Booklist + Cessna Ce.172 “Archaeology” + Canadair Sabre + 737-200 Sim Update from Nolinor + Canada Post Kudos? Not Really! + Dash 8 Reminder + Norseman Update + Final 747 + Boeing 727 + “Formative Years” Book Review & Offer + The CAE Story … Update + Offer

2022 Canav-Booklist

1-canav-booklist-fall_winter-2022Download

One of history’s all time great airplanes is the Cessna Ce.172. First flown on June 12, 1955, into 2022 more than 45,000 have been produced. One of the  claims about this very pretty, lovely-to-fly 4-seater is that it is the most successful airplane in world history. Confederation College at the Lakehead recently re-equipped with 5 new “172s”.
 
In 1955 the fly-away price for a new Ce.172 from the factory in Wichita (initial 1955-56 production run totalled 1178) was $8750. Here’s a photo of Canada’s very first Ce.172, CF-ILE. Imported in November 1955 by Laurentide Aviation of Montreal, it went initially to the Montreal Flying Club. By 1961 it had migrated to owners in Vancouver. It met some  misadventure on May 7 that year, then disappeared from the Canadian Civil Aircraft Register.
 
In December 1961 CF-ILE was followed by Ce.172s CF-IIK (No.32 for West Coast Air Services of Vancouver), CF-IKB (No.93 for Central Airways of Toronto Island Airport) and CF-IND (No.42 for C.M. Logan of Edmonton). Hundreds subsequently flowed into Canada. My first plane ride was in 1956 when I belonged to 172 Air Cadet Squadron in Toronto. One blustery Sunday morning a bunch of us cadets  assembled down at Toronto Island Airport, where an officer cadet named Piatrovsky gave us all a short flight (3 at a time) in Central Airways’ lovely new “172” CF-IKB.
 
Our photo above of CF-ILE (via Ian Macdonald) was taken by the late Hamilton, Ontario aviation photo hobbyist, Douglas Broadribb. The photo below of “IKB” was taken at Toronto Island Airport by the great Toronto aviation fan, Al Martin. CF-IKB has been owned for more than  35 years by Jim Bray of Paris, Ontario, who still flies it from Brantford. Jim learned from Cessna that “IKB” came off the line on October 28, 1955, then left on its delivery flight to Canada on November 3. To 2022 “IKB” has flown more than 6000 hours.

Today, the fly-away price from a Ce.172 from Wichita is about US$400,000 vs that $8750 in 1955 (which today equals about US$97,300). Your best source for general Cessna history are these two fine books: Cessna: The Master’s Expression (1985) and Wings of Cessna: Model 120 to the Citation III (1986) by Edward H. Phillips. These belong on any serious aviation fan’s bookshelves. You should be able to find copies via www.bookfinder.com Now … scroll back a bit to some of our other aviation history postings. You’ll enjoy this for sure and learn more solid aviation history here than by fritzing around with video games! For more about Canada’s postwar Cessnas see our blog item “Al Martin’s Photographic Handiwork”.

Two of Confederation College’s 2022 Ce.172s on November 12 this year with a crowd of students, staff and ferry pilots Anna Pangrazzi and Chris Pulley.

Canadair Sabre Reminder

Still time to get your first copy (or a spare) of our famous best seller, The Canadair Sabre. The book is incomparable & the price is irresistible. Enter CANAV Anniversary Highlight in the search box for the details.

Ancient CAE 737-200 Flight Sim: Latest News from Nolinor

Nolinor’s B.737-200 FFS in Miami. It was manufactured decades ago by Rediffusion in the UK and still is training pilots. (Nolinor Photo)

Two excellent views of Nolinor B.737-200s taken by Pierre Gillard.

We now have more news about the famous CAE Boeing 737-200 full flight sim (FFS) that we’ve been reporting on since publishing the CAE book in 2015. On December 30, 2022 Marco Prud’Homme, president of Mirabel-based Nolinor Aviation, wrote to me: “Good day, Larry. We received your information request via Pan Am since we are the owner of the 200 FFS in Miami. It’s under Pan AM operations. We are also the owner of the sim previously owned by Air Canada. It’s not in service at this time since the project to put it back online in YMX was put on hold during the pandemic. To our knowledge (and we did search for months), we currently own the last two sims for the 200. Our goal is to keep them running for many years to come since we still have at least 25 years of life remaining on our fleet of 737-200 (the biggest fleet as per Boeing). If you have any specific photo you need, we will try to get it for you.” In history, it’s always nice to tie up the last basic detail which for now Marco has done. We’ll keep an eye in the coming years and eventually try to do a feature item about Nolinor.

