May 2023 CAHS e-Newsletter

CAHS Newsletter

Plan now to attend the 2023 CAHS National Convention in beautiful Kingston, Ontario, from June 21st to 24th. We have an outstanding programme with lots to interest any aviation fan. The convention opens on Wednesday evening with our traditional meet and greet, with hors d'oeuvres provided and a cash bar. The convention jumps off on Thursday morning with a trip to 8 Wing Trenton, for a tour of the military base. After lunch, we will spend the afternoon on an in depth tour of the National Air Force Museum. The museum is currently restoring the Lancaster Mk X KB882, formerly on display at Edmunston, NB. After we return, you will have a free evening with dinner on your own. If there is sufficient interest, we may arrange a group dinner on the scenic Kingston waterfront. On Friday we will have sessions on a variety of topics, including Kingston's aviation history, the Canadair Argus during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tribute to one of our most esteemed members, George Fuller, and sessions about Bev Shenstone and Frank Lince Trethewey. The day concludes with our annual banquet. Saturday starts with detailed looks at Louis Bisson, the aileron patent battle between the Wright brothers and the Aerial Experiment Association, a view of RCAF Air Transport Command in the 1950s, through the eyes of future air force general Bill Carr, developing an interest in aviation in youth, and how to get flights in over 360 types of airplanes. Our speakers include John Chalmers, Robert Downes, H. Robert Galway, Richard Goette, Chris Hargreaves, Russ Klingaman, David Riach, Dr. Dick Stojak, Diana Trafford, Dr David Waechter, and Nick Wolochatiuk. This promises to be another fascinating CAHS convention.

Convention registration is open now. Please use this registration form. If you have any problems with the form, you can email your information to [email protected]. The convention registration costs only $240, and includes hors d'oeuvres at the meet and greet, travel to Trenton for the tours, admission to the National Air Force Museum, snacks and lunch all three days, plus the banquet. You can send your Interac transfer to [email protected], or send a cheque made out to CAHS to P.O. Box 2700, Station D, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5W7. Payment must be received before your registration will be confirmed. We also have rates for daily registrations and for guests to attend the banquet. You can attend the sessions by Zoom for only $50.

Reservations for the convention hotel, the Quality Inn & Conference Centre Kingston Central, are now available.

Call 613-546-3661 extension 0, and identify yourself as a Canadian Aviation Convention attendee to get the special rate of $169 plus taxes, or use this link to book online.

The cut off for the convention rate is 22 May, after which the rate is no longer available. Attendees should book early.

I was delayed getting Volume 58 Number 2 to final proofreading due to a lag in finishing some layout details in newly added pages.This will be remedied well before the next newsletter when we will have either it in proofreading or in print.

This fine example of Canadian aviation art sets the theme for Kurt Ariano's "Floatplane on Ice: A Fleet of Beech 18s and a Shortage of Skis," featured in this Journal. This is one of several similar articles penned by Kurt, a retired Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME), on post-1945 Canadian bushplane operations. A quick romp through the tables of contents of all of the Journals available in our e-Shop indicates that the bush plane theme is a popular one, and that a large proportion of what has been recorded on this broad subject in our pages thus far tends to concentrate on the pre-Second World War era.

While there are, no doubt, many stories out there yet to be published on the pioneer years (some of which also appear in this Journal), I encourage potential CAHS authors to help us continue to fill out the postwar big-picture of Canadian bushplane operations. Whether from the AME perspective of Kurt Ariano or Bill Walton* – the people who keep the multitude of singles and twins flying safely – or from pilots and operators who bus the people and truck the freight to and from remote communities in Canada's near and far north (typically), we welcome your stories.

Featured in this Journal are:

Wooden Wings Over the Wilderness 9 (Seaborn)
British Air Ministry Winter Trials in Canada – 3. The Wapiti (Vincent)
Floatplane on Ice: A Fleet of Beech 18s and a Shortage of Skis (Ariano)
Sidney Cotton and his Aerial Adventures in Newfoundland, Part 2 (Singfield)

*Bill Walton was an ex-RCAF AME who, following his Air Force career, ran a successful aircraft maintenance operation in the north for decades. The next of his occasional "Northern Engineer" series is set to appear in Volume 58 Number 3.

ANSWER 2: “Early in November, the Australian and New Zealand delegations arrived. If Riverdale and King expected their presence to make things easier, they were rapidly disillusioned. Within a few days, the representatives from the antipodes began complaining about receiving second-class treatment and being forced to wait in anterooms until the British and Canadians were ready to receive them. What’s more, they were now nursing serious reservations about the whole plan. For one thing, Canada wanted payment in a form that could be readily converted into U.S. dollars; Australian and New Zealander currency reserves were strictly limited. The Australians and New Zealanders declared that their participation in the plan depended upon three conditions: first, that Britain underwrite their monthly payments to Canada; second, that the contribution of aircrew candidates be recalculated on the basis of populations – in other words, 57 percent from Canada, 35 percent from Australia, and 8 percent from New Zealand; third, that Australia be allowed to train most of its aircrew recruits at home. The Australians and New Zealanders seemed to be in no mood for protracted negotiations on these points; they threatened to head home by the next available ship if their proposals were rejected.”

Source:

Wings For Victory,

pg. 42 (Dunmore)

ANSWER 3: “In August 405 Squadron in 8 Group began its conversion to Lancaster 1s and IIIs, and Canadians in Bomber Command could take pride in the delivery of the first of what ultimately became 430 Canadian-built Lancaster Xs produced for the war effort. The aircraft, coded KB 700 but soon to become known by its nickname, The Ruhr Express, was flown to Britain in a well-organized public relations effort by Squadron Leader Reginal Lane, DSO, DFC. Both Lane and The Ruhr Express had many exciting wartime experiences still in store for them, but the aircraft, ceremonially presented to 405 Squadron at Gransden Lodge in October, was far from being combat ready. In fact, only thirteen more of the variant were completed before year’s end, and on average they required around 1000 man-hours of modifications to bring them up to operational standards once they arrived in England. This was because modifications developed in the United Kingdom could not be incorporated quickly into the production line at Victory Aircraft in Downsview, and changes in Canadian specifications played a delaying role as well. Thus, when The Ruhr Express bombed Berlin as part of 405 Squadron on 27/28 November 1943 on its first operational sortie, no other Lancaster Xs were used operationally until 419 Squadron became the first unit to convert to the type in March/April 1944.”

Source:

No Prouder Place,

pg. 264 (Bashow)