The GLORIOUS PAST Flies Overhead…

…and THE MOB below is oblivious.

“Why would you write such a thing?” asks Barb, incredulous that I toss out ANOTHER INSULT…kinda like some folk toss about footballs.

TOO MANY people today have forgotten the sacrifices of the past…and don’t recognize the sacrifices of today that PATRIOT CANADIANS have always made…and will always make to keep…“the True North strong and free!”

And let’s not forget the prayer found in our national anthem,

“God keep our land,
Glorious and free!"

AMEN to that–

"BLAST" From Canada's…

…aviation PAST!

This is a de Havilland Grumman CP-121 Tracker!

Yup…de Haviland, not just Grumman!!

ALL 101 CANADIAN Trackers were built in Toronto, at de Havilland (now Bombardier Aerospace) and were a foot-and-a-half shorter than all other Trackers manufactured for the Americans, British, Aussies, etc.

Betcha' didn't know that.

Originally produced for the Canadian Navy, and the HMCS Bonaventure (Canada's aircraft carrier) for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW)…all Canadian Trackers were made a "tad" smaller to fit on our very STOL aircraft carrier with its small hangar bays.

507 rests contentedly here at CFB Borden near ANGUS, Ontario…not far from the largest FRESH WATER beach in the world.

IF YOU WANT your kids to see it all in a day…BASE BORDEN has it…aircraft…old and new…and TANKS galore from every era.

Don't say I didn't tell ya'.

FLYFEST 2007:::Hamilton

…THERE WERE some nice "birds" in the air and SOME NICE "chicks" on the ground!

AND DON'T GET ALL JUMPY…it's……jus'…Grumpy.

BEST FLYFEST 2007 quote: "Listen to the sound of that "thing" (the B-25)…it sounds like a very large, BAD-ASS motorcycle.

NEVER quite heard it put that way before…but THE ENGINES of that era actually do sound like that, very, very GUTTERAL ~

No Dam TOO FAR!

THEY'LL never understand…

THEY say they do.

But YOU KNOW they don’t.

They just haven’t had the LANC EXPERIENCE yet.

So, let’s break it down for them.

The aircraft pictured above is an AVRO LANCASTER that was built, nearby, in Toronto at Victory Aircraft.

Of the 7, 366 Lancasters (all types) built back in the day, this is the only one that still flies in North America.

That’s right…of the THOUSANDS built in Canada and Great Britain during World War II…THIS is it.

There are a few “Lancs” on static display, somewhere…but this IS the only FLYING EXAMPLE, again, over here in the Americas!

Seeing a “Lanc” start up, roll forward, head out to a runway, and then fly overhead constitutes participating in the “Lanc Experience”.

That means you have participated in History and connected “mystically” with all those others who went before us, and who “lived” that experience, and made our history, whether friend, or foe, during the war.

NOW, IF YOU WANT, you can travel to England in grand fashion, and for about $2,700 CDN per person (all expenses paid) you can “get” the “Lanc Experience” over there, and see the ONLY OTHER flying Lancaster in the world.

Or, for a couple of tablespoons of gas, and $10 per person you can travel on over to Hamilton, Mount Hope specifically, to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum on this June 16th or the 17th, and get your “experience” there!

So when veterans recount war tales, or WW II is discussed, in books, newspapers and “on-line”, or you see movies like the “Dambusters” due out in 2008, you’ll have experienced personally, first hand, the sounds, sights, and smell of World War II and Bomber Command.

YOU’LL NO LONGER have “yellow canaries” flying about your head when World War II enters the discussion and you haven’t got a clue what everyone else is talking about!

You’ll know…because you’ve been there…

Mystically ~

ONE MORE thing you need to know to get the FULL “Lanc Experience”.

The Lancaster JUST ISN’T any ole’ plane out there…denuding our fragile environment and cluttering up our skies like the "horrendous" Cessna 152 does.

No.