Canada Post Kudos? Not Really!

            On November 7, 2022 I mailed a Norseman book to a new CANAV reader in France. Such an order always involves explaining in advance how long “cheapest” Canada Post takes (6 to 8 weeks to the EU is ballpark). At long last, on December 30 my reader let me know, “Hello, Good receipt of a very nice book. Many thanks”

     Over the decades CANAV has mailed thousands of books internationally. Sadly, each transaction is always such a delivery ordeal. Even if a reader decides to pay for (supposed) airmail, it can be a nightmare. In 2021 I mailed a set of Norseman books to a reader in Slovenia. Against my advice, he picked the airmail service at $140 (for two books, not a goldbrick) with delivery promised within one week. Delivery in reality? Two months. Personally, I was happy that this was so quick at a mere two months. (Naturally, it’s not just Canada Post that’s involved. There can be delays caused by other agencies. However, it all starts here, where Canada Post hold-ups are legendary, including long period of “storing” the overseas mail.)

Since the trans-Atlantic mail was far quicker in steamship days, Canada Post really owes its hard-pressed customers an explanation for its disgraceful and horrendously expensive service in the 21^st Century. Sadly, Ottawa bureaucrats like the CEO of Canada Post, who is paid more than $500,000 a year, have zero interest. The age of public service is but a blurry memory for our Ottawa mandarins and potentates.

This is the note I sent to my patient new reader in France: “Very good news, Francois. Also, very typical at 6 to 8 weeks. It’s always a relief to hear that the trans-Atlantic mail continues to get the job done, even if it still takes as long as the great Samuel Champlain crossing from France to Quebec in his leaky little wind-powered boat 400+ years ago! Thanks, I hope you enjoy your Norseman book, and all the very best for 2023 … Larry”

PS … As to the outrageous cost of using Canada Post in the 21st Century, I’ve taken to calling this former government service “Mafia Post”. Feel free to pick up on this.

Dash 8 Reminder

For some top DHC-8/Dash 8 coverage, drop “Magnificent Dash 8” into the search box. You’ll enjoy this wee item!

Norseman Update: Antti Hyvarinen Reports from Arlanda, Sweden

Recently, aviation historian Antti Hyvarinen submitted some excellent Norseman photos taken at the aviation museum in Arlanda near Stockholm. The museum’s Norseman is SE-CPB, ex-RCAF 3538. Postwar, it was gifted to the RNoAF, where it was R-AT. Once the RNoAF re-equipped with Otters, in 1957 “R-AY” was sold to Norwegian operator A/S Flyservice Alesund. In 1960 it moved to Swedish operators Nordiska Vag Bolaget and Norrlandsflyg, where it flew as SE-CPB. From Antti’s photos it’s clear that SE-CPB is in very good condition. Unfortunately, the Arlanda museum recently had to close for financial reasons, leaving the fate of its outstanding collection up in the air (see much about this great museum on the web). Thanks to Antti, a Finnair pilot whose hobbies include collecting historic flight simulators.

Below are three photos of SE-CPB during its RCAF days, first doing an air drop (DND photo) during Ex. Eskimo in 1945, then on floats and skis in photos taken by Herb Smale.

Final 747 Leaves the Line

If you go back to our February 2021 Boeing item (look for “747 Retrospective” in the search box) you’ll find a note about the impending end of the 747 line. Also to be enjoyed there are many lovely old 747 photos with a Canadian emphasis – Air Canada, CPA, Wardair, etc. Be sure to take a look.
 
Today comes news that the last of the 747 breed came off the line at Boeing in Renton, Washington on December 6, bringing production after 54 years to 1574. Above (Boeing Photo) is this historic “Queen of the Skies”, a 747-800 Freighter for Atlas Air of Golden, Colorado. Atlas took the last four 747s (all “F” Models) for its global cargo business.
 
For your enjoyment, here are a last few 747 pix from my files. Lots more back at “747 Retrospective”, if you’re a fan!

Air Canada’s first 747 was CF-TOA fleet number 301. Delivered in February 1971, it was sold in 1984 to Guinness Peat Aviation, then had various leases to National Airlines, Malaysian Airlines, People Express and Flying Tiger, finally ending as N620FE with FedEx. “TOA” was scrapped in Arizona in 1995. Toronto aviation fan Bill Haines photographed “TOA” at Toronto’s Pearson International “YYZ” on June 25, 1974. His vantage point was the famous parking lot rooftop of Toronto’s “T1” Aeroquay.

