CAHS Vancouver Chapter Meetings Schedule

Back

Archived Meeting Notices

Tuesday April 13, 2004

• We have a two-part presentation again for April.
• The first presentation will be by Keith Wade, who is putting together an interesting selection of slides from Sea-Tac Airport in the 1980s.
• Following that, time permitting, Jerry Vernon will show another instalment of slides from his visit last May to the U. K. This time it will be the Museum of Army Flying at Middle Wallop and/or the deHavilland Aircraft Heritage Centre (aka Mosquito Museum) at London Colney. If everyone would come to the meeting at 7 PM, rather than straggling in at 7:30, we might get to see one or both of these presentations.
• For those of you who are still not making it out to the Chapter Meetings, I have again attached a map (see here) showing the location of the Richmond Library and Cultural Centre, adjacent to the two-level parkade.
• See you there!!

Photo from the the 2004 Vancouver Aviation Collectibles Show. Left to right are Jerry Vernon, Vancouver Chapter President and Colin Webster, CAHS National Director, sitting at the Vancouver Chapter table - April 10, 2004.

Tuesday March 9, 2004

• We have another two-part presentation again for March.
• The main presentation will be by Jim Jorgenson, who has a slide and video show covering the 2003 B. C. Aviation Council Air Show at Harrison Hot Springs, B. C. plus recent views and aircraft at Vancouver International Airport.
• Following that....and I think this time we will have time for it.....we will pay a brief slide visit to the City of Norwich Air Museum, in Norfolk, from my U. K. trip last May. There are also some slides of Heathrow activities and the over-the-North flight home to YVR. For a change, there was clear weather over Iceland, Greenland and Northern Canada.

Tuesday February 10, 2004

• Note:  PLEASE endeavour to be in the Multi-Purpose Studio by 7:00pm so that the meeting can start at 7:30pm or earlier if possible. We must finish up by 9:15pm so that the room is empty by 9:30pm.
• Malcolm Fitz-Earle has arranged for his friend George Doutre to speak to us about his involvement with the Short flying boats at BOAC.
• George Doutre was born in India to British parents. In 1945, at the age of 16, he joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Seaman, in Signals. While in Karachi in 1946, he became caught up in the Indian Mutiny and was decorated for bravery. He left the Royal Navy in 1947 and joined British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) as an Air Traffic Controller for their flying boats. George was based mostly in Bahrain in the Persian Gulf, where he worked for three years for BOAC, who were operating civilianized Sunderlands (Hythes), Sandringhams and Empire ("C" Class) flying boats. In 1949, he then joined the RAF at Calshot as Coxswain on Air-Sea Rescue boats of RAF Coastal Command, attached to their Sunderland flying boats. During his last year with the RAF(1953) he witnessed the testing and destruction of the Saunders-Roe Princess flying boats.
• George will present stories of his experiences in India and of flying in and working on a variety of flying boats, illustrated with pictures he took at that time. He will then show a video entitled "The Last Sunderland", recently produced in the UK.
• My cousin's husband in the UK, Ken Emmott, flew flying boats for BOAC, and later Comets, 707s and 747s for British Airways. From 1981 to 1993, he was the Captain of G-BJHS, "the last Sunderland", and in 1993 he assisted the new owner, Kermit Weeks, in ferrying the aircraft back across the Atlantic to its new home in Florida. G-BJHS was RAF ML814, and had served during the war with 422 Sqn., RCAF, and later with the RNZAF, Ansett Airways and Antilles Air Boats in the U. S. Virgin Islands. When I visited Ken last year, I was treated to a showing of "The Last Sunderland", along with 2 or 3 hours of other video and TV footage of the aircraft.
• If time permits, we will also pay a brief slide visit to the City of Norwich Air Museum, in Norfolk.

Tuesday January 13, 2004

• The main event will be the "What the Heck Is THAT?" quiz, compiled by Mark Munzel from the slide collections of several Chapter Members. Multiple choice test sheets will be handed out, so bring a pen or pencil if you wish to participate. There will be a prize for the most correct answers and Mark assures me that he is not looking to nitpick to the nth degree on the difference between a C-47A-25-DK (built in Oklahoma City) vs. a C-47A-40-DL (built in Long Beach) or on subtle variations of the Phantom. We will only expect you to be able to pick out (or guess at!!) the basic aircraft type!!
• This will be our Chapter AGM, where a minimum amount of time will be spent on obligatory business and Chapter Executive elections. Please note that Chapter Treasurer Norm Penny has indicated that he must step down, in order to devote more time to family matters, so that a VOLUNTEER is required for the position of Treasurer. There is a minimum amount of work involved, mainly collecting and depositing the monthly Landing Fees, Chapter Memberships, etc, and paying expenses for the door prizes, refreshments and meeting room, keeping the Ledger and providing a Balance Sheet at the end of the year.

