Last Month s Meeting April 13, 2005 Speaker: Brian Howard

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Volume 39 Number 7 May 2005 http://www.cahs.ca/torontochapter This Month s Meeting: Bill Batter Great War Flying Museum May 11th. is our annual election night.

1 Volume 39 Number 7 May This Month s Meeting: Bill Batter Great War Flying Museum May 11th. is our annual election night. Nominations for directors are being received by Bob Winson, Chairman of the Nomination Committee. Last Month s Meeting... 1 Upcoming Meeting Dates... 5 Update on March Meeting... 5 AVRO LANCASTER SYMPOSIUM... 5 May 11, 2005 About the Great War Flying Museum Formed in 1970 at Brampton, Ontario in Canada, this all-volunteer group is dedicated to recreating the sights, sounds and feel of World War One combat aircraft. In doing so, we honor the pilots who served with gallantry and distinction during the Great War of We build, maintain and fly World War One replica fighter aircraft. We also have a display of precious artifacts to take you back to that time in history.they perform simulated dogfight type air combat. Their aircraft have appeared on and are available for television shows and movies, as well as backdrops for photography sessions. Doors open at 7:45 p.m. Meeting starts at 8:00 p.m. sharp. Last Month s Meeting April 13, 2005 Speaker: Brian Howard Reporter: Gord McNulty "The history of aviation in the Niagara Region" Brian Howard was introduced by Chapter President Howard Malone. Brian has been a member of the St. Catharines Flying Club for 30 years, and a member of the Canadian Forces Reserve for 25 years. He is currently Deputy Commander and Unit Flight Safety Officer with the Southern 1 Flypast V. 39 No. 7

2 Ontario Gliding Centre at Niagara District tank house, and other structures. By October, Airport. This summer, Brian will move to CFB 1918, 1,200 pilots had graduated at Beamsville. Trenton, assuming the post of Officer Brian noted that one hangar remains today. Commanding Air Traffic Course, Central Region This valuable piece of Canadian aviation history Gliding School. is at the corner of Sann Road and John Street. Brian noted that his illustrated presentation is a It was at one time used by the Ontario Ministry "work in progress." He would like to expand it of Transportation, and later taken over as a with contributions of stories and photos private builders' yard --- which our speaker involving the history of aviation that CAHS believes it still is. There is a small historical members might have available. Brian began his plaque at the back of the hangar. (More details presentation by tracing the First World War on Beamsville are available for anyone who demand for military aviation pilot training would like a copy of a story that I wrote while conducted by the Royal Flying Corps and its I was a reporter for the St. Catharines successor (from April 1, 1918 forward) the Standard. The story, headlined 'Flimsy Aircraft Royal Air Force. In the period from 1915 to 'Buzzed' Beamsville 50 years ago,' was 1918, the largest flight school was at Camp published Aug. 22, 1968). With the declaration Borden. The weather, however, was a of peace in November, 1918, training in Canada challenge, especially in the spring when the base ceased and Beamsville was shut down. By and its grass strip became "Swamp Borden." The December of that year, all of the buildings had man who was tasked to find a more amenable been dismantled, all of the equipment taken to training school in Canada was Capt. Murton A. Hamilton, and everything was sold off. Seymour, a Toronto staff officer in Within a few years, the government decided Seymour was a law student before learning to fly there was a role for aviation in Canada, at a Vancouver race track in He was later particularly in transportation. In 1927, the a founder of the Canadian Flying Clubs civilian aviation branch of the defence Association, and an organizer of RCAF training department encouraged pilot training. The during the Second World War. He was inducted government offered financial incentives to help into Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973 flying clubs acquire aircraft, subject to and died on Dec. 27, conditions such as having an airfield of Seymour chose Beamsville, a small community adequate size, having at least one qualified below the Niagara Escarpment close to the shore instructor, and so on. When conditions were of Lake Ontario between Grimsby and St. met, two aircraft were supplied per club, plus Catharines. The school opened in October, one extra aircraft for every aircraft that the club 1917, and it was a large operation --- extending itself purchased. In addition, Brian said, $100 from the old Highway 8 all the way to the was given to every qualified pilot. lakeshore. Nine hangars or "flight sheds," were Brian noted that the St. Catharines Flying Club rapidly constructed on a 300-acre site. RFC is one of the oldest continuous-running flying recruits, training on the Curtiss JN-4 Canuck, clubs in Canada. Murton A. Seymour, who took courses in pilot training, aerial gunnery, and became legal counsel for the city of St. aerial observation. Fifty-four aircraft were in Catharines after the First World War, was the service at the aerodrome, which had a hospital, first president of the club. It was incorporated accommodation buildings, administration in Brian showed photographs of the buildings, blacksmith shops, ice houses, a petrol original airfield, which was east of the existing Flypast V. 39 No. 7 2

