Wednesday, May 28, 2008

••• RCAF Remembered …

"THREE THOUSAND MILES across a hunted ocean they came, wearing on the shoulder of their tunics the treasured name, "CANADA," telling the world their origin.

Young men and women they were, some still in their teens, fashioned by their Maker to love, not to kill, but proud and earnest in their mission to stand, and if it had to be, to die, for their country and for freedom.

One day, when the history of the twentieth century is finally written, it will be recorded that when human society stood at the crossroads and civilization itself was under siege, the Royal Canadian Air Force was there to fill the breach and help give humanity the victory.

And all those who had a part in it will have left to posterity a legacy of honour, of courage, and of valour that time can never despoil."


Father J.P. Lardie, Chaplain of 419/428 Squadron
(Engraved on the last panel are these words from his speech at the dedication of the RCAF Memorial at Middleton St. George, Great Britain 15/6/85.)

–: I sing in English ::..:.

Arrival at Gate 22… and soon on the worldwide music scene!

Pascale Picard

French-Canadien.

"That's her in them there clouds, Billy."

Fresh. Lively. An animated folk-rock singer.

But she only sings in English?

Enigma.


START WITH …Smilin’: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN9VlWpHe0U

Move to the funky… A While: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFlwzzDMnng

Wrap up with… Gate 22: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN0nJuXL9n8

(There's a Gate 22 at every airport.)


Album (me, myself & us) available NOW on iTunes… official release in stores sometime in June, 2008.

Hey, what’s with that hair?

The "band" promises to tour Ontario in the summer/fall of 2008. Maybe even TO.

CLOSER Than Most…

…ever get.

CF-100 Canuck.

Made in Toronto.

In the 50s.

692 were made. Flew with the RCAF for 29 years.

AMISH Paradise?

Nope.

Mennonite one. Old-Order.

Great folk!

But now for a lighter look at the Plain People: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsfVw9xxoNY

2,892 AVRO ANSONS were BUILT…

…in Canada. For the WAR!

Some additional Ansons were imported from Great Britain and a total of 4,413 Ansons were actively used by the RCAF during WWII … mostly for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP).

It became the MOST WIDELY USED airplane by any of Canada’s air forces (RCAF, Canadian Armed Forces, Canadian Air Force).


BY THE Numbers:

Mk II ANSONS
1,822 Mk IIs were built in Canada; powered by two 330 hp Jacobs L-6MB engines.

Mk V ANSONS (36% increase in Engine Horsepower)
1,069 Mk Vs were built in Canada; powered by two 450 hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior engines.

Mk VI ANSONS
ONE aircraft was built in Canada; powered by two 450 hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior engines.

In 1952, the Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy RETIRED all of their Ansons and an era ended–

THIS ANSON is airworthy and is being repaired!

::.. Knowing Mother Teresa ..:

(Mother Teresa in stained glass, Transfiguration of Our Lord Parish, near YYZ)

It is in response to a horrendous distortion both illustrative and written about the life of Mother Teresa. I found it on flickr.

But since I am the world’s worst Catholic, waiting for a saint to respond and finding none, I found I had to rise to the occasion.

There are some who claim to know Mother Teresa, all about her in fact.

And it’s all bad news apparently!

I guess all those legions of folk who went to see her, worked alongside her for years or a lifetime just happened to miss all her dark deeds.

Yep.

Assertions too silly and too petty to repeat here, and claims neither balanced, nor insightful regarding the actions or motivations of this saint, I came face-to-face with a shocking realization.

Like that spooky kid in Grade seven, who sat at the back of the class, etched swastikas and loved Adolf Hitler… so too I came to realize, there are just some adults out there, who are really out there, who hate Mother Teresa!

Really… they just don’t understand Catholicism in particular, or Christianity in general.

AND ONE should never criticize, what one has failed to understand!

And some just have no religious stirrings at all ~


ANYWAYS, I’ll let Mother Teresa… the criminal (according to Victor)… defend herself through some of her memorable quotes.


"The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather
the feeling of being unwanted."

"God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try."

"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the
hunger for bread."

"Jesus said love one another. He didn't say love the whole world."

"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things
with great love."

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are
truly endless."

"Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the
love of Jesus."

"There is always the danger that we may just do the work for the
sake of the work. This is where the respect and the love and the
devotion come in - that we do it to God, to Christ, and that's why
we try to do it as beautifully as possible."

"Sweetest Lord, make me appreciative of the dignity of my high
vocation, and its many responsibilities. Never permit me to
disgrace it by giving way to coldness, unkindness, or impatience."

It's ……a long way to the top.

::.. ONCE RCAF…

… not always RCAF.

This former RCAF CF-104, now flying with the demo team known as the "Starfighters", was captured over the" dirty skies" of Toronto around CIAS time.

It's LOUD.

And FAST.

And everyone looks at it!

When it's in the air… you might as well fly nothin' else! You couldn't hear anything else anyway!!

MADE IN MONTREAL and 200 hundred others just like it, for the RCAF in the 60s. It was designed with and had NUCLEAR STRIKE capability! Had Canada needed to drop nuclear bombs anywhere… this is ONE of the aircraft we woulda' done it with!

CANADAIR OF MONTREAL made an additional 140 F-104Gs for Lockheed.

This was a DANGEROUS and UNFORGIVING interceptor to fly and 110 RCAF Starfighters were lost in accidents!

For a SUPER COOL photo of some RCAF CF-104s in flight SEE:
www.flickr.com/photos/a_henwood/907721700/