CAHS Vancouver Chapter Meetings Schedule

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The Vancouver Chapter of the CAHS meets on the 2nd Tuesday of every month, except for July, August and statutory holidays, at 1900 hrs (7:00 pm) in the Multi-Purpose Studio, 2nd Floor, Richmond Arts Centre (see map), Minoru Boulevard, Richmond, B. C. Visitors are always welcome.

It seems that I need to keep reminding all of you that we have had to start the meetings earlier than a couple of years ago, because the staff at the Richmond Arts Centre has to leave at 9:30 PM SHARP, and wants users out of there as soon after 9:15 as possible. Late departures are not acceptable to the City. When we start late, we have often had to cut short the program in order to be out on time....as we have had to do more than once!! We have had two years to get used to this, and many Chapter Members still come late to the meetings. I feel lonely when I am the only one there at 7 PM, waiting for the dancing girls ahead of us to vacate the room. Come on time and see the dancing girls!! It might also persuade them to pack up and leave more promptly.

Future Meetings

Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Tuesday, 12 December 2006

A note from Mark Munzel:
While Jerry has everybody's attention, I'd like to mention that I need material for the fourth annual "What the heck is THAT?" aircraft recognition quiz. If you have suitable photos of rare or easily-confused aircraft (especially those with a Canadian connection -- this is the CAHS, after all!), please bring them to the October or November meeting, or e-mail them to me at this address.

I also welcome suggestions on how the quiz can be made more equal, in the sense that both novice "spotters" and walking encyclopedias like Jerry have an equal chance of winning. The quiz will be held in December or January, depending on other meeting subjects and the workload of the guy putting it together. :)

Thanks,

Mark Munzel

P.S. Note that they should be YOUR OWN photos. Please don't send images you
"found" on the web!

Tuesday October 10, 2006

I am off to the UK, Normandy and Holland on September 20th, and not back until October 8th, so this meeting notice is going out earlier than usual. I will try to give the local chapter people a final reminder when I am back, just a couple of days before the meeting.

For this meeting, Ken Bjorge will bring along a copy of the movie "Captains of the Clouds", starring Jimmy Cagney, which was recently aired on the Turner Classics channel....but most people forgot to watch it. Ken has a clean copy of the movie, not a taped copy, and I think you will all find it very interesting. It is an early Technicolour film, shot mainly at RCAF Stations in the Summer of 1941, with great colour shots of bush planes(Norseman, Waco, Stinson and Fairchild 71) and RCAF aircraft such as Harvards, Yales, Tiger Moths, Fairey Battles, Hudsons, Northrop Nomads, etc....even a Hurricane painted to represent a Messerschmitt 109 in the final scenes!! Air Marshal Billy Bishop has a lengthy speaking part in the film.

It is about a 2 hour film....at least it ran just a few minutes short of 2 hours, with no commercials, on the TV, so the tape may be even longer. As a result, we will have to get going smartly on time this meeting for sure, in order to be out of the facility before 9:30!! If you are not there on time, we will have to start the movie without you!!

We don't have a topic lined up yet for November. If you would like to volunteer to make a meeting presentation, or know of someone interesting to propose as a meeting speaker, please contact Keith Wade at (604) 985-6202 or at a_k_wade@hotmail.com

Other Business:

• Jim Jorgenson is now taking care of the meeting refreshments, so hopefully this problem area should now be reliably resolved and we can enjoy our mid-meeting breaks again. Until the coffee urn is returned, we will be having soft drinks only....which is just fine for most of us!!

Tuesday September 12, 2006

Mark Munzel will present Thunder Over Michigan, the airshow held in Detroit in August which featured the Vintage Wings of Canada (Michael Potter) Mustang (in wartime 442 Sqn. markings) and Hurricane as well as Ed Russell's Spitfire, Hurricane and Me.109. Also present were the Canadian Warplane Heritage Lancaster and various other Spitfire, Hurricanes and sundry warbirds. It sounds like a real treat!!

We don't have a topic lined up yet for October, and I will be away in Europe until a couple of days before the October meeting. If you would like to volunteer to make a meeting presentation, or know of someone interesting to propose as a meeting speaker, please contact Keith Wade at (604) 985-6202 or at a_k_wade@hotmail.com

Other Business:

• Every time I think meeting attendance can't get any lower, all of you surprise me with a new record!! If we can't get better attendance, perhaps it is time we stopped having Chapter meetings, where just a handful of people spend a lot of time putting together interesting slide or video shows that nobody turns up to see.

• Jim Jorgenson is now taking care of the meeting refreshments, so hopefully this problem area should now be reliably resolved and we can enjoy our mid-meeting breaks again. Until the coffee urn is returned, we will be having soft drinks only....which is just fine for most of us!!

Tuesday June 13, 2006

We are making up for the later-than-usual notice in May with an earlier-than-usual notice for June, since I will be away in Winnipeg from 01 - 09 Jun, attending the CAHS AGM and Convention, as well as the Air Force Historical Conference, where I will be presenting a paper on the RCAF's First Generation Postwar Fighters, the Mustang and the Vampire.

We had thought of trying another YVR Tower Tour for the June meeting, but it is getting tougher to arrange and Jim Jorgenson just returned last night from Switzerland and Southern France (yeh, tough, but somebody's got to do it!!). Jim feels it is too late to set something up now for June, and perhaps we will try for a special tour during July or August, or even for our September meeting. Keep an eye on your e-mail!!

The May meeting must have set a new record for low attendance, just 3 of us, since many of the regulars chose May to go travelling abroad. The advertised May program was not run, so we will try it again in June.

The Chapter President will show a selection of slides from places he visited over the past year, including:

• CAHS AGM and Convention in Regina, where we visited Whereatt's Warbirds (Harry Whereatt's collection of airplanes, including his Hurricane, Lysander, Harvard, etc.), the Frank Thompson farm and collection, the Mossbank Museum (No. 2 Bombing & Gunnery School), 15 Wing Moose Jaw Museum, & the Western Development Museum (Moose Jaw)
• The new Canadian War Museum at Ottawa.
• The new hangar at the Canada Aviation Museum, including the Vickers Vimy replica which was there at the time.
• A recent visit to the Murphy Aircraft factory at Chilliwack.

