A Day at Trenton during the CAHS 2023 Convention held at Kingston

Report by John Chalmers
CAHS Membership Secretary
posted July 2023
Following a CAHS board meeting and a meet-and-greet social gathering at the Quality Inn & Convention Centre in Kingston, Ontario, on Wednesday, June 21, our annual convention was literally on a roll the morning of Thursday, June 22. At 0800, convention organizer Jim Bell had all conventioneers aboard a school bus for an easy one-hour drive to Trenton and a great start to the convention.

First stop at Trenton was 8 Wing RCAF where we had a chance to tour a Boeing CC-177 Globemaster III of No. 429 (Bison) Squadron, RCAF. We were all amazed at the size of the giant jet-powered transport aircraft, one of five serving with the RCAF, capable of carrying out operational flights anywhere on the globe.
Convention organizer Jim Bell
CC-177 Globemaster III # 704 of No. 429 Sqn
Capt Jason Fawcett, at right, introduced the Globemaster III to our group, and we then had a chance to tour the mighty aircraft.
Loadmaster Sgt Garth Rushton explains features to CAHS president, Gary Williams.
View of the cavernous cargo capacity of the Globemaster III. We also were able to tour the cockpit, which seats its crew of only three – pilot, co-pilot and loadmaster.
Personnel lowering an engine that has been removed from Hercules.
CAHS Vancouver chapter president, Jerry Vernon, and delegates walking on wing of an Hercules aircraft.
Following our tour of the Globemaster III, we next visited the 426 Transport Training Squadron training facility where three retired Lockheed CC-130 Hercules aircraft are used for maintenance training and loadmaster training to configure cargo and troops to be carried. One “Herc,” at left, above, is seen with personnel lowering an engine that has been removed. Another Herc in the facility is used as a flight simulator. Following an introduction by another RCAF captain, we had a chance to get up on the wing of the aircraft, seen with CAHS Vancouver chapter president, Jerry Vernon, leading the wing walkers.

Both the Globemaster III and the Hercules cockpits have seats for only three crew members – the pilot, the co-pilot, and the loadmaster seated behind and between them. There is no navigator! As Jim Bell explains, “Navigation is accomplished using satellite navigation (GPS), inertial reference (laser gyros), and old fashioned radio navigation. The position determined by each system is compared by the Flight Management and Guidance System which contains a flight management computer, into which the pilot enters the flight plan. A flight guidance computer  compares the aircraft position to its desired position. Using the autopilot, or when the pilot is in control, with vertical and lateral guidance on the cockpit displays, the aircraft can follow its planned track with an error of no more than a few feet. All this allows the airplane to fly anywhere in the world with incredible precision, far more accurately than any human could do it.”
Globemaster III cockpit
Shown below are two of the facility’s simulators that replicate tactical flying and can “fly” in formation with each other. As well, they can communicate with the Hercules used for loadmaster training that we checked out, as shown looking aft in the cargo bay.
Flight simulators
Hercules cargo bay
Following our tour at 8 Wing and an outdoor picnic lunch, we next visited the National Air Force Museum of Canada at RCAF Station Trenton, seen below with an Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck out front in black prototype livery. Inside, the aircraft collection includes a replica of a strange biplane, a Burgess-Dunne tailless floatplane, the first type of aircraft purchased by the Canadian military, in 1914.
An Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck at the National Air Force Museum of Canada.
The Burgess-Dunne tailless floatplane replica of Canada's first military aircraft.
Tours were provided by staff of both the museum and of the archives that house three-dimensional artifacts. Other materials such as photos, documents, certificates, etc. are located elsewhere.
A tour of the restored Handley Page Halifax bomber was conducted by retired RCAF pilot, Chris Coulson.
A mighty Handley Page Halifax bomber, recovered from Lake Mjøsa in Norway and beautifully restored at the museum is the star attraction in the building. Restoration, which started in 1995 and was completed in 2009, took 350,000 hours. (Click here for more information.) Divided into groups, we were given a tour of the museum, including the archives, which are not normally seen by visitors. The group shown here was conducted by retired RCAF pilot, Chris Coulson.
North American Harvard
Avro Anson
Yellow aircraft of the BCATP in the museum include a North American Harvard, used for training pilots at Service Flying Training Schools during the Second World War, and an Avro Anson. The Anson, a type known as “Faithful Annie,” was used for training navigators, and to provide multi-engine experience for pilots who would later fly bombers and maritime reconnaissance aircraft during the war.

We were on our own to visit the outdoor aircraft park that accommodates some two dozen aircraft with hundreds of memorial stones placed around the walkways. Below are the two largest RCAF aircraft in the air park, a Hercules at left, and a Canadair CP-107 Argus, flown from 1957 to 1982, a type used by Maritime Air Command on patrol during the Cold War.
Lockheed CC-130H Hercules
Canadair CP-107 Argus
Canadair Sabre jet fighter
Replica reproductions of Hawker Hurricane (left) and Supermarine Spitfire (right)
Above left is a Canadair Sabre fighter jet, flown by the RCAF from 1950-1970, the type flown by the Golden Hawks demonstration team from 1959-1964. In the foreground are some of the hundreds of commemorative stones placed to remember individuals who served in Canada’s military. A database in the museum can be used to locate the stone for a particular person. At right, are replica reproductions of two famous fighters of the Second World War, which participated in the Battle of Britain. At left is a Hawker Hurricane with a Supermarine Spitfire at right.

Both the air park and the museum building itself provide a fine opportunity to see and absorb some of our aviation heritage or to purchase items from the gift shop! The tours gave us the opportunity to see both history of the Royal Canadian Air Force and its current operations. After a fascinating visit, we returned to Kingston for a free evening, when many attendees went to Kingston's beautiful waterfront and old town centre for dinner on a fine summer evening, as a close to a rewarding day.
Follow this link for an overview of the presentations made by speakers at the CAHS 2023 Annual Convention.
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