2012 - fall

SPECIAL

POINTS OF IN-

O N P R O U D W I N G S

♠ Queen’s Jubilee

Celebration Medals

Awards to Members

and Staff.

♠ Meet our New

Director, Capt. Lynn

Barley.

♠ The Snowbirds

annual visit and

photo contest.

♠ History of Chinese—

Canadian troops in

WW II.

♠ Plus, some fun, facts

and frivolities

V O L U M E 6 , I S S U E 2

F A L L 2 0 1 2

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

T H E C O M O X

V A L L E Y A I R

F O R C E

M U S E U M

A S S O C I A T I O N

N E W S L E T T E R

QQueen’s ueen’s DDiamondiamond JJubileeubilee MMedals edals

The Queen’s Diamond

Jubilee Medal

This commemorative medal was

created to mark the celebrations of

the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty

Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to

the Throne as Queen of Canada in

2012. This medal is a visible and

tangible way to recognize our

outstanding Canadians of all ages

and from all walks of life, who have

built and continue to build our

society and country through their

service and achievements. During

the year of celebrations, 60,000

deserving Canadians will be recog-

nized. The Chancellery of Hon-

ours, as part of the Office of the

Secretary to the Governor General,

administers the Queen Elizabeth II

Diamond Jubilee Medal program,

principally through partnering

organizations such as nationally

recognized and accredi ted

Associations and organizations

such as the Legion, AFAC, Museum

Associations etc., as well as

Members of Parliament and other

Government departments.

D J M A W A R D S 1

N E W D I R E C T O R 2 - 3

P R E S I D E N T ' S 4

M A N A G E R ’ S 5

S N O W B I R D S 6

C R O S S W O R D 7

S P O T T E R Q U I Z 7

R E C E N T E V E N T S 8 - 9

M E M B E R S H I P 1 0

E D I T O R I A L 1 1

S O M E H I S T O R Y 1 1

X W O R D S O L N . 1 1

E X E C . P A G E 1 2

I N F O S E S S I O N 1 3

D O U G P A T O N 1 4 - 1 5

G I F T S H O P 1 6

W A N T E D 1 6

Terry Chester was

nominated by the

Conference of

Defence Associations

Institute as National

President, of the Air

Force Association of

Canada

Allison Hetman, our own “Mommy Rabbit” was nominated by the OMMC and presented with her Diamond Jubilee Medal at this

year’s AGM.

Don Manley, our immediate Past President and

David Stinson, a former secretary to our Board,

and both Directors of OMMC who nominated

and presented them at this year’s OMMC

Conference in Montreal.

Mike Hendren, nominated by

CVAFMA and presented the Hon.

John Duncan MP.

Getty Images

Dave Mellin, Director, nominated

by RCMP for 40 yrs. service in the

RCMP Auxiliary Constable Program

Jon Ambler, nominated by

AFAC for his work in preserving

and celebrating RCAF history


A P R I L 2 0 1 2

O N P R O U D W I N G S O N P R O U D W I N G S

Introducing our new Director

From High School, Lynn joined the reserve

army band of the King’s Own Calgary Regiment

as a musician. In the briefing she was just told,

`...don’t worry about the military, we’ll look

after them. Just play the instrument, march,

stand at attention, stand at ease, salute and there

you go.’ And so it went for a number of years which, together with summer jobs, also helped

pay for her Mechanical Engineering degree at

the U of C.

As Lynn relates, “since that time, most of us

have moved away leaving only a few of the

band but many memories behind. I was pleas-

antly surprised to meet a KOCR member at the

OMMC convention I recently attended for the

museum. We knew and talked about many of

the same people and places, it was great. The

band was really only a hobby so I didn’t join the regular force there and then. My interest stayed with the Forces and engi-

neering but this I balanced with my desire to travel. ”

Looking at all opportunities Lynn decided to travel first,

which took her to Fiji, Australasia, the Far East, through Den-

mark to see her brother and, a couple years later, ten months

overland with a group through much of Africa. “I had lots of

fun on the trip, despite some risky experiences in those unset-

tled times. I finally left the group in Botswana to fly into

South Africa and stay with friends there before coming back.”

With all that travel, were you not tempted to seek engineering work somewhere?

“Well, yes, I did get my work visa for Australia but, once

there, found it was very unusual for women to work as engi-

neers. I asked about it, but people just couldn’t fathom what

that would mean. The frequent response was, ‘Ah, but, you are from Canada, aren’t you, so yes .. that’s ok .. you do

things differently there don’t you?” This separation of the

genders was confirmed for her when Lynn traveled up the

east coast and saw lots of places that still had Ladies Only

entrances and other such rules. “Fortunately, I was able to

spend quite a bit of time hitching around New Zealand, sail-

ing up the coast of Australia from Sydney to Cairns, and

hitchhiking with my brother around Australia. For engineer-

ing work, I didn`t find any interesting opportunities, but I did

end up working on a sheep station as a Jillaroo for a few

months!”

Where did that leave you on your return to Canada?

“As I had always wanted to join the Air Force (both my

parents were in the RCAF during the war – my Mom as a

Supply Tech and my Dad as a Sgt Pilot), I was doubly attract-

ed by the promise at enlistment of ‘Join the

forces and see the world.’ as well as being taught to speak French. That’s cool, I

thought, had certainly liked seeing the

world so far and always wanted to learn

French, so I signed up as an Aerospace

Engineer (AERE) and off I went. First

came Winnipeg and then the Aerospace

Engineering Course at Borden. That took

me to CFB Cold Lake to work on CF-18s,

where I was summarily assigned to its sim-

ulator instead of maintenance as I had

asked for. I explained to the Career Man-

ager section, that I was trained in mechani-cal engineering and was sure that the simu-

lator was mostly electronics. I was assured

they knew all about me, but that didn’t

change their minds. From then on they

kept trying to send me to Avionics positions. Background

doesn’t seem to matter as much one’s own tenacity in at-

tempting to keep on or near to one’s chosen career path.

However, after I had been on the base for a while, I was trans-

ferred to 416 Tactical Fighter Squadron with the CF-18s as a

Maintenance Officer. Great!

What then?

