CAHS Prince Edward Island Chapter Newsletter

CAHS Prince Edward Island "Carl F. Burke, MBE" Chapter

PRESIDENT’S REMARKS
Thanks to the members who came out to the June meeting. I’d like to thank Syd Clay for taking on the position of Chapter Treasurer. The rest of the Chapter Executive remains the same for the coming year. If any member happens to know of anyone who might be a potential member of our chapter please invite them out to one of our meetings. The next meeting would be a good meeting to bring someone along as Mike Campbell, the Charlottetown Airport manager, will be our guest speaker. Our next meeting will be held, once again, at the Charlottetown Armouries on Sept. 9th.

Dr. John Stephen (Jack) Jenkins of Charlottetown, P.E.I., and Elizabeth Louise Mitchell of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., met in London, England, during W.W.I. where both were volunteers in the “Great Fight”. He was a physician in the military and she was a nurse in the Voluntary Auxiliary Division. Dr Jack Jenkins was a prominent fifth generation physician. The first of his ancestors was a medical practitioner in London in the 1770’s. His great-grandfather settled at Upton Farm, West Royalty, near Charlottetown, PEI, in the early 1800’s after serving as a physician with the British at the Battle of Waterloo. John (Jack) Stephen Jenkins was born in Cardigan, P.E.I., July 22, 1887 where his father started a medical practice but moved to Charlottetown the following year. Jack grew up in Charlottetown and went to St. Dunstan’s University, P.E.I., and continued his studies at McGill University where he received his medical degree. He went overseas with the 24th Battalion in W.W.I. as a medical officer and was later appointed Deputy Assistant Director of Medical Supplies at London, England. Following the war, Jack and Louise married and settled at Upton Farm. Soon after returning to P.E.I., Dr. Jenkins became established in a very successful medical practice and gained a reputation as a pioneer in several surgery procedures.

Dr. Jack, as he became known, soon began renovating the Upton Farm property by adding to the original house and building additional livestock barns. The family homestead was surrounded by gently rolling fields bordered with a variety of majestic trees. One could hear the sounds of horse trotting from the nearby training track at the Upton house, a jewel of Upton Farm. They had four children, Jessica, Joan, Jackie and Keir. Keir died from a fall in 1929. A tragedy from which neither Jack nor Louise ever fully recovered. Dr. Jack was an avid breeder of shorthorn cattle and racing horses, a passion he inherited from his grandfather. His stables raised both racing and show horses. The first race horse he owned was Devilish Dorothy, bequeathed to him by his grandfather. This mare produced a colt named Devilset that sold for $2,500.00, a fantastic price at that time. His stable bred and developed many horses that became show champions. While his advances in surgery and the breeding of winning horses were significant achievements, Dr. Jack was also well known for his aviation pioneering.

Louise and the children spent the winters in Florida and returned to Upton Farm every summer. Jack would join them for short visits in Florida by air and it was during these travels to and throughout the southern U.S.A. that he decided to advance air travel on P.E.I. He was also motivated by Erroll Boyd and Harry Connor who were guests at Upton Farm on their way to cross the Atlantic in the aircraft “Maple Leaf”, or otherwise know by its American name “Columbia”, in 1930. Dr. Jenkins became an accomplished pilot on P.E.I. and played a major role in aviation by developing the first Island airport. He had offered a part of his farm to the City of Charlottetown for an airport but received no effective response. Consequently, he built it himself. With advice from a Federal Airways Inspector, Dr. Jenkins proceeded to remove fences, trees and stone hedges until there was landing spaces in the shape of the letter L on the northern end of his farm for an airfield. The longer north-south runway was 2,880 feet and the shorter east-west runway was 1,600 feet. Both were 500 feet wide. At the southern end of the longer runway, he built an aircraft hangar which could house three small aircraft. In addition, there was a small administration building complete with an office, store room, lounge, fireplace and kitchen. With the co-operation of local authorities, Dr. Jenkins was enabled to receive the Trans-Canada Air Pageant on August 23, 1931 which was attended by 8,000 people and marked the official opening of the Upton Airport.

Scarcely a visitor by air had landed at Upton who had not enjoyed the hospitality of the Jenkins’ family. The guest would be ushered in through a driveway emerging from a little wood to find a picturesque home with gardens sloping down to the river. Dr. Jenkins’ architectural talent was well illustrated by the airport and the farm land that he developed. An article published in the Canadian Aviation Magazine in January 1932 states, “It is to Col. Jenkins, and his enthusiastic wife, that the thanks of the Island are due for one of the finest personal contribution to the advancement of aviation anywhere in the Dominion. It is a large part of their beautiful farm that has been utilized for the Upton Airport.”

