July 2020 Journal Update

  • All four numbers for Volume 57 (2019 publication year) are currently at some stage of preparation. Of these, the first two will enter the final layout proofreading phase preparatory to print production and distribution, within the coming week or two. Once these have been handed off to our printers, layout work will resume for the two remaining Volume 57 numbers. We plan to mail that pair together in the same envelope as well. As each Journal goes to press over the coming weeks, we will update this space. Meanwhile, a quick overview of the feature articles included in Volume 57 is provided below.

    Volume 57 Features

    Number 1 (Spring 2019)
    with Vimy cover art By Robert Bradford
    • Transatlantic Vimy: A Photo Essay (Vincent)
    • Wooden Wings Over the Wilderness 5: The First Super Universals in Canada (Seaborn)
    • CL-84 Dynavert – Part 4b: Foreign Pilots and Prototype Flight Testing (Upton)
    • Northern Engineer: The Beginnings of a Life-long Aviation Career in the Canadian North (Walton)



    Number 2 (Summer 2019)
    with Super Universal cover art by Robert Bradford
    • CL-84 Dynavert – Part 5: CX-84-1 No. 401, the First Multirole Tilt-Wing for the Canadian Armed Forces (Upton)
    • Wooden Wings Over the Wilderness 6: The First Super Universals in Canada (continued), G-CASK (Seaborn)
      A centre-spread of scale drawings accompanies this feature
    • The Mysterious Case of Slate Falls Airways Queen Air C-GSFA (Ariano)
    • Canada's Postwar Lancasters: A Very Brief Photo Essay (Higgins)



    Number 3 (Fall 2019)
    with Voodoo cover art by Peter J. Robichaud
    • One O Wonder: The CF-101 Voodoo in Canadian Service, Part 1 (Stachiw)
      A centre-spread of scale drawings accompanies this feature
    • CL-84 Dynavert – Part 6: CX-84-1 No. 402, A Second Canadian Forces Tilt-Wing (Upton)
    • The Tragic Loss of RCAF Mitchell 894 (Poissant)
    • The Other Operation Eclipse of 1945: The RCAF Capturing Celestial Bodies over Manitoba (Higgins)
    • RCN Banshee Pilot, Lt Barry Troy – Loss and Recovery (Mayne)



    Number 4 (Winter 2019)
    with Norseman Floatplane cover art by Franklin Arbuckle
    • The RCAF Tests the Norseman Floatplane: Excerpts From a 1938 TDE Report (Higgins)
    • Wooden Wings Over the Wilderness 7: The First Super Universals (continued) – the Other Six US-Built Examples (Seaborn)
    • CL-84 Dynavert – Part 7: The Final CX-84-1 Airframe and More Engineering Office Explorations (Upton)
    • British Air Ministry Winter Trials in Canada: 1. The Siskins (Vincent)

  • 2020 and Beyond

    At present, we have a range of articles blocked in through to the end of Volume 58 (2020 publication year) and then some. Due to the serialized nature of some of the more in-depth features (i.e., articles that span two or more Journal numbers), the place they hold in the current line-up may change. Still, the order of appearance should end up very close to that summarized in Volume 58 Features.

    If all goes to plan, seven of these eight Journals will be in mailboxes (or inboxes as is the case for Online Memberships) before the end of 2020. The last Journal of the 2020 publication year, Volume 58, Number 4, will then follow, on schedule, sometime in January 2021.

    Thinking of already-submitted articles as "inventory" and outlines as building blocks towards the same, we have enough material either in hand or in the works to maintain a healthy publication schedule through to at least the end of 2022 / mid-2023. However, to help us maintain a good balance of coverage across all eras and sub-genres (civil, commercial, military, industry, etc) of Canadian aviation history, it should be noted here that we are always eager to receive new articles to add to the line-up.