Tuesday December 9, 2003

• This will be our Christmas meeting, with a few extra goodies and cheer available, and some of the higher quality door prize books will be available for the lucky "Landing Fee" draw winner to choose from.
• The main presentation will be by Mark Munzel, with his slide coverage of the 2003 Comox and Trenton Air Shows.
• If time permits, we may also wrap up the evening with a brief visit to the City of Norwich Aviation Museum in Norfolk, another of the lesser-known small UK air museums that your Chapter President visited this past May.
• I think most of you enjoyed our October speaker, Chapter Member Wayne Ralph, who presented the made-for-TV documentary video "The Hero's Hero - Forgotten Life of William Barker". As many of you know, Wayne is the author of the best-selling book "Barker VC", and has acted as historical consultant on this and other documentaries on the life of Colonel William Barker, VC. Since the meeting, there have been a couple of newspaper articles on Barker, as noted below....
• A front page news story on 11 Nov 03 in the Toronto Globe and Mail featured "The Crash of a Canadian Hero - Lest we forget", by Roy MacGregor, in his Our Canada column......
• On 19 Nov 03, The Canadian Press put out a 1,200 word essay about William Barker and the opportunities for a movie or TV special beyond the two historical videos already produced.....
• For January (Tuesday the 13th), Keith and Mark have decided to try another "What the Heck is THAT?" night..... bring your "mystery aircraft" slides to the December meeting to loan to Mark.

Tuesday November 11, 2003

REMEMBRANCE DAY - NO CHAPTER MEETING

Tuesday October 14, 2003

• Please excuse the late meeting notice, but the speaker and program for October was "up in the air" until last night, Friday evening. We had planned to make another attempt at having Mark Munzel's presentation on 2003 Comox and Trenton Air Shows, but Mark is in the process of moving, and was unsure where his slides were packed. Any uncertainty was totally removed on Friday by Mark's employer, who is sending him to San Jose on Tuesday!!
• We are therefore bringing forward the proposed speaker from the December meeting, Chapter Member Wayne Ralph, who will present the made-for-TV documentary video "The Hero's Hero - Forgotten Life of William Barker". As many of you know, Wayne is the author of the best-selling book "Barker VC", and has acted as historical consultant on this and other documentaries on the life of Colonel William Barker, VC. Click here for details on the documentary.
• Wayne will bring along some copies of his book, if any of you wish to purchase an autographed copy. He will also bring along some slides on the Barker story and there will be time for a Question and Answer session. For further information on William Barker, refer to the Roy MacGregor, Our Canada column "The Crash of a Canadian Hero" featured as a front page news story on November 11th 2003 in the Globe and Mail, as well as a 1,200 word essay about Barker put out by The Canadian Press on November 19th.
• Keith Wade will follow up, if time allows, showing aircraft he managed to photograph this Spring in Hawaii and Costa Rica, while there on "non-aviation" personal and/or business visits.
• Future Meetings:
  Our next meeting is on Tuesday 09 Dec 03, but there will be no meeting at the Arts Centre on Tuesday 11 Nov 03, for obvious reasons. Then, we meet on 13 Jan 04, 10 Feb 04, 09 Mar 04 and so on.
• In December, we will try again to present Mark Munzel and the 2003 Comox and Trenton Air Shows, and perhaps a short presentation on one of the other smaller UK air museums that your Chapter President visited this Spring.

Tuesday November 14, 2003

• There will be no meeting at the Arts Centre on Tuesday 11 Nov 03, for obvious reasons.

Tuesday October 14, 2003

• In May, I shot about 30 rolls of slides at eight air museums in the UK, and it may be easier for me to spread these out over several meeting over the next 10 months, possibly some of it as fill-in material at other meetings. I visited the Museum of Army Flying (Middle Wallop), RAF Museum (Cosford), Midlands Air Museum (Coventry), City of Norwich Aviation Museum, Shuttleworth Collection, Duxford, Imperial War Museum (Duxford), deHavilland Aircraft Museum (formerly known as the Mosquito Aircraft Museum) and the RAF Museum (Hendon). I had a good visit with  former local John Kimberley and quaffed a few pints with him, at a pub overlooking RAF Mildenhall. Our intent had been to sit off the end of the active runway with our cameras and an order of fish & chips, but the weather was too dreary for anything to fly. Unfortunately, the Mildenhall Air Fete was cancelled this year, due to the latest Iraq War. - Jerry Vernon