Air Canada’s CF-TOE lands at YYZ in June 1983. For the airplane photo nerd it’s always fun to snap off a close-up like this as one of the giants of air whistles by on short final. Delivered in May 1974,”TOE” went to Evergreen International in 1998, then was scrapped the same year.

Leslie Corness caught Wardair 747 C-FDJC with a company DC-10 at Gatwick in August 1985. See the interesting details for “DJC” back in the blog at “747 Retrospective”.

Leslie shot TWA’s N93104 at London on August 10, 1980. It went for pots ‘n pans at Marana, Arizona early in 1998.

How many times have you looked up over the decades to marvel at a 747 slicing through the sky more than 30,000 feet above! I caught this one heading southeasterly over Yellowknife in June 1993. Happily, we’ll be marvelling at this sight for decades to come.

Home Sweet Home … A Fellow Lives in a Boeing 727

Have a look here https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/26/73-year-old-pays-370-bucks-a-month-to-live-in-a-1066-square-foot-plane.html. Also … look in our search box for 727 Turns 50. Includes some solid Canadian history that any fan will enjoy.

“Formative Years” Book Review

This week I came across a review in the great UK journal “Aviation News and Global Aerospace” (January 2010 ed’n) of our classic book Aviation in Canada: The Formative Years. As far as the early years of Canadian civil aviation go, Formative Years will inform, entertain and impress any keen reader for decades to come. Here’s a special blog offer if you don’t have your copy: Formative Years delivered anywhere in Canada (“Mafia Post” and tax included) CAD$60.00, USA US$60.00, Overseas (surface post) CAD$120. To order simply pay directly by PayPal to larry@canavbooks.c

CAE Update … CAE Stakes Early Claim as eVTOL Training Provider

Nothing in aerospace is static, every day there seem to be new technologies. In 2015 CANAV published the history of Canada’s iconic CAE Inc. Aviation in Canada: The CAE Story remains the very best book ever produced covering any of the aerospace giants. If it’s a really beautiful aviation book that you’re looking for, look no farther than this one! Here are the book specs + a special deal:

Aviation in Canada: The CAE Story By Larry Milberry. One of the world’s grandest aerospace corporate histories. Founded in 1947, CAE begins with CF-100, Argus & CF-104 “flight sims”. It was a rollercoaster … CAE tackles everything else from consumer products to radar stations, overhauls C-119s, F-84s, T-33s & Viscounts, and manufactures L-1011 & C-135 components. It profits in forestry, owns an airline, flops with bushplanes, makes auto parts, designs control systems for power stations & naval vessels, and disastrously buys Link. CAE designs the robotic hand controller for the Canadarm orbiting today on the ISS. This spectacular book brings you to the present with CAE owing the lion’s share of the commercial flight sim market, produces visual and motion systems, and runs schools & flight sim centres that ease the global pilot shortage. The CAE Story honours the great CAE pioneers & generations of employees. Retired CAE CEO Douglas Reekie comments, “You deserve a great deal of credit for undertaking this task and for doing it so well. There should be a medal for you for perseverance.” Former Commander of Canada’s air force (AIRCOM), General W.K. Carr, DFC, puts it in his famously succinct way: “The book is fantastic”! More atwww.canavbooks.wordpress.com. Treat yourself to this spectacular book, you’ll be delighted!392 pages, hc, lf, 100s of photos, gloss, biblio, index. A bargain at $65.00+ shipping + tax, but with these ALL-IN offers: CAD$55 anywhere in Canada, US55 anywhere in the USA, CAD$100 international (surface mail only). Pay by PayPal to larry@canavbooks.com

Here is some current news about CAE getting into eVTOL — electronic vertical takeoff and landing. The history of this amazing Canadian company

CAE’s viability as an eVTOL training provider is being established through its relationship with legacy airlines, including Virgin Atlantic –  partnered with Vertical Aerospace, Atkins, Skyports, NATS, Connected Places Catapult, Cranfield University and WMG, University of Warwick. | Source: Virgin Atlantic
December 6, 2022 Marty Kauchak