Louise Jenkins was an aviation enthusiast in her own right. She first learned to fly in Sarasota, Florida, USA, during the winter of 1931, and later, took flying lessons from Pilot Junior Jones on P.E.I. and continued her training at the Curtiss-Reid Flying School, at the Cartierville Airport in Montreal, with Gathen Edwards on Dec. 2, 1931. She persuaded Edwards to accompany her on at flight to New York and to assist her in buying a plane, a de Havilland DH-80 Puss Moth which she bought in Toronto. On Feb. 4, 1932, she went aloft in the Rambler CF-AC1 with flight inspector Stuart Graham and passed all her tests except a figure eight which she completed a couple of weeks later. On Feb. 23, she made a record flight from Montreal to Charlottetown in four hours and forty minutes, flying her own Puss Moth with the call letters CF-PEI after she prevailed on Prime Minister R. B. Bennett to help her obtain the airplane registration “PEI” in honour of her adopted province. Louise became the first female licence pilot on P.E.I. when she received her Private Pilot Licence, PPL #973, on March 8, 1932. Louise Jenkins joined her husband in staging a number of air shows at the Upton Airport and in performing in many others throughout the Maritimes. Dr Jack suddenly became seriously ill and family responsibilities compelled her to end her flying career. On November 8, 1932, Louise made her final flight in her Puss Moth after eight months as a pilot in which she acquired 210 flying hours, 150 of them solo.

On the outbreak of W.W.II., Dr. Jenkins immediately offered his services again and was posted first as a Medical Officer for the troops at the Beach Grove Station, Charlottetown, and than as Purchaser of Medical Supplies for all three services in Ottawa. Dr. and Mrs Jenkins lived in Ottawa until he was appointed Inspector of Military Hospitals in Eastern Canada with an office at Montreal. At the end of the war they returned to P.E.I. and resumed their civilian lives. Their children matured and move to career locations elsewhere. The Jenkins travelled frequently to visit their children and grandchildren. Eventually, the Upton Farm was sold except for a southern section bordering the North River which became known as Popular Island. This Island was cleared for a cottage resort and three cottages were built. Summers were spent there when families came to visit. During the winter, the Jenkins resided at the Regent Hotel in Charlottetown. They would make frequent trips to visit their children and grandchildren and Louise would often extend her visit to help her children with the growing grandchildren in Quebec and the U.S.A..

On Apr. 26, 1972, Dr John Stephen (Jack) Jenkins, M.D., C.M., D.S.O., V.D., died in the Charlottetown Hospital following an illness of less than a week in his 85th year. After her husband died and her grandchildren were grown, Louise settled in Old Lyme, Connecticut, U.S.A. On Jan. 3, 1986, Louise Jenkins, P.E.I.’s first “Daring Lady Flyer”, and one of Canada’s first female pilots, died in Old Lyme, Connecticut, at the age of 95 years.

The Guardian Newspaper Charlottetown, P.E.I.
No Place for a Lady by Shirley Render
The Jenkins Family - five Generations of Doctors by Hilda Jenkins and Margaret Jenkins Taylor
P.E.I. Goes Air minded in the Canadian Aviation January 1932 issue

Aerial photography in Canada began in the 1920’s driven by the need for surface maps, coast line and harbours charts, highway construction and town planning. Captain E.G.D. Deville, Surveyor General of Canada from 1885 until his death in 1924 is credited as being the leading pioneer of aerial photography in Canada. Before Captain Deville’s time, maps were plotted using photographs taken from mountain tops, balloons and other ingenious means. It was Britain’s donation of 135 W.W.I. aircraft to Canada in June of 1919 and the formation of the Air Board of Canada in the same year that got aerial photography off the mountains and into airplanes.

The Air Board was responsible for commercial and non-military flying. Under the authority of the Air Board, the Surveyor Department, under Dr. Deville, organized the first experimental aerial survey over Ottawa-Hull in 1920. The first aerial photographic flight was flown by Flying Officer J.B. Mulvey from Rockcliffe with a wartime aircraft and camera, bolted to the side of the aircraft. The objective was to determine the potential of aerial photography in the production of mosaic maps for survey purposes. For these experimental flights a two-seater Avro 504 (Clerger engine) and a Bristol fighter (Rolls Royce engine) were used. The Avro was found to be unsuitable for vertical photos due to its low operating ceiling and excessive vibrations. The Bristol provided poor photo results as the aircraft was too sensitive to piloting control and thereby imposed excessive stain on the pilot to maintain the Bristol in a straight and level line of flight. The initial result was mostly distorted photographs. This occurred because the aircraft was not flown completely level and also because a straight course was not being flown as the airplane crabbed into the wind. Nonetheless, this led to the launching of aerial photography as a revolutionary surveying method .in Canada.