The “Lanc” became the MOST FAMOUS and successful NIGHT BOMBER of World War II, "delivering 608,612 tons of bombs in 156,000 sorties (bombing missions)." The Lancaster was also used, at times, for daylight precision bombing.

The Lancaster garnered worldwide attention in 1943 during “Operation Chastise” when she took out Germany’s most important dams. Factories as far away as forty miles were immediately flooded, and a serious shortage of water occurred. This severely crippled the German “war machine” at the time.

Other Facts YOU NEED to know:

• B X version of the Lancaster: The B X (pictured above) was a Canadian-built B III, differing in having Canadian/US made instrumentation and electrics. Also on later batches, the Martin 250CE was substituted for the Nash & Thomson FN-50 mid-upper turret. The greater weight of this turret necessitated moving the turret forward for C-of-G balance reasons. Canada was a long-term operator of the Lancaster, utilizing modified aircraft in postwar maritime patrol, search and rescue and photo-reconnaissance roles until 1963.

• The test pilot Alex Henshaw is the only known pilot to have barrel rolled a Lancaster bomber, a feat considered almost impossible because of the slow speed of the aircraft.

• During the war, Lancasters carried out a total of 156,000 missions and dropped 608,612 tons of bombs. This was double what the Handley Page Halifax, the other major bomber used by the Royal Air Force achieved. In the four years of combat service 3,249 Lancasters were lost in action and another 487 were destroyed or damaged while on the ground. Only 24 Lancasters completed more than 100 successful missions.

• While only 7, 366 Avro Lancasters were made during the war…more than 30 MILLION die-cast and model Lancasters have since been purchased by an adoring public.

SOURCES: Wikipedia, Canadian Warplane Heritage, AVSIM.com, and Special Projects In Research

FIREFLY…But Not In The Garden~

♦ Fireflies in the Garden ♦

Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,
And here on earth come emulating flies,

That though they never equal stars in size,
(And they were never really stars at heart)

Achieve at times a very star-like start.
Only, of course, they can't sustain the part.

–Robert Frost


The FAIREY FIREFLY was most definitely a real star of WW II and the Korean War, filling enemy skies, where she served as a carrier-borne reconnaissance fighter.

The ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY acquired 65 of them for anti-submarine purposes. Detection and destruction of subs, that is.

The RCN used them from 1946 - 1954…and as it was the FIRST AIRCRAFT acquired by the Canadian Warplane Heritage…this aircraft is also featured in their logo!

'nuff said –

‘OLD LAKE:::

…this FIGHTER JET is a long, long, way…from its glory days, at Cold Lake, Alberta.

RIP at CFB Borden.

Yes…rest in peace…mighty ”T”.

ONE CONSOLATION only…the new generation flies above you, ole’ girl ~

…Jazz. –DOWN–

Yep…she's down.

WINGS…not normally "resting" on runway. Fire trucks, crane, not normally a part of airside ground services.

LATE DAY capture on Sunday May 20, 2007, of a Jazz CRJ-100, Flight AC8911, that experienced a main landing gear collapse while arriving at noontime from Moncton, N.B. Runway 06 is closed while TSB personnel are investigating the crash. Thirty-seven passengers and three crew members were not injured in the accident.

COME and Gone –

THAT’S A WW II vintage de Havilland Mosquito perched on the top of this memorial. Remember that…it’ll be important later!

SO MANY aircraft companies have come and gone…

de Havilland
Avro
Handley-Page
Hawker
Supermarine
Vickers
Fleet
English Electric
Bristol
Hunting
Gloster
Auster
Blackburn
Douglas
Consolidated
McDonnell
Hispano Aviación
Curtis
Stinson
Hughes
And who could forget the Wright Company, of course!!

And the men who made these forgotten planes, have also come…and gone.

BUT SOME have been remembered.

Right here on this very memorial.

For their heroism and their ultimate sacrifice.