CAE’s many expanding competencies now include its leadership position in the evolving eVTOL training market. Chris Courtney, Director of Advanced Air Mobility for Civil Aviation at the company, said CAE has five training partnerships with eVTOL OEMs to include Joby, Jaunt, Vertical Aerospace, Volocopter and Beta.
“These are not ‘paper partnerships,’” the former career military helicopter pilot emphasized and revealed that for one company, CAE is manufacturing simulators, for several, it is developing courseware and curriculum. “For another company we’re their exclusive training provider globally. That company, Vertical Aerospace, is a traditional OEM, making and selling aircraft. We’re going to be providing simulators and delivering training out of our training centers and assisting with their customers where they are going to be selling to.” For Volocopter, CAE is delivering global training for the OEM outside Europe. “We are making a new flight simulator for them, the CAE 700MXR and we’re working with Volocopter and with EASA to get the device qualified and get as many pilot training credits as we can get on this particular device.”

At this embryonic stage, CAE has an internal team with numerous capabilities, including a regulatory affairs specialist, engineers and others, to advance its eVTOL training portfolio. As eVTOL community members accelerate the pace of first flights, pursue aircraft certification and other early life-cycle activities, CAE has hit a “sweet spot” of sorts in the timing of its eVTOL training focus. Courtney observed that training is not a pursuit once you certify an aircraft and explained, “This is something you do three years in advance of entering service – the time we traditionally start working on training with a traditional airplane or helicopter maker.” While Courtney notes CAE has the reputation of a “credible training provider for more than 75 years,” it is also an early preferred simulation and training provider due to its global training center network. The existence of brick-and-mortar training centers dispels some of the early expectations that eVTOL training would be provided in large doses through distributed learning and like-instructional designs. “To be an ATO, there is an awful lot of rigor and scrutiny to be an authorized training provider,” the executive pointed out and added, “the infrastructure is part of it, the instructors are another, and then there are the flight training devices and curriculum that all have to come together.” And while Courtney acknowledged there will be some opportunities to conduct satellite-based or other distance-enabled learning, “you still have to follow the same process that applies for current ATOs.”

CAE notes its viability and attractiveness as an eVTOL training provider is also being established through its role as a training provider to legacy airlines beginning to acquire eVTOLs. “Almost 80 percent of those sales are already CAE existing customers,” the CAE executive said. “Whether it is Virgin, American, Gol, or others, “these airlines and operators are saying, ‘As you provide the Boeing 737 or whatever, we expect you to be there for us in the eVTOL space because it is different. We want to leverage your new and innovative ways to train pilots and train the individuals who are going to operate the eVTOLs that are going to be part of our brand.”            

News From CANAV

RCAF 435 Squadron C-130H 130336 on the ramp at 17 Wing Winnipeg on September 28, 2022. This is one of the “H-models” delivered in 1986 as aerial tankers, but also to do the other many duties demanded of Canada’s Herc fleet. This day ‘336 was slated for a search and rescue training exercise in the Lake Winnipeg area. Also shown is the crew for the day. 435’s five Hercs have logged more than 100,000 flying hours, including 27,000+ for ‘336 when I photographed it this day.

It’s been so long since we’ve had the time to post anything new. Finally, here’s a bit of an update. First of all, I hope you will have a close look at our new Fall/Winter 2022-23 newsletter & booklist. It’s packed with outstanding reading for all those having a serious interest in our great aviation heritage. I really appreciate that most of you are long-term CANAV fans, but in order to survive, any such small aviation publisher needs more of its fans to turn into actual supporters (i.e., fans who buy a book once in a while). CANAV needs you both, but can’t survive without a few more more fans becoming supporters. Please give it a thought, if it won’t break the bank.

CANAV introduces its latest booklist

Canada’s premier aviation book publisher presents its Fall/Winter 2022/23 list. Have a close look and you’ll find many important titles old and new including some exceptional bargain books. Please get in touch with any questions about ordering, etc.
Cheers … Larry Milberry, Publisher, larry@canavbooks.com

1-canav-booklist-fall_winter-2022Download

RCAF Centennial Book Project

Most of my 2022 efforts have been in basic research and writing for CANAV’s next book, its grand history of the RCAF 1924. After four years of this so far, the groundwork is done covering from the background to 1924 and into the 1980s. The next year mainly will be covering the modern RCAF, including visiting as many bases as possible. I started this lately with visits to Borden and Winnipeg to cover such squadrons as 400, 402 and 435, and such other important organizations such as CFSATE at Borden and Barker College at 17 Wing Winnipeg. In November I’ll cover 8 Wing Trenton and Petawawa. This fieldwork lets me see the RCAF in action, before finishing the final chapters. This is the recipe for a book that will be worth having on your shelves.

Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada

The RAMWA’s magnificent Canadian Vickers Vedette replica. Several of the men who worked on this project had worked on Vedettes in the 20s and 30s. This spectacular display shows the results.

While visiting 17 Wing, I squeezed in a sidetrip to Winnipeg’s wonderful new aviation museum, the former Western Canada Aviation Museum. There, Gord Crossley (17 Wing Heritage Officer) and Bob Arnold (long-time museum member, restorer, scrounger, etc.) showed me all the super work that’s been done to bring the museum from its roots in the 1970s, through its decades jammed into an old TCA hangar, to today’s magnificent museum. Here are a few of my quickie photos to give you an idea of why you need to make an aviation history pilgrimage to Winnipeg. At the end, I include a few images from Winnipeg’s other important aviation history collection at 17 Wing Winnipeg across the field from the RAMWC.

Another of the museum’s premier displays is the restored Froebe brothers’ experimental helicopter from the late 1930s. The story of Canada’s first serious helicopter project first was told in my 1979 book Aviation in Canada. In that period, Doug Froebe had written to me, “The first time it left the ground, I was at the stick. The tail lifted off first, I’d say two or three feet. Then I pulled back and the front wheels left the ground one at a time. My two brothers were very excited, but I was sort of scared.” Interest in the Froebe story then slowly developed, as often happens once a story gets a bit of initial coverage. Others pursued this one until the original Froebe airframe was acquired by the WCAM. Here is sits in its glory in the new museum.

Restored to flying condition over many years by a team led by Bob Cameron of Whitehorse, Fokker Super Universal CF-AAM now is permanently on display at the RAMWC.

CF-AAM also graces the dust jacket of our by-now famous book, Aviation in Canada: The Formative Years.

Another of the museum’s many world-class restorations is “Big Bellanca” CF-AWR. Brought to Canada in 1935, “AWR” (in its day Canada’s biggest airplane) toiled on many northern projects until crashing near Sioux Lookout in January 1947. Eventually, the WCAM’s stalwart recovery team hauled “AWR” out of the bush. Then began its multi-decade restoration to Bellanca perfection.

From the same era of the classic bushplane is the museum’s Fairchild FC-2W2, CF-AKT. Imported from the US for Canadian Airways in 1930, it eventually (1934) was brought up to Fairchild 71C standards. It then served in the bush until a serious accident near Watson Lake, Yukon in August 1943. Then, Canada’s only civil Fairchild Super 71 CF-AUJ. First flown at Longueuil in 1935, “AUJ” did much heavy lifting in the bush, until an October 1940 accident at Lost Bay south of today’s Red Lake. Again, the always forward-thinking WCAM recovery team salvaged the wreck, which the museum turned into this magnificent restoration.

Beautifully restored cabin Waco YKC-S CF-AYS came to Canada for Arrow Airways in 1935, then served many other operators in the bush. Finally, it joined Central Northern in 1947, a company that soon became Transair of Winnipeg. “AYS” was withdrawn from use in 1953, but somehow survived to end in the RAMWC as another premier example of aviation in Canada during the “Golden Years” of the 1930s.

Sometimes touted as the WCAM’s premier bushplane is this Junkers 52. Originally a tri-motor Ju.52s, long ago the museum converted it to represent CF-ARM, Canada’s famous single-engine Junkers “Flying Box Car” of the 1930s. The details of this and most of the museum’s classic bushplanes are best found in the seminal K.M. Molson book, Pioneering in Canadian Air Transport. This is a book you all should have. See if you can track down a copy at www.bookfinder.com Otherwise (seriously), you should find yourself a copy of Aviation in Canada: The Formative Years and one of Air Transport in Canada.

Representing the RCAF in WWII and the BCATP is this lovely Tiger Moth restoration. 1122 had served at 34 EFTS at Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, piling up some 1242 flying hours before being sold as war surplus equipment in 1945 and becoming CF- COU.

Beaver No.1500 … DHC-2 Beaver C-FMAA served the Manitoba Government Air Service 1962-84, before landing at the WCAM. Today, it’s one of many aircraft seen “flying” from the rafters of the new museum.

No.703 is the RAMWC’s example of the RCAF’s great CF-104. Beside it is one of the CF-104 flight simulators manufactured by CAE of Montreal. In the background of some of these photos you can see other museum aircraft. In this case … the Beaver and Air Canada Viscount.