“I got to do a broader range of activi-

ties, to know all that was going on and, by

the way, quite a few flights in CF-18s,

which was really cool. One of the flights was along the Sand River, northwest of

the base, at really low level hugging the

contours of the river itself. Sat there in

the back seat with all the controls and

ejection seat lever within easy reach was

exciting, to say the least. It is hard not to be airsick during

such flights and you need to have brought enough bags! Say-

ing, ‘I’m going cold mic’ and ‘I’m back’ was all the pilot

needed to know. Only on a trip to Las Vegas for a Red Flag

exercise, was I ever reasonably comfortable. Our doctor had

given me some pills; meanwhile, in true Vegas style, gam-

bling had begun on how many sick bags I would fill. Hah, I

wasn’t sick at all!

And after Cold Lake?

“After spending from 1991 to 1995 in Cold Lake, I was

posted to Hull QC as an LCMM for Army/Navy life support. I had met my husband Michael, a photographer with the CF,

in Cold Lake and we were married during the Hull posting.

Capt. Lynn BarleyCapt. Lynn Barley

Steve Perez


A P R I L 2 0 1 2


He was then posted to Esquimalt after a dive course in Hali-

fax. So, he’s in Esquimalt and I’m in Hull and by then the

Forces Reduction Program (FRP) had been implemented. I

had a chance to review my situation and as attempts to go

back west nearer to Esquimalt were refused me I got out and

moved to Victoria with Michael.”

“We had our son Tyrell there and the call back to work

eventually resurfaced. With few opportunities in Victoria I

put my name in for the military, an occupation I realised I had

much enjoyed. There were no positions for an AERE, but

there were for Communications Electronics Engineers

(CELE) with the land forces and after I spent another three

months in St. Jean upgrading my French, I was posted to CFB

Kingston for training. Michael got a posting to Petawawa.

We had done it! I traveled back and forth on weekends, leav-

ing Michael and one-year-old Tyrell behind. It was very hard

at the time but turned out well for us all. Training involved some army combat training as well as the CELE training and

in the army questions are not as well received as they are in

the air force. I had a few adjustments to make.”

“After my army training, we were posted to Gagetown

where I did four years with Sigs, in a very similar type of job

to when I was in Cold Lake, as troop officer leading the tech-

nicians on the base’s computer and communications network.

During that posting our daughter Jolyn was born and Michael

retired to look after our family full time. The CO asked me

what I wanted next and I suggested being a SigO, preferably

with 4ESR (4th Engineering Support Regiment) in Gagetown. To which he said, ‘...now look, as a SigO, if you want to go

places with your career, what you need is to be with the

PPCLI, RCR or another field regiment. That day I noticed in

the routine orders that the CF Voluntary Occupational Trans-

fer Program was open for application and the next day, I

looked at my truly “army” but excellent CO and said, ‘Do you

know what I would really like, Sir, I would like to be an Aero-

space Engineer again?’ He said, ‘I think people ought to be

where they want to be, as that’s where they do best’. He

backed me up and I was transferred back in the Air Force

again! These moves did have their costs as I see my contem-

poraries went on to become majors, base commanders etc..,

but I really like where I am

now.”

“So, I was posted to AETE

(Aerospace Engineering Test

Establishment) back in Cold Lake where we both loved it

and I thought I would just stay

there. Nope, after three years they said I was posted and one

of the places they offered me was Gagetown, with 403 Sqn in

the Land Aviation Test and Evaluation Flight for the Griffon

Helicopters. I talked to my family, and lo and behold, the

house we had built there and lived in for three years was for

sale again, quite a tempting coincidence. We ended up buying

our house back! It was a

beautiful place, situated on

a lake with some amazing

landscaping which Mi-chael had done. What

goes around. We really

enjoyed moving back in

and especially putting up

the pictures of our children

and us from our first time there.

When it was time for me to retire, we thought, ‘Where

shall we go now?’ and ‘Where do we want to be for good?’ A

Comox posting had always evaded us, so we looked around

and decided to

settle in Campbell River where we

found a nice place

and could also

harbour our sail-

boat. Still want-

ing a Reserve po-

sition, I looked at

CFB Comox for

possibilities. One

of the positions available was this A Class one at the museum,

which I found very diverse, interesting and right up my alley

for a new experience in the military.

Introducing our new Director

D I R E C T O R ’ S D I A L O G U E

Well, it has been a busy first seven months for me at

the Museum. I have lots to learn but certainly a wealth of

knowledge to access - between Jon Ambler, WO Barnucz,

Ken Oxley and all our great volunteers!

What an excellent group of people to work with - everyone is here because they love it and are interested. We

were all very happy to have Ken Oxley return back to work in

the gift shop after his visit with the heart surgeon. Steve

McNamee did an admirable job filling in for him over the

summer. I'm now looking forward to seeing some more

changes in our displays this fall with new "Don Smith panels"

arriving and all the work involved in implementing them. I

know Jon has our handyman Irv Fraser's time tied up for the

next couple of months, thanks Irv!

I am really happy to be here and I am enjoying this job

immensely. Lynn.


A P R I L 2 0 1 2


Updates: AGM

THE AGM WAS HELD ON APRIL 2. MEMBERS, VAL KAEHLER AND DON MANLEY HAVE STEPPED DOWN, BILL CUELL IS NOW PRESIDENT, AND 2 NEW MEMBERS, LEN PHILIPS AND

JEAN ENNIS HAVE JOINED THE BOARD.

THANKS WERE EXTENDED TO VAL AND KEN OXLEY FOR THEIR WORK ON THE SNOWBIRD CONTEST, AND TO DON MANLEY FOR HIS SERVICE AS PRESIDENT.

DON MANLEY PRESENTED ALLISON HETMAN WITH THE QUEEN’S JUBILEE MEDAL FOR HER VOLUNTEER SERVICE.

LENGTHS OF SERVICE PINS WERE PRESENTED TO MEMBERS WHO HAVE SERVED 5, 10, 15, AND 20 YEARS.

BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE- HAS ARRIVED AND IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING IN A CASE IN THE LIBRARY.

GARAGE SALE- $1107.15 WAS RAISED AT THE SALE. THANKS TO THOSE THAT HELPED OUT AT THE SALE AND TO THOSE WHO CONTRIBUTED ITEMS.

