CANADIAN AVIATION HISTORICAL SOCIETY
CARL F. BURKE, MBE, CHAPTER
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
PRESIDENT - Roy Ramsay (902) 436 5971

NEWSLETTER

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Vol. 1 No. 6 Mar. 2003

     Again, I would like to thank the members for attending our December meeting. In particular, I would like to thank our Secretary, Errol Laughlin, and also Lowell Huestis for volunteering to research the history of the Old Summerside airport. Further, thanks goes out to the Chapter Directors for their suggestions on reviving our organization. Also, I want to thank Mr. Mike Everett and the Slemon Park Corporation for their efforts in erecting the lights over the aircraft at Slemon Park. They are lighting all three aircraft and looks good. Thank you Mike.
     Again, I ask each member to bring a prospective member to our next meeting at the Skyplex in Charlottetown on Saturday, March 1/03, at 2:00 P.M. Our Guest Speaker for the March meeting will be Mr. Bob Johnson who during W.W.II flew a Hurricane and was downed but miraculously eluded captivity. Don’t miss this one.
     At our December meeting Mr. Peter Pope spoke about his father, Mr. Reg Pope, which was recorded on tape and later transcribed. It is available to any member wishing to have a copy. Just ask. Our thanks to Peter for an excellent presentation.

GUEST SPEAKER PETER POPE - SUMMERSIDE AVIATION PIONEER REG POPE
( Editor’s Review )

     The people of Summerside were anxious to play a leading role in aviation development after W.W.I. crowds assembled to be taken aloft on flying “Jennies” flown by Barnstorming pilots following the war. There was a flying boom for flights that cost 20 cents a minute. By 1927, Air Transportation was becoming old stuff to residents of Summerside. Many of whom had once taken their first ride in a flimsy aircraft were beginning to feel the laws of supply and demand as prices rose to 50 cents a minute. A fine example of the interest in aviation was on August 13, 1934 when the Mayor and Council of Summerside passed a resolution while airborne to mark the official opening of the new airport ( now the Industrial Park ) which served until the RCAF constructed the air base in 1941. Even before the original Summerside airport was constructed, the town was receiving regular Winter Air Service by Canadian Airways Ltd. which provided service on the harbour ice in 1929.

     Against this background, Peter Pope spoke of his father’s life as one of the early aviation pioneer of Summerside. While Reg Pope is generally considered as a pioneer pilot, his contributions to aviation went far beyond flying. Reg Pope had a passion for every aspect of aviation and would seek every opportunity to be involved with flying. Peter’s presentation highlighted occasions when his father would be building private aircraft, building private hangars and runways, working in an aviation factory at Montreal during the war and providing local flying services with airplanes on wheels, skis or floats. Reg Pope was man dedicated to aviation in every sense of the word.

     Reg Pope’s first aircraft was a monoplane ( shown below ) which he built himself in 1931, the first aircraft to be built in the Maritimes. After gaining three hours of flying, he flew it to Moncton where it was tested and declared as one of the best machines the Inspector had ever flown. Reg Pope’s feat was highly acclaimed by local and New Brunswick newsmen. Reg Pope was a Mechanic and this confirmed his reputation as a perfectionist in his trade. The plane had a length of 20 feet, a wing span of 15 feet and a height of 4 feet. At this time the family had a bungalow where McDonald’s restaurant is located in Summerside. At the back, Reg built a hangar near the water where he enjoyed flying on skis in winter and on floats in summer. His flying drew much interest and people came from far and wide to see him perform his take-off and landings.