The museum’s Canadair CL-41 Tutor climbs away above the Viscount and Canadair CL-84.

Two experimental types of which the museum is proud – its Avrocar (the so-called Avro “flying saucer”, actually a simple hovercraft) and the Canadair CL-84. The CL-84 held great promise until defunded by the US government. One wonders about its potential back in the 1960s and how it might have influenced today’s V-22 Osprey. Note how the museum maximizes its wall space.

Two fascinating cockpits to be viewed at the museum: the Viscount airliner and CF-101 Voodoo fighter.

The museum has a giftshop with many products on sales, but books only get a tiny corner. Nothing here from CANAV, sad to say, but … c’est la guerre, right. Then, a look at a tiny part of the museum’s important research library and archive.

On the west side of Winnipeg International Airport resides RCAF 17 Wing. Beginning decades ago, the base decided to display a few of the classic post WWII types that served here. The first three were the Expeditor, Dakota and Mitchell, mainly of No.1 Air Navigation School fame. These have weathered the decades fairly well. Here are “the Dak” and the Mitchell shot during my September 2022 visit.

The Expeditor was in the 17 Wing aircraft restoration shop for a clean-up and new paint. The other big project here is a Bolingbroke being restored using parts from various hulks recovered from prairie farms over the decades.

The RCAF air park’s CF-104, T-bird and Sabre. Under the scaffolding to the right is the CF-100, then getting a clean-up, new decals included.

Voodoo 101008 in 425 Squadron colours, then ex- AETE Challenger 144612.

Part of the air park’s tribute to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan includes a Harvard and several displays of memorial bricks. Among the latter I spotted several fellows about whom we’ve written over the decades, Ron Breeden included. Ron’s career included a first tour on CF-100s, where he was known on squadron as “the boy pilot” on account of his youthful appearance.

The air park also includes a Musketeer, Kiowa and Tracker. All things considered, you can see why a trip to Winnipeg should be in the cards for any serious fan of Canadian aviation history!

Norseman Update … Antti Hyvarinen from Finland recently visited the Dutch aviation museum where ex-Canadian Norseman CF-GLI is being restored. Here are his photos. Thanks, Antti! See the attached special offer for our two beautiful Norseman books. For outside Canada drop a note ref. shipping costs to larry@canavbooks.com

Norseman lists … Northern pilot, Rodney Kozar, keeps close track of Norseman “facts and figures”. Here are his two basic lists for 2022. Please contact Rodney if you have any updates.

airworthy-noorduyn-norseman-as-of-1-october-2022-page-1-of-3Download

noorduyn-norseman-in-north-america-museumsDownload

Old Hamilton Airport Update

If you search here on the blog for Old Hamilton Airport, you’ll see a fascinating bit of Canadian aviation history. Airports, of course, are not of huge interest to the typical aviation fan, but they are an indispensable part of our aviation heritage. By far the best source book for the topic is T.M. “Tom” McGrath’s 1991 gem, History of Canadian Airports. If you’re ever lucky enough to find a copy, pay whatever they’re asking. You’ll soon have this one on your shelf of favourite aviation books.

While filing material lately, I came across some other really top photos of old Hamilton Airport — the one opened  in 1930 to replace the original 1926 J.V. Elliot Airport in the Beach Road neighbourhood. In 1951 Hamilton Airport closed, once the wartime airport at nearby Mount Hope became Hamilton’s main aviation hub.

If you search here on the blog for Old Hamilton Airport, you’ll see a fascinating bit of Canadian aviation history. Airports, of course, are not of huge interest to the typical aviation fan, but they are an indispensable part of our aviation heritage. By far the best source book for the topic is T.M. “Tom” McGrath’s 1991 gem, History of Canadian Airports. If you’re ever lucky enough to find a copy, pay whatever they’re asking. You’ll soon have this one on your shelf of favourite aviation books.

While filing material lately, I came across some other really top photos of old Hamilton Airport — the one opened  in 1930 to replace the original 1926 J.V. Elliot Airport in the Beach Road neighbourhood. In 1951 Hamilton Airport closed, once the wartime airport at nearby Mount Hope became Hamilton’s main aviation hub. These historic photos came to me decades ago in the Robert “Bob” Finlayson Collection. Bob had been CANAV’s darkroom man for many years. You can find earlier blog mentions of him

Canada Post in the Crosshairs … Again

Canada Post riles Canadians with its Mafia-like rates. It cost me $74 today (November 1, 2022) to mail 3 small packages (inside Canada, cheapest rate) each with one book. Too bad Canadians are so wimpy when it comes to such things. We just take whatever Canada Post sticks to us.
 
