RCAF History Forum

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Moose47
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Moose47 »

G'day fellow R.C.A.F. history buffs

This shiny Lockheed Electra 10A reports for duty with the Royal Canadian Air Force at R.C.A.F. Station Camp Borden, Ontario on the 23rd of October, 1939. How would you like to polish that sucker?

The aircraft was originally owned by Canadian Airways Limited. It was given a Certificate of Registration (No. 1824) on 28th of August, 1936. It was later sold to Trans-Canada Airlines. When the Second World War broke out, a number of civilian aircraft were impressed for wartime duties. CF-BAF was one of them. It was given the R.C.A.F. s/n 1528 ( a serial number that would later assigned to a Beechcraft Expeditor).

During its military service, the aircraft served with the following units:

Flying Instructor School – R.C.A.F. Station Camp Borden

Central Testing Establishment - R.C.A.F. Station Rockckiffe, Ontario

No. 12 Communications Squadron - R.C.A.F. Station Rockckiffe, Ontario
Note: On the 20th of December, 1943 at 18:30 hours, this Electra was involved in a accident. The pilot, C1417 Flight Lieutenant L. N. Gill with five passengers on-board,was preparing the aircraft for a test flight after an engine change. The undercarriage collapsed during the pre-flight checks. The co-pilot (listed as passenger) is believed to have selected the undercarriage up by mistake instead of the carburettor heat. There was no disciplinary action taken. It was duly noted that it was dark at the time.

Radio Exploration Flight - Malton, Ontario
Note: Electra 10A s/n 1528 which was on loan from No. 6 Repair Depot at R.C.A.F. Station Trenton, Ontario, was involved in the first of two accidents at 12:45 hours on the 1st of June, 1945. J50539 Pilot Officer J. W. Nelson was setting out on an aircraft familiarization flight in Fairey Battle Mk. I s/n L5073. The Battle swung to port while taxing at No. 6 Repair Depot and struck parked Norseman Mk. IV s/n 2486 (belonging to No. 6 R.D.) and the aforementioned Lockheed Electra s/n 1528.

The aircraft was struck off strength with the R.C.A.F. on the 2nd of May, 1946. It was sold in Canada and given the new registration CF-HED. The aircraft was subsequently sold to an American buyer and re-registered as N16222.

I can not dig up anything post-war

Cheers...Chris
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Moose47
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Moose47 »

G`day Barney

First off, please keep the photos coming.

What you have here is an Avro Anson Mk. I carrying a partial R.A.F. serial number 2115 (W2115) from No. 6 Air Observer School at Prince Alberta, Saskatchewan. The aircraft was actually R.C.A.F. s/n 6490. I guess they never got around to repainting it.

At 11:45 hours on the 7th of August,1941 the civilian staff pilot, Mr. E. Waite along with two air observer students L.A.C. E. D. Ansford and L.A.C. J. D. Ackerman, were returning from an exercise when the Anson ran off the edge of the landing field and nosed over in summer fallow. Waite had landed without any flaps, in calm air. Little did he know that his airspeed was much higher due to an un-servicable airspeed indicator. He was deemed to have shown poor judgement in not proceeding in another landing. Waite nosed over after due to using brakes in soft ground after the Anson had overrun the end of the runway.

No. 6 Air Observer School had a very short operational life. It was sponsored and operated by Mason and Campbell Aviation Company Limited from the 17th of March 1941 until its closure on the 11th of September, 1942.

Cheers...Chris
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Moose47
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Moose47 »

G'day again Barney

The Stearman Model D-75N1 (PT-27) shown is one of 300 acquired by the R.C.A.F. They were taken on strength with R.C.A.F. on the 2nd of March, 1942. They had a very short operational career north of the 49th. By the middle of January, 1943 more than 250 aircraft had been ferried back to the United States. The last one was returned on the 24th of April which coincided with the date the Stearmans were officially struck off strength with the R.C.A.F..

The aircraft in the photo was part of a serial block FJ741 to FJ999

The following Royal Air Force Elementary Flying Training Schools used the Stearman.

