentioning some of our earlier books, concluding that CANAV Books “ne devrait pas décevoir” (CANAV “will never disappoint you.”). Then he outlines the wide-ranging coverage in Pioneer Decades from ballooning in the 1940s to the end of WWI, all squeezed into 176 large-format, handsomely-designed pages, 300 photos included. Our book certainly succeeds in its simple objective – to present a basic outline through the decades and be enjoyable and educational for any intelligent reader, especially young people developing an interest in Canada’s aviation heritage.
France’s veteran researcher, writer, publisher, and former bush pilot in the Canadian northland, Philippe Listeman, reviewed The Pioneer Decades at L’@erobibliotheqe. He gives a fair and detailed analysis. In traditional fashion, he outlines the chapters, making such comments as, “Tout le long du texte, des récits extraits de rapports de combat, de communiqués officiels ou autres, en font un texte vivant à lire.” (“Throughout the text, stories extracted from combat reports, official statements or others, make it a living text to read.”) His finishing words? “Sans aucun doute un bon livre pour toute personne intéressée aux premiers pas de l’aviation et aussi à la Première Guerre mondiale.” (“Without a doubt a good book for anyone interested in the first steps of aviation and also in the First World War.”) A fair and tidy review.
Other comments from the professional book critics? “A treasure for anyone with an interest in Canada’s wonderful heritage in the air,” wrote Air Force Magazine. Bob Merrick added in COPA Flight: “The spectacular pictures perfectly supplement the tight, well-written, heavily researched narrative.” David Baker of the UK’s revered Aviation News concluded: “The … story is well written and easy to follow, logically connecting the images with the text – not always the case with history books … a story that is both inspiring and worthy … to be welcomed and treasured.” All of which makes one wonder what that first poor sod was trying to prove so nastily.
All moved along predictably since we dared to launch the “Aviation in Canada” series at great expense. No other publisher in Canada would dare take such a chance, especially the “big boys”, whose motto seems to be, “Never take a chance”. These mainly are American branch plant operations, taking their orders from New York.
Our Volume 2, which picks up where Pioneer Decades ends, is The Formative Years. It’s had nothing but praise. “What is it?” queried reviewer Bob Merrick in “COPA News”. “A learned treatise on how to deal with the intransigent teenagers in your care? Well, no. It’s written by Larry Milberry, Canada’s foremost aviation author, and while he may know a thing or two about raising teenagers, he knows a whole lot more about early Canadian aviation, the changes it made to Canada, and to Canadians’ ways and quality of life. He recently started a new series, Aviation in Canada, and this is the second volume…
“WWI had shown that aircraft and their much-improved capabilities were no longer just toys for the idle rich. A country such as Canada, blessed with an overabundance of acreage populated mostly by tiny, isolated communities, needed some way of defeating those distances. Might the sputtering aircraft of the day be of use … It’s about here, in 1919, where the new book starts. And what a book it is.
“You’d think that an author such as Milberry, with thirty Canadian civil and military aviation books under his belt, would have already said everything there is to say about aviation in the early years. But no, he hasn’t. He discovered still more aeronauts, companies and entrepreneurs whose stories were still untold… It’s unquestionably a Milberry book. It starts with meticulous research, and the information thus uncovered is transformed into readily understandable prose that flows easily and readably across the printed page.
“But, there are interruptions… Pictures, about 450 of them in this book. He has zillions of pictures in his personal 50-year-old files, and he has zillions of friends who are willing to share their pictures with him. Thus, the reader is not looking at the same old pictures that enlivened previous books … The Formative Years is a formidable addition to our gradually increasing knowledge of how important aviation has been to Canada’s development … Milberry has provided us with a first-rate, exciting chronicle that clearly demonstrates the hardships, the disappointments, and yet, the steady progress that has made it possible for most Canadians to enjoy fast, reliable air transportation from one point in the country to any other point in the country…”
The reviews piled up, not a one being disappointing. Britain’s “Aircraft” magazine crowed about The Formative Years, “Authoritative … Milberry is your guarantee here … readable, well-produced”.
Since those exciting and sometimes nerve-wracking times, we have forged on to build “Aviation in Canada” to eight titles, the others being Evolution of an Air Force,Bombing and Coastal Operations Overseas 1939-1945,The Noorduyn Norseman Vols. 1 and 2, The CAE Story and Fighter Pilots and Observers 1915-1939. All have been beautifully received by the top “book people” writing for the aviation press, but, most importantly, by our loyal CANAV readership. Presently, we are battling to complete Fighter Pilots and Observers 1939-1945, and The Royal Canadian Air Force: 100 Years 1924 – 2024.
Here we are at Part 7 of my overview of CANAV Books in its 40 year history. By now you get the picture – people around the world love our books. I’ll spare you another excessive run of the reviews, except for these periodical and reader comments loving the Norseman books. Down the line, this all will appear in a book that’s in the making. To begin, this keen reader (like Dr. Higham, a history professor) reported about Norseman Vol.1, “The Noorduyn book is terrific. I like the weaving of anecdotes with the narrative, and the photographs are very nicely reproduced.” A retired airline pilot added: “The Norseman story is compelling and exceedingly well written. What airplane fan couldn’t love it! I’m standing by, straining at the chocks, for the next installment. Now I’m sure I should have bought that Norseman in Winnipeg in ’83, but I built a house instead.”
Len Halloran (RCMP ret’d) from New Brunswick who, with his Inuit companion, saved pilot Wiggo Norwang and his passengers following their horrendous 1958 Norseman crash on the tundra, admitted that he really wasn’t a student of aviation history. However, on going through his copy of Vol.1, Len’s key phrase about it all is “out of this world”. “You sure put a book together, my friend.” From one of the great innovators of big water bombers in California, the word for Norseman Vol.1 was loud and clear: “Man oh man, the book came yesterday. Wow, is all I can say! Not since my teens, when I bought mail order from Beachcomber Books in the great northwest, have I gotten a more exciting book shipment. Methinks that American ‘airplane nuts’ are doing themselves a great disservice if not frequenting CANAV books.”
So it has gone. Meanwhile, how fares The CAE Story? You can see the reviews and reader remarks here on the blog (you can find anything on the blog by using the search box). Few books in the last 50 years have been so gloriously reviewed. The CAE Story turns out to be pretty well the best in its class over a good 50 years. Finally, what about Fighter Pilots and Observers? Happily, it’s the same story. The renowned WWI aerial warfare journal, “Over the Front” observes: “This new book’s unassuming title modestly hides the treasure of photographic and text material stored within its large- format pages … One of the true joys of this volume is the wealth of original photographs, drawn from official and many private sources. These images portray the breadth of aircraft types and the variety of squadrons manned by Canadian fliers.” Finally, writing in the USAF “Air University Press”, Dr. J.A. Boyless concludes: “The authors’ information and anecdotes convey the glory and pain of flying … The book is a window of the past … The stories of the men and machines that fought the war came alive as I read … I don’t hesitate to recommend this volume … Understanding the past assists in applying the best to the future.”
One of the world’s most historic, revered and long-lived journals – “Aeroplane” — thought Aviation in Canada: Fighter Pilots and Observers 1915-1939 to be a decent effort, noting in its May 2019 edition, “The is volume eight in CANAV’s series… Those who have read … earlier volumes will be familiar with author Milberry’s style of writing, which strikes that happy, and all to rare, balance between being easy to read and rigorously detailed.” Reviewer Denis Calvert liked all the book’s content, concluding, “Illustrations are excellent with good reproduction.” This is an honest assessment by a top bibliophile. Denis gives more than enough to please any publisher or author. Yes, a book could not have received better reviews. This final example is from “Britain at War” (November 2018):
Air-Britain Goes After CANAV Books: The Nastiest of Nasty Book Reviews
So far there are 40 years of CANAV titles – 40 years, 39 books. As you have seen over this 7-part series, all have been eagerly received by readers and reviewers alike. Few aviation publishers have had such grand reviews. This leads us to scratch our heads at a review published by one of the world’s most respected journals, “Air-Britain Aviation World”. No serious aviation researcher can get by without Air-Britain’s books and other incomparable publications. We all lean in Air-Britain.
A particular review of Noorduyn Norseman Vol.2, appeared appeared in Air-Britain’s June 2014 edition. Here at long last is my response to this outright attack against CANAV Books and myself by supposed professionals. Somehow, the Air-Britain train came off the tracks for this one. Instead of publishing a serious piece, the reviewer (sounding much like the fellow “reviewing” Pioneer Decades)and his publisher seem more like really angry people with some personal score to settle. (I equate the reviewer and Air-Britain, since they combined to produce this travesty.)
First some background: In its December 2013 edition, “Air-Britain Aviation World” published a so-so review of Norseman Vol.1, describing it as “well illustrated and full of personal accounts”. We can see, later, that this anonymous fellow has distain for the “personal” side of a book, as he demeans our Norseman Vol.2 for making use of personal accounts. This may trace back to the standard Air-Britain book, where references to human beings can be scarce to find among the masses of dates, places, and tail and serial numbers.
Next, this reviewer diminishes himself and his publisher by grumbling about how “expensive” the book is. Even worse, he rues the day that the second volume arrives, implying that no reader will be able to afford such a horrendously “expensive” pair of books. This sounds like someone with zero knowledge of book publishing. He apparently doesn’t even realize that most Air-Britain books cost more than our Norsemans! I’m looking for some logic here, but not finding any.
What devoted lover of aviation books ever fusses about sticker price? The book is the thing, the price is inconsequential, other than for those few idiosyncratic and obsessive cheapskates. They have a problem, but it’s not our. The question for a professional book reviewer is: how is CAD$50 “expensive” for such a large-format, beautifully turned out/costly-to-produce book? After all, $50 is not out of line these days even for a paperback! What gets into a “reviewer’s” head to make such a doltish comment? Notes this clueless person, “the two volume set will be expensive and we would have preferred to see the whole history combined in one book at this price”.
How Air-Britain’s editor accepted this submission boggles the mind. Nonetheless, he approved it and our book now officially is condemned as “expensive”. This is doubly stupid when, as mentioned, one looks at Air-Britain’s very own list of books. This is too funny. Here is a sampling of recent Air-Britain titles, each by no means over-priced, yet all pricier than our Norseman books. The Air-Britain staff and board should be ashamed of themselves for accusing CANAV of producing unfairly-priced books:
Auster Production History £39.95 (approx. CAD$69.50)
Bristol Fighter £59.95 (approx. CAD$104.00)
Piper Aircraft £52.55 (approx CAD$95.00)
By comparison, Norseman Vol.1 is a bargain, especially considering its premium production qualities – the paper, glue and ink of any book. I’ve purchased many Air-Britain books over the decades and have never given thought to their sticker prices. These prices always are fair. To the true aviation bibliophile, we need all such books, we love them, we buy them. What does price have to do with anything?
Another point about Air-Britain’s line of books … they are prized for their content, but rarely for their production qualities. Is this really what bothers Air-Britain about CANAV? That Air-Britain books are not beautifully-produced? I’m just floundering for an explanation here. With Air-Britain books, the paper and binding always are cheap. I have several which, after years of use, are falling apart (not that I care). However, show me a CANAV book that isn’t holding up. So … what is the logic with this so-called Air-Britain book review?
Its mind made up about “expensive” books, and with little interest in our Norseman books’ content, Air-Britain then lay in wait for a year for Norseman Vol.2. Finally getting his hands on a copy (but perhaps not, by the final look of his “review”), the reviewer was eager to tear Vol.2 to pieces – the only person in the world to date with such a twisted passion against our books.
“We have to say we are disappointed”, he begins, starting straight in about the price. This fellow is a laugh a minute. Then he attacks Vol.2 for not including enough about Norsemans outside Canada. Really? There is a mass of information and piles of photos, including a beautiful stand-alone chapter. How does this fellow put it? “We would also have expected more recognition of Norsemans outside North America than a couple of photos.” Here he really tips his hand – this is not a book review, it’s a personal, belittling attack by him and Air-Britain on a particular author and a particular publisher. Mr. Anonymous then moronically complains about no mention in our book of the Widerøe /Norway story. In fact, there are five pages devoted to Wideroes/Norway, all this good material gathered with the help of several competent Norwegian aviation historians, including an old-time Widerøe Norseman pilot. One wonders just how much further an author must go to please the hard-nosed, implacable people at Air-Britain?
Air-Britain continues by ranting that the French Norseman conversions are not included. No? Kindly see p.291. It then bemoans the lack of a production list. Of course, much of what Air-Britain produces is straight production lists and thank goodness that that is their passion – the rest of us need all that good material. So … where is CANAV’s Norseman production list?
CANAV Books knows all about production lists. From “Day 1” with our CF-100, North Star and Sabre books, etc., there are detailed lists galore in the appendices. All the top UK periodicals over 40 years have raved about our magnificent production lists. However, Norseman Vol.2 already was at 304 pages. To add a production list and do it justice would have meant a good 40 extra pages, so made publication tougher to finance. Nonetheless, had a superb Norseman production list not already existed, CANAV certainly would have gone beyond the limit and included one. Anyone knowing CANAV understands that. However, our “reviewer” is so clueless as to be unaware that thevery bestNorseman production listimaginable already was available in 2014 at noorduynnorseman.com(today’s norsemanhistory.com). Had this doltish fellow simply read the Preface of our book, he would have seen this explained. Right there on Page 8, I praise this world-class production list and urge all to go there for what further they may require about individual Norsemans. (This makes me wonder … did Air-Britain actually ever have a copy of our book in its hands? It appears not.)
With such a beautiful, professional resource as norsemanhistory.com at one’s finger tips, CANAV was saved the huge extra cost of creating a Norseman production list and the months/years of work and cost required. Of course, there is no way that our “reviewer” might grasp any of this. But the Air-Britain staff and board surely understand such things, so why did they become partners in this nasty business?
To put the icing on his cake, look how this travesty of a book review ends: “The author seems to have little interest in the history of the aircraft and concentrates on the soft and easy focus on personal anecdotes and experiences and some pretty pictures.” So ends what likely is the most damning and utterly moronic so-called review in aviation book publishing history. Shame on this nasty dimwit and on Air-Britain, which is hugely diminished in the eyes of decent, intelligent, objective readers, historians and others who love good books.
By permitting such garbage to stink up the pages of their normally superb journal, the Air-Britain staff and board have done their organization a wretched disservice. Sadly, in pushing their role as an anti-CANAV outlier, they effectively managed to blacklist our Norseman books in the eyes of Air-Britain readers. They also turned booksellers against CANAV. Are they proud of this? This simply smells too much of being a planned conspiracy between Air-Britain and its “reviewer” to torpedo CANAV Books, certainly to keep our books out of UK bookstores, at which – sadly to say — they succeeded. What a poor show altogether.
Stay tuned, good readers, for our next installment. Who knows, perhaps by then we’ll have Air-Britain’s explanation, maybe even an apology.
Three More Reviews for Air-Britain’s Edification
In this CANAV Blog 7-part series, we have referred to dozens of world-class book reviews. Only one is in the Air-Britain category. This year I have been unearthing even more reviews, several that I hadn’t noticed until 2020-21. These keep arising, as I go through sets of old journals which I’m clearing out. Here are three of these items, beginning with a lead review of Typhoon and Tempest: The Canadian Story in “Aviation News” from February 1993 (CANAV earned many a lead book review in the UK aviation press). Then, here’s one from “FlyPast” of December 1995 covering our spectacular title, Canadair: The First 50 Years. The reviewer’s final sentence tells the story, right! This reviewer actually read the book!
Finally, “Plein Vol” reviewed Aviation in Canada: Evolution of an Air Force in its October 2010 edition. This reviewer also read the book. I like his comment near the end, which reads in English: “Let’s hope that the Aviation in Canada saga continues for a long time to come. It represents an incredible mine of information that should be the reference for anyone interested … in aviation in Canada since Day 1, especially our young people.” This was an all-round reviewer, looking for a good book. Having found one, he lets loose, but in the opposite vein to Air-Britain.
CCF Curtiss Helldiver Update
In November 2019 I wrote about Curtiss SB2C Helldiver production at Canadian Car and Foundry at Fort William, Ontario during WWII. CCF delivered 835 Helldivers to the US Navy, while Fairchild at Longueuil, Quebec, built a further 300. You can find our detailed article by entering Canadian Car and Foundry and the Curtiss SBW Helldiver in the blog search box. If you haven’t yet read this item, you’ll get a lot out of it.