    Volume 58 Features

    Number 1 (Spring 2020)
    • British Air Ministry Winter Trials in Canada – 2. The Fairey IIIF (Vincent)
    • Wooden Wings Over the Wilderness 8 (Seaborn)
    • Sidney Cotton and his Aerial Adventures in Newfoundland, Part 1 (Singfield)
    • One O Wonder: The CF-101 Voodoo in Canadian Service, Part 2 (Stachiw)

    Number 2 (Summer 2020)
    • British Air Ministry Winter Trials in Canada – 3. The Wapiti (Vincent)
    • Wooden Wings Over the Wilderness 9 (Seaborn)
    • Sidney Cotton and his Aerial Adventures in Newfoundland, Part 2 (Singfield)
    • Floatplane on Ice: A Fleet of Beech 18s and a Shortage of Skis (Ariano)

    Number 3 (Fall 2020)
    • Northern Engineer: Some Adventures of an Aero Engineer in the North (Walton)
    • British Air Ministry Winter Trials in Canada – 4. The Audax (Vincent)
    • Wooden Wings Over the Wilderness 10 (Seaborn)
    • Canadians in the Battle of Britain (Halliday)

    Number 4 (Winter 2020)
    • No 3 Air Observers School, Regina (Chabun)
    • British Air Ministry Winter Trials in Canada – 4. The Audax (Vincent)
    • A Brief History of RCAF Eastern Air Command Met Flight (Hornstein via Halliday)
  • Traditionally, individual CAHS Journal numbers have been in the 40 to 44 pages range, with colour on the covers and sometimes (subject either to opportunity or budget) across the centre-fold. Within the past decade, we have offered a "no paper, no mailing" membership in the form of our Anywhere-Online option. To date, Anywhere-Online Members have been receiving a high-resolution PDF "replica" – an exact digital copy of the print edition enjoyed by Traditional Members – via email. While some may view such digital publications as being less desirable than their print-production counterparts, it is undeniable that they do offer a number of distinct advantages including:
    Full Word / Word String Search Capability
    Whether you use your internet browser, an operating system level viewer (such as Preview on a MacOS computer), or a dedicated Adobe program (such as Acrobat Reader or Acrobat Pro), all Online editions of our Journal produced since 2010 are fully searchable, making our digital publications a valuable time-saving asset for researchers and the similarly curious.
    * To search for specific word strings, simply use quotation marks when typing in a search. For example, typing "Bill McCrae" will return only results including both words in that order whereas typing both words without the quotation marks will return all instances of the word "Bill" and all instances of the word "McCrae".

    Text Legibility
    Limitations of some PDF viewing software notwithstanding, our digital publications retain the actual typography set during their digital pre-press creation. That is to say, each page is not just a scanned image file. This means the text does not become pixelated if enlarged for easier on-screen reading. Even limited capability viewers allow at least 400% on-screen magnification, resulting in large, sharp on-screen text.

    Image Fidelity
    It doesn't always work out, but if we have high-resolution images to begin with during pre-press, then the same on-screen magnification function that produces the text legibility described above will also help produce reasonably sharp on-screen enlargement of photos, maps, and other graphical content. The way our PDFs are custom-crafted, this remains true as long as we've had high-resolution image files to start with.

    Durability
    Digital publications last forever. And, thanks to the inherent search capability noted above, if you happen to have "misplaced" one on your computer, you can perform a system-wide search using the volume and number (or any subject known to be part of any given Journal's contents) as search terms.
    On the other hand, if it isn't found (usuallydue to accidental deletion) and assuming your Anywhere-Online membership is current, simply contact CAHS Membership HQ to request a fresh copy.
    And, From Volume 57 onwards…
    To add even more value to our growing library of digital publications going forward we are pleased to introduce a full colour content feature.

    In the past, to stay within budget as printing costs continue to rise, our pre-press workflow was optimized for "mostly black & white" print production. Within it, with the exceptions of colour covers and the occasional centre-spread as noted above, all colour graphical content had to be converted to black & white imagery prior to press and, since our digital editions to date have been PDF replicas of the print editions, they have been limited to "mostly black & white" imagery.

    Starting with the soon-to-press Volume 57 Number 1, we've adjusted our workflow so that the print editions will remain as is, while the digital editions will – in cases where the graphical content has been supplied by authors and other contributors in colour – feature colour reproduction throughout.

    Going forward, this feature will also carry over into other digital publications based on Journal content, including our growing range of individual article PDFs and article series compendiums, both of which are made available in our shop within a month or so of the publication of the Journal(s) they first appear in.