Tuesday September 9, 2003

• Mark Munzel has been called out of town on business next week, and will be unable to present slides from the Comox and Trenton Air Shows as the main event.
• The substitute speaker will be your Chapter President, Jerry Vernon, who will show slides from his visit this past May to the Royal Air Force Museum at Cosford and the Midland Air Museum at Coventry.
  The collection at RAF Cosford, formerly known as the Aerospace Museum, is considered to be one of the top three museums in the U. K. Their collection consists of over 80 aircraft, including many large transport and bomber aircraft on outside display, the British Airways jet transport collection, a number of captured Japanese and German aircraft, and one hangar filled with most of the surviving British experimental aircraft and prototypes. The RAF Museum's restoration workshop is also at Cosford....although not open to the general public, the Restoration Manager is fortunately an old acquaintance, so a roll of film was shot off in there as well.
  The Midland Air Museum is at the Coventry Airport( Baginton). They have over 30 aircraft on display. Besides the "obligatory" Avro Vulcan, the collection include a selection of jet fighters from France, Denmark, USA, USSR, and even the rear fuselage of an RCAF Sabre in their "back lot". All but about 10 of their aircraft are on outside display, including the one-of-a-kind Boulton Paul P.111A delta wing research aircraft (somehow Cosford didn't get this one!). This museum also displays a number of nose and cockpit sections, and is the home of the Sir Frank Whittle Jet Heritage Centre and the Wings over Coventry gallery.
• Keith Wade will follow up, as time allows, showing aircraft he managed to photograph this spring in Hawaii and Costa Rica, while there on "non-aviation" personal trips.
• We will also have to sort out what we are going to do about the Landing Fee money and door prize draws from the May and June meetings, as none of the Chapter Executive were there to collect money or draw for prizes. I have a good selection of door prize books, if the members wish to make an additional contribution and have an additional draw, or we can just let it ride. We are okay for money for now.

Tuesday June 10, 2003 - Last meeting until September

• Jerry will be away in Winnipeg next week, attending the Air Force Historical Conference, and Keith will be away in Hawaii, enjoying Hawaii. As in May, the meeting will go on without us. This will be the last Vancouver Chapter meeting until we meet again in September.
• Jim Jorgenson will show a selection of slides from the Vancouver Airport and other local venues, that he has shot over the years and up to the current time. As you may know, Jim worked at YVR for many years as a Civil Engineer for Transport Canada, and since his retirement does contract photography on airport construction projects, as well as photography for the YVR Skytalk newspaper, various aviation magazines and for his own stocklist.
• Any of you who have slides that we have not seen are invited to bring them along to fill in the balance of the evening with a potpourri, following Jim's presentation.
• Norm will also be away, so you will have to conduct yourselves on your own and there may be nobody there to collect the Landing Fees or run the door prize draw, since nobody else volunteered to look after those things in my absence. That sounds fair enough....no money collected = no door prizes!!
• We don't need the money that badly right now, so we can figure out in September what to do about it....either let it ride, or collect some money for May and June and run a couple of extra draws.
• We should have some good slides for the Fall, as I plan to visit the Museum of Army Flying (Middle Wallop), RAF Museum (Cosford), Midlands Air Museum (Coventry), Shuttleworth Collection, Duxford and perhaps the RAF Museum (Hendon), plus maybe a few minor places that I run across in between. I expect to see John Kimberley when I am there. Keith and Cory are going to Costa Rica and then Keith is going to Hawaii in June....don't forget to take aircraft slides in both places, Keith!!

Tuesday May 13, 2003

• Steve Wilcox has travelled to Ontario and Quebec over the past two Summers (why??), and will be showing us slides from that area from his extensive aviation slide collection, covering the airports and air museums in Canada's own "Middle East".
• I saw Pat Martin this morning, and he has just run off a 2nd printing of his new book on RCAF markings, 1947 - 1967. Pat will be at the meeting with some copies of the book. Bring money!!
• I will be away overseas for the May meeting, and will miss the June meeting as well due to the Air Force Historical Conference in the Near East (Winnipeg), so you will have to conduct yourselves on your own. Also, with Keith and Cory and probably Norm also away travelling, there may be nobody there to collect the Landing Fees or run the door prize draw, since nobody else volunteered to look after those things in my absence. That sounds fair enough....no money collected = no door prizes!!
  We don't need the money that badly right now, so we can figure out in September what to do about it....either let it ride, or collect some money for May and June and run a couple of extra draws.
• Both Keith and myself will be back in town in late May/early June, and we will organize a speaker for the June meeting, but both of us are travelling again on the 10th of June.