IN DEFENCE OF THE EMPIRE…

…some of Canada’s, de Havilland employees, gave their lives between 1939 – 1945. They are forever enshrined here, in front of the main office of BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE (Toronto), the eventual successor to the de Havilland Company of Canada.

No other remnant of the de Havilland era remains today, save this memorial, and the lone, insignia-less, de Havilland sign, which is also found above the main office.

But if you look real close, you’ll see something else, unexpected, unknown…

ONE OF THE de Havillands, themselves, gave his own life alongside that of his employees.

It wasn’t enough just to produce fighter planes for the war effort.

Even more was demanded apparently…

And no family was spared…

And no special preference was accorded him on this memorial plaque either.

And so these men, de Havilland employees, who produced the MOSQUITO FIGHTER PLANE, both in Canada and in the UK…were called additionally, to make that ultimate sacrifice of their lives…to protect the freedoms that we enjoy, and value so much in Canada today.

ILLUSTRATING in Photoshop…

…using Photoshop ACTIONS.

Start with a corrected photo and an "action" you like which you've download from Actions Central.

Unzip the PHOTOSHOP ACTION which is only a few "k" as a script or atn file, and is then "dragged and dropped" into the Photoshop Actions folder, that resides within the Photoshop CS Application. The "action" is then loaded…and the action is executed…from the ACTIONS PALETTE.

THIS WAS CREATED using Comix Actions … by Andy Purviance..

THROW AWAY the created white layer and then erase the unwanted and unnatural elements of the resulting illustration–

FUN with Photoshop!

PHOTOSHOP can do it all. Not so sure about Photoshop Elements…which has an easier user interface BUT doesn' t have the SUPERHERO power of its elder brother!

PLUS you can create a photo like this above MANUALLY and take forever…or you can employ PHOTOSHOP ACTIONS to do this "automatically".

This PHOTOSHOP ACTION is only a few "k" as a script, atn file, which is "dragged and dropped" into the Photoshop Actions folder and then loaded to be used…from the ACTIONS PALETTE.

Panos Efstathiadis created Pano's Actions …and this is BnBig Picture.

I HAVE AN Apple DUAL G5 and this "action" took about 15 minutes! IF YOU HAVE a PC…well……it may never finish!

BUGGY in a Hurry!!

…hold on to your hat, son!

IT WAS ALL so simple, back then~

==== INVASION STRIPES ===

D-DAY. Invasion of Europe. June 06, 1944

ALLIED AIRCRAFT (Canadian, American, British, Australian, and Polish etc.) were painted with the white and black “invasion stripes” like the Canadian B-25 above.

The purpose of the five alternating bands of white and black stripes on the wings and fuselage of ALLIED AIRCRAFT were to help trigger-happy Allied soldiers identify “friendly” planes and therefore not open fire on them.

(This B-25 has a few "riders"…and is headed for downtown Toronto where it will pass through, go out Niagara way, and then return to Hamilton)

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

ADDITIONALLY…British pilots thought it was a bad idea for American P-51s to enter the fray with metal finish, or unpainted aircraft.

“Ah mate, the Jerries will see you coming for miles!”

The American response was unexpected.

“Good…we want them to see us!”

The American P-51 pilots were quite proud of their high performance Mustangs–

‘nuff said ~

The Way We Were ::: 1939 - 1945 ::: CANADA

The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) came into effect on December 17, 1939 when Canadian PM MacKenzie King, The United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand agreed that Canada would host the greatest air training scheme ever ushered into existence.

“THE PLAN” trained aircrews from all over the Commonwealth to give Britain the aircrews she needed, at her most desperate hour.

So successful was the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan that eventually 131,553 air force personnel successfully graduated…in 8 different categories, providing trained aircrews for the RAF first, and then the Air Forces of Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

The 360 schools that were established at 231 sites all across Canada so transformed the country that U.S. President Roosevelt called Canada, "The Aerodrome Of Democracy".

The LANCASTER bomber, shown flying above, was one of the aircraft these trainees learned to fly and bomb targets with.