​The Latest CAHS Journal off the press and in the mail

Select the thumbnail images above to preview a sampling of the content in the latest issue off the press, CAHS Journal Volume 56 Number 4 (Winter 2018). This issue has been mailed to all current traditional membership holders, together with Volume 56, Number 3 (see below). The e-publication (PDF) editions will be sent to all current online-only membership holders within the next 24 hours.
Printed and PDF editions of both issues will soon be made available for purchase from our shop.

​The Latest CAHS Journal off the press and in the mail

CAHS Journal Volume 56 Number 3 (Fall 2018). This issue has been mailed to all members together with Volume 56, Number 4.

Scope, depth, & range – variety in every issue

Each issue of our CAHS Journal is filled with well-researched articles, first-person accounts, profiles of important people and aircraft, and, when available, reviews of new aviation history books. It’s not all text, though: Throughout you will find photos, maps, and other illustrations – many of which may have been rarely published, if at all. When we do choose to use previously published illustrative material, we do so with contextual relevance to the subject at hand in mind, and strive to avoid the generic where the specific will benefit the overall coverage of whatever the subject of the day might be.
     Unless the issue at hand is a themed special edition, we also work to keep the range of subject as varied as possibles within any given issue. The preferred approach is to select articles from more than one or two of the recognized historical periods in aviation history and within those, a good mix of the biographical with historical accounts of aircraft types, makers, operators (both civil and military), and aviation technologies.
     In that context, the recognized historical periods are generally understood to be:
  • Early or Pioneer (pre First World War) - 1913 and before;
  • First World War - 1914 to1918;
  • Golden Era (the early bush-plane years, or or the "bush pilots in uniform" years in Canadiana-speak) - 1919 to 1938;
  • Second World War - 1939 to 1945 and;
  • Post War - 1946 to present, minus 20. 

Heading into the second decade of the new century with Y2K now some twenty years in the rear view, "Post War" can probably be further segmented into Cold War and Post Cold War. Perhaps? ​​​Well, you get the picture.
Whatever the case, we do our best to publish a good variety, both in terms of period and subject genre, across each annual volume's four numbered issues. For the most part we tend to achieve this, but the reality of randomized availability does sometimes mean the goal is not always achievable. In recognition of that, I will be posting  "wants and needs" here from time to time. Maybe some of you out there can help us keep the output in line with aspiration?
Thanks and regards,
Terry Higgins,
​CAHS Journal managing editor & graphics director
Next Up
Volume 56 Number 4 is the latest issue in publication. Volume 57 Numbers 1 and 2, along with content for subsequent Volume 57 and 58 Journals, are currently in preparation. Please check back soon for details.

CAHS Journal Distributions & the Web Shop

Since 2010, the CAHS Journal has been published in two editions – print and digital. The former is distributed to our Traditional Membership, Museum Membership, and Corporate Sponsor Membership and the latter to our Online Membership. With the advent of this website, we also offer instant-download PDFs of individual articles and article compendia – both extracted from our digital editions – as part of our new digital publications catalogue.

This website's Shop makes available all CAHS Journals, 2010 to present, in both print and digital editions, as well as the range of articles and compendia from all issues since 2010. It is intended that our digital products, with their fully searchable textual content and high fidelity (comparable to high-quality print-production norms) graphical content,  may offer a useful variation for any readers library – whether researcher, writer, or enthusiast, member, or non-member.
Digital editions are also a good option for those looking for sold-out back-issues. However, if "print" is your preference, we have also negotiated an equitable Print on Demand (POD) arrangement with our printers. Within it, any Journal published using our digital workflow (in effect since 2010) but out of stock in its original print-production form will be made available in POD form if a POD run is triggered by a back-issue order. The first such POD edition is now available in the Shop.

Legacy (pre-2010) print editions are still available as either remaining inventory of the original print runs, or as staple-bound copy prints (usually photo-copies). We've started adding these to the shop, which is now fully searchable by title or author. Check this NewsFlash for further details.

It should be noted here that, while the CAHS Shop is open to all, our CAHS Journal membership distributions will always be delivered a full two weeks to a month before any given new edition, or it's individual articles, are made available here. Likewise, compendia will only post to the shop within a month of the last article instalment of any given series is distributed to the membership.