Tuesday April 8, 2003

• Our speaker this month will be Chapter Member Martin Riehl, who will show a selection of slides of models, aircraft models that is!! Martin has been active with IPMS for many years and, as most of you know, operates a large hobby shop in North Vancouver (Finescale Models, at 163 East 1st, just East of Lonsdale Avenue). As "something different", he will be showing part of his collection of slides of historical aircraft models, IPMS prize winners, etc. over the years. I would imagine a lot of these are "scratch-builts", not simply your run-of-the-mill plastic kits out of a box.
• We may have a bit of time left over at the end of the evening, if any of you have a few current or unique slides you would like to bring along as a potential fill-in item.
• I HOPE WE WILL HAVE SOME COOKIES AND REFRESHMENTS THIS MONTH!!
  (So far, I have heard nothing to the contrary)
• NOTE the new starting time....15 minutes earlier at 1915 hrs(7:15 PM). The starting time has been advanced, as discussed at the last meeting, because the staff at the Richmond Arts Centre has to go home at 10 PM and wants users out of there by 9:30 to 9:45 at the very latest. Our usual 9:59 PM departures are not acceptable to them and, if we cannot wind up and finish earlier, they will take more drastic steps to reduce our time allotment.
  
  Let's gather at 7:15, have our set-up and chit-chat time, do a little bit of CAHS National and Chapter business, and get the speakers going no later than 7:45....sooner if we can.

Tuesday March 11, 2003

• Another two-part meeting.....
  Norm Penny will give the main presentation, on the 2002 EAA Arlington Fly-In, with some additional material from the 2001 event and perhaps a little bit of local material as well.
• Keith Wade with have a shorter presentation titled "CPAir - A Nostalgic Look at the Orange Years". The subject is self-explanatory, and this may be most interesting to some of our younger members.

Tuesday February 11, 2003

• Chapter Member Jim Jorgenson has just returned from his trip to New Zealand and Australia, and will treat us to a full evening of slides from that area and other points visited on his trip, such as Los Angeles International Airport.
  The presentation will cover aviation activities in the Sydney area, including a tour of the Qantas facilities and views from an airside transfer bus.
  In New Zealand, Jim has coverage of the airport and RNZAF Museum at Christchurch and the excellent MOTAT Museum at Auckland, as well as other NZ aviation activities that he managed to find in his travels.
• Future Meetings: Our next meeting is on Tuesday 11 Mar 03. Keith is still working on a program for that evening.
• This year's CAHS Convention will be held in Halifax on 5/6/7/8 Jun 03, co-ordinated with the 2003 Induction Dinner for Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame on Saturday the 7th. Also, the 2003 Air Force Historical Conference will be held at 17 Wing Winnipeg on the week immediately following the CAHS Convention, ie: from 09 - 13 Jun 03, using the Officers' Mess and on-base accommodation in their excellent "motel-style" facility.
• NOTE the new starting time....15 minutes earlier at 1915 hrs(7:15 PM). The starting time has been advanced, as discussed at the last meeting, because the staff at the Richmond Arts Centre has to go home at 10 PM and wants users out of there by 9:30 to 9:45 at the very latest. Our usual 9:59 PM departures are not acceptable to them and, if we cannot wind up and finish earlier, they will take more drastic steps to reduce our time allotment.
  Let's gather at 7:15, have our set-up and chit-chat time, do a little bit of CAHS National and Chapter business, and get the speakers going no later than 7:45....sooner if we can.

Tuesday January 14, 2003

• Our feature presentation for January will be a selection of slides on Canadian military helicopters, from Pat Martin's vast slide collection. If time permits, Pat will also have a "surprise" presentation for us, of some of his more exotic or unusual military aircraft slides.
• Don't forget that January is also our Chapter Annual General Meeting, so there will be a few minutes devoted to some obligatory business and Chapter Elections for the position of Chapter President, Treasurer and Program Co-ordinator. Note that I have been Chapter President now for the past 11 years, plus 3 years back in the early 70s/early 80s....and it sometimes gets more that a little bit tiresome getting shot at and shat upon from Eastern Canada, when you are only trying to help the Society!! If anyone else would like to take over the job, give it some thought before Tuesday evening!!
• Our next meeting is on Tuesday 11 Feb 03. At the moment, I don't have any information on what our topic or speaker will be, apart from the reliable standby, "TBA".
• Don't forget....we have an edict from the Richmond Arts Centre that we must vacate the meeting room earlier than in the past, so they can close up the premises and go home by 10 PM. We must aim to be clear of the room by 9:45, not 9:55 or 9:59. We will be opening the doors at 7:15 in the future. I'll keep reminding you all of this until it becomes engrained in everybody's brain!!
• This year's CAHS Convention will be held in Halifax on 5/6/7/8 Jun 03, co-ordinated with the 2003 Induction Dinner for Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame on Saturday the 7th.
• Also, the 2003 Air Force Historical Conference will be held at 17 Wing Winnipeg on the week immediately following the CAHS Convention, ie: from 09 - 13 Jun 03, using the Officers' Mess and on-base accommodation in their excellent "motel-style" facility.