In its Vol.31, No.3, Fall 1986, the American Aviation Historical Society Journal ran a detailed history of US Navy VB-7 Helldiver squadron in action with Task Force 38 in the Pacific Theatre. Many VB-7 Helldivers were Canadian-built. During a big operation against Hong Kong on January 16, 1945, TB-38 lost 22 aircraft, including CCF SB2C 21377 of VB-7 based on the carrier USS Hancock. Lost in this same action was CCF-built 21406 of VB-20 off the USS Lexington. Here are photos from the AAHS article: two air-to-air scenes of VB-7 Helldivers, then, combat photos of VB-7 striking the Japanese heavy cruiser Nachi, and Hong Kong’s Talkoo shipyards.
This Week’s Topics … Canadair Sabre for museum in India + Long Lost Book Review + Why Do the Greens Disgrace Themselves Like This + 747 Retrospective + More Great Lakes History + The Airborne Classroom + 1963 Spotters’ Road Trip + Canadair Sabre & CAE Reader’s Comments + Smashing Review Surfaces for Our 1986 Book, The Canadair Sabre
Our blog follower, Jagan, submits this news about Canadair Sabre 1606 ex-Luftwaffe, ex-Pakistan AF, ex-Bangladesh AF. See pages 325-326 in The Canadair Sabre, including a photo of 1606 in poor condition in a scrap yard. Enjoy this link for the latest news — 1606 now will be well cared for by the IAF Museum.
It’s always good fun going back through copies of ancient aviation journals on a quiet day. Over the decades, one of the very best of these was Alan Hall’s “Aviation News”. Fans in the UK and around the world waited eagerly for each fresh edition to hit the news stands, or, to arrive in the mail.
In those exclusive years of super-quality aviation periodicals, we aviation book publishers were certain to send review copies of our new titles to each. Rarely would any decent quality book miss being reviewed by the top magazines, and there always was the hope of winning a lead review, or, “Book of the Month”. CANAV has had a good share of the best that the book editors had to offer from Canada to the USA, UK, across Europe and down to Australia/New Zealand.
In flipping through “Aviation News” back issues today, I was astounded to come across a review in a September — October 1986 edition of The Canadair Sabre that I missed all those decades ago. Our book certainly excited “Aviation News” from top man, Alan Hall, to his deputy, Lindsay Peacock, to the rest of the staff, which included in those days such other UK “Kings of Aviation History” as Arthur Pearcy and Brian Sturtivant. I don’t know who was in charge of the book pages, but he certainly was smitten by our book. I’ve seen many a wonderful review of our efforts since 1979, but few have exceeded the praise doled out here by “Aviation News”. How the review finishes in itself is enough to explode a publishers head! “Rarely does one find such a complete exposition of a popular aircraft. We feel that Larry Milberry has set standards that will be hard to follow.”
The Canadair Sabre … order your copy today at the best offer yet! Usually $40.00 + shipping, with this offer you can own your personal copy (signed by the author) at $35.00 all-in for Canadian orders, or CDN$45.00 all-in USA or International (surface mail). Send payment by PayPal straight to CANAV at larry@canavbooks.com
PS … “Aviation News” today is one of the superb periodicals from Key Publishing. As Britain’s longest established monthly aviation journal, it’s renowned for providing the best coverage of every branch of aviation. Each issue gives you the latest info and in-depth features. Check out the details at the publisher’s website. You’ll be glad that you subscribed!
From the World Aviation News Front Page, March 5, 2021
What goes on with some of the extremist groups? How does moronic urban terrorism advance their ideological causes? Google this item and see what you think: Greenpeace Vandalizes Air France Boeing 777 in Paris ..
747 Retrospective
One of the great triumphs in aviation history since Day 1 goes by the simple name “Boeing 747”. You can learn all the basics starting with the Wiki 747 entry, then there’s a host of excellent books to read. Also, a real “must see” is Sam Chui’s nostalgic YouTube video – “The Last British Airways B747 Flight – An Emotional Farewell”. Sam has done a bang-up job covering the recent retirement of the 747 from British Airways. You can find this item by googling it by its title.
The 747 is such a magnificent story. In digging through old files lately, I came across some ancient Boeing PR photos and press releases. Inspired by Sam’s video and what I started unearthing around CANAV Books HQ, I decided to share a bit more about the 747, not that the interweb isn’t already bulging with material (I just know that you whiners out there know perfectly well where to find your favourite 747 content if this selection isn’t your cup of tea — yes there are whiners for any topic I can dream up). Mainly, you regular folks will be enjoying a few old 747 Kodachromes that Wilf White and I took in decades gone by, plus a few other pix that are credited:
To start spreading the word about its idea for a huge passenger jetliner, in the mid-1960s Boeing began sending the press 8×10 “glossies” showing scale models of the 707 vs These gave a rough idea of the size of the proposed 747, which eventually was dubbed “Jumbo Jet”. Check out the simple description accompanying the photo. True to form, the press was skeptical. “Time Magazine”, for example, declared that the 747 was guaranteed to be a dud. (Boeing Photo)Air Canada was quick to place its order for the 747. The type first appears in the company’s 1968 budget as a proposal to purchase three. President G.R. McGregor simply explained how Air Canada would be sidelined in the industry, if it didn’t join the global 747 “club”. The price per airplane was $23 million. The company’s first 747-100 series — CF-TOA — was delivered to Dorval on February 11, 1971. Taking the official photos was the great Ed Bermingham. With his office at Dorval Airport, Ed had two main clients – Air Canada and CAE Inc. Talk about a dream job for a fellow who had begun as a kid tinkering with old cameras! If you have our book Aviation in Canada: The CAE Story, you’ll be familiar with Ed’s magnificent photography. Here, “TOA” arrives, then taxis in. What a red letter day in the history of Air Canada and “YUL” Dorval. “TOA” would enjoy a long career before being sold to Guinness Peat Aviation in 1984. Thenceforth, it served carriers from National Airlines as N749R to People Express, Middle East Airlines and Flying Tiger Line. In 1988 it became N890FT owned by First Security Bank of Utah (banks and insurance companies often own the airliners we assume the operators must own). In 1992 “TOA” became N620FE with Federal Express. It finally went for parting out and scrapping at Marana, Arizona in 1995.Ed Bermingham also photographed Air Canada’s second 747-100, CF-TOB, on its delivery to YUL on March 18, 1971.CF-TOB served into 1985, then had a long afterlife with operators from Iberia of Spain to Middle East Airlines of Lebanon, and Canada’s iconic Wardair (1986-1990). It ended c.1995 with Air Atlanta Icelandic, then went to Marana, where it was scrapped in 2003. I caught “TOB” landing at YYZ on October 1, 1972.This Air Canada B.747-200 was to have been CF- TOF, but instead was delivered in 1975 as C-GAGA. It was sold in 1988 to Canada Lease Financing, then leased back by Air Canada. I shot “AGA” on 35mm b/w film at YYZ on May 16, 1975. Notice the Lancaster beyond. That’s G-BCOH (ex-RCAF KB976) on its ferry trip from Edmonton to the UK for the Strathallan Aircraft Collection. A few of us got on the ramp for this festive event, but I’m glad I also grabbed this shot of “AGA” for the record (as we used to say). My vantage point was the rooftop parking lot in YYZ’s famous (and long gone) Aeroquay/Terminal One.Over the decades “AGA” served other airlines on and off (e.g., Garuda of Indonesia). It finally left Air Canada in 1999 for Marana. It was bought for spares in 2003 by the great Detroit cargo carrier, Kalitta Air. The leftovers became scrap in 2013. Here’s “AGA” landing at YYZ on July 31, 1993.Air Canada’s B.747-400 “combi” C-GAGL leaps into the blue at YYZ on May 27, 1997. Delivered in June 1991, “AGL” had been financed by Air Canada, but was sold in 1993 to GE Capital Corp., then leased back. It served into late 2004, then went to Guggenheim Aviation Partners. In 2006 it was flying for Air China, had subsequent operators, and most recently was ER-BBC with the Moldavian cargo line, Aerotranscargo. On a recent trip, on January 23, 2021 it operated from Nur-Sultan in Kazakhstan to Budapest, Hungary. While most straight 747-400s have little use in today’s market, any “combi” (convertible from passenger to cargo) is greatly sought after, especially in Covid 19 times, when billions of doses of vaccines are being transported globally.Delivered in November 1973, CPAir’s B.747-200 C-FCRA “Empress of Italy” is seen at Vancouver in September 1986. This was about when “CRA” was sold to Pakistan International Airlines, becoming AP-BCL. It served PIA to about 2000, then flew under Sierre Leone registration — 9L-LOR. It finally was N899TH in Thailand, where it was seen derelict in 2007 (since scrapped). In its final years, “CRA” clearly was with some sleazy operators. Who knows was illicit cargos were flown, but all those secrets vanished in the scrapyard. (A good book covering this topic is Matt Potter’s Outlaws Inc:Flying with the World’s Most Dangerous Smugglers.)From my first book, Aviation in Canada (1979) comes one of my favourite pictures. Shown is the handover at Boeing of Wardair’s first 747, CF-DJC, on April 23, 1973. Boeing and Max Ward went all out for this glorious event, having Max’s pioneer plane (a De Havilland Fox Moth), his first 707 and his first 727 all part of the celebration. What a gorgeous set-up shot. I wouldn’t be surprised if the great Gordon S. Williams was behind the lens for this shot. Gordon had begun shooting airplanes on the West Coast since he was a boy, then spent his working decades as a Boeing photographer. (Boeing Photo P48939)Maintenance and overhaul were the other side of the 747 business. Here is “DJC” as I saw it on July 12, 1973. Wardair in Toronto must have been promised good weather this day, for some serious work was under way. In 2021 retired Wardair head of maintenance, Dan McNiven, recalled that, if this was an engine change, it would have taken a crew of five about 5½ hours, engine run-up included. Air Canada would have taken more like three days to do the same job in the luxury of a hangar (which Wardair didn’t have at YYZ in 1973).Wilf White photographed “DJC” in the UK in August 1985. “DJC” was named “Phil Garrett” in honour of one of Canada’s revered WWI and pioneer bush fliers. It later flew in Canadian Airlines International, Nationair, Garuda, Saudia and Air Atlanta Icelandic colours. Sadly but inevitably it was broken up at Manston in the UK in 1999.B.747-200 C-FXRA of Wardair about to land at YYZ in June 1983. Dubbed “Herbert Hollick Kenyon” after another pioneer bush and Arctic pilot, “XRA” was delivered from Boeing in June 1978. In 1986 it was sold to British Caledonia Airways, where it flew as G-GLYN. Other adventures ensued, the last in 2000 when it was with Philippine Airlines as RP-C8850. It made its final landing soon afterwards at Marana to be scrapped.While waiting for a flight at Mirabel on July 29, 1994, I spotted 747-200 C-FXCE on the ramp in the colours of Fortunair, one of Canada’s many short-lived charter carriers. But “XCE” was by no means a short-lived 747! Originally 9V-SQF with Singapore Airlines in 1977, it returned to Boeing in 1984. Refurbished, it moved on to PanAm as N724PA “Clipper Fairwind”, then to Potomac Capital Investment Corp. in 1991. Various operators ensued, from United Air Lines to Tower Air, then Fortunair in June This company didn’t last, so “XCE” went into storage at Marana. Various adventures ensued, as in 2004, when it was 3D- NEF in Swaziland; then in 2007 as Libyan XT-DMK. As “DMK” it ended in storage at Sana, Yemen. A typical story for many a veteran 747 – from glory days to the bottom of the barrel.BOACs 10th 747-100 series G-AWNJ was delivered in March 1972. It first was named “John Donne”, then “City of Sheffield”, lastly, “Bassenthwaite Lake”. “NJ” was sold in 1998 and sent to storage that December to Roswell, New Mexico. On December 6, 1997, it had taken off at 1446 hours at Heathrow for New York JFK carrying 18 crew and 323 passengers. Suddenly, a Canada Goose was ingested by No.2 engine. All standard procedures were carried out by the book and “NJ” landed safely at Part of the final report for this reads: “Whilst in the holding pattern, which was flown at 260 KIAS in the clean configuration, there was noticeable airframe vibration. The vibration level increased as speed was reduced and flap progressively extended and was most marked at 205 KIAS with flaps 5. However, the level of vibration did not affect the operation of the aircraft …” There would have been great anxiety in the passenger cabin, but all’s well that ends well. Post-landing inspection revealed the following re. No.2 engine: “Initial examination by the AAIB, after the aircraft had returned to a stand, showed that the left inner (No 2) engine had suffered severe damage to the fan; two adjacent fan blades had lost substantial portions of their outer length and all the blades had some hard object damage. It was also observed that the complete intake assembly, fan cowls, jet pipe and exhaust cone had separated from the powerplant assembly; these components, together with fragments of fan blade and some feathered bird remains were retrieved from the western end of Runway 27R.” For the full report, google “Boeing 747-136, G-AWNJ, 6 December 1997”. I photographed “NJ” at Toronto in all its BOAC impressiveness on June 30, 1972.July 11, 1971 at Toronto. “Jumbo Jets” still were new, so we spotters barely could contain ourselves when OO-SBA drifted by so low and seemingly so slow. “SGA” was SABENA’s first 747-100. Delivered in November 1970 it still would have had “that new car smell” to its cabin. “SGA” served SABEBA into 1993, then was scrapped at Brussels.The mainline airlines all jumped in to order the 747 once its true potential and magnificence became clear. Over the decades Alitalia would operate 21, all in the 100 and 200 series. I- DEME was the second to join the fleet. Delivered in July 1970, it returned to Boeing in 1981, after which it had a long list of owners/operators starting with SAS in 1982, finishing as N17011 with Continental Airlines into the early 1990s. It finally ended at Marana in 1995 to be scrapped. I caught “EME” landing at Toronto on July 6, 1973.Seeing this Air France B.747-200 landing at Toronto on September 4, 1983 was a nice surprise for all the spotters that afternoon. The diehards, however, were extra interested when they caught the registration – N1252E. What? Yes, a US registration, and the same one with which the plane had been delivered to Air France five years earlier. It turns out that all along N1252E was owned by the Connecticut First National Bank and on lease to Air France. In 1985 it finally became F-BPVU, then served into 2002. It finally went for scrap at Chateauroux, France.Delivered in May 1971, El Al’s first 747-200 4X-AXA was shot by Wilf White at Heathrow on August 10, 1980. “AXA” served into 1999, then was used at Tel Aviv as an anti-terrorist training facility. It finally was scrapped in 2019. Quite the career, half a century of usefulness. Then, El Al’s 4X-AXQ departing YYZ as I saw it on September 3, 1989. “AXQ” joined the El Al fleet in May 1988 after 14 years at QANTAS as VH-EBG. It served El Al into 2005, then was scrapped two years later.Wilf photographed British Airways 747-200 G-BDXJ in August 1985. Delivered to BA in May 1980, it was named “City of Birmingham”, then served into 2001. Thenceforth, it flew with charter operators until retired in 2005. Its final flight was from Gatwick to Dunsfold (about 13 miles in a straight line), where it began a new career as a movie prop (“Casino Royale”, etc.). It survives to this day.Iraqi 747-200 YI-AGN at Heathrow on August 10, Knowing Wilf, this day he might have been capitalizing on some free time to shoot airliners, while awaiting his flight to kick off one of his famous summer tours to Canada (his first crossing had been in a DC-4). He usually would fly in to New York or Toronto, then bus and train it cross-country at his own pace to spend a few days with his brother at Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island. “AGN” had joined Iraqi in June 1976. It was seized by the Iranian government in 1991, becoming Iranian military 5-8106. In August 2020 it was badly damaged when it jumped its chocks at Tehran following a 6-year rebuild. Heads sure must have rolled following this botch-up. There’s a beautiful 1/500 th “Flight Miniatures” diecast model of “AGN”.Another of Wilf’s shots that day at Heathrow – Northwest’s N601US. Delivered in April 1970, it remained with Northwest into 1986, then went to Maxton, North Carolina for storage. Eventually, it was scrapped, but its nose/cockpit were saved and now are on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington. (NASM Photo)Singapore Airlines 747 9V-SQO departs Heathrow on August 10, 1988. These all are actual photographs, taken by Wilf many years ago with a clunky old camera on which he needed to set f-stops and shutter speeds, remember his film ASA, focus manually, shoot with no more than 500/sec shutter speed, advance the film manually — all such prehistoric stuff. I say bravo Wilf and thanks for saving all such fantastic aviation history.