BINGO MONEY APPLICATION- DUE TO CHANGES IN LEGISLATION THE APPLICATION IS IN A STATE OF FLUX, BUT THE FINAL AMOUNTS FROM LAST YEAR HAVE BEEN

RECEIVED. THE APPLICATION FOR THIS YEAR HAS BEEN MADE.

OMMC- DON MANLEY, CAPT. LYNN BARLEY, AND MEL BIRNIE REPRESENTED THE MUSEUM AT THE OMMC. MEL’S INCLUSION PROVIDED A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO NETWORK

WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF OTHER MUSEUMS. DON MANLEY AND DAVID STINSON WERE PRESENTED WITH THE QUEEN’S DIAMOND JUBILEE MEDAL AT THE CONFERENCE.

VISITOR CENTER- THE TUTOR DISPLAY HAS BEEN COMPLETED AND EVERYONE IS IMPRESSED WITH ITS INSTALLATION AND SEEING THE DISPLAY.

SKUNKWORKS- A SIGN-UP SHEET WILL BE AVAILABLE IN THE GIFT SHOP FOR ANYONE WISHING TO TOUR THE SHOP AND SEE THE HERITAGE VEHICLES.

Association News - From the Info Session (Bill)

In April we held our AGM. At that time Don Manley stepped down as President and I was voted in by the

board to take over. We also lost Val Kaehler from the board and I would like to thank both Don and Val for their valuable contributions to this organization.

Your new board now consists of the following members.

Bill Cuell President

Bob Mortimer Vice President Mike Spooner Treasurer

Jean Ennis Secretary Len Phillips Membership

Herb Lightfoot Director Mike Hendren Director

Dave Mellin Director Terry Chester Director

Rodney Jones Director and Editor of “On Proud Wings”.

I congratulate all the members of our Association who were awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal. Also a very big “Well Done” to Dave Mellin who was the driving force in getting the Tutor installed at

the new Visitor Centre in Cumberland. The installation of the Tutor at the Visitor Center is now complete and everyone is impressed by the

display. Bill

THE PRESIDENT’S

PODIUM

PRESIDENTIAL PRIORITIES

More on P.13


A P R I L 2 0 1 2


M A I N G A L L E R Y :

U P G R A D E S :

- W O R L D W A R 1 , W I T H S T R E A M E R S A N D N U R S E S ;

- H A N D L E Y P A G E H A M P D E N D A M A G E D R U D D E R ;

- S N O W B I R D S A N D G O L D E N H A W K S G R O U P M O D E L S R E - M O U N T I N G ;

- V U 3 3 D I S P L A Y C O M P L E T E , W I T H C O L O U R S T O B E F I N A L I Z E D ;

- B A S E B A L L S W E A T E R ;

- A R G U S C Y L I N D E R ( 1 L I T R E C A P A C I T Y ) A N D M O U N T I N G ;

- D O N S M I T H W O R K , T O B E C O N T I N U E D I N T H E F A L L .

Q & A : A R E I N T E R A C T I V E D I S P L A Y S B E I N G C O N S I D E R E D ? Y E S , W E

N E V E R W A N T T O B E ` D O N E ` .

L I B R A R Y :

- A I R S C R U B B E R S H A V E B E E N I N T R O D U C E D T O R E M O V E M U S T Y A T M O S P H E R E A N D A R E T O B E R U N E A C H N I G H T .

H E R I T A G E A I R C R A F T :

- T H E S T A R F I G H T E R I S D U E I N T O T H E H A N G A R F O R I T S A S S E S S M E N T O N W H E T H E R W E C A N D O A N Y R E S T O R A T I O N O N

I T O R N O T .

- T H E T U T O R , O F C O U R S E , N O W A T T H E D I S C O V E R Y V I S I T O R S ’ C E N T R E - R O N W E B B E R A N D D A V E M E L L I N H A V E D O N E

I T , W I T H T H E C O M M U N I T Y D O N A T I N G C O N C R E T E , S T E E L A N D P A I N T . T H E D U A L C R E S T P E D E S T A L D I S P L A Y ,

R E C O G N I Z I N G T H E B A S E A N D T H E F I R S T N A T I O N S ’ C O N T R I B U T I O N I S N O W A L S O I N P L A C E A T T H E T U T O R ’ S F O O T I N G .

- F O R T H E V A M P I R E , L Y N N A D V I S E S , T H A T T H E E X E C C O M M I T T E E H A S R E C O M M E N D E D I T B E D E C L A R E D S U R P L U S . I T

H A S B E E N O F F E R E D T O M U S E U M S A N D T H E C A N A D I A N A E R O N A U T I C A L P R E S E R V A T I O N A S S O C I A T I O N F O R A S E A L E D

B I D P R O C E S S . T H U S F A R , V I N T A G E W I N G S A N D J E T A I R C R A F T M U S E U M H A V E E X P R E S S E D I N T E R E S T . I F N O N E A R E

U L T I M A T E L Y I N T E R E S T E D , W H I C H I S V E R Y U N L I K E L Y , I T W O U L D G O T O C R O W N A S S E T S F O R D I S P O S A L .

- T H E T R A I L E R E D T - 3 3 T R A I N E R C O C K P I T I S N O W I N A H A N G A R : W I T H O U R N E W P A R K I N G L O T A R R A N G E M E N T , W E A R E

L O O K I N G A T T H E I D E A O F P U T T I N G I T O N D I S P L A Y I N T H E O P E N S P A C E A D J A C E N T T O T H E N E W B A S E E N T R A N C E ,

W I T H S T E P S F O R G O O D P U B L I C A C C E S S T O V I E W T H E I N T E R I O R .

From the Info Session - Museum Update (Jon)

We have certainly been busy this summer and, as we run through the fall, we will soon be-

come very pre-occupied with the next set of museum display upgrades. All good, but every once in a

while we have to stop, talk about and celebrate what we do:

We create and operate a fantastic Museum that celebrates our Air Force history.

Let's review August:

We averaged 54 visitors a day, and the average donation was $3.00 per person.

The visitors' feedback book is chock full of praise for our Museum and all the folks that run it.