3 Welland Canal and was bisected with completion wings. Photographs of the school were shown of the Queen Elizabeth Way. Brian noted that by Brian. It was a large operation, with 72 memberships in the club, depending on the Tiger Moths on the base at its peak. The late category, ranged from $25 per year to $15 per George Dunbar was the first chief flying year, down to $5 per year for associate members instructor. Some of his stories are in Ted Barris' and $2.50 for junior members under 16. "It may book about the BCATP, "Beyond the Glory: seem cheap given today's prices, but remember The plan that won the Allied air war." The that at the time people working on the assembly airfield was closed in The first hangar line at GM were earning about 40 cents an hour. burned down in However, the second So $25 or even $15 per year would amount to hangar, H2, is still standing and is used today as quite a sizeable portion of anyone's pay part of the Genaire corporation's facilities at the package," Brian said. airport. Part of the original parade square is In 1936, the flying club was offered about 200 used today as a car park. A big blue hangar acres on a site adjacent to Highway 55, the old stands on the rest of what was the parade Niagara Stone Road which runs to square. The original administration building was Niagara-on-the-Lake, and that's where Niagara moved piece by piece to downtown St. District Airport stands today. The city of St. Catharines in the early fifties and is now the Catharines purchased the property and leased it current headquarters of 23 squadron of the back to the flying club for $1 a year. As the Royal Canadian Air Cadets. A major reunion of threat of war loomed, provisional flying training the personnel at No. 9 ETFS was held in resumed at flying clubs across Canada. In April, People came from all around the world to 1939, Murton Seymour was named president of reminisce. Brian noted that about 10 years the Royal Canadian Flying Clubs Association. ago, the St. Catharines Standard published a (Another story of mine outlined a talk by history of the flying school during the war Murton Seymour on the formation of the flying years. It had an illustration of Harvards flying in clubs to the annual meeting of the CAHS at the circuit, but Brian said that Harvards were Hamilton in September, The story was never at St. Catharines --- at least not officially. published by the Standard on Sept. 9, 1968). In Today, Niagara District Airport is a valuable December of 1939, the British Commonwealth general aviation facility in southern Ontario. As Air Training Plan was created with the signing in pictured on the front page of the April Flypast, Ottawa of an arrangement involving Canada, it has a main runway, 06-24, which is one mile Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. St. long and 150 feet wide. There are two auxiliary Catharines was No. EFTS (Elementary Flying runways, 29 and 01, which are narrower. Brian Training School). Tiger Moths and Fleet Finches noted it is used by a variety of operators. were the trainers. At the end of 1944, 1,848 Corporate flights are operated by Hayes-Dana students had graduated as pilots out of 2,468 Corp., which has a couple of Lear Jets, and who entered the school. Some of those who GM, which has a couple of Citations. The didn't become pilots became navigators, bomb airport is a terminal for "just in time" delivery of aimers, air gunners, observers, etc. Brian noted parts to GM's plants in St. Catharines. The only the instructors wore uniforms, somewhat similar building that survives from the war years served to RCAF uniforms, but they were in fact as the original gymnasium and recreational hall. civilians under contract to the military and It's also owned by Genaire and is used for weren't allowed to wear the RCAF uniform or storage. A third private hangar is under 3 Flypast V. 39 No. 7

construction. Niagara Air Tours operates a fleet of six Cessna 206s and a 209, providing scenic flights over Niagara Falls and area. Similar tours are operated by Skyway Helicopters.

