RRemembranceemembrance DDayay LLestest WeWe ForgetForget • NNousous nousnous souviendronssouviendrons d’euxd’eux the Vol. 41 No. 42 AuroraNOVEMBER 9, 2020 NO CHARGE www.auroranewspaper.com ‘Make remembrance personal’ Op A Pittance of Time partnership encourages Canadians to pause, reflect and share Sara White, Managing editor Being a “civilian in uniform” has added another layer to the deep appreciation Terry Kelly has had all his life for those who serve. Past or present, men and women serving Canada in military uniform have and continue to make sacrifi ces. Kelly is investing his profi le as a musician and honorary colonel at 14 Wing Greenwood - and as a Canadian citizen – into a new campaign, “Operation A Pittance of Time,” placing that sacrifi ce front and centre as we all mark Remembrance Day 2020 under COVID-19 conditions.onditions. “Sometimes people think,ink, if they can’t go to a cenotaph – even withoutithout COCOVID,VID, they can’t be a part of Remembrancemembrance Day,” Kelly says. “Ourr vision with Op A Pittance of TTimeime is to show people they can take that moment, whereverver they are, to think, to bbee 1414 WingW Greenwood Honorary Colonel Terry Kelly, second from right, interviews Royal still, to just refl ect on yourur CanadianCan Air Force personnel as part of the video preparations for Operation a Pittance freedom and what it took.k. ofof Time.T The remembrance-themed op encourages Canadians to take a moment, when- evereve and wherever they are November 11, to reflect on the sacrifices, past and present, We encourage people ttoo whichwhi secure our freedom. Submitted get involved and makeke remembrance personal. DanDan Hennessey, in Lunenburg, who and share their thoughts on being involved with the military “The big goal is to haveave a numbernum of years ago recorded vid- as citizens who also owe a great deal to veterans who have every Canadian do thiss in eoseos withw South Shore Second World come before. The result are several small Op A Pittance of their own time zone at 111 a.m. WarWar veteransvete in a “Time To Remember” Time presentations now available on social media and Kelly’s November 11, and justt mamakeke project.project. TheT Canadian Walk for Veterans website: a 30-second video, a 60-second video and a longer, remembrance personal.” andand VeteransVeterans Affairs Canada have also joined seven-minute mini-documentary. All are now being shared Op A Pittance of Time has its rootrootss the operation, alla to grow an idea: encourage with schools, community groups and media outlets across in Kelly’s 1999 song by thehe same name, then folksfolks to make 2020 theth year they take their own “pit- the country. inspired by a drug store incident when a man chose not to tance of time” time” to remember. The operation also encourages Canadians, when they see join other customers taking two minutes of silence in honour Through the fall, Kelly and Hennessey worked with imagery the videos, to share their thoughts, ideas and plans to re- of veterans on November 11. Earlier this year, Kelly partnered technicians from 14 Wing to visit several military units in member on social media, with the hashtags #apittanceoftime with 14 Construction Engineering Squadron Honorary Colonel Nova Scotia, interview and fi lm military personnel at work, #remembranceday #canadaremembers. tthehe frontfront pagepage This premium ® advertising space should TEXT LISTWITHEXIT TO 85377 have been yours! to view EXIT’s Expert Marketing Suite Call 902-765-1494 local 5833 to find out how. Page 2 November 9, 2020 the Aurora | 14 Wing Greenwood, NS the Aurora | 14 Wing Greenwood, NS November 9, 2020 Page 3 Remembrance Day Remembrance Day Nous nous souviendrons d’eux Lest We Forget This iimage has no cred- The flight of the Hoodoo: 1920, iitsts aand the location is uunknownnkn – but possibly the first trans-Canada flight WhWhelpley’s Point on Colonel (retired) in October, this was not an nipeg, Lieutenant Colonel Leckie required draining by the Great Reach of the SSainta John River. John L. Orr unreasonable amount of time. and Squadron Leader Hobbs, suspending the air- Submitted Not incidentally, it was also an went to the Vickers Canada dry craft under a bridge! At 8 a.m. October 7, 1920, a account of guts and determina- dock in Montréal to test the In the afternoon ooff Fairey III C seaplane (G-CYCF) tion as a small group of airmen Fairey. It soon became appar- October 5, the Faireyey of the Canadian Air Board took battled the elements and blazed ent it could not take off with took off from Frederictonton off from Halifax Harbour and a path across the land. sufficient fuel to fly “straight and headed to Halifax,fax, headed for Rivière-du-Loup, The aircraft used during the through” to Winnipeg from where it arrived at 4 