Tuesday December 10, 2002

• This month we will have a joint presentation by Mark Munzel and Keith Wade, in the form of a slide presentation on the Planes of Fame Airshow 2002, held at Chino, CA last May. Expect lots of WW II aircraft in action, including the gamut of U. S. WW II fighters, three(3) Spitfires, a Hurricane and the Northrop N9MB flying wing (scale prototype for the later huge Northrop XB-35 and YB-49 flying wing bombers) If time permits, Mark and Keith will also show a few slides of fire bombers and airliners from the same California trip. This being CHRISTMAS (Canadian Mint and other political weasels notwithstanding!!), we will have our usual Christmas "extras".....a few nibbles, some Christmas cheer (aged a further year in the bottle since last year!!) and I will bring out of hiding the usual higher class of Landing Fee draw prize books.
• Our next meeting is on Tuesday 14 Jan 03. This will be the Chapter Annual Meeting....a fairly brief affair....followed by our entertainment, which at the moment is once again "TBA".
• Don't forget....we have an edict from the Richmond Arts Centre that we must vacate the meeting room earlier than in the past, so they can close up the premises and go home by 10 PM. We must aim to be clear of the room by 9:45, not 9:55 or 9:59. We will be opening the doors at 7:15 in the future. I'll keep reminding you all of this until it becomes engrained in everybody's brain!!
• Next year's CAHS Convention will be held in Halifax on 5/6/7/8 Jun 03, in conjunction with the 2003 Induction Dinner for Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame on Saturday the 7th.
• The 2003 Air Force Historical Conference will be held at 17 Wing Winnipeg on the week immediately following the CAHS Convention, ie: from 09 - 13 Jun 03, using the Officers' Mess and on-base accommodation in their excellent "motel-style" facility.

Tuesday November 12, 2002

• Once again we have two presentations for the evening. The main event will be a presentation by Thea Phillips, who many of you met when she attended our October meeting as a guest. The information she gave Keith is a bit sketchy, but basically she says that she was the youngest female pilot in the United Kingdom in the late 1960s, having obtained her Private Pilot's Licence at the age of 17. She will tell us about some of her flying experiences as a woman pilot in that era. I understand she flew corporate jets, certainly near the end of her commercial flying career. Come and hear the rest of the story yourself. Following the refreshment break, Mark Munzel will show some slides from the USAF Red Flag Exercise at Nellis Air Force Base.
• Our next meeting is on Tuesday 10 Dec, and Keith will have another interesting program for us (another way of saying "TBA").

Tuesday October 8, 2002

• NOTE the new starting time....15 minutes earlier at 1915 hrs(7:15 PM). The starting time has been advanced, as discussed at the last meeting, because the staff at the Richmond Arts Centre has to go home at 10 PM and wants users out of there by 9:30 to 9:45 at the very latest. Our usual 9:59 PM departures are not acceptable to them and, if we cannot wind up and finish earlier, they will take more drastic steps to reduce our time allotment.
• Let's gather at 7:15, have our set-up and chit-chat time, do a little bit of CAHS National and Chapter business, and get the speakers going no later than 7:45....sooner if we can.
• Once again we have two presentations for the evening, time permitting.
• Our main speaker is Dr. Ted Hill, a former long-time Chapter member, who we have rarely seen in recent years due to his advancing age.
• The topic of Ted's paper will be "Aviation's Clouded Crystal Ball", a tongue-in-cheek and mildly comic compilation of various predictions about aviation, made by famous figures from 1901 onwards....when one of the Wright Brothers wrote to his brother to the effect this flying thing was not likely to ever work!!!
• For those of you not familiar with Dr. Ted Hill, he logged his first flight in 1928, and during his university days was an active member of the Montreal Light Aircraft Club and the McGill University Gliding Club. During wartime, he served as an RCAF Medical Officer with 162 Sqn.(David Hornell's Canso squadron in Iceland) and postwar was an Air Cadet Officer. As a Specialist in tropical diseases for DVA, he travelled extensively, wintered in Costa Rica for many years, and has logged flights in 116 aircraft types!!
• We will give Ted as much time as he wants for his paper, followed by questions and answers, and if time permits we will run the 2nd half of the video that we have held in abeyance for the past couple of meetings, covering the Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber.
• I must apologize for the lateness of this notice, but it has been delayed while Keith and I sorted out transportation arrangements for the speaker. Keith may not be available Tuesday night to drive Ted to the meeting, alternate driver Ernie Harrison just got home today from shootin' ducks in Saskatchewan and speaker Ted Hill just got home today from yet another vacation trip to Hawaii!!
• Future Meetings:
  Our next meeting is on Tuesday 12 Nov, and Keith has a pioneering female pilot lined up to speak to us. More details next time:
  Keith Wade will have a slide show on the 2002 Abbotsford Air Show, and in particular slides shot on Arrivals Day (Thursday) from his favourite spot on the South side of the arrivals runway, before he was busted and chased away so the Thunderbirds could perform their pre-air show practice.