Indeed, in 1920, the vast untouched wilderness of much of Canada brought about a technical explosion in aviation as surveying, mapping, charting, forest protection, soil conservation and other types of activities as Canada’s resources began to be exploited. Departments of government, and later, private

Industry began to invest seriously in aerial photographic work in order to expand their knowledge of potential wealth and the capabilities needed in gaining access to that wealth, particularly in very remote areas.
Aerial photography began with elementary un-calibrated cameras mounted insecurely in the open cockpit of planes made of wood, fabric and wire and gradually improved with experience and funding. The Military and the Land Surveyors cooperated closely when Departments identified photographic requirements. Beginning in the 1920’s, there were increasing demands for specific aerial photos for planning of major construction projects such as the St Lawrence Seaway, town site development, highway construction, power plants, railways, airways, heritage parks and many other resource activities. In fact, the astonishing growth of aerial photography during W.W.I. was followed by a decade in which the Federal Topographical Division and the Military pursued rigorous growth of aerial photography operations in surveying and mapping Canada even in the face of limited aerial photographic experience and limited financial resources.

In the years 1921-22 experiments continued with a de Havilland DH-4B aircraft. Two types of cameras were used with alterations made to the observer’s cockpit to accommodate the camera. Initially, a Steinheil Orthostigmat Series E camera with an 11 inch circular photographic plate was used. The plates were exposed at 10,000 feet depicting about nine square miles of terrain of which only seven square miles were useable due to blurring at the edges. Fifteen plates were used for 15 square miles of the Ottawa-Hull area. The second camera was designed and constructed to cover a wider field of view. Photo results from this camera provide clarity near the center but had declining definition toward the edges. These vertical photos were taken with the camera hung, or otherwise, fixed parallel to the horizontal plane of the aircraft.

The second type of aircraft photo was the oblique photograph. An oblique photograph was taken with the camera free to move in any directions. Also, the photograph was taken with the axis of the camera pointing toward the centre of the subject about 20 degrees below the horizon. The further the subject matter was removed from the axis of the photo the greater was the distortion in the resulting photo. Taking oblique photos using the K-2 camera was found to be extremely useful in survey work. By flying over an area and taking oblique photos at intervals of about two minutes provided detail shoreline and island information that enabled engineering work to be progress quickly.

These aerial photographic experiments revealed that aerial photographic information could be transposed to produce a topographical map. Experiments also indicated a need for a more stablized aerial camera. Further, it became obvious that communication between the pilot and the cameraman was a major problem since normal voice communication could not be heard, and consequently, the cumbersome use of a pad and pencil created an undesirable time delay that had to be overcome. Experience indicated that for survey work maps showing only prominent features were required, and therefore, oblique photography coverage was employed. For urban areas where accurate detail was essential, verticals photography were used. Vertical photography was demanding because the pilot had to maintain the aircraft at a constant altitude and on a straight line. Photography had become one of the driving forces for the creation of a permanent military air capability in Canada. The Royal Canadian Air Force (R.C.A.F.) was born.

The birthday of the R.C.A.F., April 1, 1924, marked the beginning of the R.C.A.F. as a component of Canada’s defence forces. A total of 66 officers and 194 other ranks comprised the personnel in the new air force. Twenty pilots divided between Jericho Beach on the Pacific coast and Dartmouth on the Atlantic coast provided the flying capacity to conduct the aerial photography that was being increasingly demanded. By 1924, the Fairchild camera had official replaced the wartime camera types although the old cameras remained for alternate uses. The new Fairchild camera had an automatic film feed with 75 feet of film capable of 125 exposures with an electrical device that set and released the shutter and wound the film. The Fairchild camera could be adjusted for differing time intervals as required by the speed and altitude of the aircraft, the amount of overlap desired, and the focal length of the lens. These features greatly increased the capacity of the cameraman to successfully provide reliable exposures for the photo laboratory to produce good quality photographs in the production of maps.

Major John Henry “Tuddy” Tudhope is a significant name in Canadian aviation pioneering history. Following service with the British during W.W.I. as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps, he joined the R.A.F. when it was formed on April 1, 1918. Tuddy became Officer Commanding the Shotwich Training Group in England and rose to the rank of Major before leaving the R.A.F. to immigrate to Canada in 1919 and soon joined the fledging Canada aviation effort to become a leader in the R.C.A.F. (Continued in the next issue)