The latest Canada Post brouhaha is around the new stamp honouring the DHC-2 Beaver on its 75^th anniversary. Problem is that they’ve incurred the wrath of the aficionados who object that the Beaver on the stamp has an American registration. Good point, you eagle-eyed folks, and shame on Canada Post. Their design gurus certainly are not sweating the small stuff!
 
My own beef with this stamp (and the series of 5 in the booklet) is their overall brownishness. Isn’t aviation all about the blue sky and bright clouds? If I had been asked, I’d have suggested simplicity — bright aviation colours. Brown? Forget it!

When Canada Post brought out my own stamp showing the RCAF Vampire, which I had photographed from a 442 Sqn Buffalo, it was just perfect. Take a look. How could Canada Post have done so well?

Besides the Vampire, compare today’s brown Beaver with the beauty of a Beaver that Canada Post issued ages ago based on one of the great Robert Bradford’s magnificent paintings. Now that’s a philatelic Beaver for you!

Canada Post, feel free to call me next time you have an aviation stamp in mind. I’ll be happy to get you on the right track and save you from shooting yourselves in the foot again. Meanwhile, start sweatin’ the small stuff!

Cemetery Studies

Following up on some earlier cemetery coverage, here is a bit more RCAF history from St. John’s Norway Cemetery. I spotted these two graves during a walk on September 11.

With 11 men killed, January 26, 1942 was a dark day for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, its darkest to date. Included among the dead was Sgt Alfred C. Cornell, age 26. Having attended Danforth Technical School in Toronto, before enlisting in the RCAF he had been an optician at Robert Simpson Co. in Toronto. He was married and had two small children. Killed with Cornell when they crashed in Harvard 3237 was Sgt Gordon F. Clark, age 23 of Kingston. They had been on a flight from No.2 Service Flying Training School at Uplands, Ottawa. Cornell’s funeral took place on January 30. Clark is buried in Cataraqui Cemetery in Kingston.

Memorialized on his family marker in St. John’s Norway is navigator, WO2 John W. Dickson, a pioneer night fighter airborne intercept navigator with RCAF 409 Squadron. Flying in a Beaufighter IIF from Colby Grange, on August 3, 1941 he and F/O Bruce A. Hanbury, a former TCA pilot, made 409’s first GCI (ground controlled intercept). Tragedy struck on March 27, 1942 when S/L Hanbury (age 21 from Vancouver, a 1 Squadron RCAF Battle of Britain veteran), P/O Philip M. Sweet (age 21 from Huron, South Dakota) and FSgt Dickson died in a Beaufighter training accident. Suddenly, Beaufighter T3142 had entered  a flat spin from which Hanbury could not recover. The crew was laid to rest in Scopwick Church Burial Ground, England. Often, such airmen are remembered on the stone marking their family burial plot in Canada.

Here’s the CANAV Books Blog for September 2021: Some Exotic Flying Test Beds; Canada’s 414 Sqn & the Vermont ANG in Electronic Warfare + Vermont’s Scorpions; 49th FIS F-106 Air-to-Air; and Not To Be Missed — 3 Books for the Avid Aviation Reader. Enjoy!

canav_booklist_feb.-2021Download

blog-0-paul-squiresDownload

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

Save DRD – Red Lake’s Norseman icon

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#20211555

HB109 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. (Sam has 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-in

Sprog 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 … Larry Milberry

PS … Scroll back for loads of other Canadian aviation history coverage. CanForces readers will be interested in some of these stories:

Canadian Forces Supports the Former Soviet Union: 1993 Mission to Krasnoyarsk

Canada’s C-130s to the Rescue – “Operation Preserve” August to December 1991

East Africa Adventure, Summer 1994

Also … you can google this item about Canada’s military assistance in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras: Canada to the Rescue in Honduras

Peter Anthony Holder interviews Publisher Milberry about The CAE Story

Peter Anthony Holder is a Montreal-based broadcaster who produces The Stuph File, a podcast that features an eclectic mix of interviews and news. With 20 years in the biz, Holder has interviewed celebrities, including Star Trek‘s George Takei and Lindsay Wagner, The Bionic Woman. He also features quirky stories, like the one about the person who has Hitler’s toilet, the guy who trains llamas to be golf caddies, and the founder of the Church of Jediism.