Tuesday September 10, 2002

• We have two presentations to start off the 2002 - 2003 season:
  Keith Wade will have a slide show on the 2002 Abbotsford Air Show, and in particular slides shot on Arrivals Day (Thursday) from his favourite spot on the South side of the arrivals runway, before he was busted and chased away so the Thunderbirds could perform their pre-air show practice.
   
• The second presentation will be by myself, with slides from the recent Chilliwack Air Show. This is a casual "small town" air show, but several of the regular performers at Abbotsford are there....the Bud Granley Air Force, Eric Beard's Russian Thunder, Gene Soucy and his current wingwalker/wife, and local acts such as John Mrazek (Harvard aeros), Don Richardson (Christen Eagle), Canadian Museum of Flight, and the mighty Aurora and Buffalo from Comox. The best part about the Chilliwack Air Show is that it is FREE, sponsored by the City and local businesses!!
   
• Mark your calendars now.....next year's CAHS Convention will be held in Halifax on 7/8/9 Jun 03, in conjunction with next year's Induction Dinner for Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame.

Future Meetings

• Starting next with Tuesday 08 Oct, Keith has several more presentations lined up, including a talk by a pioneer woman pilot, a presentation on early aviation in Canada by Dr. Ted Hill (one of our long-time Chapter stalwarts, who we have not seen for a long time), Keith and Mark's trip to Chino, and perhaps a visit to the Canada Aviation Museum, something exotic from Pat Martin, and so on.

Another 10 minute flight with the Air Cadets  - Saturday, 11 May 02

• The B. C. Committee of the Air Cadet League of Canada are partly supported by the Air Force Officers' Association, with proceeds from their annual November 11th Dawn Patrol - Photos by Jerry Vernon,  Director and Secretary, Air Force Officers' Association, Member, 801(Vancouver) Wing, Air Force Assn. of Canada

July & August, 2002

• Don't forget.....NO MEETINGS!! See you at Abbotsford, Arlington, Chilliwack, etc.
• Next meeting - September 10th

Tuesday June 11, 2002

• I am pleased to announce that our speaker for the June meeting will be local author and Vancouver Sun writer Sean Rossiter, who will speak on the subject of his latest book, "The Chosen Ones", the story of Canada's test pilots. Not all of these brave gentlemen are covered in the book, due to limitations of space and the unavailability of many of those who have passed away, and who could not relate their stories to the writer...however, most of the outstanding test pilots are covered, including Jan Zurakowski, Don Rogers, Jimmy Orrell (Avro Jetliner), Mike Cooper-Slipper, Bill Waterton and Peter Cope at Avro Canada, plus Russ Bannock, George Neal and Bob Fowler at deHavilland Canada. This is Sean Rossiter's 17th book, the other aviation titles being "Otter & Twin Otter", "The Immortal Beaver", "Flying Cold" and "Legends of the Air". We hope to have some copies of Sean's latest book, and possibly also the previous two titles, there for sale and for him to autograph, if it can be organized. Sean Rossiter has recently "seen the light" and has become a CAHS member. The balance of the meeting will feature another video, time permitting, this time on the Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber.
   
