FLYING! Sooner than you…

…think.

AND WHEN it does, it will be the only flying Bristol Bolingbroke in the world!

Put that in your pipe and smoke it!!

COAST PROTECTORS and TRAINERS… that's what these twin-engine bombers were used for in Canada.

RCAF CANADIAN BOLINGBROKES were manufactured by Fairchild Aircraft Ltd., Longueil, PQ. Canada. The Quebec factory built a total of 687 Bolingbrokes between 1939 and 1943.

The Pic shows us the FUTURE, the PRESENT, and the PAST.

SEE Assembly Video:
www.thespec.com/news/local/article/307111--monumental-ass...

DISCARDED! Bristol Bolingbroke!!

NO DOUBT about it.

Here, right before my eyes, is a discarded Bolingbroke. Blenheim to the UK crowd.

And so, while the CWH (Canadian Warplane Heritage) scours the earth for even a single legitimate part, here I have, right before me, HALF A BOLINGBROKE!!

HALF!

Welcome to the upside-down world–

As I hear gunplay ringing above my head, and past me, I realize it's time to go.

But hey…the sadness remains.

626 of these were built in Montreal, under license, by Fairchild Aircraft of Canada Ltd.

SHHhhh… Keep it on the downsy!”

The CWH (Canadian Warplane Heritage) Bolingbroke restoration has been plodding along for 25 slow years with the nose, fuselage and wings now about 70% complete.

The present “Boly” (photo, far left) has been cannabalised from about six or seven different Bolingbrokes and will be restored to FLYING CONDITION.

But it has taken the legendary Canadian Warplane Heritage a quarter of a century to get even this far.

And the hunt for those rare, much needed parts, to complete the historic warbird has so often been fruitless. Sand through the hands.

Located parts have been found incomplete, or decimated through time, by exposure to the ravages of our harsh Canadian winters. Sometimes parts found were rendered useless simply by the owner's prolonged utilitarian use or abuse.

Many former RCAF Canadian bombers were actually sold to prairie farmers after the war. For use down on the farm. Chicken coups etc. And the farmers often didn’t even pay for said bomber, they really just paid for the gas that was still inside said bomber!

So when these forlorn, discarded bombers are found…well, sometimes, it just ain’t pretty!

But amid all those routine deadends… a miracle finally happened.

A rural rumor of a COMPLETE CANADIAN BOLINGBROKE turned out to be more than that.

A farmer in the province of Manitoba who was blessed with OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) bought himself a “Boly” two years after the war. Mostly for its’ package deal of discounted gas that could be drained from its four fuel tanks.

He dutifully towed it home, put it up on blocks, drained that precious gas, and left it just like that…for the next 60 years!

During that voyage through time, not even a single part of his Boly" had been lost!

Some did fell off through those tortuous years for sure…but, no problem, they were promptly gathered, and carefully stored away in his barn.

Now we don’t want to say that this miraculous discovery made some CWH men cry, because we are talking about men here, and we are talking about crying…but when you’ve toiled so long and so hard, and suddenly you are given everything you need to complete that impossible, lingering project, well…you know.

The Canadian Warplane Heritage is keeping this whole discovery on the “downsy”.

The location of the “bird” has not been disclosed, nor will it be. There is only one known photograph of it, in its present state (see Manitoba Bolingbroke, above), as it waits for the IODE (Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire) to provide funding for its clandestine move from a field near Winnipeg, to Hamilton.

THIS GODSEND means that the CWH Bolingbroke should be flying inside of about three years!

And this was that secret, I promised to share about two months ago, but forgot to, amid house renos, car crash recovery and all.

The Way We Were ::: 1939 ::: CANADA

The Way We Were ::: 1939 ::: CANADA

On September 3rd, Britain, France, Holland, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany.

On September 4th, Britain's Royal Air Force began its first attacks on German warships.

On September 5th, the United States of America made an announcement declaring its neutrality.

On September 9th, it was learned that two Canadian women were on the unarmed ocean liner, SS Athenia," which had been sunk by German U-boats.

On September 10th, CANADA declared war on Germany independently of the British Commonwealth declaration.

TWO INNOCENT Canadian women died… and IMMEDIATELY the whole country rallied for war.

Wow…how times have changed!

Waffle… waffle… waffle…

Afghanistan… should we stay… should we go… heck only 24 INNOCENT CANADIANS died in 9/11. Remember an Afghan Taliban government that supported al-Qaeda in those years, and also gave those murderers safe harbour!

ANYWAYS…back to 1939, when men were still men…and we didn’t have politicians like Liberal Michael Ignatieff who called the Canadian 9/11 victim’s families “a sideshow”.

Then again the Liberals are more likely to care about Taliban detainees… than about Canadian soldiers, the Canadian victims of 9/11, or furthering democracy worldwide.

CANADIAN 9/11 victim MAUREEN BASNICKI responded to “Iggy” (who never did apologize, by the way) on a talk show that aired on February 27, 2007.

“Sideshow? I was a victim of terrorism. My husband was murdered.”

Our heartfelt condolences for your loss, Maureen, and additionally our condolences for the embarrassing response of the Chrétien Liberals who were masquerading as our Federal government back then…

Again…back to 1939, when men were still men…

Well, we had to start our war somewhere back then.

So Canada, and the RCAF, started it with the Bristol Bolingbroke!

The Bristol-developed Blenheim IV was “adopted” by the RCAF for coastal reconnaissance in 1939. The "Boly" was produced, as the Bolingbroke, in Canada, until 1943, under license by Fairchild Aircraft Ltd. then located in Longueuil, Quebec.

THE FIRST BOLINGBROKE entered service with the Royal Canadian Air Force in November of 1939.

Patrols were flown on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and a Bolingbroke became involved in the first successful RCAF attack of a Japanese submarine (R032) on July 7, 1942. This Japanese sub was sunk with the assistance of the US Navy on Canada's Pacific Coast. And those BC folk thought they were so safe!

BOLINGBROKES served throughout the war as bombing and gunnery trainers, and as target tugs in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

Production of this aircraft, with its then modern, stressed skin design, initially caused some difficulty for our Canadian workers, who previously had no experience with this particular type of construction.

A total of 676 Bolingbrokes were eventually built, in seven different variations.

And now, again we’re…

Going. For. Broke.

But we’re only trying to build ONE this time!

The work on this Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum Bolingbroke continues slowly. Sections of the aircraft are in various stages of completion and in particular the Museum needs engines for her “Boly” !!

Pratt & Whitney, SB-4G, R-1535, 14 cylinder twin Wasp Juniors to be exact–

Only 15 Bolingbrokes were built with these engines, and all were flown by the “City of Hamilton” Squadron.

If you have these engines, or anything Bolingbroke related, and/or a generous heart, contact the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum at (905) 679-4183.

“We want our Boly… We want our Boly… We want our Boly…finished!”

Where the hell are all the corporate sponsors for this historical, and most worthy project? !!!

INSET images were taken from the 1945 movie, “Son of Lassie” starring Peter Lawford with a young June Lockhart (future Lost In Space mom)… and all are Canadian Bolingbrokes, of course!

In the middle: The Canadian Warplane Heritage "Boly" goes "visiting" on the back of a trailer.

‘nuff said.

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