p.p.m.m. Québec, on the fi rst leg of an fl ight were part of the “Impe- Halifax. There was a further delaydelay ultimately successful attempt to rial Gift” of surplus machines Leckie and Hobbs finally October 6, and it was not un- cross the country – by air – for donated to Canada by the Brit- headed east from Montréal in til October 7 the Fairey took off the fi rst time. ish Air Ministry after the war. the Fairey September 29 and, and headed to Rivière-du-Loup. The Canadian Air Board While some types proved to be as they approached Fredericton, Alas, the problem-plagued was established in 1919 as a reliable, the Fairey III C seaplane they encountered heavy fog, Fairey ran into turbulent weather department of the Dominion proved to be decidedly unreli- which forced the seaplane down over the Bay of Fundy and, government to oversee the de- able, although great faith was on the Saint John River, west shortly after passing Saint placed on its theoretical range of the city near Kingsclear. The John, the engine cowling ripped Thee ill-fatedill fated Fairey Fairey III C, C taxiintaxiingg foforr take-off.take off velopment of civil and military Location unknown but possibly Montréal. aviation in Canada in the post- which, it was believed, would crew had to wait until October 3 off and struck the externally- CASM-08274. First World War era. The board permit a 24-hour non-stop fl ight before the weather cleared and mounted fuel pump, dousing quickly realized that in order to from Halifax to Winnipeg. they could rectify an electrical Leckie in fuel. A forced landing landing in heavy weather at mounting many challenges, survive, it would have to demon- The fl ight had originally been snag caused by heavy rain. As was carried out on the Long 11:05 p.m. the trans-Canada fl ight fi nally strate the utility of aircraft to the planned to start September 27 they were waiting for repairs, Reach of the Saint John River It was The Daily Gleaner (Oc- arrived in Richmond, BC at Canadian public and, perhaps from Canadian Air Board Station drifting logs in the Saint John near Whelpley’s Point, and the tober 7, 1920 “Fairey Seaplane 11:25 a.m. October 17, 1920 to more importantly, to Canadian Dartmouth, the current site of River apparently punctured one aircraft was so badly damaged Wrecked in the St. John River be met by the Mayor of Vancou- politicians. The idea of a trans- the RCAF’s 12 Wing Shearwater. of the aircraft’s floats, which it could not complete the rest Today”) that fi rst applied the ver. The total fl ying time was 49 Canada fl ight was seized upon in September 2222,, the pilots of the oof the fl ight. term “hoodoo” to the Fairey, and hours and seven minutes and order to achieve this objective. fl ight from HaHalifaxlifax to Win- Leckie called up an HS-2L the name stuck. The “hoodoo” the fl ight covered nearly 5,400 Originally planned to take flflying boat (G-CYAG) from seaplane was never fl own by the kilometres. 48 hours using relays of air- DDartmouth and the air station Canadian Air Board again and The upshot of the fl ight was, craft, the fl ight eventually took ssuperintendent flew through was returned to the manufac- although the path was neither 10-and-a-half days. Given the ttheh turbulence over the Bay turer, which repaired and sold it. straight nor smooth, the Air state of aviation at the time and oof Fundy to rescue Leckie and Its subsequent fate is unknown. Board established aviation, both the perils involved with fl ying HHobbs. The crews exchanged The rest of the story has civil and military, in the Cana- open-cockpit aircraft in Canada aaircraft, and Leckie and Hobbs been related elsewhere, the dian psyche. More importantly, fl ew on to Fredericton in the most readable account being this fl ight bore out the truth of For the first trans-Canada HHS-2L. They refueled there and “The First trans-Canada Flight the words of former Governor- The Aurora News flight, the mayor of Halifax hheadedeaded off to RivièreRivière-du-Loup, du Lou – 1920,” by Wing Commander General Vincent Massey, who sent a letter to the mayor of Manning, which appeared in the stated “The aircraft came to CFB Greenwood Aurora News Vancouver. All the aircrew the who flew the cross-country September 1964 issue of the Canada as a godsend. It prob- Useful links | Liens utiles flight also signed. Canadian Geographical Journal. ably has meant more to us than Suffi ce it to say, after sur- it has to any other country.” Royal Canadian Air Force website Submitted Site Web de l’Aviation royale canadienne www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca Managing Editor | Directrice de rédaction Circulation | Circulation: 4,500 Mondays | Lundis Aurora CAF Connection Site Remembering Sara White • 902-765-1494 local/poste 5441 Agreement No.