We received a lovely letter from the Bitcon family who were most impressed with the display we have of

Pilot Officer Bitcon's medals, remembering that he was killed during WW2. Lest We Forget.

Three Boys and Girls Clubs visits took place, all with rave reviews.

The Communities in Bloom judges were very impressed with our Museum and our volunteer workforce.

Our heritage vehicle was shown off in the Nautical Days Parade, and our Voodoo is once again queen of the

Heritage Air Park.

Finally, Gary "Weedman" Wiffen has almost finished weeding the Air Park. Wow!

All that being said, our volunteers are making this place a pride and joy, and those efforts are recognised and appreciated.

P.S. Mark your calendar: our next Info Session is scheduled for Monday 1 October and our Annual Volunteer Appreciation Event is now scheduled for Tuesday 11 December. Jon.

MANAGEMENT MATTERS

More on P.13


A P R I L 2 0 1 2


2012 Snowbirds Photo Contest Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the Annual snowbirds Photo Contest. From left to right:

Pauline Hannarford (1st place),

Gloria Folk (2nd place),

Josh Bowles (3rd place).

1st Pauline Hannaford 2nd. Gloria Folk 3rd. Josh Bowles

Combat Camera

Snowbirds “Fly-by” Comox


A P R I L 2 0 1 2

O N P R O U D W I N G S

F U N F A R E

Spotters’ QUIZ

2.

clues

Across

1. Famous WWII fighter

6. Canadian’s liberated this

Italian city

8. Important Canadian

battle in Italy

9. Failed European raid

11. Canadian D-Day beach

landing

13. A man famous for his

list

15. The “nuke” America

wanted the Canadian’s to

have during the Cold War

16. German WWII bomber

17. Famous American

WWII General

18. SS Commander

19. “ I shall return” quote-

maker

Down

2. WWII German General

3. British WWII leader

4. Stalin’s namesake city

5. Pacific Wars turning

point battle

7. “Beware of the Hun, in

the Sun”

10. Snoopy’s rooftop battle nemesis (two words with

space)

12. Stalin dissenters home

14. Famous WWI Canadian

pilot

Solution on Pg. 11.

crossword Spring Issue Results..

None, regrettably, for the so-called Rotten Rodney’s Quiz. You can’t win

‘em all, you know? Nevertheless, this issue will try and be a little more

accommodating respite back to only aircraft recognition.

Here be the answers:

1. The space between the word, ‘Association’, and the collar of the mini

– mannequin’s bomber jacket next to the CAPA award to CAFM, on

top of the magazine rack in the library.

2. A pressure sensor nozzle on the Japanese fire balloon’s upper ring.

3. The top of the emitter pedestal on the CF-101 radar dish.

4. The tubex injector finger grip in 442 Medic’s equipment display box.

5. WW1 Nurse’s syringe hip flask in Uniform Display.

6. Top of face mic on 442 SAR Tech mannequin.

This issue's quiz

1.

2.

Two challenges here, of course. One small and one big, in more ways than one. Please do not assume that our editor readily has the answer(s), so your answers may fill a gap, hopefully. Simply put, your mission is to provide the what, who and where info of these images. The winner will be automatically entered into Spotter of the Year Award, if we are to be blessed by one after the last backfire, and $10 of hard-earned CVAFMA funds will go to the most accurate and verifiable answer.

Please send your answers by December 1st to:

[email protected] or phone Rodney at 250-650-0166.

Any tie will be settled by our Director drawing the winning entry.


A P R I L 2 0 1 2


A R G U S W A S H - D A Y

2012 CVAFMA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

C A N A D A D AY

Q U A R T E R - B A C K R E V I E W ( G A L L E R Y O F S O M E R E C E N T E V E N T S )


A P R I L 2 0 1 2


Q U A R T E R - B A C K R E V I E W C O N T . .

T U T O R T U T O R T U T O R --- O N O N O N --- A A A --- S T IS T IS T I C KC KC K

S U R R E Y S C H O O L C H O I R S U R R E Y S C H O O L C H O I R S U R R E Y S C H O O L C H O I R T O U RT O U RT O U R Wow, she did all that!?

You mean, they sat right behind the fuel tank!?

Awesome, bye and thanks.

Just how many

more weeds, guys?

Phew, there’s another

bomb shelter done!

..almost there..

DONE!


A P R I L 2 0 1 2

O N P R O U D W I N G S O N P R O U D

Some advantages of membership to the Association are:

Being part of a community-focused organization

Broadening your network of contacts and making new

friends

Learning first hand about Canada’s role in military avia-

tion

An opportunity to develop new skills

Involvement in a wide range of museum activities

A voting member of the Comox Valley Air Force Muse-

um Association (CVAFMA)

Opportunity to become one of the Association Directors

Enjoyment of membership activities and social functions

Membership Dues for 2008/09.

We would like to remind all association members that the annual dues should now be paid. We rely very much on having a

strong membership, so please continue to give us your support. The annual fee remains at $10, but we have discontinued

the family membership. As always, we are grateful for any donations, and tax receipts are issued for amounts over $10.

SOME INTERESTING WEBSITES: (Ctrl + Click or Copy & Paste to internet)

A sober word or two:

http://www.ideacityonline.com/talks/lewis-mackenzie-on-canadas-military-role-in-the-world/

Lost Sqn of Spits found in Myanmar (no further news yet):

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/04/19/buried-treasure-in-burma-squadron-lost-wwii-spitfires-to-be-exhumed/

Beaver Ballad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w_v0k57KhE

M E M B E R S H I P

A BIG WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS:

☼ Ray Morrison

☼ Courtney Hunter

☼ Elizabeth Roden

☼ George Vinall

☼ Frank Lewis

☼ Dan Esplen

☼ Gary Crossan

☼ Jordan Marliave

☼ Alex Boyko

☼ Calvin Williamson

☼ Teresa Webber

This gives us a total of:

91 paying members

24 life members

2 honourary members

For a total of 117 members

Rare photo of the 1940 Tour de France

When I first started writing about the participation of Chinese Canadians in World War II, I was thinking about their contribution

to the British Force 136 which operated in the Far East. Howev-er, as those who read my article in the previous issue no doubt

realised, I got engrossed in writing about Lieutenant-Colonel Kam Len Douglas Sam (1918-1989) who served as a pilot in the

RCAF. So now I wish to get back to my original idea. Force 136 was

a British Unit, a part of Special Operations Executive (SOE). Their roll was sabotage and reconnaissance behind enemy lines in

Burma, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. As the war pro-gressed, it was decided in Canada that under the National Re-

sources Mobilization Act (NREMA) 1940 to call up Chinese Cana-dians who had originally been excluded. British Columbia strong-

ly remained opposed to Asian involvement in the war effort but now went along with idea. The British Government was looking to

find people who could understand Chinese, pass as Chinese nationals. Canada could fill their request.