In addition, if time permits, Jim Jorgenson will show some aircraft slides from Switzerland and Southern France, where they have a lot of airlines and small carriers not usually seen by people from this area. Otherwise, this will run in the Fall.

If you would like to volunteer to make a meeting presentation, or know of someone interesting to propose as a meeting speaker, please contact Keith Wade at (604) 985-6202 or at a_k_wade@hotmail.com

Other Business:

• Jim Jorgenson is now taking care of the meeting refreshments, when he's not in Switzerland, so hopefully this problem area should now be reliably resolved and we can enjoy our mid-meeting breaks again. Until the coffee urn is returned, we will be having soft drinks only....which is just fine for most of us!!

Tuesday May 09, 2006

Sorry for the later-than-usual advance meeting notice....we have had the usual difficulty in getting a volunteer to speak!!

The Chapter President will show a selection of slides from places he visited over the past year, including:

• CAHS AGM and Convention in Regina, where we visited Whereatt's Warbirds (Harry Whereatt's collection of airplanes, including his Hurricane, Lysander, Harvard, etc.), the Frank Thompson farm and collection, the Mossbank Museum (No. 2 Bombing & Gunnery School), 15 Wing Moose Jaw Museum, & the Western Development Museum (Moose Jaw)
• The new Canadian War Museum at Ottawa.
• The new hangar at the Canada Aviation Museum, including the Vickers Vimy replica which was there at the time.
• A recent visit to the Murphy Aircraft factory at Chilliwack.

If you would like to volunteer to make a meeting presentation, or know of someone interesting to propose as a meeting speaker, please contact Keith Wade at (604) 985-6202 or at a_k_wade@hotmail.com

Other Business:

• Jim Jorgenson is now taking care of the meeting refreshments, so hopefully this problem area should now be reliably resolved and we can enjoy our mid-meeting breaks again. Until the coffee urn is returned, we will be having soft drinks only....which is just fine for most of us!!
• The 2006 CAHS AGM and National Convention will be held at the newly renovated Victoria Inn Hotel and Convention Centre in Winnipeg, jointly with the 12th Annual Air Force Historical Conference. The dates are Tuesday, 06 Jun 05 through Friday, 09 Jun 06.
• The theme of this year's papers is Transformation and Canada's Air Forces - From RFC to Canada Command.
• The full Convention package is $ 175.00 for early registrants or $ 200.00 after 23 May 06. The hotel package is $ 79.00/night.
• Other events in the same general time frame are the Manitoba Air Show, at Southport(Portage la Prairie) on 3 - 4 Jun 06 and a fundraising Dinner to Honour Manitoba's Wartime Heroes(supporting the Mynarski Statue Project) on Saturday, 10 Jun 06, featuring Dr. Jack Granatstein as speaker. The dinner is at the convention hotel, which is located near the Winnipeg Airport and Western Canada Aviation Museum.

Tuesday April 11, 2006

Keith Wade will present slides from the 2005 Kemble Air Show in the UK. Mark Munzel will follow up with slides from the Yeovilton Naval Air Station and RAF Coltishall, which the two of them also visited on their trip last year.

If you would like to volunteer to make a meeting presentation, or know of someone interesting to propose as a meeting speaker, please contact Keith Wade at (604) 985-6202 or at a_k_wade@hotmail.com

Other Business:

• Jim Jorgenson is now taking care of the meeting refreshments, so hopefully this problem area should now be reliably resolved and we can enjoy our mid-meeting breaks again. Until the coffee urn is returned, we will be having soft drinks only....which is just fine for most of us!!
• The dates for the 2006 CAHS AGM and National Convention have been announced, and CAHS National Members should have received the Meeeting Notice, Proxy form, and other information a month ago, along with their Winter 2005 Journal. The meeting will be held at the newly renovated Victoria Inn Hotel and Convention Centre in Winnipeg, jointly with the 12th Annual Air Force Historical Conference. The dates are Tuesday, 06 Jun 05 through Friday, 09 Jun 06.
• The theme of this year's papers is Transformation and Canada's Air Forces - From RFC to Canada Command.
• The full Convention package is $ 175.00 for early registrants or $ 200.00 after 23 May 06. The hotel package is $ 79.00/night.
• Other events in the same general time frame are the Manitoba Air Show, at Southport(Portage la Prairie) on 3 - 4 Jun 06 and a fundraising Dinner to Honour Manitoba's Wartime Heroes(supporting the Mynarski Statue Project) on Saturday, 10 Jun 06, featuring Dr. Jack Granatstein as speaker. The dinner is at the convention hotel, which is located near the Winnipeg Airport and Western Canada Aviation Museum.

Tuesday March 14, 2006

Our March presentation will be by Alex McPhee, who has a collection of "oldies"....slides not necessarily taken by himself, but collected and traded over the years. This includes Queen Charlotte Airlines, RCAF, DC-3s, Lodestars, Gulfstreams and various old propliners and executive aircraft at Vancouver and other airports.

If time permits, there may also be a brief fill-in presentation of one of the collections visited by the Chapter President at the 2005 CAHS AGM and Convention in Saskatchewan.

Keith Wade had intended to present slides from the 2005 Kemble Air Show in the UK, plus flying activities (not the Fleet Air Arm Museum) at the Yeovilton Naval Air Station. However, since Alex is ready to go for March, this presentation will be seen in April.