The grand 747 is gradually fading, but 30 – 40 years from now there still will be 747s at work. I suppose it’s a natural sign of “progress”, but the 747-800 (now on the line at Boeing) itself is edging towards the end. This is some news from Boeing and Atlas Air as of January 12 this year: “Boeing and Atlas Air Worldwide today announced an agreement to purchase four 747-8 Freighters… The 747-8F is the best and most versatile widebody freighter in the market, and we are excited to bolster our fleet with the acquisition of these four aircraft … This significant growth opportunity will enable us to capitalize on strong demand and deliver value for our existing and prospective customers… With a maximum payload capacity of 137.7 metric tonnes (137,750 kg), the 747-8 Freighter allows customers to access 20% more payload capacity while using 16% less fuel compared to previous-generation 747s. The jet also features 30% quieter engines. The 747-8 airplanes in this agreement will be the final four aircraft to roll off the production line in Everett, Washington… Atlas Air has 53 747s in its current fleet, making it the largest 747 operator in the world… The 747 program has produced 1,560 aircraft since launching the jumbo jet more than 50 years ago.”
CANAV Books has so many top-level readers and we’re steadily in touch. According to the CANAV grapevine, our 747 pilot friends have one thing in common – they love their 747. Recently, one pilot, who’s flying the mighty “8”, wrote to us: “I must admit, between the – 400 and the -8, I prefer the -8. It really is a wonderful machine. You’re correct, the 747 is an absolute wonderful flying machine. Having flown the classic -100 and -200, and now the -400 and -8, I greatly admire the design team and their philosophy. One NASA test said that the basic 747 airframe is an aerodynamic masterpiece. Good description for sure! Sadly, the production line is shutting down in 2022, but with all this Covid around the world, we’re extremely busy. We’re hiring pilots and adding aircraft. Out of Hong Kong we’re always pushing back at 990,000 lb with the -8. She’s remarkable and really efficient with those GE engines. The flying is straightforward, the ol’ 7-4 is fantastic!”
One of the last 747-8s on the line recently at Boeing in Seattle. (Boeing Photo K63934)
More Great Lakes History
I wasn’t surprised to hear that many CANAV fans share an interest in shipping, so here are a few more random photos from my Great Lakes collection. First, a few scenes from Kingston, an important centre at the east end of Lake Ontario. Kingston started in shipping in the 1600s — the days of Count Frontenac of New France. For centuries it was noted for shipbuilding. Those days are long gone, but the history of it all is very much alive and to be revelled in by anyone with half a clue. When in Kingston, enjoy its historic waterfront and visit the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes.
A general view of Kingston that I shot in August You’re looking upstream (west) towards the city with Royal Military College in the foreground. Downstream, the lake empties pretty well immediately into the mighty St. Lawrence River, which arises just out of the picture on the left.Just off Kingston is famed Wolfe Island, where about 1400 people reside. Traditionally, they’ve travelled to and from Kingston by ferryboat, the Wolfe Islander being well known in this trade. In winter the local waters usually ice-up, so the ferry needed help getting through the channel. Here’s the Wolfe Islander in a distant shot from February 15, 1975 under tow by the tug Salvage Monarch. They’re approaching the dock at the foot of Brock St. Then, a couple of closer views. The Wolfe Islander was built in Collingwood in 1946. It was 144’3”x 43’1” with an 8-foot draft. It originally had been built as the Ottawa Maybrook as a gift to China, but when Mao took over there in 1949, it was acquired by the Ontario government and converted from a coastal freighter to a side- loading ferry. It served Wolfe Island until replaced in 1976. Today the Wolfe Islander is a divers’ delight lying 80 feet on the bottom of the St. Lawrence River, sunk there on September 21, 1985, having been forsaken by the local marine museum. As to the Salvage Monarch, it was built in Appledore, UK in 1959 and at this time was owned by McAllister-Pyke Salvage. According to the List of Shipping for 1968, it is 91’3”x26’1” with a draft of 11’4”. Gross tonnage 219. In 2021 Salvage Monarch was listed to Heritage Harbour Marine Co. of Goderich, but was residing in Toronto.This summertime view (June 26, 1973) gives a better idea of the Wolfe Islander’s lines. Built by Russel Brothers Ltd. in Owen Sound in 1949, the 86’4” passenger and car ferry Upper Canada originally was the Romeo and Annette serving the coast of northern New Brunswick and Gaspé. In 1965 it was sold to the Ontario government to bolster the Wolfe Island service. In the 1970s it left Kingston to serve Pelee Island in Lake Erie. In the 1990s it was on the Christian Island run in Georgian Bay, so what a useful little ferry for more than half a century. Finally, Upper Canada was sold to an individual, but its registration was not renewed after 2008. About this time it mysteriously turned up run ashore on the Black River in Lorain, Ohio. Nothing is known about this and the ship lies there year by year. russelbrothers.ca (well worth a look) explains: “City officials are unsure how or why a Canadian registered boat ran aground in Lorain, and with no way to contact the owner, there seems little that can be done at this point. Even the Coast Guard has no record of how or why it came to rest on the Black River. The Coast Guard inspected the ship to make sure that it did not pose an environmental hazard by leaking pollution. But beyond that, it doesn’t fall under their responsibility. In order to salvage the boat or remove it, someone would need to have a claim against the vessel to try and get a title for it, he said. Somebody would need a monetary claim to do anything with it.” I photographed the Upper Canada in Kingston on June 26, 1973.Dedicated Great Lakes historian and photographer, Bill Kloss, photographed the Upper Canada derelict in the Black River near Lorain, Ohio in May 2020. Bit of a sad scene, no, but maybe someone still might save this historic ferry.The Pike’s Salvage dock on the Kingston waterfront on July 31, 1975 showing the work vessel Mapleheath and tug Daniel McAllister, both of McAllister-Pyke Salvage. Mapleheath was built in 1910 at Newcastle-on-Tyne and christened Toiler. It was 255’4”x42’5”x17’3” with a gross registered tonnage (grt) as per records in 1968 of 1693. Its owners over the decades included Canada Steamship Lines 1918-1959. The Toronto Marine Historical Society newsletter, “The Scanner”, notes of the Mapleheath in its October 1981 issue: “On November 29, 1959, Mapleheath was purchased by the McAllister Towing Company Ltd., Montreal, (now known as McAllister Towing and Salvage Ltd.), and was reduced to a crane-equipped salvage barge and lighter. Her after end remained much as it had been, complete with funnel, but the forward cabins were cut away. A large crane was placed on deck for the lifting of cargo from stranded ships. Painted up in the same colours as McAllister’s Montreal harbour and wrecking tugs, complete with the bright yellow stripe around her hull, Mapleheath remains active in the McAllister fleet to this day, and she is frequently called upon to assist vessels in distress in the lower lakes area or on the St. Lawrence River. It is anticipated that there will be a need for her as a wrecker for many years to come and, provided that she is kept in reasonable condition, there seems to be no reason why Mapleheath should not still be active well into the future.” What became of the Mapleheath? The 268-ton tug Daniel McAllister was built in Collingwood in 1907 for Canada’s Department of Public Works. Originally, it was the Helen M.B. Thanks to the Musée maritime du Québec, in 1998 it’s now the largest preserved tug in Canada and the second-oldest preserved ocean-going tug in the world. It’s to be found in Montreal on the Lachine Canal at the foot of McGill St.On a fine day in July 1951, Great Lakes historian J.H. Bascom caught Mapleheath inbound at Toronto Bay’s Eastern Gap with a deck load of automobiles.Other salvage vessels in Kingston, this scene dating to November 1975.These Hall Corp. Great Lakes canallers were in storage in Kingston when I photographed them on June 27, 1974. At around 250’ long and 1900 to 2500 grt, the canaller was the mainstay of the lakes in the decades of the small Lachine locks. With the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959, canallers gradually were squeezed out of the Great Lakes market. What about this quartet? They were awaiting disposal but, happily, would escape the scrapman and serve at least a few more years. Built in 1958 in Scotland, Westcliffe Hall soon was re-registered as Westcliffe to the Cayman Shipping Corp. (Cayman Islands). In 1982 its ownership changed to Durmar II, Ltd. in Panama. Reportedly, it went for scrap in 1986. Sister ship Eaglecliffe Hall went to Cayman Shipping as Eaglescliffe. While inbound for Galveston on February 8, 1983 and flying the Panamanian flag, its hull split. It went to the bottom next day. Coniscliffe Hall was built in Lauzon, Quebec in 1957. It’s listed as sold in 1973 and converted to a drill rig at Port Weller, Ontario. Re-christened Telesis, it was registered to Underwater Gas Developers. Telesis went to work drilling for gas in Lake Erie. In 1998 it became the Louis J. Goulet of Pembina Exploration Ltd. It continued in Lake Erie until sold in 2000, then was towed to the Bahamas. In October 2005 it was blasted by “Hurricane Wilma” and ended wrecked on a reef. The “Niagara Falls Review” later reported, “From there, the elements took over and the aging hull gradually succumbed to the ravages of rust and wear near South Man-O-War channel. The superstructure was later cut down to the waterline, and all that remains of the former lakes trader rests in shallow water at the site.” How could anyone not love Great Lakes history, right! Northcliffe Hall was built in Montreal, but began as the Frankcliffe in It was rebuilt in Montreal in 1959 going from 2197 grt to 2454 grt. In 1975 it left Kingston for the British West Indies, then returned to Canada in 1978 as the Roland Desgagnes. On May 27, 1982 it ran aground on the St. Lawrence Côte-Nord near Pointe au Pic, then sank while being freed.Fellow airplane spotter and camping companion, Nick Wolochatiuk, and I always were on the go as young fellows. For one thing we often were canoeing on the Nottawasaga and other rivers in the Georgian Bay watershed. Along the way we visited many communities in the region, Collingwood included. In those times the great Collingwood shipyards still were busy. Today? They’re a distant memory. Here are two old Kodachromes from days of yore showing one vessel getting started (shot on July 1, 1965), then another nearing completion (August 20, 1974). Does anyone know by the dates which ships these are? Feel free to let me know at larry@canavbooks.comFerndale was built in Ashtabula, Ohio in 1912 and measured 505’x56’ with a 30’ draft and 6356 grt. It originally had been the Louis R. Davidson. In 1963 it became the Ferndale registered in Bermuda to Leadale Shipping of Montreal. In 1975 Ferndale was condemned. While awaiting its fate at Port Colborne, it was set afire by vandals. The forward crew quarters were burned out. Ferndale was sold for scrap in 1979. Towed in tandem with sistership Avondale by the Polish tug Jantar, it left Quebec City on July 6, 1979 for scrapping in Castellon, Spain, where it arrived on August 3. Such voyages must have been harrowing when the weather turned. I took this photo in Toronto’s eastern ship channel on November 7, 1974 as Ferndale was discharging salt. These were the days when we could roam around the port and photograph at will. The good old days for sure!Avondale discharging salt along Toronto’s eastern ship channel on December 7, 1970. Avondale began in 1908 as the Adam E. Cornelius. Built in St. Clair, Michigan, it was 420’x50’ with a draft of 24’ and grt of 4900. Rebuilt in 1921, its new specs were 475.6’x52’x28.3’ and 5663 grt. As noted above, its fate was the scrapyard. Note the mountains of coal beyond. These were the dying days of open coal storage in Toronto harbour, but salt remains a bulk commodity carried by lakers. It’s mainly used to keep roads safe in winter.On December 14, 1972 I caught Avondale at sunset in Toronto Bay, heading for its winter berth. There it sat until spring break-up, when the Seaway re-opened and bulk cargo started moving again.One of the older lake boats that we still saw around Toronto was the Pointe Noire. Here it is on April 5, 1970 about to enter the Western Gap leading to Lake Ontario. You can see that Pointe-Noire was empty this day and that it still was a coal burner (it was converted to oil in 1971). Pointe Noire was built in 1926 in Lorain, Ohio in 1926 as the Samuel Mather 3. For its day it was a giant at 600’x60’x32’. In 1965 it was sold to Labrador Steamships Ltd. of Montreal, registered in Bermuda and re-named. It joined Upper Lakes Shipping in 1968. It was laid up at the end of the 1980 season and scrapped at Port Maitland near the mouth of the Grand River on Lake Erie two years later.CSL’s Hochelaga waiting in the Welland Canal on May 20, 1967. It came out of Collingwood in 1949 with dimensions of 623’2”x67’2”x33’6” and grt 12,616. It was the first new laker launched on the lakes post WWII. In 1964 it was converted at Port Arthur into a self-unloader and oil burner. Hochelaga last sailed in 1981, then was stored at Kingston and Toronto. In 1983 it was towed to the breakers in Cartagena, Colombia.Built in Collingwood in 1964 for Canadian General Electric Co., then leased to Canada Steamship Lines, Tarantau was 712’ with a beam of 75’2” and draft of 39’4”. Gross tonnage was 19,494. It later was owned by Power Corporation of Canada and leased to CSL. Tarantau was laid up at Toronto in December 1996, then scrapped at Port Colborne on Lake Erie in 1999. I photographed Tarantau while it was discharging coal at Toronto’s Hearn generation station on May 28, 1970.
The Airborne Classroom
From the beginning of our teaching careers c.1960, we young Toronto aviation fans had a real opportunity to pair our interests. Over the early years (before regulations rendered such teaching opportunities verboten), we could take our pupils on airport visits and even have airborne field trips. Over the years, our pupils had some exceptional learning experiences. We took our classes as far afield in the early 70s as the First Nations reservations at Ogoki Post in Northern Ontario, and Northwest River, Labrador. Visits to Toronto Island Airport were easy and, another time, I took a week-long Gr.8 history and geography field trip through the Kawarthas that included flights from Peterborough to see the great local drumlin fields and eskers. We got our keen young students up in such planes as the Ce.172, Beaver, Otter, DC-3 and 737. We were considered radicals, and there even was some negative gossip in the schools, mainly of the “How dare they” nature.
One of our more exotic trips sprang from the geomorphology that a few of us were teaching to our Gr.7 and 8 classes. This was based on a course that some of us had taken at the University of Toronto covering the geomorphology of southern Ontario. This covered the horseshoe-shaped area from Niagara Falls, around to a bit north of Hamilton, eastward towards Lake Simcoe and into the Kawarthas centring on Peterborough. Naturally, we also taught about the many human activities and features along the route. This field trip traditionally was done by bus, but in 1969 I dreamed up a plan to teach it in the classroom, then finish with an aerial review. This was agreed to by my principal and the parents all were happy. Each pupil had to come up with about $15.00. I talked it over with Carl Millard, who agreed to give us a DC-3 for two hours for $300 (the good old days, right).
Having briefed the class thoroughly about what to expect and what to see, we bussed out to Malton Airport on May 23, 1969. Everything was set, except that our DC-3 CF-WCO “The Voyageur” was short one seat. I forget how we got around that, but Carl figured things out and soon we were airborne on a sunny but too-steamy morning.
I handed our captain a map with the route roughly shown. This took us south from Toronto airport to spot the Lakeview generating station, on to Hamilton Bay to see the steel mills and Burlington Skyway, Niagara to see the Welland Canal, orchards/vineyards, Niagara Falls, etc., then out pilots swung around to give good views of the Niagara Escarpment and Credit River up towards “The Forks”. Next, we turned eastward to see the Holland Marsh, Barrie and Lake Simcoe. We skirted the Peterborough area to see the Trent Canal, then the great drumlins of Lake Scugog, and finally headed down along the Lake Ontario shore to take in the Scarborough Bluffs, Toronto Islands, Toronto central business district and back to Malton. All went well. The kids were elated, even if there was a bit of queasiness. After all, it was a really hot day and we were flying as low as legally allowed.
All this came back to mind when I happened across this old Kodachrome that I took in the cabin of “WCO”. My great little gang seems into it and keeping things together. I’m amazed that I was able to get such a decent shot with K64 in available light. Where are all these great little citizens in 2021? Did any of you go into geography, teaching, aviation? It was about 52 years ago, so you’re all in your 60s – hard to believe. What did Carl Millard think of all this? Carl was always keen to get involved, but also was watching for any opportunity. He looked over my lesson plan for this trip, “topo” maps included. Then what? He started marketing my brainwave of a trip to high schools in the Millardair catchment basin. He told me years later that he sold several trips to high school geography departments (but not likely at $300). He put one of his young pilots on this beat to bang on geography department doors. Good ol’ Carl Millard, a real case. I’d like to see him in Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame, eccentric reputation and all.