No. 31 E.F.T.S. - DeWinton, Alberta

No. 32 E.F.T.S. - Bowden, Alberta

No. 36 E.F.T.S. - Pearce, Alberta

Cheers...Chris
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Old Dog Flying
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Old Dog Flying »

Chris will no doubt have the history on this one:

Image

And this one as well:Image

Image
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Moose47
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Moose47 »

G'day Barney

Here is some history on the Battle picture you posted last night.

The aircraft was one of 311 Fairey Battle Mk. I's delivered to the Royal Air Force by Fairey (Stockport) between May,1938 and February, 1939 under Contract Number 522745/36. The serial number range was K9176 – K9486.

This aircraft was accepted into service by No. 9 Maintenance Unit at Hullavington, Wiltshire on the 9th of January, 1939.

31st of January, 1939 – to No. 185 (B) Squadron at Thornaby, Yorkshire

30th of June, 1939 – to No. 52 (B) Squadron at Bensen, Oxon

18th of February, 1940 – to No. 63 (B) Squadron at Benson, Oxon

Note: None of the above squadrons served in France nor saw any combat over Dunkirk.

18th of April, 1940 – to No. 12 Operational Training Unit at Bensen, Oxon.

On the 26th of June, 1940 Battle K9449 had an engine failure on approach to Dorchester Landing Ground, Oxon. The aircraft stalled. resulting in the collapse of the undercarriage upon contact with the ground

10th of July, 1940 – to Fairey for repairs after the above-mentioned accident.

27th of October, 1940 – Back to No. 9 Maintenance Unit

5th of March, 1941 - to No. 47 Maintenance Unit at Sealand, Flint. The aircraft was disassembled and packaged up for shipping to Canada.

It was re-assembled by Fleet Aircraft Limited in Fort Erie, Ontario and taken on strength with the Royal Canadian Air Force on the 14th of May, 1941.

It served with:

No. 6 Bombing and Gunnery School at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan

It was converted to a 'Gun Battle' with the installation of a turret. The work was completed on the 5th of December, 1942. On that same day, it was transferred to No. 9 Bombing & Gunnery School at Mont Joli, Quebec.

The aircraft later went into storage at No. 6 Reserve Equipment Holding Unit at Mont Joli, Quebec for disposal.

It was taken off strength with the R.C.A.F. on the 17th of June, 1946 and became the responsibility of War Assets for disposal.

Cheers...Chris
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Tailwind W10
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Tailwind W10 »

I hope Tom will respond with some history...

CF-BLV is the Barkley-Grow T8P-1 currently on display in the Alberta Aviation Museum.
http://albertaaviationmuseum.com/index. ... &Itemid=41
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley-Grow_T8P-1

No longer sporting the footboall on the ADF loop, I gather she's on loan from the Aerospace Museum of Calgary.

Gerry
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Moose47
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Moose47 »

G'day Barney

NC14252 is a Consolidated Vultee V-1AD (s/n 18). It was bought by Mr. G. P. Fuller of Fuller Paints in 1935. The aircraft was sold to a buyer in Mexico in April, 1944 and registered as XA-DIL. It was later re-regsitered as XB-MEA.

Cheers...Chris
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Old Dog Flying
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Old Dog Flying »

The Barkley-Grow was owned by Harry Wherreat of Assiniboia Sask in the 1970s and was later sold to the Reynold's Museum. Harry's farm was across the road from the west end of rnwy 27 and we frequently landed there for a break from the low level cross-country training flights.

Harry passed away last year but his wife Ann is still living on the farm and I talked to her on New Years Day..a great lady who loved aviation.

Barney
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Moose47
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Moose47 »

G'day Barney

CF-BLV was built in 1938.

From the 4th of April, 1939, the ownership of CF-BLV goes something like this.