If you would like to volunteer to make a meeting presentation, or know of someone interesting to propose as a meeting speaker, please contact Keith Wade at (604) 985-6202 or at a_k_wade@hotmail.com

Other Business:

• Note that Jim Jorgenson volunteered to take over the meeting refreshments, so hopefully this problem area should now be reliably resolved and we can enjoy our mid-meeting breaks again.
• The dates for the 2006 CAHS AGM and National Convention have been announced, and CAHS National Members should have received the Meeeting Notice, Proxy form, and other information in today's mail, along with their Winter 2005 Journal. The meeting will be held at the newly renovated Victoria Inn Hotel and Convention Centre in Winnipeg, jointly with the 12th Annual Air Force Historical Conference. The dates are Tuesday, 06 Jun 05 through Friday, 09 Jun 06.
• The theme of this year's papers is Transformation and Canada's Air Forces - From RFC to Canada Command.
• The full Convention package is $ 175.00 for early registrants or $ 200.00 after 23 May 06. The hotel package is $ 79.00/night.
• Other events in the same general time frame are the Manitoba Air Show, at Southport(Portage la Prairie) on 3 - 4 Jun 06 and a fundraising Dinner to Honour Manitoba's Wartime Heroes(supporting the Mynarski Statue Project) on Saturday, 10 Jun 06, featuring Dr. Jack Granatstein as speaker. The dinner is at the convention hotel, which is located near the Winnipeg Airport and Western Canada Aviation Museum.

Tuesday February 14, 2006

All being well, Mark Munzel will present our 3rd Annual "What the Heck is THAT"?" Quiz at the February meeting. The only caveats hinge upon the availability of a suitable laptop and digital projector, and crossing our fingers that Mark's employer doesn't send him overseas again next week.

For those of you who have struggled with the Quiz in the past, Comrade Munzel has proposed a "fairer" handicapping system for marking the scores, to ensure that everyone has a better chance of winning the prize, no matter how dismal their aircraft recognition skills may be. For those of you who have cursed the Chapter President and Keith Wade in the past for being able to recognize almost all of the aircraft correctly, when you couldn't tell a 707 from a 747, here is your chance to shine and win from the prize table!! Mark says it is not true that he will be running for the NDP in the next election.

We will have a contingency presentation if there is a hardware or software problem.

If you would like to volunteer to make a meeting presentation, or know of someone interesting to propose as a meeting speaker, please contact Keith Wade at (604) 985-6202 or at a_k_wade@hotmail.com

Other Business:

• Note that Jim Jorgenson volunteered to take over the meeting refreshments, so hopefully this problem area should now be reliably resolved and we can enjoy our mid-meeting breaks again.

Tuesday January 10, 2006

We have had to make a change of speakers for January. Mark Munzel's employer is sending him off to Korea that week to visit a shipyard, so we have moved the annual "What the Heck is THAT?" Quiz, 3rd Edition, to the February meeting. I guess somebody's got to do it, and perhaps Mark will find some aircraft to photograph in Korea without getting himself shot!!

In place of the quiz, Cham Gill has organized a speaker for us. David Pannar is an elderly gentleman who worked for the Israeli Air Force in the late 1940s as a mechanic and/or Engineer on their Spitfires, Me.109s and other aircraft they had scrounged up by devious means around the world for their fledgling air force. Among other things, he was involved in rebuilding a lot of bits and pieces into the famous black Spitfire that was flown by the late Ezer Weitzman, later head of the Israel Air Force and President of Israel. Weitzman had been a Sergeant Pilot on RAF Spitfires during WW II.

David will bring along some photos and documents, and is having some of his material made into slides for us. It should be an interesting and different kind of evening for a change. Please don't disappoint our speaker with a poor turnout!!

As we don't expect that David Pannar will take up the entire evening, Keith Wade will also bring along some slides of the 2005 Comox Air Show, and I will bring along some contingency items in case our speaker has a last-minute problem (as I said, he is elderly)

Also, don't forget that January is the time for our Chapter Annual Meeting and Elections, which must be held at this time in order to meet CAHS National timeframes. I will attempt to keep the obligatory business to a minimum.

Please give some thought to our Chapter Executive elections in January, otherwise you will be stuck with me again as President and Norm Penny as Treasurer. I don't mind, but Norm would really like to be relieved if some other reliable Chapter member is willing to volunteer. One caveat, however, is that CAHS National HQ would really prefer that Chapter Executives are made up of CAHS National Members in good standing.

We also need one or two reliable people to take over the provision of the meeting refreshments for 2006 and coming years.   

If you would like to volunteer to make a meeting presentation, or know of someone interesting to propose as a meeting speaker, please contact Keith Wade at (604) 985-6202 or at a_k_wade@hotmail.com

Other Business:

• If you are a CAHS National Member, don't forget your 2006 renewal if you have not already done so.
• I have already had some mail response to my recent e-mail about Chapter Dues and Chapter Donations. For those who have sent cheques, thank you. Why is it that those who never, or almost never, attend the Chapter Meetings are usually the ones who pay Chapter Dues and make donations, and those who do attend are conspicuous by keeping their hands in their pockets??

Tuesday December 13, 2005

This month, we will have another two-part presentation, featuring Malcolm Fitz-Earle and Keith Wade.

Doi, Lindbergh and Leonardo:

Starting off the evening, Malcolm Fitz-Earle will give a presentation on two aspects of Japanese aviation history, and an eclectic mix of photographs from Thailand, Cambodia and Italy.

Kakamigahara is Japan's oldest airport and is the cradle of Japanese aviation. The new museum there showcases the rich history of Kawasaki and the numerous military and civil aircraft it built there during the first half of the 20th century. In the post-war years a consortia that included Kawasaki developed the long-lived YS-11A airliner, while Kawasaki licence-built the
P-2J anti-submarine aircraft and other types. Many of these developments were under the supervision of Japan's most famous aircraft designer Takeo Doi.

Fukuoka Airport in western Japan has a rich history. In the early part of the last century it served as a departure point for commercial flights to China, Korea and Taiwan. Lindbergh landed there while exploring a possible great circle route to the Orient. In WWII it was a base of operations for the Japanese Air Force, and in the post-war period until 1960 served as the U.S. Air Force base known as Itasuke. Today Fukuoka International Airport is a major hub for flights to many countries of the western Pacific.