While most of his DC-3s were work-a-day cargo planes, Carl kept CF-WCO “looking sharp” for passenger charters. Notice its panoramic windows, perfect for our class trip. Here’s “WCO” at YYZ Terminal One (the old Aeroquay, long since demolished) dropping off passengers on January 4, 1974. “WCO” had begun with the US Army in 1944, then served several US corporations as a VIP plane after the war. Carl acquired it in 1967, then made good use of it into 1979, when he sold it in Florida. From there it went to the Colombian military, then finally went for scrap in 1989.
A Spotters Road Trip
We Toronto aviation nerds always were dreaming up our next adventure, and did we have adventures! A typical road trip began on April 15, 1963 with Nick Wolochatiuk and I driving (in Nick’s VW, as usual) from Toronto to Chatham airport in southwestern Ontario. Next came Windsor, Detroit Metro and Willow Run all by day’s end. Can you imagine the craziness! On the 16th we covered Pontiac Municipal, Berz Airport, Ann Arbor and Detroit Municipal.
So far we had spotted such planes as Stitts Flut-r-Bug CF-RAK at Chatham, a Mong Sport at Windsor, a flock of C-46s and ANG RF- 84Fs at Detroit Metro, a Lockheed 049, DC-7 and PV-1 at Willow Run, an A-26, B-25 and DH Dove at Pontiac, an SNJ-2 at Berz, and two B-23s at Detroit Municipal. Nick and I were already solid aviation generalists. To us, everything about aviation was fair game. Unlike today’s scene, right, when too many tend to be really shallow about aviation. You’ll see these types around shooting nothing but airliners, or F-16s, or whatever. There’s no chance of a real aviation conversation with them. They’ve cut themselves off the great wide world of aviation to be so-called “specialists”.
On the 17th we hit up Toledo Express Airport, where the Michigan ANG 112 th TFS welcomed us to shoot their spiffy-looking F-84F Thunderstreaks, even though they were in the midst of a hot exercise. We then visited Cleveland Municipal where we found such goodies as a B-25, several DC-3s and UAL Caravelles, and spotted (in the distance) an AJ Savage. That brought us to our final stop on the of the day and the best of it all for this outing – Port Clinton, Ohio.
Somewhere we had heard or read about two Ford Trimotors based at Port Clinton and that they were work-a-day planes. When we pulled into this basic little airstrip on April 17, 1963, our info proved to be correct and then some. Sure enough, there sat Trimotors N7584 and N7684, plus Boeing 247 N18E. A billboard announced this as Island Airlines, and the people were friendly. We wandered around taking our photos and getting our questions answered, then topped off our visit with a short flight in N7584 over to Put-In-Bay on one of the offshore islands. As I recall, the fare out and back was $7.50. I noted that outbound we took off at 11:55 with seven passengers (having waited a few minutes for some latecomer) and landed at 12:02. We returned at 1:19 to 1:31. Jan Shaffer was our pilot. He flew us along at 85mph at around 500 feet.
Most traffic from Port Clinton was to Put-in-Bay, chiefly the daily shuttle taking the island children to Port Clinton, where busses picked them up to take them to school. The routine was reversed later in the day. Here are some of my black-and-whites and Kodachromes from the visit. By now I had learned a bit from my airplane photography mentors, so had started taking the odd detail shot. Too bad, but I still hadn’t grown up enough to know that I should also have been photographing the people to do with the airplanes. That maturity came too slowly, but finally arrived. The engine detail was taken from the cockpit, where Nick and I took a turn in the right seat. You can see that the cabin was purely utilitarian. The landing shot turned out not too badly. Don’t forget, film advance still was manual 58 years ago. Pretty sure these were taken with my Kodak Pony rangefinder. This was a hand-me-down from Nick, who had progressed to one of the early Pentax SLRs. Finally, my souvenier Island Airlines ticket. Lesson here? Never used scotch tape on anything you might want to keep pristine. Scotch tape the record keeper’s No.1 enemy, since it eventually will discolour everything it touches, as you can see.
What became of the Island Airlines fleet that we saw in 1963? For starters, look on the web – there is a mass of info for these planes. In one case, on August 24, 1992 N7584 was badly damaged by Hurricane Andrew at Homestead AFB, Florida. Restored, it’s still out there, flying with Kermit Weeks’ museum in Florida. On August 21, 1972, N7684 crashed when an engine failed on departing Port Clinton. There were 16 aboard, but no injuries. Then, on July 1, 1977 N7684 lost two engines on takeoff at Put-in-Bay and was severely damaged in the crash that followed. It last was heard of with Yellowstone Aviation in Jackson, Wyoming in the early 2000s. Boeing 247D N18E now belongs to the UK Science Museum.
Be Sure to Have Your Copy of The Canadair Sabre
Here are a couple of lovely “new” Canadair Sabre photos. I shot 23066 at Trenton on May 28, 1960. The resolution is so good on this original old 120 negative that you can read the pilot’s name by the cockpit – S/L Villeneuve, the Golden Hawk’s revered “Team Lead”. This great Canadian died last year. I can’t quite make out the techs’ names except for LAC Savoie. This was the team’s second year. I had caught the Golden Hawks first in 1959 at the spectacular airshow in Windsor, Ontario celebrating the 50 th Anniversary of flight in Canada.
For the time being CANAV fans can order a copy of this world- famous book at a real saving. I’m standing by to sign a copy for you. Anywhere in Canada? $35.00 all-in. USA and International? CDN$45.00 all-in (pay in Canadian dollars by PayPal depositing directly to larry@canavbooks.com and save another 25% or so on the exchange). Here’s a reminder of why you need this book (or an extra copy or two to use as knock-out gifts):
How about the official reviews for The Canadair Sabre? Well, they could not have been better. The leading French journal “Air Fan” loved The Canadair Sabre, calling it: “The aviation literary event of the year.” Greece’s journal “Ptisi” added, “A real oasis for F-86 fans and anyone interested in the Golden Years of the 1950s-60s.” Air International called the book, “A mine of information … there seems scant prospect of a better history.” Even more glowing commentary came from Bob Halford’s “Canadian Aircraft Operator”, Vol.24, No.20: “With The Canadair Sabre [Milberry] continues to enhance his reputation for producing top-of-the-class books that compare more than merely favourably with any of the works of the major publishing houses. This is a remarkable achievement …” Typically, “CAO” goes on to describe the book in detail. Bob, of course, knew his stuff … the Sabre in particular. He had visited Canadair during Sabre production years, also the RCAF’s NATO bases in Sabre years during his time editing “Aircraft” magazine. Bob concluded, “The book is, indeed, all that anyone could ever want to know about the Canadair-built Sabre … it’s a people book as well as an airplane book.”
Our second Canadair Sabre photo today by Wilf White. I assume this is at Renfrew or Glasgow, two key maintenance bases for the RCAF No.1 Air Division operating then in France and Germany. 23038 is a Canadair Sabre 5 in 441 Squadron markings. This dates to 441’s Sabre 5 era 1955-56; it converted to the Sabre 6 in August 1956. The squadron had first gone overseas with Sabre 2s in 1952 first to North Luffenham, UK, then to Zweibrucken, West Germany in 1954, finally to Marville, France in 1955. I have little info about 23038 other than its RCAF dates of December 1953 to May 1960, and that 422 also had flown it. Wilf’s setting could be at Scottish Aviation Ltd. at Glasgow in or around May 1956, when 23038 was struck off charge and when it probably went to SAL for scrapping. Wilf photographed many ex-RCAF Sabres and CF-100s being cut up at SAL.
Aviation in Canada: The CAE Story
Many readers have commented about CANAV’s widely acclaimed history of the great CAE Inc. After he read his copy of The CAE Story, Meher Kapadia, who spent 25 years as an engineer at CAE, sent me these comments:
Hi Larry … My son has just brought over your book to England, so I am now well immersed in it. It really is a great, well researched book. I find it most interesting going through the early history of CAE from long before I joined the company. You have to be complimented for the effort and care that you took. We Canadians have a bad habit of not blowing our horn, when we achieve something great. I am of the opinion that CAE was the world’s best systems engineering company for many years. I think I can say that, as over the years I dealt with most of the best, large US and UK engineering companies, I never came across any as good as us. My congratulations and I hope you will make a lot of sales.
This is a gem of an aerospace history, one of the world’s finest such books in decades. A large format hardcover, it has 392 pages, hundreds of photos, a glossary, bibliography and index. It’s all there! Usually CDN$65.00 + shipping + tax, you can order a copy all-in at $CDN60.00 for Canadian orders, CDN$75.00 all-in for USA orders, and $90.00 all-in for International orders. Pay by PayPal or Interac straight to larry@canavbooks.com If any questions contact me at larry@canavbooks.com Cheers … Larry
PS … for more reader comments, use the search box, just enter CAE Story.
The Canada Council — Kenneth Whyte Keeps an Eye on this Shady Outfit
Do yourself a big favour and google SHuSH by Kenneth Whyte, former editor of “Saturday Night Magazine”. If you like a bit of intellectual stimulation, this will work out nicely for you.
In his current piece, Whyte takes on the Canada Council, which today is a purely politically correct Ottawa institution doing the PMO’s bidding. Whyte reminds us: “The Canada Council was established as a crown corporation, arms-length from government, precisely to protect it from political interference from government officials (particularly the elected variety), preserving the freedoms of the arts community. The idea was to elevate the arts above politics.” Instead, the Canada Council has become a megaphone for Government of Canada causes such as “colonialism”, “systemic racism” and “climate change”. How do these get to lead the Canada Council agenda? Do these causes not already have their own super ministries? So much for “arms length from government” at the Canada Council. It looks as if social radicals/extremists are subverting the Canada Council.
CANAV Books has waged its own little campaign against the political correctness, etc. of the Canada Council, that grand, all-powerful Ottawa institution that places the 35+ world-famous books that CANAV has published since 1981 in the category of “not real books”. You can scroll back and see my rant about this. In a nutshell, when CANAV submitted Aviation in Canada: The CAE Story for consideration for the 2016 Canada Council Canadian Business Book Awards program, we were told in so many words, “The CAE Story is not a real book. Go away and start publishing real books.” The Canada Council then proceeded to award most of its 2016 business book awards to books published by the Canadian arms of huge American publishers. When I enquired about this at the Governor General’s office and the Canada Council, I received meaningless “Dear Sir or Madame” form letters in reply. Kenneth Whyte at SHuSH is doing Canada a good service with his latest item – take a look.
With today’s short section, our on-going CANAV Books history reaches the end of our era of randomly publishing titles. The last of these was Canada’s Air Forces on Exchange. Then began our “Aviation in Canada” era, which numbers eight titles into 2021. For today we’re covering Y2K to 2007 starting with our 3-volume history of the RCAF. This had begun a few years earlier as a project to produce a single book honouring the RCAF in its 75th year. However, as usually happens, the project took on a life of its own, ending in 2000-01 as our 3-volume Canada’s Air Force at War and Peace with more than 1000 pages.
All things considered (text, illustrations and presentation) “CAFWP” is a grand Royal Canadian Air Force history that readily complements the 3-volume RCAF Overseas official history (1944-45), and the DND’s subsequent 3-volume official RCAF history published in 1980, ’86 and ’94. I regularly nag CANAV readers about building a foundational library of all such RCAF books. Some have done so, of course, but far too many (pitifully) have capitulated to the internet as the source of all they need to know about the RCAF. I hope you don’t know any of these intellectual sellouts.
In some 20 years, not a negative word has been published about “CAFWP”, other than that Vol.4 remains conspicuous by its absence. Circumstances in 2001-03 kept delaying Vol.4, mainly a lack of funds. Time inevitably passed the project by. Happily, much of the material gathered for Vol.4 (CF-5, CF-104, etc.) will appear in our forthcoming RCAF 100 th anniversary blockbuster.
Here are a few “CAFWP” comments from our always well- informed and critical reviewers. To begin, Scale Aviation Modeller International selected “CAFWP” Vol.1 as its “Book of the Month”: “Well, what can we say! This is a book that truly deserves the ‘must have’ title… one that all RCAF and Canadian aviation fans will want…” Writes Airforce: “…the most comprehensive history of Canada’s air force ever produced.” Canadian Flight called Vol.1, “The grand-daddy of all Christmas presents for air force vets … a superb work to delight all RCAF or CF veterans.” Many such reviews ensued. Re. Vol.3, for example, Air Pictorial observed: “Milberry has excelled in this volume by combining riveting personal experiences from air and ground crews with an unrivalled selection of llustrations… rarely does a book so handsomely exceed the most sanguine expectations as does this outstanding publication.”
There’s a special price now for a 3-volume set of CAFWP: Canada $75 all-in, USA CDN$90 all-in, oversea CDN$180 all-in. Payment can be send directly by PayPal or Interac to CANAV’s email address larry@canavbooks.com … or post a cheque or money order to CANAV Books, 51 Balsam Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4E3B6
Fighter Squadron 2003
For Fighter Squadron: 441Squadron from Hurricanes to Hornets (2003) we still are awaiting the first negative review. In one case the journal “Combat Aircraft” could only say in its review (regarding the difficulty of getting any book about a squadron right): “They are intrinsically difficult to write … the overriding need is to get the right balance… [Fighter Squadron] has achieved the elusive balance … Everything about this volume has the feeling of authority and authenticity.” Due to the steep cost in finishing this project, it had to be priced accordingly. As a result, Fighter Squadron joined the ranks of those books we have published that were born of red ink and are wallowing in it to this day. C’est la guerre. If one is in history and in book publishing for the long haul, be ready to take your lumps. For now you can order a copy of Fighter Squadron at a real bargain. Anywhere in Canada $30 all-in, USA CDN$45 all-in, Overseas CDN$60 all-in Payment can be send directly by PayPal or Interac to CANAV’s email address larry@canavbooks.com … or post a cheque or money order to CANAV Books, 51 Balsam Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4E3B6
The Leslie Corness and Wilf White “Propliner” Collections 2005 and 2006
Years ago CANAV Books honoured two dedicated aviation photographers: Leslie Corness of Edmonton, and Wilf White, residing in Glasgow in the very house where he lived since a lad. I had known these stellar fellows since the 1970s, when we would exchange photos and airplane “gen” of all kinds. Sadly, both fellows long since have passed on.
The Leslie Corness Propliner Collection was published in 2005, The Wilf White Propliner Collection in 2006. Each was splendidly received. The respected journal, Airways: The Global Review of Commercial Flight, was quick to react, describing “LCPC” as, “A photo album with style and intelligence … to be savoured.” Airways next wrote about “WWPC”: “Milberry’s treatment of his subject is personal and meticulous, the photo selection is … evocative, the captions knowledgeable and informative … thoroughly enjoyable.” Who put these bons mots together? None other than the beloved John Wegg, author of such world class books as Caravelle, Finnair:The Art of Flying since 1923, and General Dynamics and Their Predecessors. What an honour to be reviewed by such a “King of Aviation History”.
Then came Vol.39, No.11 of the UK’s beloved “Aircraft Illustrated” with another masterpiece of a review covering “WWPC”. Here is how UK book aficionado, Denis J. Calvert, lays the groundwork for his magazine’s review for November 2006: “A few weeks ago, a photo album arrived … which genuinely merits the title ‘Book of the Month’”. Denis concludes, “This volume, beautifully produced, offers the very highest quality … and comes confidently recommended.” Here is the full review. Also … you can orderboth of these outstanding books at: Anywhere in Canada $45 all-in, USA CDN$55 all-in, Overseas CDN$80 all-in. Payment can be send directly by PayPal or Interac to CANAV’s email address larry@canavbooks.com … or post a cheque or money order to CANAV Books, 51 Balsam Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4E3B6
Canada’s Air Forces on Exchange 2007
When we published Canada’s Air Forces on Exchange in 2007, the usual string of top reviews appeared. In one case, reviewer Robert Merrick (RCAF ret’d), himself having had a USAF exchange on RF-4s, and at this time reviewing for the prominent “COPA Flight” journal, summed up his feelings: ““Truly an enlightening book … Those pondering the ideal Christmas gift for your local Fireside Aviator need look no farther.” “CAFEx” remains one of the best ever RCAF histories that focusses upon a specific (and rare) subject. No one who opens “CAFEx” is ever disappointed, other than at not finding himself listed in the index. Quite a few such fellows have contacted me over the years, the odd one being almost distressed. The best consolation I can offer is to suggest that he write the next book about exchange postings. What else is to be said? Although “CAFEx” lost CANAV a lot of money, I can’t imagine not having published such an important RCAF history. So ends today’s episode. Next time we’ll start into “Aviation in Canada”. For now you can order a copy of Fighter Squadron at a real bargain. Anywhere in Canada $40 all-in, USA CDN$55 all-in, Overseas CDN$70 all-in Payment can be send directly by PayPal or Interac to CANAV’s email address larry@canavbooks.com … or post a cheque or money order to CANAV Books, 51 Balsam Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4E3B6
The USAF Museum in 1964
For 1964 we local Toronto spotters didn’t do as much travelling as usual. I’d have to dig into the old files for a full explanation, but I’m pretty sure it was because the likes of Fred Guthrie, John Kerr, Nick Wolochatiuk and I were busy teaching school or doing university courses. Certainly, summer courses kept us grounded well into August. That’s when Nick and I decided to squeeze in a quick road trip the week before we returned to the classroom.