4 construction. Niagara Air Tours operates a fleet of six Cessna 206s and a 209, providing scenic flights over Niagara Falls and area. Similar tours are operated by Skyway Helicopters. Thanks to Brian's efforts, a monument recognizes the role played by St. Catharines in the BCATP. It's located in front of the terminal building. Prior to 1987, there wasn't any recognition of this important chapter in aviation history. Brian, who was commanding officer of the 809 Niagara-on-the-Lake squadron of the air cadets, organized a campaign to raise $10,000 to erect the monument, featuring a bronze plaque mounted on a triangular base and depicting an aircraft tail. The monument is dedicated to all of those who worked with and for the BCATP between 1939 and 1944, and to Murton A. Seymour. It's also dedicated to P/O John Gillespie Magee, who penned the famous poem High Flight. Magee trained at St. Catharines in March of He was born of a British mother and an American father, who were missionaries in China. During the Boxer Rebellion, the family moved from China to England, where John G. Magee spent most of his formative years. When Britain entered the war, his parents and family moved to Washington, D.C. At the outset of the war, Magee felt such a strong affinity for Britain's cause that he enlisted in and was accepted for pilot training. He was inducted into the RCAF and after service flying training in Ottawa, he went to England for operational training on Spitfires. Tragically, Magee died in a mid-air collision in cloudy weather on Dec. 11, Brian noted that there has been some controversy around the airport, with some residents in the Niagara-on-the-Lake area lobbying to close down the facility on account of so-called noise. If there has been noise, a lot of it is coming from the people complaining. Brian recalled that at one town hall meeting in 1999, it was reported in the Standard that "100 protesters" were speaking out against the airport. "Yes, there were 100 people there, but 95 of them came from either the flying club or some part of the airport operation," Brian noted. He recalled a good story told by George Dunbar at the peak of the Tiger Moth flying. A dowager lady who lived on the escarpment called the airport one day to complain about the noise of "those damned aeroplanes." She claimed aircraft were nearly knocking the chimney down. "Listen, I'll hold the phone out," she said. "There's one flying over right now!" The man on the phone asked her to run outside and tell him whether the aircraft "were ours or theirs." She replied: "Well they're ours of course." He replied: "Thank goodness, madam! I thought it was something serious. Good night!" Brian said that others issues facing Niagara District Airport include cost-sharing for maintenance, airport improvements and most recently, a demand by Transport Canada to install a six-foot-high security fence around the airport. "Where the money is going to come from, I don't know," he said. "No one wants to pay for it, but it has to be done." Brian said that unfortunately, whether it is Toronto or St. Catharines, many people don't recognize the economic importance and value of airports that are in close proximity to urban centres. Brian closed his talk by reciting the words of John G. Magee's High Flight and answered Flypast V. 39 No. 7 4

5 questions from the audience. Bob Winson, a The symposium will be held in the Toronto Toronto Chapter director, thanked our speaker Aerospace Museum where the City of for an interesting and informative presentation. Toronto s rare Avro Lancaster Mk. X, FM104 is being restored. This aircraft was dismantled **** and transported to Downsview in 1999 after 34 years on display in Coronation Park, on the Upcoming Meeting Dates Toronto waterfront, near the CNE. June 8, Final Meeting this Season! Update on March Meeting Some additional information from our March speaker..jim Moffatt. The TV show about the Nuremberg Raid called "Striking Back" aired for the first time on The History Channel on May 6th. at 10 pm. This was the raid on which Mr. Moffatt's Halifax was shot down leading to his six months behind enemy lines. Check your TV guides for additional viewings, as this program will be repeated. The symposium is timed to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the last bombing mission by AVRO LANCASTER SYMPOSIUM AT THE TORONTO AEROSPACE MUSEUM May 14, 2005 Canadians over Europe and VE Day, the end of The Toronto Aerospace Museum (TAM) will be the war in Europe. For information and advance hosting a day-long symposium on the Avro tickets, contact Paul Cabot, Curator/Manager, Lancaster aircraft at its hangar at Downsview Toronto Aerospace Museum, Tel: Park on Saturday, May 14 from 10:00 a.m. to , Fax: , 4:00 p.m. Veterans, former aircraft industry tam@bellnet.ca workers and Lancaster enthusiasts are invited to attend this fund raising event. Web site: The Lancaster symposium will feature over a dozen presenters, including presentations by wartime workers at the Victory Aircraft factory at Malton , the recollections of wartime and postwar RCAF Lancaster air crew, and a panel discussion on the challenges of restoring and preserving four engine heavy bombers ith experts from several Canadian aviation museums. 5 Flypast V. 39 No. 7

6 North yds th 9 Floor, Beecroft Manor Directions to Beecroft Manor. Corner of Beecroft and Parkhome, North York &+$37(5 &$1$',$1$9,$7,21+,6725,&$/62&,(7< President: Howard Malone Secretary Treasurer: Martin Keenan keenan@idirect.com Flypast Editor: Matt Clark ( ) matt.clark@utoronto.ca Directors: John Brown Floyd Carson Ken Richardson Bob Stewart George Topple April Tredgett Bob Winson CAHS National Website : Meetings and news from all the chapters, journal back issues, and more! Toronto Chapter Meetings - 2nd Wednesday of the month 7:45 pm - 10:00 pm. Beecroft Manor Recreation room, 9th Floor, 35 Park Home Avenue Beecroft Manor is on the SE corner of Park Home Avenue and Beecroft Avenue. Conveniently located at the North York Centre Subway Station. All Welcome Flypast V. 39 No. 7 6

We are the. #SaveLancasterFM104. The City of Toronto Lancaster Group

We are the. #SaveLancasterFM104. The City of Toronto Lancaster Group We are the #SaveLancasterFM104 ED28.7.1 The City of Toronto Lancaster Group 1,200+ members from all over the World Capable, Dedicated, Professional Supported by the RCAFA and the Toronto Historical Assoc.