Malcolm will conclude with a look at civil airliners seen last December at Krabi and Bangkok, Thailand and Siam Reap, Cambodia and a visit to the site of Leonardo's experiments with flying machines in Tuscany

European NATO Exercise:

To round off the evening, Keith Wade will cover a portion of the European trip that he and Mark Munzel did last June. The main emphasis will be on their visit to Florennes, Belgium, for one of the N.A.T.O. Tactical Leadership Program exercises. This event drew participating aircraft ( mostly fighters ) from the U.K., U.S., France, Greece, Denmark, Italy, Spain, and of course from the host country, and featured quite a few aircraft types unlikely to be seen here -- Mirage 2000s, Super Etendards, Tornado F-3s etc. Quite a feast! They also visited Reims and the Mirage F-1s at the base there, and Keith will show some slides from here as well.

Let's see a few more of you out at the meeting(s). The attendance in November was embarrassing!!

For January, it will be time for our Chapter Annual Meeting and Elections, as well as Mark Munzel's "What the Heck is THAT?" quiz, 3rd Edition. If you have slides or digital images to contribute to our 3rd annual quiz event, please bring them for Mark at the December meeting, or send them to him in digital format, to mark_munzel@hotmail.com

Please give some thought to our Chapter Executive elections in January, otherwise you will be stuck with me again as President and Norm Penny as Treasurer. I don't mind, but Norm would really like to be relieved if some other reliable Chapter member is willing to volunteer. One caveat, however, is that CAHS National HQ would really prefer that Chapter Executives are made up of CAHS National Members in good standing.

We also need one or two reliable people to take over the provision of the meeting refreshments.

If you would like to volunteer to make a meeting presentation, or know of someone interesting to propose as a meeting speaker, please contact Keith Wade at (604) 985-6202 or at a_k_wade@hotmail.com

Other Business:

• Prior to the November meeting I picked up Alex Calder's collection of CAHS Journals...which he did eventually find at his home....prior to his move to Ontario. I disposed of these to Martin Riehl, who has a ready market for this sort of material at his Finescale Models shop in North Vancouver, netting some money for the Chapter. There were some duplicate issues, which will be available for sale at the Aviation Show in the Spring.
• Also, I visited the widow of Chapter Member Alec McNeil again, in company with Bernard, and we emptied her house of the 52 years worth of Aviation Week magazines and a few other items still remaining after my earlier visit and Cham Gill's visit to collect the collection of Aeroplane, FlyPast, etc. magazines. She also gave me several hard-cover books in good condition, many of which will appear as Chapter door prizes over the next few months. I was pleased that I was able to find homes for these magazines, as otherwise they would have eventually ended up in the dumpster.
• I have already had some mail response to my recent e-mail about Chapter Dues and Chapter Donations. For those who have sent cheques, thank you. Why is it that those who never, or almost never, attend the Chapter Meetings are usually the ones who pay Chapter Dues and make donations, and those who do attend are conspicuous by keeping their hands in their pockets??

Tuesday November 8, 2005

For lack of any other volunteer to make a presentation, the Chapter President will show a small selection of airliner slides taken last month at the Hong Kong Airport, followed by the next instalment of slides from the early to mid 1960s. This 2nd instalment will include performances in Vancouver by the RCAF Golden Hawks and the first several years of the Abbotsford Air Show, starting with the 1963 air show.

For December, Keith Wade and Malcolm Fitz-Earle will be back from their travels again, and will present aircraft slides from several of their visits to exotic places.

For January, it will be time for our Chapter Annual Meeting and Elections, as well as Mark Munzel's "What the Heck is THAT?" quiz. If you have slides or digital images to contribute to our 3rd annual quiz event, please bring them for Mark at the November meeting, or send them to him in digital format.

If you would like to volunteer to make a presentation, or know of someone interesting to propose as a meeting speaker, please contact Keith Wade at (604) 985-6202 or at a_k_wade@hotmail.com

Other Business:

• I have now picked up Alex Calder's collection of CAHS Journals...which he did eventually find at his home....prior to his move to Ontario. If there is no-one interested in having this collection, I may sell them as a Chapter fundraiser. The collection covers mainly the years 1993 - 2005, with a few issues missing, a few odd issues from earlier years and some duplicate copies.
• As reported last month, I did visit the widow of Chapter Member Alec McNeil, and picked up a couple of boxes of various magazines and some very old CAHS Journals, RAF Yearbooks, etc. The bulk of his magazine collection is still at his home, and his wife will soon have to clear it out, so I am hoping some of the Chapter members will be interested in taking more of the collection. He had some magazines going back as far as WW II, and a full collection of Aviation Week from 1953 onward. There are also fairly complete collections of Flight, Aeroplane, FlyPast, Aircraft Illustrated, etc. going back several decades, and some of the more recent years of the CAHS Journals. If these do not find a good home soon, they may end up in the dumpster. If interested, call me at (604) 420-6065.

Tuesday October 11, 2005

There WILL be an October meeting of the Vancouver Chapter, but the program is up in the air at the moment. Come and be surprised!!

I am off to China tomorrow and am not back until the day before the meeting. Keith Wade is away travelling internationally for the next couple of months and didn't get anything organized before he left.

I will probably not have an opportunity to send out a last-minute update on the day of the meeting.

I have suggested that we have a "Pot Luck Night", and all of those attending bring a few current and/or interesting slides for all of us to see. Failing that, I will bring another instalment of my slides from the early 1960s as a backup.

Also, please come with some suggestions for the November meeting. For December, Keith and Malcolm will show slides from some of the exotic overseas places they have visited this year.