On August 26 we drove the Goderich airport on a rumour that there was a Lancaster to be seen. Good move, for we found ex-RCAF Lancaster FM213 recently arrived there to become a historic display. Happily, it still was on its own wheels, so was perfect for photography (it later went atop a pylon and today is airworthy with the Canadian Warplane Heritage). We also were happy to spot such planes as Fleet Finch CF-GER, Tiger Moth CF-IFB, Pitts Special CF-REH and Aeronca C3 N13886, but all were in the Sky Harbour hangar. We then pushed off for southern Ohio. Our mission? Visit the USAF Museum at Wright Patterson Air Force Base not far from Dayton. In the afternoon of the 27th we pulled in to a camp ground not far from “Wright Pat”.
Next day we spent several happy hours at the museum. Due to a shortage of hangar space, many aircraft still had to be kept outside. Meanwhile, it was so dark inside, that photography was hopeless. By contrast, today’s museum at Wright Pat is magnificent. Even where galleries are dark, today’s digital camera technology allows for photography. It’s also well worth a visit to the museum website, where you can take wonderful virtual tours. You’ll be able to spot most of the airplanes shown here – you can make a bit of a game with that. Don’t miss this, simply google: https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Virtual-Tour/
For today on the CANAV blog, here are a few photos that I took on this trip. These are un-retouched, just basic scans from my old “2¼” b/w negatives. Unfortunately, over the decades many of these negs have suffered in their individual glassine envelopes. Most hadn’t even been looked at for more than half a century, so I was disappointed finding so many to be blotched. I’d always assumed that the “glassines” we used for negative storage were the best solution. It’s hard to say what happened. Perhaps it’s more a humidity issue than a glassine issue? Happily, however, my trusty Epson V700 pro scanner has come to the rescue – I’ve been able to get a good basic scan in most cases. Some PhotoShop pro easily could make any one of these photos really sizzle. Anyways, on the CANAV Blog it’s a case of “content over form” any day of the week. After all, this isn’t a contest, just a hobby.
Aircraft of the USAF Museum in 1964
This is a small, random selection, starting with some of the fighters sitting outside that day at the museum. Stunningly attractive was this Bell P-63E Kingcobra 43-11728. For those not familiar, the P-63 and its predecessor, the P-39 Airacobra, had their engines installed behind the cockpit. Of the 3303 P-63s manufactured, 2397 went to our wartime ally, the Soviet Union. Mainly, they contributed to Stalin’s defeat of Japanese forces in and bordering on the eastern USSR. This example was flown postwar by Bell Aircraft, whose main factory was in Buffalo, NY. Bell flew ‘728 on experimental postwar projects. It was briefly with the Honduran AF in 1948, but soon was back at Bell, where it worked into 1958, when Bell donated it to the museum. This is an excellent P-63 site: https://acesflyinghigh.wordpress.com/2019/11/20/the-bell-p-63-kingcobra-all-hail-the-king/Here’s the museum’s rare Japanese WWII Kawanishi N1K Shiden Kai fighter. Known to the allies as the “George”, this advanced fighter appeared late in WWII. It was fast, agile and well armed. Only four examples survive, three being in the US.Nick and I had never seen such a vast collection with so many aircraft types, so our USAF Museum visit was eye watering from start to finish. Here is the North American P-82B Twin Mustang – it literally was that. On his website, the great Joe Baugher notes of 44- 65168: “The plane (named ‘Betty Jo’) set a record by flying from Hawaii to New York City nonstop on Feb. 27, 1947, covering 5051 miles in 14 hrs 33 min at an average speed of 334 mph. This was the longest nonstop flight ever made by a propeller-driven fighter.” In 1950-57, ‘168 was at the Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio flying experimental ram-jet engine missions. It joined the museum in 1957.One surprise after another. The sight of a Northrop P-61C Black Widow made our trip more exciting than ever. Delivered too late for wartime operations, 43-8353 found work starting in 1947 doing thunderstorm research from Clinton County AFB, Ohio (SE of WPAFB). In 1948 it moved to Wright Field near Dayton to work in experimental radar research. From 1949 – 53 it could be seen in Urbana, Ohio as a static billboard advertising the Boy Scouts. The Scouts donated it to the museum in 1958. With its limited resources, the museum put a standard night fighter colour scheme on ‘353. Everyone wandering by this day at WPAFB was much impressed by the awesome “Black Widow”. You can see how each of these aircraft looks today by spending some time playing with the museums virtual tours.Several experimental fighters from early post-WWII days caught our eye at WPAFB. The Republic YF-84F and McDonnell XF-85 Goblin were totally exotic, having been designed as “parasite” fighters. As such, they would be appendages on SAC’s B- 36 global bomber – the epitome of “power projection” back in the day. You can see the special gear used to dock with the “mother” plane. Should enemy fighters threaten a bomber, it could launched its parasites to provide air cover, then recover and refuel them (all going well, which it never would, of course). The general idea from parasite fighters dates to WWI, then was pursued in the 1920s-30s using US Navy airships. Millions were spent on these R&D programs over the decades. In the end no practical use was found for parasite fighters. Happily, these examples have been preserved by the USAF Museum. You can find masses of info about all these individual aircraft on the web. Wiki is especially handy to get “the basics”.The late 1940s engendered many advanced fighter designs including the long-range Republic XF-91 Thunderceptor. Prototype 46-680 first flew at Edwards AFB on May 9, 1949. It’s said that ‘681 burned in a crash, so it’s a bit confusing seeing ‘681 on the tail of the survivor of the two XF-91s. Check the entry for 46-0680 and ‘681 on Joe Baugher’s 1946 list of USAF serial numbers, also the excellent Wiki entry. Of the other great concepts from these days, the Convair XF-91 evolved into the F-102, then the F-106, while the McDonnell XF-88 evolved into the F-101 Voodoo.The USAF Museum had two of its historic “X Planes” in the air park in 1964 – the Douglas X-3 Stiletto and the Northrop X-5. The sole X- 3, which looks like its moving at the speed of heat even though it’s sitting still, first flew at Edwards AFB on October 20, 1952. It was intended for Mach 2-Mach3 research, but was underpowered and hard-pressed to reach Mach 1. See the excellent Wiki X-3 page. The X-5 was the first aircraft having in-flight, variable-swept wings. Two X-5s were built, ‘838 being No.1 (first flight February 15, 1951). X-5 No.2 crashed fatally at Edwards AFB on October 14, 1953. No. 1 was used at WPAFB into 1958. The best books on this subject are Vols. 1 and 2 of The X-Planes by Jay Miller.Another exotic fighter in the air park in 1964 was Convair F- 106 prototype 56-0451. As the YF-106A, it first flew at Edwards AFB on December 26, 1956. It was delivered to the museum from Convair in San Diego on March 27, 1960. In 1989 it was trucked from WPAFB to the museum at Selfridge AFB. There you can see it marked as 59-0082. The USAF Museum now has F-106 58-0787, which gained accidental fame for having landed in tact one day after the pilot ejected. ‘787 later returned to service. In 1986 it retired from the 49 th FIS at Griffiss AFB, from where it found its way to the USAF Museum.The museum’s Douglas B-18A Bolo 39-0025. An offshoot of the DC-2, the B-18 was a modern bomber when delivered in 1937, but was hopelessly obsolete by 1941. However, it performed useful service with the USAAC flying coastal and anti-submarine patrols, and as a trainer and transport. It also served well in the RCAF as an early anti-submarine type on the East Coast, even sinking one U- boat. About 350 B-18s were built. Five survive in US museums. See the amazingly detailed history of this B-18 at Joe Baugher’s page for 1939 USAF serial numbers. ‘025 resides today in the museum at Lowry AFB, Colorado. Postwar, it even had been used by Castro revolutionaries to run guns from Florida.The museum’s Douglas A-20G 43-2220 still looked fine in 1964 after its first few Ohio summers and winters spent outdoors. ‘220 had never been under fire, and actually had been a high speed USAAF transport in 1945. Postwar, it served a long list of companies as an executive plane, before landing at WPAFB for handover to the museum in the early Sixties.Joe Baugher summarizes the museum’s B-24J 42-72843 in his 1942 USAF serial numbers list: “In August 1943 it was assigned to Herington Army Air Base, KS, for acceptance flight and training. On August 23, 1943 it began its flight to Egypt, via Maine, Newfoundland, Scotland, Cornwall, England, Morocco and Algeria, arriving at Deversoir Field, Egypt on September 7 th . After combat modifications, the plane was delivered to the 512th Bombardment Squadron, 376th Bombardment Group, at Benghazi, Libya. After two combat missions, the squadron moved to Enfidaville, Tunisia, from where it flew seven combat missions (on one of which it suffered damage from anti-aircraft fire). On November 11th it moved to San Pancrazio, Italy. It was there that it picked up its name, Strawberry Bitch, and Vargas Girl. From there it flew eight more combat missions, the last on being on February 2, 1944. Due to its age and obsolescence, the plane was sent back to the USA in April The year 1945 found the plane stored at Freeman Field, IL, intended for use as a museum aircraft. On May 9, 1946 it was flown to Orchard Park, IL (now known as Chicago O’Hare), and a month later to Davis- Monthan AFB, AZ for storage. On May 12, 1959 the plane was flown to the Air Force Museum at Patterson Field, OH.” Happily, the museum has seen fit not to bow to political correctness about having a “non-PC” name on a famous old bomber. It’s still displayed as “Strawberry Bitch”. Horror of horror, non! Beyond is one of the museum’s two B-36s — YB-36 42-13571. Later, the museum deemed ‘571 to be surplus and it was sold for pots and pans. We might shake our heads at this, but sometimes museums have tough decisions to make.B-29 44-27297 ”Bocks Car” is the very aircraft that dropped a “Fat Boy” atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. In 1964 it was looking a bit rough, but a glorious restoration lay ahead. Along with the bombing of Hiroshima two days earlier by the B-29 “Enola Gay”, these missions brought to war against Japan to a swift end. Although today’s history re-writers, anarchists, America-haters, etc. loath hearing such things, the alternative was many more months of fierce warfare that would have cost millions more lives. So … there’s no doubt about it to anyone who has a clue about the actual history of WWII — these two bombers are American heritage treasures par excellence. ‘297 is named for the skipper of its crew late in the war, Capt Frederick C. Bock. However, Maj Charles W. Sweeney’s crew flew “Bock’s Car” on the Nagasaki mission. The Wiki entry gives an excellent summary of all things to do with ‘297. It flew into WPAFB for the museum on September 26, 1961. “Enola Gay” resides at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington. In modern years two other B-29s have been restored to flying condition in the United States.Sitting in a distant corner away from the museum was a glorious sight — Convair B-36J Peacemaker 52-2220. It first had joined the 11th Bombardment Wing at Carswell AFB, Texas in January 1954. It later served the 42 nd BW at Loring AFB, Maine, and the 95 th BW at Biggs AFB, Texas. It flew in to WPAFB for the museum on April 30, 1959. This was the last ever B-36 flight. The Wiki B-36 site is well worth a visit. Some other good sites include: Six Turning Four Burning – Convair B-36 “Peacemaker” (HD) YouTube · Petittwo Nov 3, 2016, Inside The Convair B-36 Peacemaker, Youtube, The Flight of the last B-36 Peacemaker – Avgeekery.com, B-36: Bomber at the Crossroads, HistoryA one-of-a-kind transport on display at WPAFB in 1964 was YC-124A Globemaster II 42-65406. The prototype C-124, it had begun in 1946 as a C-74 Globemaster I. It first flew on November 27, 1949 and later operated as a day-to-day USAF transport until retired to the museum. Too bad, but the museum eventually decided that ‘406 was “too big”, so handed it over to the base fire department as a training aid. As such it was burned and re-burned in practice fires until no longer of any use. Most countries have such black marks in their aviation history records. Canada, for example, once had a chance to save the prototype Avro CF-100. 18101 eventually went for scrap from storage at Lethbridge. No institution wanted it, one museum “explaining” that it was not a representative CF-100, since it had used British engines. Talk about a disgrace! Of course, the inexcusable destruction of all six finished CF-105s remains the blackest mark on Canada’s aviation heritage. Once again … be sure to visit to USAF Museum website. By taking some of the virtual tours you’ll see how the aircraft Nick and I saw in August 1964 appear 57 years later.
A Few More TTC Scenes
Have you had a look our earlier blog articles covering Toronto Transit Commission streetcars over the decades? If not, you can scroll back and have a look. After all, any grown-up aviation fan revels in all forms of transportation and the joys of photographing them.
Today, I’m adding a few TTC scenes that I captured long ago – photos of some unusual work cars plus some busses of the Sixties. The work cars were used on a host of duties including rail grinding, clearing snow and delivering supplies and equipment to track construction sites, etc. Many of these units were built around retired TTC passenger cars. The snow plowing cars disappeared by 1980, when city works took over the job, while the rail grinders made their final runs in 1999.
TTC snow sweeper S-41 at the Roncesvalles car barns at Queen and Roncesvalles on February 9, 1969. Twelve such cars were acquired in the 1940s. Note that these had a sweeper at each end. They also had double-ended controls. Any such car always caught the keen observer’s eye and excited any photographer, especially on such a bright winter’s day. What a sight so late in the game was such a “prehistoric beast” . The last I saw one of these at work was in the Sixties as it was sweeping the loop at Queen and Coxwell one night. Two such cars survive. S-36 is in the Shore Line Trolley Museum in Connecticut, the S-37 is in the Halton County Railway Museum in west of Toronto.General purpose work cars with snow ploughs: W-1 at Russell barns at Queen St. East and Connaught Ave. on June 15, 1969; and W-5 at Hillcrest barns up Bathurst St. on September 19, 1969. Behind W-1 is TP-11, a car that specialized in snow clearing.W-3 westbound on Carleton St. a bit west of Parliament St. in October 1975. Looks like it has some rails on its bed. Today W-3 resides at the Shore Line Trolley Museum (check out their website).While snooping around at Hillcrest on June 7, 1969 I was lucky to catch crane car, C-2. You easily can envision C-2 craning heavy steel rails some place along the line where old rails were being removed and new ones laid. C- 2 is preserved with the Ohio Railway Museum in Worthington, Ohio.The TTC’s famous rail grinder W-28 seemed to be endlessly out on the job. Here it is westbound at Queen and Simcoe streets leading a couple of PCCs in October 1975. W-28 today is with the Halton County Railway Museum.Restored Peter Witt car 2894 on a tourist run westbound on Queen St. at Beech Ave. in September 1975. This famous type served the TTC from 1922 to 1965. Not counting trailers, there were more than 500 TTC Witts. This example is preserved with the Halton County Railway Museum. I often rode Peter Witts on Kingston Road, Queen St., Roncesvalles and Weston Road, when I was a boy in the 1950s.This former TTC Peter Witt while in service on Toronto Harbour in the 1970s as the Seamens Mission. Visiting sailors were welcomed to drop by for a snack, to relax, read and socialize. Such landmarks always fade away. Does this historic “building” still exist somewhere else?Naturally, photographing TTC busses always interested us. Life had much more to offer than plane spotting. Just as TCA had DC-3s, Viscounts, North Stars, etc., the TTC had an interesting variety of busses. Here is Twin Coach Model 41-S 1336 at the Castle Frank station on the Bloor St. subway line on March 27, 1969. Built in Kent, Ohio, the 41-S had 41 seats. The TTC acquired 75 of these in 1948, then got stellar service from them for many years.GMC Model TDH-4507 at the Coxwell and Danforth TTC car barns in May 1975. It was part of a batch of 20 units acquired in 1948.The TTC only ran 10 of these Mack C-50-Ts. Usually I saw them only on Spadina Ave. This was a 50-seat bus. Notice how each bus maker had its distinctive look. Check out the classic Mack logo.TTC GMC bus 2155 was a “stretched” early-1960s iteration of the 1940s TDH series. I spotted 2155 in May 1971 as it waited on Gerrard St. E. in front of Riverdale Collegiate.The City of Toronto Archives holds this excellent photo of 2155 taken during maintenance.This is my first shot of one of the TTC’s GMC “New Look” busses. I saw 3126 at the docks around the foot of Bay St. on October 12, 1963. I shot it with my twin lens Minolta using “120” Ektachrome. The “New Look” series became Toronto’s most widely-used bus design. It has lasted into the 21 st Century.