All told 600 Chinese men served in this plan and, in fact, the

Chinese served more than any other specific ethnic group of people. In addition, the Chinese Canadian Community contribut-

ed $10 Million to the Victory Bond Drive. The first idea to use their people was to drop them behind

enemy lines in China to help raise an army of 300,000 for the fight against the Japanese. This idea was cancelled due to a

command problem. One mission, Operation Oblivion, in August 1944 involved 13 Chinese Canadians

dropped into Burma. It was thought that none would return, however all 13 came

back and four were decorated for bravery. I think it fair to say that Chinese Cana-

dians did their full share for the war effort in spite of the earlier prejudice which they

suffered. For more information on this topic go to www.ccmms.ca and

http://www.campxhistoricalsociety.ca/combay.htm

Don Manley

For those of you reading a hard copy of this issue, we hope

that the new folded page format makes it easier and more pleas-

ant to read. If not, please let us know .

Recently, more members have been stepping up to the plate

to join the newsletter team in its work, including our now new

Co-Editor, Ms. Corrine Bainard, complete with many fresh and

interesting ideas. I hope you will begin to see the benefits of this

in most of this issue and that it will show up more as we proceed

in the future.

Changes to the museum’s website are in the works, and the

editorial team has been exploring the concept of blogging (online

journaling) as an additional way to connect with our members.

Blogging allows information on current events to be read within

days or weeks rather than months. We will introduce new volun-

teers through a Volunteer Profile section and provide regular

updates on the progress of museum plans and projects. Allowing

participation by the general public by opening interesting arti-

cles and topics for discussion is expected

to generate interest in our museum from a

wider audience, while we will still be

providing restricted related information

to our membership, and will provide an

opportunity to attract new members. We

will update you as the website nears completion.

Our aviation themed crossword has not worked out as well

as we had hoped, so we will be taking a close look a the feasibility

of continuing it or moving to another entertainment form.

In this issue, we conclude our story of Doug Paton’s WWII

exploits in the Mosquitoes of 410 Sqn in Europe. We wish to

continue documenting such remarkable career stories and are

open to any suggestions that you may have. We hope you enjoy

paging through this issue. Rodney

E D I T O R I A L


A P R I L 2 0 1 2


A Tale of Chinese-Canadians in World War II HISTORICAL SNIPPET

Across 19. McArthur

1. Spitfire Down

6. Rome 2. Rommel

8. Ortona 3. Churchill

9. Dieppe 4. Stalingrad

11. Juno 5. Midway

13. Schindler 7. Messerschmitt

15. Bomarc 10. Red Baron

16. Stuka 12. Gulag

18. Himmler 14. Bishop

Crossword solution

Deputy Director Capt. Lynn Barley, 19 Wing Heritage Officer

Program Manager & Volunteer Coordinator Jon Ambler

Gift Shop Manager Ken Oxley

Museum Contact Information

Comox Air Force Museum

19 Wing Comox, Lazo BC V0R 2K0

Newsletter Editor Rodney Jones

President Bill Cuell

Vice President Bob Mortimer

Secretary Jean Ennis

Treasurer Mike Spooner

Membership Len Philips

Bingo Coordinator Herb Lightfoot

Director at Large Mike Hendren

Director at Large Dave Mellin

Director at Large Rodney Jones

Director at Large Terry Chester

Rec. Secretary Corrine Bainard

CVAFMA Executive 2012-13

COLLABORATIVE OPPORTUNITIES

To join our Association, download the application on our website (below) under Volunteer, leave a phone message at the

Museum, or drop by and fill out an application. For only $10 annually, some of the benefits you receive include our newsletter,

discounts in the gift shop, and a voice in the organization.

If you are currently receiving this newsletter by mail, please forward your email address to receive a high quality issue via the

Internet.

Our thanks to those of you who have contributed articles and other material for this issue. If you have been thinking of doing so,

whether it be a photo, story, or something relevant to what we do and who we are, please don’t hesitate to send it along to the contacts

below:

[email protected] or leave a message at the Museum;

The editor, at: [email protected] ; or drop by the museum.

Observer Capt. Lynn Barley

Observer Jon Ambler

Phone/Fax: 250-339-8162

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.comoxairforcemuseum.ca

Roseland Spitfire Project Website: www.vintagewings.ca/Aircraft/ & scroll down

OPENING TIMES: Museum, Library and Gift Shop Tuesdays to Sundays: 10 am - 4 pm.

Spitfire Hangar Please enquire at the museum.

Heritage Airpark May - September: 10 am - 4 pm

Co-Editor Corrine Bainard


A P R I L 2 0 1 2


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.comoxairforcemuseum.ca/

http://www.y2kspitfire.com/

Info Session – 11th June 2012 W E L C O M E S , I N T R O D U C T I O N S A N D

T H A N K S .

( J O N ) W E L C O M E A N D I N T R O D U C T I O N S :

VOLUNTEERS AND MEMBERS.

GARY CORRAN, NEW VOLUNTEER WITH SKUNKWORKS IN HANGAR T3, WAS OUR RESIDENT EXPERT ON THEIR GOINGS-ON FOR THIS MEETING.

OTHER MEMBERS WHO HAVE NOT ATTENDED AN INFO SESSION BEFORE.

( J O N ) T H A N K S :

407 ‘DEMONS’ REUNION.

PORTRAITS, BIOS. AIRCRAFT MODELS, DEPLOYMENT MAPS AND OTHER INFO PUT ON DISPLAY BY CAFM VOLUNTEERS.

OUR MUSEUM’S SOLIDARITY.