Other Business:

• Several weeks ago, the widow of Chapter Member Alec McNeil phoned. Alec died last Christmas....some of you may remember him from the Chapter meetings he occasionally attended. He was an RAF veteran in his early 80s, and had worked at Canadair, Saunders Aircraft and CPAir. Alec sounds like a kindred soul to many of us!! He has been collecting aviation magazines since about 1953....he even has some of them bound into volumes!! He also had a large collection of aviation books, but friends have sold some for her on e-Bay and donated some to the Canadian Museum of Flight. She still has virtually a room full of aviation magazines....Flight, Aeroplane, Aviation Week, etc. Sounds very familiar!! Alec loved his books and magazines, and she would hate to have to simply throw them out. Aviation World suggested that she talk to me!! I have told her that I will come out to see her soon and see if it is something that the Chapter can handle, and dispose of one way or another rather than see them go to recycling!! If any of you might be interested in finding a good home for some of this stuff, let me know!!
• As discussed at the September meeting, I spent several hours with Mrs. McNeil the afternoon of the meeting, and took away a couple of boxes of magazines, etc. that I could use in my collection. Several of you expressed interest in what she has.....Alec had collected several of the mainstream aviation magazines, particularly Aviation Week going back to 1953. There are also large collections of Aeroplane (both the original publication and the newer one since 1973), Flight International, FlyPast, Aircraft Illustrated, and many others. There are even some mags of WW II vintage. No helicopter magazines. She wants to find a good home for these, or they will have to go into the dumpster in due course.

Tuesday September 13, 2005

Summer is over and time to start the Chapter meetings again.....as usual, we start at 7 PM!!

The program has been finalized as a two-part presentation.

Part 1 - Jerry Vernon will show a few slides from the recent Chilliwack Air Show, followed by coverage of the air-to-air sortie at the Abbotsford Air Show, featuring photos of Tom Rogers T-28 and Steve Wilcox in the back seat of Bud Granley's Harvard, flown by Lee Fenner.

Part 2 - if the digital gods of PowerPoint and the associated hardware and software smile upon us kindly, Steve Wilcox will show the Abbotsford air-to-air session from his point of view, with the T-28 and Jerry Vernon in the back seat of Keith McMann's "Red Knight" Harvard. He will follow this with a selection of digital photos from Rodeo, Comox Air Show, Campbell River and some more of the Abbotsford Air Show.

Keith is going working/travelling abroad, and will also be unable to put anything together for the October and November meetings, so all and any ideas/suggestions are welcome. I will also be away in China for several weeks, and not returning until the day before the October meeting.

Other Business:

• We have had one catastrophe this month and one I am trying to avoid!!
• Local CAHS Member Alex Calder, of Canadian Helicopters, is being moved back to Montreal, is disposing of stuff he doesn't want to move, and called me to see if I was interesting in finding a good home for 10 or 15 years worth of CAHS Journals. Yes, of course. I said I would get back to him after the Abbotsford and Chilliwack Air Shows and definitely would come out to his office and pick them up. When I called back, it seems that he had inadvertently left the boxes of Journals close to other stuff that Trashbusters were picking up, and they disappeared!!! Sorry to have lost them, as I figured there Chapter members out there who would give them a good home and/or perhaps we could sell them cheap and make a few dollars for the Chapter.
• Today, the widow of Chapter Member Alec McNeil phoned. Alec died last Christmas....some of you may remember him from the Chapter meetings he occasionally attended. He was an RAF veteran in his early 80s, and had worked at Canadair, Saunders Aircraft and CPAir. Alec sounds like a kindred soul to many of us!! He has been collecting aviation magazines since about 1953....he even has some of them bound into volumes!! He also had a large collection of aviation books, but friends have sold some for her on e-Bay and donated some to the Canadian Museum of Flight. She still has virtually a room full of aviation magazines....Flight, Aeroplane, Aviation Week, etc. Sounds very familiar!! Alec loved his books and magazines, and she would hate to have to simply throw them out. Aviation World suggested that she talk to me!! I have told her that I will come out to see her soon and see if it is something that the Chapter can handle, and dispose of one way or another rather than see them go to recycling!! If any of you might be interested in finding a good home for some of this stuff, let me know!!

Tuesday June 14, 2005

• Yes, there will be a June Meeting, and it will be the last one until the Fall (13 Sep 05).
• It has taken a while to confirm it, then I have been away for the past week, Keith Wade is now away, and our prospective speaker has been away in Cold Lake, etc.
• The speaker will be Steve Wilcox, who will do a slide show on his visits to Cold Lake, Costa Rica, Los Angeles, Seattle and some recent material from the local scene.
• The attendance at our May meeting was the best it has been all year. I don't know if it was just good luck or good fortune, or if I should flatter myself by thinking that it might have been the topic and/or the speaker!! We will do another flashback to the 1960s some time next season. Meanwhile, keep up the good attendance!!
• As usual, we start at 7 PM!!

Other Business:

• When I was in Ottawa last week, I was fortunate in being able to get a close look at the Vickers Vimy replica, which was in the Canada Aviation Museum hangar for a few days longer than expected, due to mechanical delays and/or weather. It is now in St. John's, Newfoundland, and the plan is to leave on the re-enactment of the 1919 Alcock and Brown Trans-Atlantic flight on June 16th, if possible. If you can't wait until the Fall to see slides, go to their main website for information and photos of the flight so far, at http://www.vimy.org/vimyatlantic/travelupdates/index.html