Holder helps the CANAV cause by interviewing Larry and promoting the work of CANAV Books, including our recent Aviation in Canada series.

Check out the latest interview, about The CAE Story here.

CAE Book Makes the Cross-Country Trip from Manitoba to CANAV

Bully for Friesen Printers of Altona and their friends at Day and Ross trucking for getting the CAE book (all 5 tons of it) delivered to CANAV at noon today!

Here is your publisher and author (moi) in the warehouse with the first book out of the box. Aviation in Canada: The CAE Story, as I see it, probably is my best effort since 1981 – tops among about 35 various titles (my expert bibliophiles will know what I mean). But …  The CAE Story is not a book for the faint of heart. It’s an in-depth history for the in-depth reader.
Who got to celebrate first today with The CAE Story? A bunch of fired-up Milberry types on the front porch of CANAV Books world headquarters — 51 Balsam Ave. in Toronto. This was actually a pretty fantastic little crowd to help me get such an important ball rolling.

For all you keen fans with your CAE book orders already in the CANAV “system”, your copy will be in the mail this week. For those of you who haven’t placed your order, you can purchase your copy online. Thanks as always for your great support and let me know what you think, OK!

All the best!

Larry

Summer/Fall Newsletter 2015 and … Introducing Aviation in Canada: The CAE Story

Dear Reader,

I hope that all goes well with you so far through mid-2015. At CANAV things are hopping, the excitement being all about being our new CAE history. Any fan of Canada’s great aviation heritage will revel in this exclusive production, the largest so far in our 7-vol. “Aviation in Canada” series.

If you have the other titles, you’ll know what to expect (in case you haven’t yet treated yourself to the series, there’s still stock). FYI, The CAE Story is not an official company history. However, neither were our world-class bestsellers Canadair: The First 50 Years, De Havilland in Canada and Power: The Pratt & Whitney Canada Story.

Order your autographed copy of The CAE Story online today!

If you’re looking for some great summer reading, be sure to peruse the new CANAV general booklist. Check out such hot additions as Fangs of Death (439 Sqn), Lost: Unsolved Mysteries of Canadian Aviation, A Life in Canadian Aerospace and My Life and Times at Canadian Airlines. Other great selections? Air Transport in Canada remains in print and still at a $60 discount. This mighty publication (1040 pages) is the world’s single heftiest aviation history title. Only a handful of Hugh Halliday’s Typhoon and Tempest: The Canadian Story remain, so if you want some truly exciting RCAF WWII reading, don’t miss out on this wonderful production — a real icon in the category of books honouring our wartime air and ground crew. Also down to the last few original copies is CANAV’s highly-touted Power: The Pratt & Whitney Canada Story.

Another beauty that you’ll be sure to enjoy (and a bargain at $50) is Canada’s Air Forces on Exchange. Content-wise, this is one of the more far-out of Canadian aviation titles, e.g., in the “who knew” category. Here you’ll read about Canadians on exchange (or contract) from the USA and UK to such other nations as France, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway on such types as the B-29, B-52, B-57, C-17, C-97, C-141, Britannia, F-4, F-5, F-102, F-106, Gladiator, Lightning, Mirage and Nimrod. With hundreds of photos this book will open your eyes to an important (if little-known) aspect of RCAF history. Some of the excitement includes Canadian pilots ejecting from the F-100 and F-105, chasing a UFO in an F-94, bombing Mau Mau in Kenya, ditching in the Mediterranean in a Hastings, ferrying a Javelin from the UK to Singapore (one Javelin is lost in the Bengali jungles), ferrying a B-57 from the USA to Pakistan and an RF-4J from the factory in St. Louis to Japan, test flying the EuroFighter in its early days, flying Tornados in Saudi Arabia and crewing on secret missions in the WB-50, WB-57 and SR-71. This may sound like “Believe It or Not” stuff, but it’s all solid history!

Besides building up your personal library, you also might consider donating a CANAV volume to your local public/school library. Needless to say, a set of “Aviation in Canada” wouldn’t likely be turned down! A positive way of spreading the word and making a difference, eh. Final reminder … be sure to check out CANAV’s free book offer on p.4 of the main booklist.

Need to get in touch?

As always, feel free to call or email any time for further info: (416) 698-7559 or larry@canavbooks.com.

And, as usual … good reading to one and all!

~ Larry Milberry, publisher