BEING REGULARLY OPEN FOR 6 DAYS/WEEK BY PART-TIME STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS IS SOMETHING OF A RARITY IN CANADA. MOST MILITARY MUSEUMS ARE OPEN FOR ONE OR TWO DAYS/WEEK.

HELP PROVIDED TO SNOWBIRDS IN APRIL/MAY.

THE SNOWBIRDS EXPRESSED THEIR THANKS FOR OUR HELP AND RE-GRETS FOR THE DIFFICULTIES IT GAVE US IN SUPPLYING ANSWERS TO MYRIAD PHONE CALLS AND OTHER REQUESTS FOR SCHEDULE TIMES AND DETAILS, FEW OF WHICH WERE SUPPLIED TO US BY THE SQUADRON. WITH CONTINUOUSLY CHANGING UPDATES, OUR VOLUNTEERS WERE CAUSED MUCH ANXIETY IN TRYING TO FULFILL THE PUBLIC’S NEEDS FOR INFORMATION. THE SQUADRON HAS UNDERTAKEN NOT TO REPEAT THIS NEXT YEAR AND BEYOND.

200 FOLKS CAME THROUGH THE MUSEUM FOR THE AUTOGRAPH SESSION, WHICH WAS VERY WELL DONE AND DREW MANY COMMENTS OF APPRECI-ATION.

4TH YEAR OF SNOW BIRDS PHOTO COMPETITION.

MANY THANKS TO KEN AND VAL FOR ALL THEIR EFFORTS TO HELP MAKE IT HAPPEN.

( L Y N N ) O M M C ‘ C O U R S E ’ , M O N T R E A L ,

A T T E N D E D A L O N G W I T H M E L B I R N I E :

L Y N N M U C H A P P R E C I A T E D T H E O P P O R T U N I T Y T O G O , A S I T R E I N F O R C E D F O R H E R T H E V A L U E O F O U R M U S E U M ’ S A T T R I B U T E S A N D R O L E S . F O R T H E S A M E R E A S O N S , S H E E X P R E S S E D A S T R O N G N E E D T O G E T O T H E R V O L U N T E E R S T O A T T E N D F U T U R E O M M C C O N F E R E N C E S A N D I T E M I Z E D T H I S C O N F E R E N C E A S F O L L O W S :

V E R Y W O R T H W H I L E , W I T H S E S S I O N S A N D A C T I V I T I E S C O N T I N U I N G T O 1 0 P M E V E -R Y N I G H T .

M E T M A N Y M U S E U M S T A F F A N D V O L U N -T E E R S F R O M R I G H T A C R O S S C A N A D A .

H O S T E D B Y T H E A R M O R Y O F L E S F U S I L I E R S M O N T -R O Y A L ( F M R ) , T O U R S W E R E C O N D U C T E D T O T H R E E O T H E R A R M O R I E S , I N C L U D I N G :

THE BLACK WATCH (ROYAL HIGHLAND REGIMENT) OF CANADA;

ROYAL MONTREAL REGIMENT (RMR); AND

CANADIAN GRENADIER GUARDS (CGG).

TAKEN TO THE DIG OF THE 18TH CENTURY FORT SAINT-JEAN AT THE PRE-SENT CMR SITE.

TOURED THE LONG-POINT GARRISON IN MONTRÉAL, THE SUPPLY DEPOT

FOR ALL OF EASTERN CANADA'S ARMED FORCES.

HERITAGE VEHICLES:

THE SEA CONTAINER NEAR TO T3 HANGAR WILL BE JOINED BY ANOTHER CONTAINER ADJACENT TO IT AND A BRIDGING ROOF CONSTRUCTED BETWEEN THEM. THIS WILL MAXIMIZE ON THEIR STORAGE SPACE OP-PORTUNITIES.

THE YELLOW TRUCK IS ALMOST COMPLETE EXCEPT FOR ITS BOX WHICH WILL LIKELY BE OF WOODEN CONSTRUCTION. AS IT IS A RIGHT-HAND-DRIVE VEHICLE AND SOME BRIT VETS ARE QUEUING UP TO TAKE IT FOR A SPIN!

THE GIFT SHOP:

KEN IS SHORTLY OFF TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE VOLUNTEER ANNUAL BY-PASS MAINTENANCE PROGRAM. FOR THAT, HE WILL NEED SIX WEEKS RECUPERATION AND WE ARE LOOKING AT OPTIONS FOR COVER-OFF TO “PERSON” THE SHOP.

SAFETY- REMINDER TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR WET FLOORS, PARKING IS STILL CON-

STRAINED AFTER CHANGES, PLEASE BE CAREFUL.

New

DAVID CRAIG PAINTING:

WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE MUSEUM AND ASSOCIATION, MEL BIRNIE PUR-CHASED A DAVID CRAIG ORIGINAL PAINTING FOR THE MUSEUM FOR $950.00 ON E-BAY. THE POW SUBJECT MATTER TIES IN WITH THE NEW DISPLAY PLANNED FOR THE COLWELL DIARY SECTION AND RIGHTS TO REPRODUCE THE IMAGE DIGITALLY IN A PANEL HAVE BEEN OBTAINED FROM THE ARTIST FOR $250.00.

MEDALS:

JON AMBLER IS WORKING ON A NEW, PORTABLE DISPLAY OF MEMORIAL CROSSES.

HOSPITAL:

THE NEW BASE HOSPITAL WISHES TO CELEBRATE MILITARY MEDICAL HERITAGE AND HAS ASKED THE MUSEUM FOR ASSISTANCE IN PROVIDING OFFSITE DIS-PLAYS. IN ADDITION, EACH EXAMINATION ROOM WILL BE NAMED FOR A PLANE THAT ONCE FLEW FROM 19 WING COMOX.

WORKSHOP:

IRV NOW HAS A NEW PLACE TO WORK. A FORMER BIKE SHED HAS BEEN TRANS-FORMED INTO A WORKSHOP. THE FLOOR IS BEING INSTALLED, THE HEATING AND ELECTRICAL HAVE BEEN UPDATED. THE ELECTRICAL SERVICE WILL NOT BE PERMANENT.

