From The CAHS Newsletter August 1982

     With the third quarter of the year approaching, it seems appropriate to mention that it was twenty years ago this fall that our Society was formed. Originally, it was called the Early Bird Enthusiast but this was soon changed to The Canadian Aviation Historical Society when it was realized that there was another organization with a very similar name, The Early Birds. The aims of the organization were pretty much as they are today although there was, perhaps, a greater emphasis at that time on the First War. The original group was comprised of sixteen members, eight of whom listed model building as one of their interests while one member (Jill Burch) listed hers as "goodness knows!". The original sixteen were George Morley, Jeff and Jill Burch, Harry Creagen, Leonard May, Roger .Juniper, Russell S. Maebus, Terence Coxall, Bill Morley, Maxwell Seeley and Ron Lowry. Some of those names will be familiar to newer members - George Morley who is now in the Calgary area and who was President of the Calgary Chapter when it was first formed; Bill Wheeler who, for many years, has been our Journal Editor; Charlie Catalano who is the Toronto Chapter President and Roger Juniper whose Journal column "Relics and Rarities," was a popular feature for quite some time.

     In January of 1963, the Early Birds published what was to become Volume 1, Number 1, of our present CAHS Journal and it listed George Morley as Editor, Jeff Burch and Harry Creagen as Associate Editors, Jill Burch in charge of Technical Production and Bill Wheeler as Art Editor. This first "Journal" was made up of a mere nine pages with covers of heavy grey bond stock and was held together with two staples. This format continued in use until 1972 although, of course, the Journal grew in size and the quality of the covers was improved while the mimeographed pages were altered to printed pages typeset by Bill Budachs. When the pages were printed, they were delivered to the home of the late Doug MacRitchie where a group would assemble and spend the evening marching around a table in Doug's basement, collating the pages and adding the covers after which the assembled Journal would be stapled by Doug.

     In 1972, the decision was made to have the Journal properly bound as it is to-day. It had been increasingly difficult to get sufficient people to assist in assembling the publication and it always seemed to be the same individuals who contributed their time. By 1976, the Journal was further enhanced by the addition of colour to the covers, followed a few years later by the decision to have the layout and paste-up done by the printer. Each of these decisions involved more expense to the CAHS and were, therefore, made with some trepidation but they have subsequently proved to be wise moves. We missed those "Journal" sessions at Doug's home but, as it turned out, having the printer collate and bind the pages saved the Directors a headache later on because, after Doug's tragic death, Mrs. MacRitchie disposed of the house and moved, thus we lost our "home". (We had somehow, always regarded Doug's basement as the home of the CAHS and it was in many ways).

     There have been some criticisms of the changes in the production of the Journal but one has to keep in mind that putting it together was all accomplished with volunteer labour which invariably was provided by a small group of the same people and it was simply expecting too much to have those same faces repeating the procedures year after year. It may be costing us more now but we do have a more professional publication to which further improvements will be made as time goes by. Hope-fully, we will someday be able to afford colour photos for the covers.

     From the original sixteen, the CAHS has grown to a membership of about 995 as of December, 1981, and we anticipate that it will finally get over the 1000 mark this year. From one small group, the Society has grown to four chapters to which we would like to add one in the Regina-Moose Jaw area and, with some small indications of intensifying interest in Quebec, we might even dare to hope that our defunct Montreal chapter will re-appear in the future.

     Over the years, there have been improvements, of course. The popular C-CA and CF Registers by John Ellis were first published in the Journal and later published as separate publications. The CF Register quickly sold out but was later put back into production again and is still available as is the G-CA Register.

     The Toronto Chapter published Vintage Aircraft in Canada in 1976 and the assets were later turned over to the Publications Committee that was created a short time later and which published I'll Never Forget. Today, we are putting the finishing touches on a chronology of Canadian aviation, a book that is certain to become a most important reference book. We have put together a substantial collection of books in the library as well as a large collection of tapes of chapter and convention speakers and to which will soon be added about 85 tapes of interviews with old-time bush pilots, air engineers, etc. However, we have lost a bit, too. The first Journal issue indicates that the Early Birds were offering members some Harlborough publications and some model kits at reduced prices, something that we no longer do although our librarian, Les Wilkinson, does offer some books to members at discounted prices but this is not directly a part of CAHS activities.

     The history of the newsletter is much briefer than that of the Journal. At first, the newsletter appeared spasmodically whenever there was something to tell the members and whenever there was a volunteer to write it - the volunteer was invariably Fred Hotson. Peter Jerden then took over and produced a good newsletter but, again, at irregular intervals. Finally, after Peter moved to Montreal, I took up where he left off and it was decided then that the newsletter should be produced at regular quarterly intervals, should be mailed to the members between Journal issues and should be expanded. I had some ideas of my own for improvement and received more suggestions from the membership. I have been able to produce it regularly and on time, it has been mailed separately whenever practicable and it has been expanded to six pages.

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