But why Canada…for so great an undertaking?

1. Proximately to Britain (by air)
2. Suitable climate (no fog or rain interference)
3. She had the manpower
4. Safe distance from every theatre of WW II
5. Inexhaustible natural resources

MANY AMERICANS also trained at these BCATP schools. One school had so many Californians that the RCAF was nicknamed the “Royal Californian Air Force” by the locals!

And that was a country, called Canada…during WW II.

NOW! ::: You Know ::..

THE EGG-SHAPED tail of the LANCASTER was designed by the none-other-than, soon to be legendary, Jim Floyd when he was only a designer at A. V. Roe in England.

He worked alongside a Canadian designer…there at A. V. Roe, who kept singing the praises of some far-flung country called Canada.

Jim just couldn't get Canada out of his head.

So it worked.

And finally…Jim had to come over to see this enigma called Canada, for himself.

And there he stayed. He went on to became a Canadian citizen, and oversaw such LEGENDARY PROJECTS as the AVRO C-102 JETLINER and the CF-105 Avro Arrow.

UNBELIEVABLY, the nearsighted Canadian Government eventually scrapped both aircraft.

And the man who fell in love with Canada, was eventually rejected by his newly adopted country!

Ironic.

So back to England he went…where Jim wrapped up his aeronautical career designing the "lowly" BAC-Aerospatiale CONCORDE.

HE DID retire in Canada, and penned a book about his greatest love…the Canadian designed AVRO Jetliner. JIM FLOYD, now in his 90s, was seen recently at the Toronto Aerospace Museum Arrow roll-out this last October.

THANKS JIM for your contribution to Canadian aviation!


(Lancaster photo taken at the CNE during CIAS)

ISLAND in the Sun

HIP…HIP…FLYING toward an Island In The Sun …

(Post-production of this photo – STREETSVILLE, Ontario by Paul Cardin)

..:: I :: See .::. DEAD PLANES :.::.

PERHAPS ONE day this "proud" SABRE will take to the skies again.

Right now…waiting…wanting ~

CONNIE DEPARTING (YYZ) for Seattle…IMMEDIATELY!

No time for engines…

Or even time to use a runway.

All aboard.

Let’s go…go…GO!

Giddeey-up!

So it’s finally over.

Another TORONTO ICON is no more.

Once a strange landmark visible by all, at the far-flung end of PEARSON (YYZ)…a mystery then…as the restaurant that was never open…that exotic, modern-age transporter of men…that once was.

Back in those distant 50s.

NO SOUP FOR YOU…now, Toronto!

She leaves Toronto for Seattle, and is owned without restriction by the MUSEUM of FLIGHT. The Toronto Aerospace Museum lost her hard fought battle to keep her in Canada. Why didn’t anyone involve PETA to make the save? CONNIES are definitely an endangered species.

Once in Seattle, this rare Super Connie WILL BE restored and painted up in TCA colours, in her old 50s TCA livery, courtesy of Air Canada!

For all museum visitors to see.

Visitors come from worldwide destinations to see Seattle’s “rare birds”. And she has many such visitors, there in the shadow of Boeing’s LEGENDARY Production Facilities.

WAIT! Folks you can relax…no modern Air Canada TOOTHPASTE LIVERY will ever be smeared on her fuselage. This Connie has suffered enough indignities already!!

What about TCA?

SO LONG AGO…long before Air Canada became incorporated as such in 1965…she was T.C.A., folks!! Yes…pick yourself up off the ground…Trans-Canada Airlines, and this was one of the wild aircraft she flew–

Back in those days when men were still men, and Canada had an Arrow~

(So, tears now…)

GOOD-BYE Connie…until we catch up, again, in Seattle ~~

Jesus Falls.

Jesus Falls

Jesus:

"The God who made the universe,
and holds it in existence
by His will alone,
becomes, as man, too weak to bear
a piece of timber's weight.