Tuesday May 10, 2005

• For the May Meeting, I will dust off and present some of my 45-year-old slides, mainly of aircraft of that era at Sea Island (Vancouver), Patricia Bay (Victoria), Boeing Field (Seattle), Chilliwack, Calgary, Winnipeg, etc. I plan to simply run them in chronological order, starting with a few slides from the 1959 Vancouver Air Show, which I think was the last time (and probably the last time ever) that an air show was or will ever be held at YVR!! A year or two later, the first simple and low key air shows began at Abbotsford, consisting mainly of local Abbotsford Flying Club aircraft plus a few antiques and homebuilts from the like of Peter Bowers, Volmer Jensen, etc.The program for the April meeting will be a slide presentation by Keith and Norm, with possible input from Cory and Mark, on the activities and aircraft at Chino.
  I am just going to run through them in chronological order....wherever I end, I will start again another time during our next season, as there seems to be some interest in this old material, since many of those at the meetings weren't born yet at that time!!! We probably won't get into the early Abbotsford material until the 2nd instalment, whenever that is.
• Keith finds that it is becoming harder and harder to find topics or speakers for our meetings, especially in light of the poor (read: rotten!!) attendance lately. There is no point having a speaker put together a presentation only to find 7 or 8 faces before him!! There are about half a dozen of us who will "always" have plenty of material available to do slide shows on various air museums, air shows, aircraft in exotic places, etc., but we really should have more variety. If any of the other Chapter Members have ideas on this, names of speakers who wouldn't be too offended by a miniscule audience, or who have material of their own they would like to present, please talk with Keith Wade at the meeting or (604) 985-6202 or a_k_wade@hotmail.com
• NOTE that I will have copies for sale at the May meeting of Chapter Member Wayne Ralph's new book "Aces, Warriors and Wingmen" re. WW II RCAF fighter pilots. It's a good one and the price is $ 23, including taxes, etc. vs. $ 37.44 at your favourite bookshop. Wayne will be signing books tomorrow night at the 801 Wing meeting and dinner, so the copies I have on the 10th should all be signed.
• As usual, we start at 7 PM!!

Other Business:

• Mark this on your calendars.....the 2005 CAHS Annual Convention and AGM will be held in Regina, 12 - 15 May 05. It appears that several of us from Vancouver and elsewhere in B. C. plan to attend. I will be attending, as will Ernie Harrison, John Higenbottam and possibly Don Watson. Jim Marlon-Lambert, from Mayne Island, will be driving back to Regina and perhaps others I haven't heard from will also be, such as our National Director from the Northern outpost of Fort Ware.

Tuesday April 12, 2005

• Last year, four of our Chapter members (Keith Wade, Cory Wade, Norm Penny and Mark Munzel) visited the Chino, CA airport. Chino is a hotbed of warbird, aviation museum and aircraft rebuilding activities, with much to see.
  For a satellite photo of the Chino Airport, showing the four wartime Cal-Aero hangars (which are occupied mainly by various warbird shops), Ed Maloney's Planes of Fame Air Museum, Yank's Air Museum, Steve Hinton's Fighter Rebuilders, etc., click on this link:
• The program for the April meeting will be a slide presentation by Keith and Norm, with possible input from Cory and Mark, on the activities and aircraft at Chino.
• I will NOT be at the April meeting, due to a conflict with the 442/443 Sqn. Mess Dinner and AGM, but Norm Penny will take attendance, collect the Landing Fee and draw for a door prize from those in attendance. The winner can select his prize from my box of goodies at the beginning of the May meeting.
• Keith finds that it is becoming harder and harder to find topics or speakers for our meetings, especially in light of the poor (read: rotten!!) attendance lately. There is no point having a speaker put together a presentation only to find 7 or 8 faces before him!! There are about half a dozen of us who will "always" have plenty of material available to do slide shows on various air museums, air shows, aircraft in exotic places, etc., but we really should have more variety. If any of the other Chapter Members have ideas on this, names of speakers who wouldn't be too offended by a miniscule audience, or who have material of their own they would like to present, please talk with Keith Wade at the meeting or (604) 985-6202 or a_k_wade@hotmail.com
• For the May Meeting, Tuesday, 10 May 05, I will dust off and present some of my 45-year-old slides, mainly of aircraft of that era at Sea Island (Vancouver), Patricia Bay (Victoria), Boeing Field (Seattle), Chilliwack, Calgary, Winnipeg, etc. I plan to simply run them in chronological order, starting in the Spring of 1960....wherever I end, I will start again another time, as there seems to be some interest in this old material, since many of those at the meetings weren't born yet at that time!!!
• If all goes well at the publisher and in delivery, I hope to have copies for sale at the May meeting of Chapter Member Wayne Ralph's new book "Aces, Warriors and Wingmen" re. WW II RCAF fighter pilots. The price is still TBA, but will be in the range of $ 23 - 25, including taxes, etc. vs. $ 37.40 at your favourite bookshop.
• As usual, we start at 7 PM!!

Other Business:

• Mark this on your calendars.....the 2005 CAHS Annual Convention and AGM will be held in Regina, 12 - 15 May 05. It appears that several of us from Vancouver and elsewhere in B. C. plan to attend.

Tuesday March 8, 2005

• Come hell or high water, there will be a Chapter meeting on March the 8th, but as of today I am now unsure what the program will be.
• The plan was to have Mark Munzel present the twice-delayed annual "What the Heck is That?" Quiz. However, we may have been jinxed again, unless someone can supply a laptop computer with MS PowerPoint AND all of the necessary power and connecting cords. If you can help, contact Mark at mark_munzel@hotmail.com ASAP!! HELP!!
• Our January Chapter meeting had to be cancelled due to a snowfall warning, and the presentation was rescheduled to February. On 08 Feb (a) the weather was fine, (b) only 7 people showed up and (c) when Mark unpacked the projector he had borrowed from work , there was no power cord in the box!! The two people who have suitable laptops available have just announced they will be away next week. If we cannot do it in March, it will have to be postponed until May.
• Our February meeting consisted of the Chapter AGM and elections plus a contingency slide show by Mark Munzel of aircraft seen while passing through Heathrow Airport recently and the Chapter President's 44-year-old Martin Mars slides.
• As usual, we start at 7 PM!!

Other Business:

• Not a lot of you made it out to the Aviation Collectables Show in February. The Chapter sold $ 78 worth of goods....about $ 40 worth to one good customer alone (ahem!!)....so we more than covered the cost of our table. I also got rid of a lot of material, including about 40 - 50 old airline schedules. The organizers announced that they plan to have another show in the Fall. For more details, go to http://www.yvraviationshow.com or call/see Arnold or Paresh at Aviation World.
• Mark this on your calendars..... the 2005 CAHS Annual Convention and AGM will be held in Regina, 12 - 15 May 05. It appears that several of us from Vancouver plan to attend.