AIRSHOW:

THE DATE FOR THE AIRSHOW HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED AS AUG 17, 2013. AN AGREEMENT IN PRINCIPLE HAS BEEN MADE WITH THE BASE THAT IF THERE IS A GIFT SHOP OUT IN THE FIELD, KEN AND OTHER NECESSARY PERSONNEL WILL BE PAID FOR THEIR TIME, DUE TO THE AMOUNT OF WORK INVOLVED. THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY THAT TICKETS FOR THE AIRSHOW WILL BE SOLD FROM THE GIFT SHOP. IT WAS ALSO NOTED THAT TRAFFIC WILL NOT BE ROUTED THROUGH THE BASE, BUT RATHER THROUGH A GATE NEAR THE AIRPORT.

SPITFIRE:

THE SPITFIRE HANGAR IS ONCE AGAIN OPEN FOR TOURS NOW THAT THE FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM IS FINISHED. THE PLANE HAS BEEN PRIMED AND PAINT-ED, THE CONTROLS, LINES, AND TANKS ARE INSTALLED. THE NEW WINGS FOR THE PLANE HAVE ARRIVED IN CANADA. VINTAGE WINGS WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT IN THE AIR SOONER RATHER THAN LATER, BUT THE TARGET DATE IS 2015. THERE ARE HOPES FOR A WESTERN DIVISION OF VINTAGE WINGS, POSSIBLY BASED IN CALGARY.

WEBSITE UPDATE:

DUE TO THE RETIREMENT OF JOHN LOW THE MUSEUM WEBSITE HAS BEEN IN NEED OF UPDATING. CAPT. BARLEY, WO BARNUCZ AND JON AMBLER HAVE BEEN WORKING WITH THE BASE TO HIRE A NEW WEBMASTER TO PROCEED WITH CHANGES TO THE SITE. CERTAIN PROCEDURES MUST BE FOLLOWED, AND IT WILL TAKE TIME TO MAKE THE CHANGES. UNTIL THEN MIKE HAS BEEN WORKING WITH JOHN LOW TO MAKE SURE THAT THE CURRENT WEBSITE’S LINKS ARE FUNCTIONING AND UPDATED. THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT FUNCTION OF THE WEBSITE HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS THE ABILITY TO UPDATE THE SITE IMMEDIATE-LY. AS THE PROCESS PROCEEDS, VOLUNTEER INPUT WILL BE REQUIRED IN ORDER TO ENSURE THE NEEDS OF THE VOLUNTEERS FOR THE SITE ARE RECOG-NIZED. MORE TO FOLLOW.

THE MEETING CLOSED WITH ROBERT LESAGE, ON THE BEHALF OF THE VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE, PRESENTING A T-SHIRT AND DECK OF CARDS TO JON AS A TOKEN OF APPRECIATION FOR HIS WORK AS VOLUNTEER COOR-DINATOR.

I N F O S E S S I O N


A P R I L 2 0 1 2



A P R I L 2 0 1 2


Memoirs of a Mosquito Pilot cont..

The Story so far:

In the spring newsletter, we

began with one of Doug Paton’s

wartime experiences, as relayed

by his groundcrew passenger

Red Brown, of their bird-strike

crash landing in a French field

and fortunate escape from some

angry peasants armed with pitch-

forks and scythes . With his

acute humour and profound

sense of irony in this world, Doug

took us through his initial attraction to flying and the RCAF

and some amusing tales from his own training experienc-

es.

In this issue, we turn again to Europe and more ex-

cerpts from his war-time exploits:

Despite your disappointingly short time in Eu-

rope, what happened for you there? “My training duties in

England had gone on

for a long time and then

I was posted to 410

(Cougar) Squadron, but

for less time than I had been expecting; but,

still with plenty of ac-

tivity. We were origi-

nally equipped with

Boulton-Paul Defiants, then the Beaufighter and finally, in

1944, the DH Mosquitoes or Mossies, as we called them.

“While based at Vliegbasis Gilze-Rijen, a Dutch military

air base on the Belgian border , I flew relatively quiet patrols

for which we were tasked to shoot down any Luftwaffe

aircraft, whether they be fighters, bombers or transport. A lot

of the action was over and, fortunately, I didn’t have to shoot anyone down. A friend from my home town doing similar

patrols, had to ‘down’ three aircraft in one night. Our CO, S/

L “Joe” Schultz, with navigator Vernon

Williams did the same one night and had

downed quite a few earlier on. Joe really

enjoyed playing practical jokes on us

such as inventing false missions and

dummy attacks as, he said, our morales

needed boosting! We could have

murdered him sometimes! Being a very laid-back type of guy, father of

six kids and having lived through what you did, were you ever really shaken up by any of it?

“Umm, yeah, there was once. It was on a cross-country

flight over England, in an earlier model

Mosquito, with ground control talking me

through some heavy cloud. On reaching

my destination in south Sussex, I was

given a southerly bearing out over the channel and then brought back through a

180 to the base. I made the turn, levelled

out and the next moment, BANG! There

was a hell of an explosion somewhere in

the fuselage and the whole plane started to

go this way and that, zigzagging through

the sky. When we got it settled down the

plane was still shaking and I thought that

we must have been shot at, but I hadn’t seen a plane any-

where. Nothing was said by ATC, so I continued on the ap-

proach, let down through the clouds and was suddenly faced

with by large bomber, in some sort of trouble, flying smack across our course. With no more from the ATC my language

over the radio was something not to be repeated! I was able

to make the landing but the plane, still hard to control,

bumped and banged all the way down the runway. I shouted

over the radio, “what the ‘.^#+!?..’ was that?”