Canadian Car & Foundry

Yukon Southern Air Transport

Canadian Pacific Airlines acquired the aircraft from Yukon Southern Air Transport and commenced flying it on the 23rd of December, 1943. It was given C.P.A.L. fleet number 212

H. R. Peets of Edmonton, Alberta bought it from C. P.A.L. on the 29th of November, 1949

Associated Airways (later bought by Pacific Western Airlines in November, 1956)

Pacific Western Airlines began operating the aircraft in April of 1956. It was damaged beyond repair during take-off on the 12th of January, 1960 at Peace River, Alberta.

Cheers...Chris
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Moose47
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Moose47 »

G'day Barney

The pupil pilot of Tiger Moth s/n 4043 was R79641 L.A.C. Philip Edward Thompson Townsend from Balgonie, Saskatchewan, He was a student with No. 6 Elementary Flying Training School at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan The accident happened at 11:00 hours on the 2nd of March, 1941, ten miles south-east of No. 6 E.F.T.S. Townsend was severely injured, so the guy with the aircraft is not him.

Townsend recovered from his injuries, but sadly only to die on the 1st of March, 1943. Pilot Officer Townsend was the skipper of a Vickers Wellington bomber B. Mk. III with No. 420 Snowy Owl (B) Squadron. One of his wings collapsed causing the aircraft to crash near R.A.F. Station Leeming, Yorkshire, killing all onboard

Extracted from the Accident Record Cards

"Low gliding speed in a turn resulting in a spin. The aircraft was flying about 3,500 feet when the pilot put the aircraft in a spin: set the controls to come out of the spin, and the aircraft came out of the spin at about 3,000 feet. The pilot hen attempted to flatten out, but the aircraft did not respond".

Primary Cause
Failure of the pilot to make proper recovery from a spin.

Secondary Cause or Contributing Factors
The aircraft fell into a spiral following the spin and in that manner lost considerable height before recovery was made to a straight glide.

Recommendations
More instruction with respect to spirals, spins and particularly flat spins.

Cheers...Chris
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Moose47
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Moose47 »

G'day

This will bring back some good memories for you Barney.

A mix of Avro Lancaster Mk. 10MR's and Mk. 10MP's from No. 2 (Maritime) Operational Training Unit at R.C.A.F. Station Summerside, P.E.I. carry out a flypast in 1954.

No. 2 (Maritime) Operational Training Unit was formed on the 1st of November,1949 at R.C.A.F. Station Greenwood, Nova Scotia. The O.T.U. moved to R.C.A.F. Station Summerside, Prince Edward Island on the 14th of November 1953. As well as Lancasters, No. 2 (M) O.T.U. also used Dakotas and Expeditors. After the withdrawl of the Lancaster in the maritime role, the O.T.U. trained crews on the Lockheed Neptune and later Canadair CP-107 Argus.

The Lancaster versions used by No. 2 (M) O.T.U. included;

Lancaster Mk. X – basic bomber version when the O.T.U. was formed
Lancaster Mk. 10MR – Maritime Reconnaissance
Lancaster Mk. 10MP – Maritime Patrol
Lancaster Mk. 10N – Navigation Trainer

Here's a little bit of trivia. R.C.A.F. Station and later Canadian Forces Base Summerside's nickname was 'Slumberside'.

Cheers...Chris
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Moose47
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Moose47 »

G'day

A nice row of Canadian-built (Victory Aircraft) Lancaster B. Mk. X's from No. 419 'Moose' (B) Squadron at Middleton. St. George, Durham, England. The squadron operated the Lancaster from March, 1944 until the 31st of May, 1945. They flew their aircraft back to R.C.A.F. Station Yarmouth, Nova Scotia where they were to train before joining the Royal Air Force's Tiger Force in the Pacific.

Cheers...Chris
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Moose47
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Moose47 »

G'day

Ground crew from No. 414 (P) Squadron based at R.C.A.F. Station Rockcliffe, Ontario carry out some work in a nose hangar up at Norman Wells, Yukon Territory. The squadron was equipped with the Douglas Dakota Mk. IIIP and Mk. IVP in the photographic role from 1st of April 1947 to the 1st of November,1950. No. 414 (P) Squadron was part of Air Transport Command's No. 22 (Photographic) Wing. The squadron was commanded by Squadron Leader R. F. Milne DFC (1st of April, 1947 - 19th of December, 1948) and Wing Commander B M Millar (20th of December, 1948 - 1st of November, 1950).