Tuesday February 8, 2005

• Our January Chapter meeting had to be cancelled due to threatened snow...and this year it DID snow after we cancelled the meeting, unlike a couple of years ago. I understand that four hardy souls turned up anyhow, who we were unable to contact. They either don't read their e-mail very often or don't have e-mail. We'll try it again a week from now!!
• The February meeting will start off with our obligatory Chapter Annual Meeting Business and Elections. I will try to keep this as brief as possible, so we can get on with the fun part of the evening.
• The bulk of the evening will be devoted to our 2nd Annual "What the Heck is That?" presentation by Mark Munzel, aka "Try to Score Better than the President Night". Mark has assembled another collection of aircraft slides and photos from various Chapter members, to try to "stump the experts" on aircraft recognition. To make it easier for some, it will be a multiple choice quiz again, and there will be a prize for the highest score. If all goes well on the technical side, I understand this will be another digital night!!
• I will bring some of the higher quality door prize/quiz prize books, to make it worth your while to come and participate.
• Since the first segment of our December meeting ran longer than expected....and was well worth it....we will have Mark Munzel's slides and Keith Wade's slides from the UK and Africa, from his trip to Africa last year, at a later meeting.
• Also, don't forget the Aviation Collectibles Show is on Saturday, 19 Feb 05.....we will need a couple of "volunteers" to help me run the Chapter's table at the event. See more details below.
• As usual, we start at 7 PM!!

Other Business:

• Don't forget to mark your calendars for the 2005 Aviation Collectables Show, on Saturday, 19 Feb 05. The location has been changed to the Four Points by Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel, near Lansdowne Mall in Richmond. The Vancouver Chapter has reserved a sales table, to promote CAHS, sell a few CAHS wares and also our members are invited to use this table to dispose of a few of their unwanted items, as space permits. Some members have offered to donate surplus books from their collection to the Chapter for sale at this time and/or for use as meeting door prizes. For more details, go to http://www.yvraviationshow.com or call/see Arnold or Paresh at Aviation World.
• Mark this on your calendars..... the 2005 CAHS Annual Convention and AGM will be held in Regina, 12 - 15 May 05. It appears that several of us from Vancouver plan to attend.

Tuesday January 11, 2005

• Our January Chapter meeting had to be cancelled due to threatened snow...and this year it DID snow after we cancelled the meeting, unlike a couple of years ago. I understand that four hardy souls turned up anyhow, who we were unable to contact. They either don't read their e-mail very often or don't have e-mail. We'll try it again a week from now!!
• The February meeting will start off with our obligatory Chapter Annual Meeting Business and Elections. I will try to keep this as brief as possible, so we can get on with the fun part of the evening.
• The bulk of the evening will be devoted to our 2nd Annual "What the Heck is That?" presentation by Mark Munzel, aka "Try to Score Better than the President Night". Mark has assembled another collection of aircraft slides and photos from various Chapter members, to try to "stump the experts" on aircraft recognition. To make it easier for some, it will be a multiple choice quiz again, and there will be a prize for the highest score. If all goes well on the technical side, I understand this will be another digital night!!
• I will bring some of the higher quality door prize/quiz prize books, to make it worth your while to come and participate.
• Since the first segment of our December meeting ran longer than expected....and was well worth it....we will have Mark Munzel's slides and Keith Wade's slides from the UK and Africa, from his trip to Africa last year, at a later meeting.
• Also, don't forget the Aviation Collectibles Show is on Saturday, 19 Feb 05.....we will need a couple of "volunteers" to help me run the Chapter's table at the event. See more details below.
• As usual, we start at 7 PM!!

Other Business:

• Don't forget to mark your calendars for the 2005 Aviation Collectables Show, on Saturday, 19 Feb 05. The location has been changed to the Four Points by Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel, near Lansdowne Mall in Richmond. The Vancouver Chapter has reserved a sales table, to promote CAHS, sell a few CAHS wares and also our members are invited to use this table to dispose of a few of their unwanted items, as space permits. Some members have offered to donate surplus books from their collection to the Chapter for sale at this time and/or for use as meeting door prizes. For more details, go to www.yvraviationshow.com or call/see Arnold or Paresh at Aviation World.
• Mark this on your calendars..... the 2005 CAHS Annual Convention and AGM will be held in Regina, 12 - 15 May 05. It appears that several of us from Vancouver plan to attend.

Tuesday December 14, 2004

• I must apologize for the lateness of the notice, but we have only been able to catch up with the speakers and confirm their availability within the past half hour.
• Our December meeting is another two-part meeting.....
• Mike Head and Steve Wilcox will present photos from their trips to California and Arizona in recent months, covering a potpourri of topics such airliners at LAX, warbirds and classics at Salinas, and aircraft at various military bases and shows.
• If the technology is willing and the equipment is available, this will be a digital show on the TV screen....if not, it will be a normal slide show.
• For the 2nd part of the evening Mark Munzel and/or Keith Wade will show slides. Keith has some fresh slides from the UK and Africa, from his trip to Africa earlier this year.
• As usual, we start at 7 PM!!

Other Business:

• Don't forget to mark your calendars for the 2005 Aviation Collectables Show, on Saturday, 19 Feb 05. The location has been changed to the Four Points by Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel, near Lansdowne Mall in Richmond. The Vancouver Chapter has reserved a sales table, to promote CAHS, sell a few CAHS wares and also our members are invited to use this table to dispose of a few of their unwanted items, as space permits. Some members have offered to donate surplus books from their collection to the Chapter for sale at this time and/or for use as meeting door prizes. For more details, go to www.yvraviationshow.com or call/see Arnold or Paresh at Aviation World.
• Mark this on your calendars..... the 2005 CAHS Annual Convention and AGM will be held in Regina, 12 - 15 May 05.