How human in His weakness is the Son of
Man.

My Father willed it thus.
I could not be your model otherwise.


If you would be My other self,
you also must accept without complaint
your human frailties."


Man:

"Lord Jesus, how can I refuse?

I willingly accept my weaknesses,
my irritations and my moods,
my headaches and fatigue,
all my defects of body, mind, and soul.

Because they are Your will for me,
these “handicaps”, of my humanity,
I gladly suffer them.

Make me content with all my discontents,
but give me strength to struggle after You."


(from…Everyman’s Way of The Cross)

Gather THE LOST…

…and THE HIDDEN.

March 25, 1958, 49 years ago and three days…the AVRO Arrow flew for the first time!

SEE WHAT happens…so easy to neglect, and even forget by three whole days…the ANNIVERSARY of the ARROW'S FIRST FLIGHT!

NAY…Canadians should never forget the achievements of AVRO Canada, especially that of the Arrow–

HERE IS a timely poem:


"Behold the work of
the Old…

Let your Heritage not
be lost…

But bequeath it as a
Memory, Treasure and
Blessing…

Gather the lost and
…the hidden!

And preserve it for thy
Children."

–Christian Metz

RELIVE the AVRO Arrow's FIRST FLIGHT: March 25, 1958 , The Arrow Takes Off

BUILDING a Mystery

…except not so much of a mystery.

:::::::UPDATED::::::::

EXCEPT when I found this stray piece of "plastic"…I really did think I would never "put it all together".

It's funny how God reveals things through desires.

I thought I should keep the piece because "you never know". Then I was looking through eBay for Air Canada realted items, desiring to find DC-8 related trinkets, when I stumbled upon this ashtray amongst an assortment of Air Canada ashtrays.

And I thought WHERE, WHERE have I seen this "blue" and "pattern" before?

AFTER going through hundreds of collected pounds of 621 debris…I rediscovered the elusive piece.

And made the match!

THE CHIPPED PIECE of molded plastic came fom the same farmfield where AIR CANADA Flight 621 slammed into on July 5, 1970. Found it last year. Just didn't know what it was.

The ASHTRAY in the graphic is what you started with. The PIECE (left hand corner) is what you finish with when a doomed 155 tonne DC-8 "Stretch" slams into the ground nose first, wing high, at 400 mph, with 109 (mostly French-Canadien and American) souls onboard.

Of course, THEY ALL died on that ill-fated day!

And just like this piece of ashtray I found……so many pieces of HUMAN BONE, passengers and crew, from Flight 621 still remain in that field because the Ontario Office of the Coroner, normally empowered and authoritative, has repeatedly failed to rise to the occasion, and command removal of the REMAINING BONES from the field.

Fingers, kneecaps, mostly skull pieces and all kinds of unidentifible fragments~

Why?

$$$.

And because IT WAS THEIR DUTY then in 1970 to remove the victims' remains and it is their duty now.

Oh, Dr. Cotnam, where are when we need you?

It would cost a million to finish the job of removal today!

Not in the budget, I was told.

SO REMEMBER the next time you fly AIR CANADA or any OTHER AIRLINE and you have the misfortune of crashing…will all your remains be removed?

DON'T count on it.

YOUR REMAINS might get left behind. Or your daughters, your wife's, your mom's or dad's remains…whoever.

PHOTOGRAPHED above is the ACTUAL PIECE I found. Below THAT PIECE is THE PIECE produced again, and superimposed on the actual type of ashtray…which I found on eBay as an Air Canada momento!

The graphic to the right is marked with a YELLOW CIRCLE that contains the pattern I USED to line up the piece to the "spot" on the ashtray where the piece came from!!

FOR MORE on this INCREDIBLE STORY in our day, and age, SEE:
FLIGHT 621


"Cause you're working
Building a mystery
Holding on and holding it in
Yeah you're working
Building a mystery
And choosing so carefully"

Sarah McLachlan
(Building A Mystery)