     Reg had also a two seater de Havilland Moth which he recovered following a crash somewhere on the mainland in 1933. With the help of a neighbour, Harold Schurman, he recovered the wrecked plane by truck and repaired it for flying. Later that year, he was taking a neighbour, Mrs. Bowness, for a flight in this de Havilland Moth on Dominion Day when a friend was killed in another aircraft at the old airfield at Summerside. He had loaned this friend, Herbert Mann of Margate, the aircraft which, unfortunately, he used for stunt flying. On a third dive in front of the grandstand a wing broke off and the airplane crashed and burned. This was the first time someone was killed in an airplane accident on PEI. In 1936, he sold the de Havilland Moth to Carl Burke, his first airplane. Peter Pope recalled walking on the Duke street boardwalk with his father when Carl Burke passed the last payment for the airplane to his father.

     Peter relates many anecdotes about his father. When Peter was about age four, he attended a Goodwill Air Tour at the Old Airport in Summerside with his father and suddenly everyone became alarmed when David Lidstone, the School Principal, and his wife Joan reported that their son Dick was missing and they feared that he had been kidnapped. He recalled the anguish that the couple displayed until his father told them that he had seen the youngster go flying with his grandfather, Mayor Lidstone, who was so excited about taking his grandson flying that he forgot to tell anyone.

     Peter recalled that the Brennan brothers, Lowell Huestis and some other older boys were into model aircraft building and were going to the Old Airport to fly a new powered model. He and Derwin Huestis, his buddy, were told not to come because they were too young. They trailed along behind anyway and watched as the model aircraft powered off and after a wide sweep above their heads returned to hit his friend Derwin on the forehead. He wears the scar today.

     Peter Pope and his wife met a man while vacationing in Cuba who asked them where they were from. Peter told him that they were visiting from Summerside. The man responded that he once lived behind Schurman’s Mills in Summerside and that the one thing that he could always remember about Summerside was Mr. Pope’s Airplane Ride but he couldn’t remember what year that was. Peter simply said, “Oh, it would have been July 2,1933”. His name was Vern Brewer and after recovering from bewilderment they exchanged names and an interesting conversation ensued. On returning home, Peter met a number of people who knew of the Brewer family when they lived in Summerside.

     In 1933, the Italian Air Force led by its leader Air Marshal Balbo visited Summerside with a flotilla of 24 seaplanes. Reg Pope in his two seater airplane with Senator Creelman, his Father-in- Law, joined them in a flight formation to a Fly-In to Shediac, NB. That evening there was a big banquet in honour of the Italians. It was reported that the Shediac harbour was so congested with Italian seaplanes that there was great wonder later how the war was ever won against all these planes. ( Ed: Balbo became the Chief of Italian Armed Forces in North Africa and died in a plane crash there in 1940.)

     After returning from the war, Reg Pope built a Hangar and a little runway next to the golf course near Summerside, and then in 1958, he bought property closer to Summerside at St. Eleanors and moved his hangar and built a little runway nearby. In 1959, Reg Pope and Carl Burke flew the de Havailland Cirrus Moth two seater aircraft, the one Reg Pope rebuilt, at the fiftieth anniversary of power flight at Bedeque, Nova Scotia. Again in 1963, Reg accompanied Carl to Ottawa where the same aircraft was donated to the Aircraft Museum. Recently, Peter Pope’s little granddaughter was visiting the museum with her school class and said to her teacher, “There’s Granddad’s plane.” The teacher was puzzled and inquired, “What do you mean? ” The class moved closer and were surprised and delighted to read the name of Reg Pope on the plaque.
PHOTOGRAPHS OF AIRCRAFT ( below )

2003 RCAF / CFB SUMMERSIDE REUNION 11-14 September 2003

There will be a Reunion of former RCAF Station / CF Base Summerside personnel, including military, civilian and dependents to celebrate the memories we enjoyed on Prince Edward Island from 1941 to 1991. Contact the Reunion Committee at the following addresses:

Web site; www.slemonpark.com with link to 2003 Reunion
E-MAIL; 2003reunion@slemonpark.com
Mail; RCAF / CFB Summerside Reunion, PO Box 90, Slemon Park, PE C0B 2A0
Registration forms are available on the Web Site and via e-mail or post
Let us know soonest if you are likely to attend so that we may plan the events!

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