• This will be our last meeting until September 10th

Tuesday May 14, 2002

• The May meeting will be divided into at least two presentations. In late March, the Quarter Century in Aviation Club embarked on a two-day charter bus tour to the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field and the Evergreen Aviation Museum at McMinnville, Oregon. The main feature at Evergreen, of course, is the Hughes HK-1 flying boat....the famous "Spruce Goose", which is actually built of birch plywood using the Fairchild Duramold process. Chapter President Jerry Vernon and Jim Jorgenson participated in the tour, and there will be slides....and possibly some of Jim's video....on the visits. The balance of the meeting will feature another handful of World War II colour aircraft slides from the collection of Chapter member Martin Riehl.

Tuesday April 9, 2002

• The April meeting will be divided into two presentations
   
• The lead-off presentation will be by Keith Wade, who will speak to us on the state of aviation in Australia and Papua New Guinea in the period that he lived down there, from late 1965 through 1968. Keith says that he has some interesting aircraft slides, but the main thrust of his presentation with be his observations of the aviation scene at that time.
   
• The remainder of the evening will feature Norm Penny, with some slides on one of the past Arlington EAA Fly-Ins, which had been scheduled for the March meeting, but were bumped when the African presentation ran long.

Tuesday March 12, 2002

• The main speaker will be Andre DeRuijfer of the local Aviation World shop, who will be giving us a presentation on aviation in the Southern part of Africa. You may recall that Andre was our speaker a year or so ago, when he showed us some very interesting slides of mostly commercial aircraft in that part of the world. This month, he is back again, but his theme will stress the military rather than commercial side of the picture, although some commercial types will appear. There are many obscure aircraft in many obscure countries on the dark continent!! Norm Penny will complete the evening with slides from the fly-ins at Concrete and Arlington, Washington.

Tuesday February 12, 2002

• The February meeting will be divided into two presentations, hopefully with coffee, soft drinks and cookies available in between. The first presentation will be by Mark Munzel, who will show us some superb slides (Keith has already previewed them) from the Red Flag Exercises at Nellis AFB last year. After the break, Mike Head and Steve Wilcox will do their Mutt and Jeff act, and will present slides on their visit to several Arizona airports last year. Since they have to come to do their presentation, presumably we will also get coffee and cookies this month!!
   
• No definite March meeting program (for Tuesday March 12, 2002) has been firmed up at the moment, but it may be the African aircraft slide show we discussed in January.

Tuesday January 8, 2002

• This will be the date for our obligatory brief Chapter AGM, which we have moved from December to conform to the CAHS National year-end.  We will spend minimal time on business and the election of new(?) Chapter officers.  Our speaker for the bulk of the evening will be aviation artist Dan Ryan, who has a slide presentation on the aviation art show in Ottawa last(?) year, the theme of which was "History of the RCAF Through Paintings".  This show drew many of Canada's well-known aviation artists, and we look forward to seeing the results on screen.  Dan Ryan was a long-time CAHS and Vancouver Chapter member, who is coming back into the fold again.  He owns and flies a vintage Ercoupe(aren't they all??), and was one of the organizers of the big Northwest Ercoupe Fly-In several years ago....but that is another story.

Tuesday December 11, 2001

• This is our pre-Christmas Chapter meeting, and we will have the usual Christmas cheer and treats at the intermission. Also, as usual I have saved a couple of the higher quality door prize books for the Landing Fee draw at this meeting. The program will begin with a 50 minute video called "The Last of the Gunfighters", covering the service life of the U. S. Navy's Vought F-8 Crusader. The 2nd half of the meeting will feature Keith Wade's slides on his trip to Arizona in 2000. We have been to Arizona with Keith before, but this is an update, covering new shots from the Pima Air Museum and the Planes of Fame Arizona location.

Tuesday November 13, 2001

• The program will begin with Jim Jorgenson's slides of the "visiting aircraft" at YVR in the wake of the World Trade Centre disaster. For those interested in more of the same, there is a website that shows views at several of the East Coast airports as well. Have a look at http://www.canairradio.com/photos.html for the photos and at http://www.canairradio.com/diversion.html for the list of aircraft and flight numbers.
   
• The other half of the evening will feature Abbotsford Air Show slides by Keith Wade and Mark Munzel. This will include Keith's "arrivals day" slides from Thursday, 09 Aug 01, which we did not get to see at the October meeting, due to the amount of interest there was in our speaker last month.