I started shooting aerial views of Toronto in 1961 and have never missed a chance to keep up on this exciting sideline. My first few photos really were “accidental” in that I was shooting air- to-airs of airplanes, where Toronto happened to be in the background. Here is (by far) my favourite such shot. Joe Reed of AIRGO (based at Toronto Island Airport) had asked me to shoot some of his planes for publicity reasons, but AIRGO soon was broke, so I doubt that my photos were of much use. The date for this scene was March 10, 1961, the view is NNE as we flew westward over the city across the Lake Ontario shore. I was up in AIRGO Ce.172 CF-LWE. We had the door off, so it was great fun in the open air on a fine day as we formated on Cessna T-50 CF-HXW. Its paint job? A very nice powder blue and white. The T-50 looks super and the Toronto background is astounding for its breath and detail. I especially love how the central business district stands out with the Bank of Commerce especially prominent – it still was Canada’s tallest building at 34 storeys. You can see how the city spreads out from the CBD. Check out the Don River Valley cutting north-south with the Bloor Street viaduct spanning it. The viaduct had opened up great new stretches of land for urban development especially along the key new thoroughfare – Danforth Avenue. The urban-rural divide at this time looks to be about where today’s 401 Hwy cuts east-to-west. That’s likely the new 401 corridor stretching away to the east just beneath “HXW’s” tail. Down in the bottom right you can see a hint of Toronto’s vast railway yards. (I’ll dig out some other Toronto CBD aerials for future use here.)On an earlier trip, on February 12 Joe Reed put me in Luscombe CF-LVV to photograph AIRGO’s new (1960) Cessna 172, CF-MTT. Someone will be able to write a paragraph about what’s below, as we flew parallel to the “The Queensway” just a bit west of High Park. Looks like the Humber sewage plant on the lower right, and the north edge of the Ontario Food Terminal below us across the bottom. The Humber River meanders just under the tail. Talk about getting the camera-perfect angle on a 1-72, no! In 2021 “MTT” was based near Pembroke, Ontario with Laurin Jones, who recently spent three years restoring it. Total time on “MTT” since 1960 is about 5000 hours.A more recent scene: I took this westward view across Toronto Bay towards the CBD and beyond on November 20, 1972. For some dumb reason I didn’t log this flight, so can’t say from which plane or chopper it was taken. There are so many features here, from the foreground showing how industrialized the eastern harbour still was. Today? Very few of these features remain, certainly the tank farms all are long gone. However, there still are mountains of road salt stored along the ship channel. Look at all the ocean-going ships, at least ten. These were the days when Toronto would welcome 700+ large freighters a year. Today? Maybe 30 will visit in an entire year. Check out the skyline. Things definitely were starting to happen. Today, skyscrapers stretch westward from the CBD in a solid wall of concrete and glass as far as you can see. Notice the lovely old Bank of Commerce — it’s there to this day.Here’s a close-up of one of the ships that day. This was 49 years ago, the Greek-registered MV Ioanna was in from China with a load of electronics and medical supplies. Getting a shot like this makes me think I must have been in a chopper this day. There are several outstanding Great Lakes websites. A good one to check out is http://www.greatlakestoday.orgGoing on foot in this part of Toronto Harbour, all sorts of great subject matter met any photographer any day of the week. Snooping around along Unwin Ave. on March 10, 1972 I came across a mountain of ex-RCAF F-86s and T-33s ready to go into the melting pot at Bristol Metals. What a sight, eh! I wish I’d kept closer tabs on this operation over the days, but at least I took a few shots this day. Another day I spotted a ship at one of the Toronto terminals that had a deck cargo of T-6 Texans from some African country. They were headed up the lakes to Chicago. I’ll dig out some more such photos for future use on the blog.A nifty June 26, 1970 north-looking view of the Richard L. Hearn hydro generating station at the east end of Toronto Harbour’s shipping channel. The two ships are tied up in the “eastern turning basin” at the head of the channel. You can see that this part of the city mainly was an industrial cesspool in 1970. The Hearn was burning coal upwards of 3 million tons of which were stored here at a time. The new Hearn 70-foot stack is almost finished in this scene. The three stacks pumping it out in mid-view pinpoint a city incinerator. It’s also long-since closed. Cutting across the middle is the Gardiner Expressway. This stretch since has been removed in favour of an improved version of Lakeshore Blvd. You wouldn’t recognize this area today if it weren’t for the Hearn, which still stands as a giant industrial era ghost. Opened in 1951, it closed for good in 1983.For wider perspective, here’s a view back down the shipping channel looking west. The new stack by this time was in service. In the distance is the Eastern Gap, Toronto Bay and the Toronto Islands. I caught this view on November 10, 1973.Here’s the Hearn on July 27, 1993 as photographed from a Cameron Air Cessna 206 while Rick Radell and I were returning to Toronto Island after doing an air-to air shoot with a Sunderland flying boat. You can see the beginning on urban renewal vs the previous shots. The Hearn is closed, so is the incinerator across the street. Several grubby old factories by now are vacant lots, but the eastern Gardiner is still standing. Vast changes have taken place since, so I look forward to another photo flight down this way.Two closer-in views over the CBD (probably from a helicopter). In these photos, taken on June 8, 1970, you can see the famous Royal York Hotel, the twin Toronto Dominion Centre towers (the first modern skyscrapers in the CBD) and the Bank of Commerce tower under construction. Many of the old buildings seen here long-since have been demolished.
Canada’s Best Aviation History Booklist Is right here:Download
One title that you’ll really treasure in your library is Dancing in the Sky: The Royal Flying Corps in Canada. By 2020 few Canadians know much about this monumental WWI story. This gem of a book tells in details how the RFC, desperate for pilots in 1916, solved its problem by establishing a magnificent air training plan in Canada. Headquartered in Toronto, the plan almost overnight built massive aerodromes starting at Camp Borden, then Armour Heights and Leaside in Toronto, Deseronto east of Toronto, finally Beamsville in Niagara. There also were recruiting, indoctrination and trades training centres in Toronto and Hamilton. Soon thousands of young men were training here to learn to fight in the world’s first great aerial war. Thousands were sent overseas and by war’s end there still were 12,000 men in the RFC Canada system. The plan brought with it Canada’s first aircraft mass production, more than 1200 JN-4C trainers being built at a vast factory in west Toronto, plus parts for hundreds more.
Author C.W. Hunt presents all the fine details – how the plan was organized, the camps established, the training of pilots and mechanics, much about the problems of weather and accidents, and how thousands of Americans also passed through the RFC system.
Suddenly, the war ends and overnight the plan folds. Hunt brings the story right to the end in 1919. This is one of the really important Canadian books about WWI — how Canada went from being an aviation featherweight to an aviation powerhouse all in about two years. Believe it or not, but some of the sturdy hangars from RFC Canada days are still in use at Camp Borden and Beamsville! Order your copy by sending (for Canada) $43.00 by PayPal or Interac to larry@canavbooks.com , or, post a cheque to CANAV Books, 51 Balsam Ave., Toronto, Canada M4E3B6. USA or Int’l orders send CDN$50.00.
You’ll also be tempted by this new beauty — Flying to Extremes, Dominique Prinet’s new book about his career as an bush and Arctic pilot. Much about the Cessna, Otter and Beech 18, but many other well-known types as well. This is very much a book about the north and its people — not just the airplanes. Besides that, it’s really well designed with many colour photos, some excellent original aviation art and some very useful original maps. 278 pages, softcover, glossary, index. This one is irresistible! $42.00 all-in by PayPal or Interac to larry@canavbooks.com or mail a cheque as mentioned above. USA or Int’l orders send CDN$50.00.
“Ghost” Canso Update – Something’s Up
Many of you regular CANAV blog followers enjoyed our recent item about Gananoque’s “Ghost” Canso, CF-NJL. Last August, my old pal from high school days, Nick Wolochatiuk, visited Gananoque to see what was doing, then submitted this summary:
Most of Gananoque’s triangle of 2530’ runways are now devoted to corn, but in the decaying hangar at the east side of Runway 36-18, Canso “NJL” still sits, outer wing sections by now removed. Fortunately, it’s an amphibian, as the hangar roof really leaks. Snuggled nearby is wingless Bush Caddy C-FZGG. Its elongated nose gives the appearance of an ant eater. Some other planes are scattered around, including Pietenpol C-ILTB. Due to COVID-19, the local parachute training school was shut down. Outside, we spotted Bush Caddy C-GIRU. For a very long time, not a BCATP Tiger Moth, Fleet Finch or Harvard has been seen at Gananoque. As you can see by the crumbling hangar, those glory days are long gone.
Here are two shots that Nick took in August. These can be compared with our main article to which you can scroll back, if you have the time. That’s all the current “intel” for “NJL”. Let me know what else you might hear via the grape vine.
CANAV Books Visits the 10th Mountain Infantry (Light)
The 1980s were full of great aviation history projects. Besides working on such books as Canada’s Air Force Today and AIRCOM, I was burning the candle at both ends doing a lot of aviation journalism. I had begun to dabble with this in the late 1950s by submitting photos and short items to such journals as “Air Pictorial”, that great UK monthly. Eventually, Toronto aviation editors such as Bob Halford (“Aircraft” magazine) and Hugh Whittington (“Canadian Aviation”) were giving me assignments, then I started writing feature stories for “Aviation News”, “Air Classics” “Air Combat”, etc. It was great to be making such connections. The pay ranged from zero in those days to $50 – $750 for a feature, even $2500 for something Hugh sent my way – a detailed overview of Canada’s aerospace industry. Every penny counted back in those times.
Meanwhile, with travelling pals Tony Cassanova and Mike Valenti I had begun branching out into New York, the nearest US state to our base in Toronto. I already was familiar with Niagara Falls, NY, home to the 136th FIS. My old pal, Merlin Reddy, and I first had visited the 136th for Air Force Day on May 16, 1959, then Nick Wolochatiuk and I covered the open house on May 20, 1960. These were a really impressive events. What we thought was amazing was how the general public was not herded around like cattle. Instead, we could wander on the ramps even as airplanes came and went, everything from an L-19 to a C-124. Here are a few photos that we took both years mostly using Merlin’s twin lens Yashika loaded with 120 b/w film. As I recall, I also was shooting with an old Permaflex. Everything in black-and-white, of course:
Shown first is locally-based F-86H Sabre 52-5739 of the 136 th FIS NY Air National Guard, one of the hosts of these open houses. We learned here that the “ANG” fighters were the most photogenic, usually having particular state markings. The tail band for the 136 th was yellow. The Sabre “H” was the hottest of the USAF Sabre day fighters. It was faster than earlier models and armed with 4 x 20 mm cannons compared to the usual 6 x .50 cal machine guns. Something else we learned was how friendly the ANG usually was should we come to the gate hoping to get on base to photograph.Next is a standard side view showing Indiana ANG Republic F-84F 52-6455. Its trim was in white and red. It’s a bit tricky to read the names stencilled on the canopy frame, but the pilot’s name looks like Capt M. Vin L. Coffty. This F-84F was noted on the other side of the nose as “Sparky the Cable Breaker”. During a low-level mission it had flown through a fairly hefty cable, the impression of which had been left on the intake frame. “Sparky” survives on a pole at American Legion Post 490 in Houston painted in Thunderbird colours.One of the big treats for at Niagara was seeing five Vermont ANG Northrop F-89D Scorpion all-weather fighters come into the circuit after their 300-mile flight from Burlington, Vermont. Fitted with their big long-range fuel tanks, they had plenty of gas. Here, 54-0193 parks while we keen fans pressed in with our cameras.While we should have been taking extra photos of the vintage F-89s, we were mesmerized by a flight of five sleek Convair F-102A Delta Darts. Being from a regular USAF squadron, they were quite drab compared to the colourful ANG fighters.The air show planners at the NY ANG always had good relations with the nearby RCAF. This 416 Squadron CF-100 Mlk.5 came down from St. Hubert, just a few miles north of Burlington. These NORAD squadrons often exercised together.This beautiful SAC B-47 from the 40 th Bomb Wing was almost the top find of the day for us at the 1959 Niagara show, but it was not an easy call. Sadly, not long afterwards (February 24, 1961) 53-2347 crashed in Wisconsin killing the 4-man crew.Another great find for us at Niagara was C- 124C Globemaster II 52-1064. It served into 1969, then went to the desert at Davis-Monthan AFB for scrapping.
Fort Drum Visit
Any time we were on military assignments in the United States, we depended on base, wing or squadron public affairs staff. Invariably, over the decades these proved to be top professionals, none better. You’ll appreciate this as you read. Tony Cassanova has provided these photos. First is Carl Sahre, PR man with the 416th Bomb Wing at Griffiss AFB. Carl was our guide and mentor during several visits in the 1980s. Lee McTaggart took royal care of us at Fort Drum. Here are myself and Lee with one of our helio crews one day. Then, Tony and Lee.
Through the 1980s we made good connections at Griffiss AFB near Rome, home to the 416th Bomb Wing (B-52s) and the 49th FIS (F-106). The 416th PR man, Carl R. Sahre, was keen to have us down to see what Griffiss had to offer. Another good spot for us was Syracuse, from where the 174th FS of the NY-ANG flew (AT-37, later A-10, F-16, Predator). Finally, through 10th Mountain PR man, Lee McTaggart, we got our connection to Fort Drum where the 10th Mountain Division (Infantry) recently had reactivated its aviation battalion. “Aviation News” would take a story about this famous unit. In typical US military style, he jumped at this as an opportunity to promote the 10th Mountain and my first visit was set up.
I drove down the NY State freeway early on March 13 and soon was busy doing interviews and shooting Kodachromes. There were no restrictions – whatever I needed, 10th Mountain PR was on it. An OH-58 piloted by 1Lt Richard F. Delev was at my disposal for getting out onto the Fort Drum Range, then I was offered something I hadn’t dreamed of – a famil flight in an AH-1G Huey Cobra gunship flown by CW4 Howard.
Typical of such trips, Fort Drum was a whirlwind affair, but chalk up another great experience in US military aviation history. Back home, as soon as I had my slides from Kodak, I got to work on the story. As things often went, however, the story didn’t see the light of day until November.
Here is a random selection of Kodachromes from my March 1989 trip and a copy of the ”Aviation News” report. Each such story tended to build up an aviation journalist’s reputation. I guess that was one good reason to keep up with such strenuous fieldwork. In the end, we “Canucks” got to know the USAF and US Army in upstate New York in the 1980s. Eventually, I visited, flew with and had stories published about the 416th at Griffiss (B-52 and KC-135) and the 49th (F-106). I also wrote about the 174th and flew on a photo trip in an AT-37 (PA-ANG) shooting some 174th A-10s. Finally came the helios of the 10th Mountain.