Well, one of the big shots from the office was in the con-

trol tower and told me to pull up next to it. I did so, stopped

there and shut her down. Climbing out, I see him come

storming at me and I thought my flying career must nearly be

over! Well, the problem for him had not been my flying so

much as my language, as there were “ladies” working in the tower at the time. To him, that was a higher priority than our

near demise in trying to both avoid the bomber and land my

aircraft all at once! Anyway he began to dress me down di-

rectly, saying “...look at that, you haven’t even got your bat-

tery access door securely closed and let it fall open.” To

which I corrected him by showing that the catches on the

door were lined up correctly and had merely been wrenched

open on landing. He shouted at me a bit more and mumbled

“...come into my office first thing tomorrow morning and

maybe we can find something else for you to do.” Well, that

was what really shook me up bad and I got no sleep that

night. In the morning he was a different man altogether. He had

found out later that one of the two high-pressure air bottles in

the Mossy, which provided the hydraulics to the flaps and

some controls, had just exploded and cut the tail wheel con-

trol cable. Without these, the reason for the poor landing had

become clear. In the end, I got a sort of reluctant apology

from him. In his weak defence, completely unrelated to my

bad language, he explained that the last pilot and crew who

had such a problem were killed by it, as their plane was

blown right out of the sky. So, that made us think! On a

different note, but slightly similar to the last and flying in a


A P R I L 2 0 1 2


Memoirs of a Mosquito Pilot cont.. Mossie along with my mechanic Red Brown, we were low

over a prisoner-of-war camp, a day or so after the war’s end,

just so that Red could swear his last at the enemy! What hap-

pened next was something that at first surprised and then real-

ly annoyed me, because someone, again in ATC, had fouled up badly. First of all our whole instrument panel seemed to be

on fire in a blue flame everywhere. We could see nothing out

of the cockpit as all the windows were just covered in blue,

just like Northern Lights. I immediately recalled this as being

St. Elmo's fire phenomenon, from a similar but less dramatic

event in an Anson at Portage. That was the first thing, but the

second was the problem. As the “fire” began to wane, I saw

we had been positioned by traffic control directly in the path

of a flight of heavy bombers. You can imagine what was said

over the air then as we hurriedly pulled out of there!

Shortly after that, on a different flight altogether, one of

the American P-51 Mustangs, that were fast and excellent at escorting bombers on long missions into central Germany,

came alongside us to show off his good performance in com-

parison to ours. So I mumbled some uncomplimentary words

about this to Red and said, ‘Right, let’s see what we can do

here!’ We tucked in straight behind him and stuck there while

he tried to pull away from us. I stayed on his tail through his

zigzagging all over the sky, in and out of cloud, climbing and

diving while trying to shake us off. We stayed with him and,

eventually, he stopped trying to impress us and went back to

his base! Another bit of showing off to us was done by a

brand new very fast twin-engined Douglas Invader, about four of which came into a small drome near us in Holland, maybe

10 – 15 miles away. A few days later, two came very low

over our drome and beat up the airfield for a while. Boy, I

would’ve liked to be up there with them then so, later, when

returning on a flight, I kind of hung around the area where

these planes were and, sure enough, two came up, flying

around us in close formation. Starting at altitude above and

behind them, I put my nose down and got up to around 450

knots or so, even though my port engine was feathered due to

a low oil pressure. We roared by them on the one engine and

peeled off back to our drome. Boy, that was fun, and in our

short time remaining there, they never showed up at our field again! My last mission was a patrol over Berlin where we

saw almost nothing happening on the ground and thought how

strange that was. Back on the ground we were told that Ger-

many had just surrendered that morning! I was the last air-

craft out of Gilze-Rijen and back we went to England.

Ironically, a few weeks later my RCAF commission was

awarded me. Too late, unfortunately, as all our thoughts were

now about our freedoms ahead! When it was all over, did you spend any more time with the RCAF?

“No, I only wanted to enjoy the freedom. I went back

home to Buchanan, Saskatchewan and drove a tractor on the

night shift at harvest time. I found that amusing, going

straight from being a night-fighter pilot to a night-shift tractor

driver! The next thing, duck season opened and we were all

out with the guns, which made me right at home. I went to

Winnipeg where they said I would get my discharge, which I

could never figure, having joined up in Saskatoon, a hundred miles the opposite way. That struck me as very unusual in

those days.

Shortly after that an uncle of mine, Dr. Farney who was in

charge of the veterans’ hospital in Winnipeg, gave me a refer-

ence letter to go and see an aircraft operating business that

was flying freight from Winnipeg up into the North. The next

morning I obediently went out with letter in hand to see them

and, looking drained, the boss said, ‘Sorry, I haven’t got any

use for you right now because the repair hangar just burned

down with many aircraft inside.’ The situation had turned and

he was now suddenly short of aircraft, not pilots! At that

time, both my Dad and Dr. Farney were also trying to talk me into going back to school and won me over with this unex-

pected new lack of aircraft to fly! My Dad and Dr. Farney

wanted me to go to

Saskatoon but an

aeronautical me-

chanics course that I

was after wasn’t run

there. I looked at

UBC that was run-

ning an AM course

but I didn’t take to it. Then, I looked at the

Veterans Training

College in Saska-

toon, where I was

offered a place but, soon

realised with my family

growing up, my $8 per

month income wasn’t

enough to keep us so I

decided to stay in B.C.

and make some good

money in logging in-stead. Thus, we all went

to Woss, up in North

Vancouver Island,

stayed there for 12 years

or so and eventually returned back to Saskatchewan to farm.

Looking back on it all, what is your biggest impression ?

Well, what I could never figure out was how a person like

me, with little or no credentials to my name, could get taken

on by that big system, taught to fly and then been given so

much responsibility.


A P R I L 2 0 1 2


G I F T S H O P

A T T H E C O M O X A I R F O R C E M U S E U M

U N I Q U E G I F T I D E A S

Anyone interested in Aviation will cherish a gift from our collection of hundreds of items.

Something for any budget, any age.

Toys, models, clothing, mugs, hats, books, models, clocks, decals, posters, patches, pins etc.

Open Tuesday to Sunday 10 A.M. – 4 P.M.

[Located outside the gate at CFB Comox at Ryan Road and Military Row]

250-339-8162 www.comoxairforcemuseum.ca

N O T I C E S

Whether you be accomplished or novice...Whether you be accomplished or novice...Whether you be accomplished or novice...

there’s a place for you on... there’s a place for you on... there’s a place for you on... ..blog writer,..blog writer,..blog writer,

..interviewer,..interviewer,..interviewer,

..designer,..designer,..designer, ..editing, proofing or more..editing, proofing or more..editing, proofing or more

then...then...then... The Newsletter

Team

Talk to us at: 250 650 0166 or

[email protected]

http://www.comoxairforcemuseum.ca

2012 - fall

Documents

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