Tuesday November 9, 2004

• Our November meeting is another two-part meeting.....
• Norm Penny will kick off the presentations with his annual slide update on aircraft seen at YVR over the past year. This will be mainly airliners in new and unusual paint schemes, but there are always a few surprises on the ramp. It helps if you live fairly close to the airport!!
• After the refreshment break, Keith Wade will give a presentation on the 2004 Watsonville Air Show. Watsonville has a reputation for antiques, but many warbirds also show up there. Keith says there were quite a few Mustangs at Watsonville this year when he and his wife attended.
• With luck and some co-operation from the audience, we will get this completed before we have to vacate the premises!!

Tuesday October 12, 2004

• We will have a bit of a pot-pourri this month.
• Jerry Vernon will start off the evening by completing his show of slides from the 2004 EAA Arlington Fly-In that had to be cut short in September....there is about one roll of slides left of the antique display area. Following this, there is about two rolls worth from the B. C. Aviation Museum in Victoria, Victoria Air Maintenance (the warbird shop), 443 Squadron and George Maude's Kittyhawk. These shots were taken while conducting a group over to Pat Bay from the recent AEROPLANE Monthly aviation tour when they had a free day in Vancouver.
• Jim Jorgenson will complete the evening with some recent slides from YVR, complemented by a selection of "historic" slides he has taken at YVR over the years he has worked there as an Engineer and a photographer.
• With luck and some co-operation from the audience, we will get this completed before we have to vacate the premises!!

Tuesday September 14, 2004

• Note.....one last time, to start a new season.......that we have had to meet 15 minutes earlier than in the previous year, because the staff at the Richmond Arts Centre has to leave at 9:30 PM SHARP, and wants users out of there as soon after 9:15 as possible. Late departures are not acceptable to the City. When we start late, we have often had to cut short the program in order to be out on time.
• Part 1 - Part 1 - Keith Wade, just back from South Africa, will show slides from his visits to Olympia, WA and perhaps a few shots from the Watsonville, CA Fly-In. Maybe we will see some South Africa slides at a later meeting.
• Part 2 - Part 2 - Jerry Vernon will show slides from the EAA Arlington, WA Fly-In, which most or all of you missed this year.
• Notes: The last official flight of Air Canada ZIP landed at YVR yesterday, 07 Sep 04. It was also the end of all Boeing 737 operations for Air Canada. Several of the Chapter people turned out to watch the event and photograph the two-plane formation flypast of ZIP 737s, and four of them taxiing off into oblivion.
   
• The old Hawkair Bristol Freighter finally made it from Terrace to Wetaskiwin on Labour Day, for the Reynolds-Alberta Museum, after a one-week delay in Prince George due to weather through the Rockies. Sean Keating was on board for the ferry flight. Barring a miracle in some other part of the world, this was the last flight of a Bristol Freighter anywhere. This particular aircraft, C-GYQS, had been parked for the past 5 years at Terrace, after being withdrawn from freight service.

                                                                                                                   Photo by Jim Jorgenson

CAHS Vancouver Chapter tour of the Vancouver International Airport(YVR) Tower, Tuesday, 08 Jun 04.
It was a nice clear evening for viewing inside the tower cab and also from the outside balcony. The sunset was even one of those spectacular Vancouver sunsets!!
In the photo.....Rob Prior, Malcolm Fitz-Earle, Norm Penny, Jerry Vernon, tower person, Keith Wade.

Tuesday June 8, 2004

• I may soon stop reminding you of the new meeting time.....because almost all of you pay no attention and come late anyhow!! We have had to meet 15 minutes earlier than in the previous year, because the staff at the Richmond Arts Centre has to leave at 9:30 PM SHARP, and wants users out of there as soon after 9:15 as possible. Late departures are not acceptable to the City. When we start late, we have often had to cut short the program in order to be out on time.
• As proposed in the last meeting notice, Jim Jorgenson has arranged for us to have a tour of the Vancouver International Airport Tower, rather than a meeting at the Arts Centre.
• Please meet at 7 PM SHARP at curbside below the new tower, at Level Two (International Arrivals) in the International Terminal. We will not hang around waiting for stragglers.
• There are some restrictions on numbers, so it would be helpful if you would respond and indicate to me if you plan on attending....ie: RSVP as they say in PQ.
• Please advise those who are not on e-mail and in particular, advise your friends who have not yet entered the 21st Century that there will be NO meeting at the Arts Centre in June.
• The last time we toured the Tower, it was on a November 11th, when the Arts Centre was closed for Remembrance Day. It was cold and it was dark. This time, we should have a much better look at daylight evening operations, overlooking Runway 26 Right, normally used for landings.
• This is the last Chapter meeting for the season, and the next meeting is back at the usual location on Tuesday, 14 Sep 04.

Future Meetings - Tuesday June 8, 2004

• Our next meeting is on Tuesday, 08 Jun 04. Keith is looking into the possibility of another YVR Tower tour. The last time we did this was in November, because the Richmond Arts Centre was closed for Remembrance Day. If we do it in June, we won't be doing it in the dark, and it will be more pleasant on the outside balcony than it is on a November evening.
• We are also having some discussions among some of us re. the possibility of making a day trip down to Arlington to see the newly-open-to-the-public Flying Heritage Museum, owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (who has finally admitted that he does have a museum and fine collection of rare warbirds). Being open to the public is just a new thing. For now, they are only opening on Fridays and Saturdays, are only accepting reservations from small groups (say 15), and the charge is $ 20(US). Let's discuss it at the meeting and see if there is any interest.
  
  The website for the Flying Heritage Museum is: http://www.flyingheritage.com
  
  A full story plus details of some of the aircraft currently on display can also be seen at the following site:
  
  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001908595_collection21m.html

Tuesday May 11, 2004

• It's been a bit of a struggle to get a speaker lined up for May, but Keith has finally accomplished it and advised me this evening....sorry for the late advance notice!!
• The main presentation will be by Mark Munzel, and will be titled "Tiger Meet of the Americas". This was an event Mark attended at Cold Lake last year.
• To round off the meeting, if it can be arranged, we hope to see the short video that Jim Jorgenson has put together on last year's B. C. Aviation Council meeting and small airshow at Harrison Hot Springs. See you there!!

Click here for Archived Meeting Notices

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

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