To add to up my knowledge of Fort Drum and the 10th Mountain, I revisited on January 8, 1990 accompanied by Tony Cassanova. That was another red letter day, as we again had carte blanche. Highlights included having the base commander’s UH-1 Huey as our taxi for the day, then each having a flight in a mighty CH-54 of the PA-Army Guard that was busy that day repositioning targets on the Fort Drum range
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AH-1 scenes at Griffiss.The 10 th Mountain temporarily was using the former F-106 hangars from 49th FIS days (the 49th had stood down in 1987). The 416th still was at Griffiss with its B-52s and KC-135s. It finally stood down in 1995. Today, Griffiss is a civil airfield.An OH-58 Kiowa formed up with us for a photo session.A medevac Huey of the 10 th Mountain, then one wearing some off-beat “camo” paint job not usually seen at Fort Drum.We dropped in on a 10th Mountain artillery training session. This was the kind of access the aviation journalist and historian dreams about!On such a visit we’re always spotting for anything a bit different. This was a nice find — Beech U-21 66- I assume that it was for “the brass” at Fort Drum. It was sold as Army surplus in 1996 and today is N72L. The U-21 looks like modified Beech Queen Air. It was unpressurized. Also seen this day at Griffiss was transient F-15E 86-190. Beyond is a departing KC- 135 of the 416th . In the 2020s the 10th Mountain (aviation) flies the AH-64 Apache, CH-47 Chinook and UH-60 Blackhawk.
The CANAV Books Story Part 5
Moving right along with our rough ‘n ready story of CANAV Books, here’s a bit about three other leading titles of the 1990s (in the not-too-distant future, the plan is to refined these items into a book):
The Royal Canadian Air Force at War 1939-1945 1990
For 1990 CANAV Books published the grandest single volume covering the RCAF during WWII. This time, I teamed with Hugh A. Halliday, Curator of War Art at the Canadian War Museum (1976- 1985), RCAF researcher and writer, and long time member of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society. This became another 480-page blockbuster. For this project I went to Bob Baglow in Ottawa for the graphics side of the project. I forget how this came about, but assume that Robin Brass was overworked that year.
Besides its massive text, the book ended with some 1600 photos and it could not have been better reviewed. Summing up its point of view simply, the great “Aviation News” of the UK (Vol.19, No.20, Feb. 1991) noted: “All you ever wanted to know about the RCAF in action in World War 2 … is contained in the thumping big book … as comprehensive a record of the vital part played by this Dominion as ever received in the editorial office. A goldmine of factual information.” Covering it for “Canadian Geographic” (January 1991) was David McIntosh. As was reviewer Ron Lowman of the “Toronto Star”, Dave had been an operational navigator on Mosquitos, and not one to suffer the least gaff by any author.
In early reviews of CANAV titles, Dave already had fired a few sharp rounds, when he found the least point with which to disagree. But both he and Ron mainly were fair. The fellows would read and digest every line. Both also had a quirk of straying off topic, something a bit odd for high-speed, low-level navigators. Dave got somehow distracted in this review when he launched forth with this tirade: “The RCAF at War at last fills a need that the government’s and the defence department’s lassitude has denied Canadians for nearly half a century. The official air force history is so far behind that it can be carbon dated. Milberry and Halliday, old and practiced hands at such compilations, have flown to the rescue of all the airmen- survivors of the war who have slipped the surly bonds of earth.”
Dave’s review was shaping up, but it wasn’t making friends for CANAV in official Ottawa circles. His comments suggest that he was unaware of two fairly recent, massive Canadian military histories – Canadian Airmen and the First World War (1980) and The Creation of a National Air Force (1986) produced by the University of Toronto Press for the DND Directorate of History. (These would be joined by a third volume in 1994, The Crucible of War 1939-1945. These absolutely essential books total some 2500 pages and beautifully cover Canadian military aviation from pre-WWI to the end of WWII.) How could Dave have missed the first two of these? Perhaps he just had an urge to take a shot from the hip at DND? Happily, he was bowled over by the masses of content in our book, which he described as “packed, crammed, stuffed and stomped into this bulging volume.” He also appreciated how the photo captions are “as informative as the narrative”, an important detail that evaded most reviewers.
Another top review appeared in the “Ottawa Citizen”. Brereton “Ben” Greenhouse, a respected military historian/author at DND Directorate of History, called our effort, “massive, heavily illustrated and thoroughly enjoyable … a book for browsing, focussed on operations and service life rather than concepts and policy”. Ben showed a clear awareness of good books by commenting about our $75 sticker price – “… no more than the price of a good meal nowadays”. A perceived “flaw” mentioned in passing is that such great RCAF wartime figures as “Moose” Fulton and John Fauquier are not widely covered. This is easily explained — we were looking to write more about “ordinary” (less-well-known) airmen, compared to those about whom so much already had been written. CANAV is always looking for new material, so those old, well-ploughed fields tend to be avoided when we set to work.
Reviewing RCAF at War in the “Cobourg Daily Star” of August 30, 1991, D.G. McMillan made a nice point: “While the authors claim this is not a definitive book on the RCAF, it comes mighty close… a vivid picture of a period of Canadian history that is now long gone.” McMillan considered the book’s 1600 photos/captions to be “a book within a book”. RCAF at War also was reviewed in detail by Dacre Watson on “The Log –Journal of the British Airline Pilots Association”. Again, the general plan of the book is neatly summarized around the concept of how the RCAF, “… came from a small, ineffective force to become one of the largest air forces by the end of the war.” He was struck by how we authors easily might have lost our readers in the book’s mountain of facts but, instead, “managed to circumvent this by dealing with each theatre of war individually and each command … in its own way. Not only does this make the book easily readable, but also easy to use for reference.” For its part, the amazing “Aviation News” concluded, “It is as comprehensive a record of the vital part played by this Dominion Air Force as any received in the editorial office. A goldmine of factual information.” More locally, Joe Chapman of “The Spectator” in Hamilton concluded his review in a no-nonsense way – “Even at $75, the enthusiast will find it one of the best investments in aviation history and treasure it forever.”
What days these were for book reviews. The book still reigned as far as the daily press was concerned, and subscribers to aviation journals never missed their monthly book review page or two. Only begrudgingly do the major dailies run a book review in 2020. Much worse, many of the aviation periodicals consider a book review a waste of a page. Too intellectual for the 2020s, perhaps? Any of today’s magazines that brought back the book review soon would see a spike in readership. Readers want such thoughtful content.
“Air Force Magazine” of the United States Air Force Association (December 1990) also was impressed by RCAF at War: “The Royal Canadian Air Force’s contribution to the Allied victory is an often overlooked segment of World War II history. This book remedies that omission … the authors have assembled a complete look at every facet of the RCAF’s wartime operations.” The UK’s famed “Air International” also could not restrain itself, beginning its review, “Any CANAV book is worthy of attention and the latest volume to appear, The Royal Canadian Air Force at War 1939-1945, is a splendid addition to the ranks. Those who have the same publisher’s Sixty Years: The RCAF and CF Air Command 1924-1984 will have an idea of what to expect… It is an excellent example of popular history that brings to life an important period as no academic work could. If you liked … Max Hastings’ Bomber Command, you will enjoy this massive work.” Good grief – imagine a couple of “colonial” authors being compared to one of the UK’s most revered historians!
In “Legion”, Brown’s Books had a solid go at RCAF at War. This excerpt is my favourite: “Larry Milberry … and Hugh Halliday … have done a magnificent job of compiling the most wide-ranging and complete book yet on WWII Canada in the air … A tremendous accomplishment by the authors.” Mike Filey of Toronto’s beloved “Sunday Sun” also covered RCAF at War glowingly (in his column “The Way We Were”). Mike even published my phone number and urged his fans to drop by my house for an autographed copy! Now that’s a review and a half!
In its December 1990 edition, Sidney Allinson reviewed RCAF at War in the “Canadian Defence Quarterly”. Seemingly thunderstruck by the book, Sidney produced the lengthiest review that we have seen of this title. His commentary includes at the start: “It is such a rich source of information, facts, anecdotes and images that the most avid aviation buffs can gorge themselves … the depth of research … indicates a labour of love by the authors. Nothing less could inspire such a comprehensive account.” Sidney goes on: “A good deal of thought has been given to the book’s organization … This logical form of presentation, coupled with a lengthy index, helps both the casual reader and the more serious researcher to home in on specific areas”, then winds up about the authors that they are to be complimented, “… for creating this fine testimony to the quarter-million members of the Royal Canadian Air Force who valiantly served the cause of freedom …”
Also in December 1990, one of aviation’s greatest journalists and publishers (the late) John Wegg wrote about RCAF at War in “In Flight” magazine. John began his review: “Stunning, superb, unrivalled.” After the usual summary of content and organization, he concluded: “Everyone who has had contact with the RCAF in this period will snap up this treasure, destined to be a collector’s item of the 21 st Century.” I really like John’s take on our $75 sticker price – “It works out to just 15 cents a page, or, 5 cents a photo”! Then again … no one knew an aviation book better than John Wegg. Rest in peace, old pal.
What place does RCAF at War hold today in the wide domain of RCAF history? Sad to say, but by 2020 it’s yet another forgotten Canadian aviation book. But did it ever bask in its well-deserved glory for a brief moment. Naturally, to this day RCAF HQ in Ottawa has no idea about this book.
What was the bottom line for this book? As usual, that starts with the invoice from our great printer back in those days, The Bryant Press. There were many other expenses from graphics (quoted at $15,356) to brochures, magazine and newspaper advertisements, book launching, thousands in postage and shipping, taxes galore, etc. In the end it never was easy to make a penny in books, but we were always dumb enough to keep trying. From Bryant came this rude awakening — $75,222.50 for 3959 copies. Some years later Van Well Publishing in St. Catharines did a 1500 reprint. There are no new copies left, but I see today (December 5, 2020) 72 copies for sale at http://www.bookfinder.com many being reasonably priced below $90++. If you earnestly follow RCAF history and don’t yet have a copy, you really ought to buy in. You’ll be making a solid long-term investment:
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Our invoice for printing and binding for Royal Canadian Air Force at War 1939-1945.
Typhoon and Tempest: The Canadian Story by Hugh A. Halliday 1992
In 1992 CANAV published a ground-breaking history of two great WWII fighters, the Hawker Typhoon and Tempest. At the time this seemed to Hugh and I to be a good time to tell this story, since so many pilots who had flown these planes in combat in the RAF and RCAF still were on the go. We rolled out the book at a gala event at Canadian Force Staff School officers mess in Toronto, then let the book speak for itself. Naturally, all with an interest soon were reading Typhoon and Tempest, and the reviews were glorious. Today, the book is long out-of-print, but it did the job we set out to accomplish.
Here are excerpts from one of the many reviews. These comments are from Bill Musselwhite of the “Calgary Herald”: “A splendid book … pure history but … thoroughly readable… the book’s backbone is made up of those who climbed into the cockpits to dodge flak and telephone wires while taking out trains and tanks.”
This is how the French journal, “Air Action” reacted in its Vol.1, No.1, Summer 1993. Being the book professional that he is, reviewer Jean-Michel Guhl began by honouring the existing body of published Typhoon and Tempest history, while explaining that many extant books seemed a bit short of specific history of the people involved. He credited Halliday with visiting the archives to study the RCAF personnel documents for many individuals, and going out to interview many of them, to tap their memories, view their logbooks, and see what photos and documents they still might have. Guhl concluded, “Printed and bound to the high standards we’ve come to expect from Larry Milberry’s publishing company, Typhoon and Tempest is a superb and thoroughly researched work… In this truly pleasant book, Halliday provides us with action from cover to cover… One more ‘Must’ from CANAV Books.”
Meanwhile, in its February edition the inimitable “Aviation News” printed its own take on our Typhoon and Tempest effort. This sharp- minded reviewer also acknowledges the important existing literature, then explains, as did Guhl, how Halliday’s work in the official personnel records resulted in a valuable new perspective. “Aviation News” found our photo selection and appendices to be magnificent, then concluded that the book is “a very fitting tribute” to all the Canadians who had served on these two mighty fighters. Much respected “Aeroplane Monthly” also (September 1993) gave a positive run-down of the book, concluding, “The former Typhoon pilot certainly has nothing to complain about with this book.”
For production, this time I went to a good Ottawa book manufacturer, Tri-Graphic (also long ago defunct). This likely was based on the quotes I had received from other printers. Tri-Graphic was good to work with and turned out a really outstanding product. Typhoon and Tempest: The Canadian Story is revered to this day by true fans of the RCAF’s great heritage. Anyone interested in a copy can fish around on the web. bookfinder.com has 51 on sale today starting at $64.00++. Here’s the quotation I received back in 1990 from Tri-Graphic. The book was still two years away, so these projects were never for the faint of heart.
Some Great Lakes Shipping Photos
As keen young aviation fans, most of us also were getting interested in photographing other subjects. The more we hung out together, the more we learned and broadened our horizons. Several of us having gone into teaching, we quickly realized how we could use our camera skills to boost our classroom productivity. To this day (50-60 years later) former students still comment about the slide shows we’d use to brighten up and intensify a lesson.
As good pals since about 1959, Nick Wolochatiuk and I became famous among the Toronto aviation hobbyists for our exotic non- aviation field trips. One of our many haunts was the Toronto waterfront, where we photographed any ship we came across. Soon we were making Great Lakes driving tours chasing planes, boats, trains, you name it. We could never understand why for some of our buddies there was nothing worth photographing than airplanes. But … chaq’un a sa choix, right.
I’ve dusted off a few of the ancient slides I shot of Great Lakes tankers mainly spotted in Toronto harbour about 50 years ago. The diehard Great Lakes fans will know more about these ships that I. Happily, I still have my hefty 1968 Canadian Department of Transport List of Shipping. This invaluable book provides the essential facts for most of the tankers shown:
I’ll start today with two photos I took as a fan of Great Lakes shipping over decades. The Imperial Windsor was a tanker built at Haverton Hill-on-Tees in 1927. She previously (to 1947) had been the Windsolite. At 250 feet by 43 feet 2 inches and with an 18-foot draft and 1990 gross tonnage, she was ideal for the canals of the pre- Seaway Great Lakes. I took this shot in Toronto Harbour on April 7, 1969 as Imperial Windsor was heading for the Western Gap, then the only entrance to the harbour for large ships (today the few big ships that visit used the rebuilt Eastern Gap), while small vessels use the Western Gap. The winter photo was taken on December 26, 1970 as Imperial Windsor was departing the ship canal in the far eastern harbour. That’s the famous R.L. Hearne coal-fired generating station in the background – coal still was king in those times. It kept hundreds of ships busy year ‘round on the lakes. You can see that Imperial Windsor was well-laden in both cases, so she looks very tanker-like. A great source for details about such ships is “The Scanner”, the monthly newsletter of the Toronto Marine Historical Society. Such Great Lakes publications are equal if not more detailed and passionate in their content as the best in aviation journals. For example, its May 1971 edition “The Scanner” reported:
The Port of Toronto was officially opened for the 1971 season on March 24th when the tanker IMPERIAL WINDSOR arrived with a cargo for the Imperial terminal here. The ship was also the first vessel to leave winter quarters this spring, having cleared port at the beginning of the same week. All told, it was a record-setting winter for the veteran canaller. She had also closed out the 1970 navigation season for Toronto, arriving in port on January 8th, 1971.”
Later, Imperial Windsor was sold to Hall Shipping as the Cardinal. This report showed up in “The Scanner” of April 1973:
As we announced recently, Hall’s subsidiary, Algonquin Corporation Ltd., had purchased the tanker IMPERIAL WINDSOR and was in the act of having her name changed to CURLEW. As the papers were being processed, the Canadian Government brought it to Halco’s attention that there already was a fishtug by the name of CURLEW on the register and accordingly this could not be used as the new name for the tanker. Since CURLEW was to be named for a former Hall vessel, the company did some quick checking into their fleet lists and came up with the name CARDINAL which will now be used. The new name will honour not only the town of Cardinal on the old St. Lawrence Canals, but also a wooden tug, built in 1875, which served the Hall fleet for a short period around 1911.
Reading this, anyone can see how pricelessly important are such historical society journals and newsletters.
What a great historical resource such a ship would be (museum- wise) on the Toronto waterfront. Sad to say, however, Imperial Windsor went for scrap in 1974. On May 23, 1974 she had been up- bound in fog on Lake Erie, bound for Sarnia, when she was in a serious collision off Pelee Island with the 7600-ton Great Lakes bulk carrier George M. Steinbenner. Two Cardinal crewmen had to be cut from their smashed forecastle and flown to hospital by US Coast Guard helicopter. George M. Steinbrenner was lightly damaged, but Cardinal was un-repairable (see http://www.boatnerd.com ). At https://amp.en.google-info.org/ there’s a short clip about life aboard Imperial Windsor.