Tuesday October 9, 2001

• The speaker will be Flying Officer (Ret'd) Dennis Hackett, who will speak on flying the Sabres with the RCAF in Europe and Canada. Dennis has a 40 minute slide presentation and talk, followed by a 20 minute video on production of the Sabre in Canada.
       Dennis is an old friend of mine from our 442(Aux) Sqn. days, who I have not seen in over 40 years, as well as a neighbour and friend of Chapter Treasurer Norm Penny. Dennis flew the Sabre with the short-lived 431(F) Sqn. from Jan - Oct 54, after which 431 was disbanded until the number was reassigned to the Snowbirds in 1978.
       He also flew with other Sabre squadrons in NATO and came to 442/443(Aux) Sqns in Sea Island as a Regular Force Support Pilot when we had the Sabres from 1956-58. After leaving the RCAF, he had a long career as a bus driver on the Lower Mainland (NOT quite the same as driving a Sabre!!).
   
• The balance of the evening will be covered by Keith Wade with some slides of the Abbotsford Air Show arrivals on Thursday, 09 Aug 01, shot from the "forbidden zone" on approach to Runway 06

Tuesday September 11, 2001

• Pat Martin and Mark Munzel will give presentations and their best slides from their visits to Maple Flag 2001 at Cold Lake.  At least 5 of our Chapter regulars made it up to Maple Flag this year.... some more than once .... and some were much more fortunate than others in being able to get closer to the aircraft, taxiways and runways.  Those of us who were there for the one-day DND Public Affairs trip were most impressed by the sight of about 100 jet fighters taking off in less than half an hour....and only three of them were ours (a trio of electronics warfare T-Birds from 414 Sqn.).  In my own case, it was my first visit back to Cold Lake since I spent a week there on course in 1956! Participating aircraft were there from the USAF, US Navy, United Kingdom, Belgium, Holland, Australia, Singapore and Germany(with both Phantoms and MiGs!!).  There were also several "observer" countries with an interest in future participation.

Tuesday June 12, 2001

• Keith Wade has just returned from his field trip to show from Madagascar and has aircraft slides to show from Madagascar, London Heathrow, Charles de Gaule(Paris), and other airports, etc. in between.
• For the 2nd half of the evening, Jim Jorgenson will show some more aircraft shots from his recent trip to Italy, Switzerland, etc., as well as material from a recent tour of the local "Canadian Airlines" maintenance hangar....I don't know what else to call it now that the "Canadian" name and logo have been removed from the side!!
• If they both run out of material, I may bring along some shots from my recent visit to the Toronto Aerospace Museum, etc., as a backup.
• This is the last meeting before the Summer break, so our next meeting after June 12 will be on Tuesday, September 11, 2001

Tuesday May 8, 2001

• Jim Jorgenson has recently returned from a trip to Italy and Switzerland, and has some interesting slides of aircraft at Zurich Airport and other places he visited.
  While we are waiting for Jim to arrive from his B. C. Aviation Council Meeting, the Chapter President will dip into his bag of tricks and show some slides from the 2000 EAA Arlingtington, WA Fly-In.  At an earlier meeting, Keith Wade did show his Arlington slides, but hopefully there will be something new here from the point of view of a different photographer.

Tuesday April 10, 2001

• The speaker will be John Spronk, who many of you know as a long-time Director of the Abbotsford Air Show and (years ago!) an Abbotsford airshow performer with his Chipmunk, etc. 
  John has flown for many years, (starting with Tiger Moths, Spitfires and Meteors) in the Dutch Air Force and  later in Canada with Pacific Western Airlines on their Hercs and 737s. He will be giving an illustrated talk, mainly on his worldwide charter experiences flying the PWA Hercs.
   
• If time permits, following the speaker, we have some old slides from the Chapter President's collection covering the 1963/64/65 Abbotsford Air Shows, at least one of which shows speaker John Spronk performing. The early Abbotsford Air Shows were very low-key, featuring homebuilts, antiques, etc., with a sprinkling of RCAF aircraft from Comox and USAF/USN aircraft from the Pacific Northwest appearing by the middle of the decade.

Tuesday March 13, 2001

• Mark Munzel will present Chapter II of aircraft photographed on his travels last year in the Eastern United States.
• Jerry Vernon will fill out the evening with a selection of slides from his visit last June to the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa, the 2000 Chilliwack Air Show and the 2000 Pitt Meadows Fly-In(or whatever they called it....not "air show"!)

Tuesday February 13, 2001

• Keith Wade will show slides on 30 years of Abbotsford Air Shows.
   
• Ben Graumann will show a tray of slides on current items from Vancouver Airport
   
• Jerry Vernon has a small group of aircraft and airport slides from his recent visit to the Cook Islands.

For more information about the monthly meetings or about the Vancouver Chapter of the CAHS please contact: Jerry Vernon, Vancouver Chapter President, (604) 420-6065 jevernon@telus.net

Back to News and Views Page