Cheers...Chris
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Moose47
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Moose47 »

G'day

Quiz time folks. Time to put the old thinking cap on.

I am a very famous pilot. Who am I?

Here are a few clues.

(1) I don't give a dam what you or anyone else thinks of me

(2) Its dark over Goose Bay

(3) A magician powered my plane

(4) animals live in these

"Good luck to you"

Cheers...Chris

P.S. I will post the picture tomorrow evening.
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Moose47
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Moose47 »

G'day

Not much time left to answer.

I will post the answer and photo at 23:59 Zulu.

Cheers...Chris
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imarai
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by imarai »

So he flew a Rolls Royce Merlin powered aircraft, and had a name that may have included the words; sty, pen, barn, or corral. I've ruled out Cowboy Blatchford, Buzz Beurling, Douglas Bader, and Johnny Johnson. Buck McNair ? Just guessing...
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Moose47
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Moose47 »

G'day imarai

Good guess.

I don't give a dam..... three dams in Germany were to be bombed by No. (B) 617 Squadron in the Rhur Valley.

Its dark over Goose Bay Goose Bay is in Labrador. A beer drinking black Labrador nicknamed '....'

A magician powered my plane – Merlin-powered aircraft

animals live in these – Barnes Wallis, the inventor of the bomb used to breach the dams

Which means our mystery aviator is Wing Commander Guy Gibson V.C.

The photo shows Guy Gibson and members of his squadron including the aforementioned beer drinking Black Labrador '...'. '...' was also the code word for the breaching of the Möhne dam. Unfortunately,the loveable K-9 was killed by a hit and run driver the morning before the operation later that evening.

Here is a 10 minute excerpt from the movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCRIsjJFRNo

Cheers...Chris
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by BD8 »

"Which means our mystery aviator is Wing Commander Guy Gibson V.C."

Just read through his logbook (copy of) the other day............ quite entertaining !!
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Moose47
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Moose47 »

G'day BD8

You may like to have a look at No. 617 Squadron's ORB's for 1943 to 1945.

http://www.dambusters.org.uk/docs/recordbook.pdf

Cheers...Chris
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Moose47
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Re: RCAF History Forum

Post by Moose47 »

G'day

Here is a painting of a Canadian Vickers Vedette Mk. VI. The full registration is G-CYWI
with the construction number CV163. It was later given the R.C.A.F. serial number 817.

The aircraft was taken on strength with the R.C.A.F. On the 13th of May, 1930 at R.C.A.F.
Station Vancouver, British Columbia.

It was assigned to the Vancouver Seaplane School at Jericho Beach, British Columbia on the
10th of May, 1930. The unit was also known as the Jericho Beach Sea Plane School.

Ottawa Air Station, Rockcliffe, Ontario.
It had two accidents while at Rockcliffe. The first one was on the 1st of August, 1934.
The pilot was Warrant Officer Kenny. No details are available but the aircraft was completely
re-built. The second accident took place on the 29th of September, 1935. The pilot was Flying
Officer West.

Air Navigation and Seaplane School - R.C.A.F. Station Trenton, Ontario.
The aircraft suffered an other accident. The wingtip floats and lower main plane were damaged
at Trenton on the 19th of July 1938. No other details were given.

No. 13 (Operational Training) Squadron – R.C.A.F. Station Sea Island, British Columbia.
On the 29th of August, 1940, the aircraft had a landing accident at Sea Island. It damaged a wing
tip float. No further details except that the aircraft was repaired.

Vedette s/n 817 was declared obsolete and approval for write-off given on the 4th of January,1941.
The aircraft was a free issue and accepted on behalf of the Youth Training School in Edmonton, Alberta
Mr. W. Cornell.

Cheers...Chris
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