In its August 26, 1974 edition, the “Globe and Mail” printed a very worthy letter-to-the-editor from former Imperial Windsor crewman, J.M. Prince:
You published a picture (Aug. 20) of the S.S. Cardinal being towed out of Toronto Harbor bound for the scrap yards of Hamilton. Such an ignominious end for such a fine ship. Since the mid-1920s she had served her owners well, carrying petrochemical products for years as the Imperial Windsor, part of the great Imperial Oil fleet, and for the past two years for Hall Corp. as the Cardinal. And now, after almost fifty years of service, to end up just another carload of scrap for Stelco’s furnaces. During my five weeks service on her as an Ordinary Seaman and then as Able Seaman, I rarely gave any thought to her cramped quarters, or grotesquely blunt shape, but rather, as did the rest of the crew under Captain Walter Poole, her ease of handling and plucky ability to plow through the roughest weather to her destination. Funny-looking she may have been, but she had a heart.
Views of the Johnston Shipping Ltd’s tanker, Gulf Sentinel (previously B.A. Sentinel — as in British American Oil Co., and, even earlier, was Good Hope). At 178 feet 9 inches by 34 feet 2 inches and 649 gross registered tonnage, she had been built in 1933 at Wallsend, UK. Her engine produced 600 hp compared to 900 for Imperial Windsor. I photographed this dowdy-looking little tanker first at the end of a long winter in March 1972 in the eastern ship channel. Then, I caught it from Toronto Island Airport on September 17, 1973, as it was departing with a light load headed for the Western Gap. The CN Tower is rising in the distance. Toronto’s skyline was hardly noticeable by today’s standards. These small tankers often were in the bunker fuel trade, refuelling ships far and wide in the Seaway system, or delivering bulk fuel to remote Great Lakes bulk fuel storage centres like Byng Inlet or Brit on Georgian Bay. In its April 1974 edition, “The Scanner” had some notes for Gulf Sentinel:
Also on the subject of bunkering services, we can report that the small tanker GULF SENTINEL (whose charter to Gulf for the Lake Ontario bunker trade has not been renewed) will be chartered this year to Shell, her earlier owners. She will be taken to Sarnia, but it is not yet clear whether she will run a mobile service from the Shell dock at Corunna (which might counteract the competition from the newdock at Windsor and at the same time eliminate the long lineups of steamers in the Stag Island channel), or whether she may be destined to run a cross-river service in a move to eliminate the traffic of tank trucks through the town of Marine City and over on the ferry DALDEAN. One thing is sure – she will certainly get a new name. We might hope that her old name of RIVERSHELL might be returned to her.
At a glance I don’t see any info on the web telling the fate of Gulf Sentinel.Like Imperial Windsor, Texaco-Brave also was built at Haverton Hill- on-Tees, but two years later. She had almost the same specs. She previously had been Cyclo Brave. The February 1975 issue of “The Scanner” summarized Texaco-Brave’s long life just before she was sold for scrap:
There she sits in all her splendour, her paint a bit faded now but still a cut above the other ships nearby. Her black hull with its bright orange boot-top and red-and-white trunk still looks sound. Big she’s not, but beautiful she surely is as she presses her bow up tight against the bridge, lifting her head up majestically as if she really were getting ready to do battle once again with the stormy lakes. As if… Forty-six seasons of hard use have been kind to the TEXACO- BRAVE, but the end has to come sometime… The flag at half-staff is appropriate to the BRAVE’s present situation. The BRAVE began her life back in 1929 as Hull 145 of the Haverton Hill-on-Tees yard of the Furness Shipbuilding Company Ltd. Of course, back then she was christened JOHN IRWIN (I) and she entered service for the McColl- Frontenac Oil Company Ltd., the predecessor of her current owner, Texaco Canada Ltd. With a length of 250 feet and gross tonnage of 1,926, she was a typical steam-powered canal tanker similar to many others produced by British yards for the McColl-Frontenac, British American and Imperial Oil fleets. Her triple-deck bridge was set back off the forecastle and she sported a tall, well-raked funnel sprouting from a cabinless quarterdeck.
She sailed as JOHN IRWIN until 1940, was known as CYCLO- BRAVE until 1947, and then took her present name which, incidentally, is not spelled with the hyphen in the registers, but which is hyphenated on the bow and stern of the ship. She has always been kept in immaculate condition and by now must have more paint on her than any other ship her age. Normally used in lake service, the BRAVE has spent the last two years operating on the St. Lawrence River. During the summer of 1974 she lost almost a month of service due to boiler problems.
TEXACO-BRAVE arrived at Toronto on November 11 and did not let down steam until December 20, a fact that led us to speculate in our last issue that she had received a mechanical refit. Not only didn’t we get on base with that guess, we didn’t even hit the ball! Seems that Texaco was simply waiting to see if a deal could be closed on a new boat before a decision was made on the future of the BRAVE. Now Texaco Canada Ltd. has purchased a 2,901-ton, 48,000 bbl.- capacity British tanker which was built in 1970 for Thun Tankers Ltd. and given the unlikely name of THUNTANK 6. In 1972 she was sold to Thames Tankers Ltd. and rechristened with the equally unlikely name of ANTERIORITY. She will make her appearance on the lakes in 1975 under the name of TEXACO-WARRIOR (II). Meanwhile, scrap bids have been called for TEXACO-BRAVE.
Why do we write this sentimental tripe about the demise of just another superannuated and outmoded ship? Well, we just happen to think that the disappearance of the last example of a particular class of vessel is worthy of special mention. And that is exactly what the BRAVE is – the last operating steam canal tanker on the lakes (excluding the converted CAPE and COVE TRANSPORT). The last of a beautiful breed that was once so common. She’ll never pass this way again and never more will we hear her deep steam whistle echoing across the stillness of a hot August night on Toronto Bay. But for just a little while longer, she’ll rest in her spot by the bridge, showing off her lines for all to see, even if most who pass don’t care. So do her honour of going down to the Cherry Street bridge over Toronto’s Ship Channel. Sure, take your camera along, but just stand there on the bridge for a minute and think about what you’re seeing. And take your hat off, buster, ’cause you’re watching the passing of a lady.
In April 1975 the tugs G.W. Rogers and Bagotville towed Texaco- Brave from Toronto to Ramey’s Inlet near Port Colborne on Lake Erie to be scrapped. In 1978 a new Texaco Brave of 8545 gross registered tonnage was built in Japan for the eastern Canada trade. Still on the Great Lakes in 2020, she operates in the Algoma fleet as Algoeast.
The tanker Elmbranch of Montreal’s famous Branch Line empty and at slow speed leaves the eastern ship channel on August 20, She was built in Collingwood in 1944 as one of the famed (and great looking) wartime “Park” ships — Norwood Park. As such she was 251 feet and 2381 grt. In 1960 she was lengthened at Sorel to 321 feet and 3367 grt. Elmbranch left Canadian service in 1977. Sold, it went to Panama, becoming Whitsupply II. Stranded off St. Maarten in 1989, she was scuttled. For the best history from a Canadian viewpoint of the great “Park” ships, you really should track down a copy of the great Robert Halford’s 1995 book, The Unknown Navy: Canada’s World War II Merchant Navy.Built in Sorel in 1950 by Marine Industries, the 284-foot tanker Willowbranch often visited Toronto back in the day. In 1966 she was back in Sorel for a major re-fit. Here she’s moored on the north side of the eastern ship channel on August 1, 1969. Those were the days when the east end of Toronto harbour had its historic trademarks of tank farms, mountains of coal and salt, and scrap metal operations. All ugly stuff but absolutely indispensible to keep any modern society operating. On July 15 1959 Willowbranch had collided outside Halifax harbour with Imperial Halifax (Imperial Halifax later was Congar, see below)You can see the results of the lawsuit that followed the collision at: https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc- csc/en/item/6843/index.do?site_preference=normal&pedisable=true. The stats given here for Willowbranch show that she was a smaller boat before being re-built in 1966. Willowbranch was laid up at the end of the 1975 shipping season and was scrapped in Toronto in 1978.Congar of the Johnston Shipping Ltd. fleet was around Toronto and Hamilton for years while we were in our Great Lakes ships phase. She seemed to be mainly in the bunkering trade. Here she is riding high in the Eastern Turning Basin (at the eastern head of Toronto’s ship channel) on September 8, 1969. In the winter months this basin usually was packed with laid-up lake vessels. Congar had been built under a wartime contract in 1945 in Sunderland, England as Empire Maldon. She was sold as war surplus in 1946 to Imperial Oil of Toronto. There she sailed as Imperial Halifax until 1969, when sold on to Johnston Shipping Ltd. This is the same ship described above in the Halifax collision. Her final voyage brought her into in Toronto in 1975. Soon after, Congar was scrapped in Hamilton. For further details see such wonderful Great Lakes shipping sites as https://www.greatlakesvesselhistory.com/histories-by-name/c/congar- 2Imperial Sarnia was launched in Collingwood in 1948, then re- built in Sorel in 1954. In 1953 she left the Great Lakes trade to journey down the Mississippi and up the east coast back to Sorel. There she received the ocean-going (i.e. “salty”) bow seen here. She returned to the lakes in 1965, then was sold to Provmar Fuels Inc. of Hamilton in 1983, becoming the fuel barge Provmar Terminal II. She still was there in the early 2010s. Here Imperial Sarnia is steaming light out of the eastern shipping channel on May 21, 1973. She was 396 feet x 53 feet x 4580 grt.Here’s the well-known lakes tanker Liquilassie at the Snell Lock near Cornwall on August 19, 1970. This historic ship is described in this nicely-crafted item from “The Niagara Falls Review” of May 20, 2016:
It was 35 years ago that the once well-known Great Lakes tankerLiquilassie struck the Gandy Bridge at Tampa, Fla. The vessel, operating as a barge on Feb. 6, 1981, was inbound when it caused $174,000 damage to the bridge and closed a vital land link for three months. Liquilassie had been built at Duluth, Minn. in 1943 and left the Great Lakes, via the Mississippi River system, to serve Creole Petroleum, part of Standard Oil, around Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela. The 111.56-metre-long tanker was too large for the old St. Lawrence locks, but was able to get to saltwater by way of the mid-continent route due to its shallow draft. Originally known as Temblador, the vessel often loaded crude oil for Aruba and trans-shipment north. Once again, the shallow draft came in handy and the vessel could carry 42,000 barrels of petroleum.
Following a sale to Porter Shipping, Temblador returned to theGreat Lakes in 1960 and was renamed Liquilassie in 1961. Itoperated around the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence, and often took cargoes directly from deep sea carriers anchored at Montreal to allow the latter sufficient draft for them reach the dock. Liquilassie was reduced to a barge in 1977 and saw service around the lakes, where the vessel often carried liquid asphalt. It departed our inland seas in November 1980 for the Gulf of Mexico, only to get into trouble in the south. Since then, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge has been built to replace the vehicular traffic across the old Gandy Bridge. The latter, which had dated from 1956, later served as the Friendship Trail Bridge. Liquilassie took a cargo of liquid fertilizer to Tahiti in 1982 and spent the rest of its career in the South Pacific.
An addendum adds a note that could be considered a brief obituary: “The cargo tanks were cleaned in the spring of 1987 pending the sinking of the hull as an artificial reef at Tonga.” Photographing ships was much the same as the many other interests we had been following since the late 1950s – planes, ships, trains, antique cars, streetcars, bridges, historic buildings, anything really. Certainly, it all was similar to chasing airplanes, our main hobby. I recall several great trips with Nick Wolchatiuk from about Sometimes we’d circumnavigated the Great Lakes in 2-3 weeks. Of course we’d stop at Duluth, Minnesota to photograph the F-89J Scorpions, F-106s and whatever other aviation we could find as we scorched down the highways and byways in “NJW’s” VW bug with his red canoe on top. But… if the place was a port, as was Duluth, we’d normally see what was tied up at the dock, or, visit the local marine museum, as we did in such places as Chicago and Erie, PA. Photographing an airplane or a ship was pretty well similar. If your subject was static, you usually picked a slightly front angle (ships rarely look all that great from the rear). If your ship was under way, however, you had all day to get your shot lined up, compared to panning a North Star on approach, or, a sizzling Golden Hawk Sabre whizzing across the Toronto Island Airport during the CNE airshow. One way or the other, it all the as good fun as young fellows could have had back in the day.
You Wanted More Bob Finlayson Pix
Not surprisingly, all you serious aviation fans loved our recent Robert Finlayson “slideshow”. Folks never tire of good, basic airplane photography showing such wonderful types. At the last moment, I’ve picked a few more from this rare collection, but haven’t had the time to get too in-depth with the historical details. Anyone who can add some hardcore details, please send along to larry@canavbooks.com Let’s start with the standard production light planes starting (above) with Luscombe 8A CF-FZD, which Bob shot at Mount Hope on June 4, 1967. According to the invaluable Canadian Civil Aircraft Register site historiccar.ca “FZD” was imported in 1947. As you’ve seen on some of our earlier blogs about light planes, over the decades many such aircraft suffer accidents of varying degrees. On April 29, 2001, “FZD” did just that, flipping onto its back, while landing at a private farm strip near London, Ontario. How goes “FZD” in 2020? A beautiful Stinson Voyageur 150 4-seater, CF-VME is seen at Mount Hope on October 22, 1967. The “108” always is a peach of an airplane to see and photograph. When Bob took this photo, “VME” recently had been imported from the US and was visiting from Niagara Falls. What became of this postwar classic? Today, its registration is used on a Robinson R44 helicopter.Ercoupe CF-MMS at Mount Hope on July 30, 1967. Built in 1946, it was imported in 1960. The basic specs of such classic postwar types usually can be found by using the search box for the blog or go to wiki. Last heard of in 2016, “MMS” had moved west to Alberta. Bob photographed Republic Seabee CF-GAD at Buttonville airport, situated a short distance north of Toronto and now part of Markham. The date was September 16, 1967 when an airshow was going on. You can see a trio of Harvards zipping along in the distance. Bob shot this handsome little Cessna 150G at Mount Hope on August 6, 1967. The markings would have been familiar to any local aviation fan. Central Airways at Toronto Island Airport was known from coast to coast as one of Canada’s top flying schools. Running since just after the war, its famous owners were brothers Bob and Tom Wong. On September 21, 1969 Michael Mushet invited me to fly with him as his first passenger, he having recently earned his private pilot licence. All went well on our “historic” little flight – in “VGQ”. Michael went on to instruct student pilots over many years and to enjoy aviation adventures enough to fill a book..Bob caught this great Mount Hope scene on August 14, 1966. Refueling is Bowers Fly Baby CF-RXL. One of the classic postwar homebuilts, the Fly Baby was designed by the great hobby aviator and photographer, Pete Bowers (1918-2003). It’s worth your time to look up Pete on the web. He flew his prototype in 1962, then sold plans to hundreds of avid homebuilders. The great Canadian EAA pioneer, George Welsh, built “RXL” around 1965. In May 2020 it was lost in a crash, when the engine failed after takeoff. The pilot, Mr. Horsten, survived with injuries.How’s this for as cute a wee biplane homebuilt as you’ll ever see. Bob would never pass a chance to shoot any such treasure. Smith Miniplane CF-YSC is shown at Brampton, Ontario in August 1970. I have no history for this plane. CF-PKX at Mount Hope on October 1, 1967. This is another standard Finlayson photo. Bob knew that all small biplanes look quite attractive in a rear ¾ view. “PKX” was a 1963 “Little Toot” built by the team of Gelder and Ellis of Brantford, Ontario, and is yet another classic of early EAA years. George Meyer did the original design in 1952. A Little Toot could use as big an engine as a 180-hp Lycoming 0-360 and hit 135 mph. Plans for this type still are available, as they are for other homebuilts of the 1950s.Bob photographed Gerry Younger’s beautiful Pitts Biplane at Mount Hope on August 21, 1967; then Ron Ellis’ 1973 Pitts S2A there at the June 1981 airshow.Bob also always was on the lookout for any light twins that might be visiting Mount Hope. Here are two real gems: Apache CF-WSP and Goose CF-IFN. He caught them both on a sunny and snowless December 17, 1967. “WSP” belonged to Mooney Aviation at Toronto Island, while “IFN” was owned by big time Toronto mining man, M.J. Boylen. It was based for years at Toronto’s Malton Airport. Since 1991 a Zenair 200 has carried registration C-FWSP, so the Apache had disappeared by then. “IFN” later was sold in the USA, but returned to Canada. As C-FPCK it flew with Pacific Coastal Airlines. Sadly, it was lost in a disastrous mountainside crash soon after departing Vancouver on November 16, 2008.
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