September 2023 CAHS e-Newsletter

CAHS Newsletter

One good thing that came out of the tragic pandemic that swept the world in March 2020 was the quick improvement of video conferencing technology. All of a sudden, almost everyone was talking about, and using, Zoom or MS Teams for meetings that would otherwise have had to be canceled for months on end as we collectively struggled to manage the spread of the new disease we did not understand or have the capability to treat. Here in the Canadian Aviation Historical Society (CAHS), many of the Chapters quickly adapted and adopted video conferencing in order to continue holding their meetings during pandemic lockdowns. Not only were a goodly portion of our chapter meetings able continue in 2020 and 2021 using Zoom, but we also noticed that people from across Canada were using the link, joining the Chapter meetings, and hearing the excellent speakers - something that only people in the city where the meetings used to be held in person could do before the pandemic. There was such a feeling of unity as fellow CAHS members from all over Canada were connecting on a monthly basis to listen to the aviation talks; these cross-country connections used to only occur once a year at our in-person conventions.

Even now that public spaces have opened up and most habits have gone back to normal, including in-person meetings, our CAHS Chapters have continued to offer a Zoom link, so anyone anywhere can hear the speakers they feature each month. We encourage our readers to check out the Chapter's webpages (at https://www.cahs.com/chapters.html) on a monthly basis to see when meetings are being held, what the topics are, and if you wish to receive a Zoom link if you are not in town to attend in person. In the month of September, the following meetings have been scheduled (although some have passed by already, the topics can give you an idea of the high quality speakers and interesting material presented by the Chapters):

-CAHS Medicine Hat Chapter: "Reflections on the CAHS 2023 Convention" on 14 Sept

-CAHS Calgary Chapter: "The Dambusters After the Flood" on 21 Sept

-CAHS Montreal Chapter: "Jack Mack: First Winter Sub-Arctic Flight" on 21 Sept

-CAHS Manitoba Chapter: "Compromised Arrow" on 28 Sept

-CAHS Ottawa Chapter: "A Visit to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum" on 28 Sept

-CAHS Medicine Hat Chapter: "Observations on the Experimental Aircraft Association" on 12 Oct

All of that is to say please consider attending a Chapter meeting, anywhere in the country, via Zoom if you are not able to be there in person. Please check the website for updates or email Chapters directly to get on their meeting mailing list, so you never miss an announcement. Hope to see you there virtually sometime!

I’d also like to note our long-running “Wooden Wings over the Wilderness” series, chronicling the Fokker bushplanes in Canada, is coming to a close with author Clark Seaborn’s detailed coverage of the Fokker Super Universal he came to know more than any other, CF-AAM. Spread over a few issues, it features the storied machine’s operational history, as well as the recovery and restoration effort that brought it back to life – a life that featured coast-to-coast flying displays given by the author and two of his restoration associates, Don Mclean and Bob Cameron, before a well-earned retirement on static display in what is now the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada.

Some readers may already be aware of a video series published on YouTube documenting CF-AAM’s (and Clark’s!) journey. Clark just shared a link to the most recent episode of the series with a happy note:

“Hi friends

You might recall that a number of cinematographers had recorded the history, discovery, and restoration of the museum’s Fokker over the last 40-plus years. The previous edited episode of this history premiered two weeks ago at a reunion of us folks who had participated in the National Air Tour, which took place in 2003, as part of the US celebration of the Wright brother’s accomplishments.

Previous episodes 1 through 9 had been presented on YouTube as “Fokker Super Universal back to the sky” [still available if you search using the text in quotation marks].

Our part in the Fokker required 83 flying hours, five weeks away from home, and a lot of fuel.

I hope you enjoy this little bit of AAM’s history before it went to the museum floor.

Cheers Clark”

Follow this link to watch the video.

Stay tuned for even more detailed coverage of this historic aircraft, including a few more spreads of Clark’s excellent scale drawings, between the covers of Journal editions currently in the making.

The Vertical Flights Society’s (VFS) 80^th Forum will be held in downtown Montreal on May 7-9, 2024.

VFS is looking to recruit a few Canadian history minded authors to write and present a paper at the Forum 80 History Session.

Abstracts due October 23, 2023: Submitted to Mira at www.vtol.org/mira

For more information click here.

Abstract acceptance will be based upon the following:

• Work that represents new vertical flight technology advancements and/or reports significant new information.

• Technical quality, relevance, importance, and timeliness.

• Work in progress must be cited appropriately, specifying how proposed content differs from prior publication (if any).

Final written papers due April 8, 2024

Call for Papers Documentation

https://vtol.org/files/dmfile/forum-80_callforpapers_final-2.0.pdf

The 80th VFS Annual Forum & Technology Display is the world's leading international technical event on vertical flight technology. The conference will span three days and include 200+ technical papers on every discipline from Acoustics to Unmanned Systems and vertical flight history, as well as invited presentations and discussions by leaders in the military, government agencies and industry.

The non-profit VFS is the world’s premier vertical flight technical society. Since it was founded as the American Helicopter Society in 1943, the Society has been a major force in the advancement of vertical flight. VFS is the global resource for information on vertical flight technology. For more than 80 years, it has provided global leadership for scientific, technical, educational and legislative initiatives that advance the state of the art of vertical flight.

ANSWER 3: “After this raid, the weather changed for the worse again, preventing follow-up action against the Schweinfurt complex, although there was certainly no determined push from the High Wycombe camp to re-visit this target or the other bearing plants in the Nazi production constellation. Albert Speer thought this was an incredible oversight, and he felt that, had the Allied counter-bearing campaign been prosecuted with vigour and determination, it could have forced Germany to sue for peace much earlier in the war: We were able to avoid total disaster by substituting slide bearings for ball bearings whenever possible. But what really saved us was the fact that from this time on, (the October 1943 raid) the enemy to our astonishment once again ceased his attacks on the ball bearing industry. Then (in February 1944) within four days. Schweinfurt, Steyr, and Cannstatt were each subjected to two successive heavy attacks. Then followed raids on Erkner, Schweinfurt and again Styr. [Here, Speer notes that after only six weeks their production of bearings which were greater than 6.3 centimeters had been reduced to just 29 percent of bearing output prior to the raids.] At the beginning of April 1944, however, the attacks on the ball-bearing industry ceased abruptly. Thus, the Allies threw away success when it was already in their hands. Had they continued the attacks of March and April with the same energy, we would quickly have been at our last gasp.”

Source:

No Prouder Place,

pg. 303 (Bashow)