NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 CANADIAN WARPLANE HERITAGE MUSEUM ANCEDOTES FROM WWII A Sprog’s Experiences CANSO Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum’s Flying Boat NOVEMBER 18, 2017 A SA LUTE TO TH S E BATTLE O W F THE ATLANTIC ING OUT T FE O VICTO ATUR DINN RY S ING THE TORONTO ALL-STAR BIG BAND ER & DA ILENT NCE AUCTION AND PRIZES FOR BEST OUTFITS! DOORS OPEN AT 5:30 PM • DINNER 6:30 PM • DANCE ONLY GUESTS 8:00 PM • BAND 9:00 PM TO 1:00 AM PLUS$ HST DINNER PLUS HST DAY OF EVENT $30 TICKETS70 AVAILABLE&DANCE ONLINE$ AT WARPLANE.COMDANCE DISCOUNTED DINNER & DANCE TICKETS FOR MEMBERS OR TABLES OF 8.25 ALSO AVAILABLEONLY BY PHONE AT 905-679-4183 EXT. 220 CANADIAN WARPLANE HERITAGE MUSEUM, 9280 AIRPORT ROAD, MOUNT HOPE, ONTARIO L0R 1W0 President & Chief Executive Officer David G. Rohrer Vice President – Facilities Manager Controller Operations Cathy Dowd Brenda Shelley Pam Rickards Curator Education Services Vice President – Finance Erin Napier Manager Ernie Doyle Howard McLean Flight Coordinator Chief Engineer Laura Hassard-Moran Donor Services Jim Van Dyk Manager Retail Manager Sally Melnyk Marketing Manager Shawn Perras Al Mickeloff Building Maintenance Volunteer Services Manager Food & Beverage Manager Administrator Jason Pascoe Anas Hasan Toni McFarlane Board of Directors Christopher Freeman, Chair Nestor Yakimik Art McCabe David Ippolito Robert Fenn Dennis Bradley, Ex Officio John O’Dwyer Marc Plouffe Sandy Thomson, Ex Officio David G. Rohrer Patrick Farrell Bruce MacRitchie, Ex Officio Stay Connected Subscribe to our eFlyer Canadian Warplane warplane.com/mailing-list-signup.aspx Heritage Museum 9280 Airport Road Read Flightlines online warplane.com/about/flightlines.aspx Mount Hope, Ontario L0R 1W0 Like us on Facebook facebook.com/Canadian Phone 905-679-4183 WarplaneHeritageMuseum Toll free 1-877-347-3359 (FIREFLY) Fax 905-679-4186 Follow us on Twitter Email [email protected] @CWHM Web warplane.com Watch videos on YouTube youtube.com/CWHMuseum NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 Shop our Gift Shop warplane.com/gift-shop.aspx CANADIAN WARPLANE HERITAGE MUSEUM Follow Us on Instagram instagram.com/ canadianwarplaneheritagemuseum ANCEDOTES FROM WWII Volunteer Editor: Bill Cumming A Sprog’s Experiences CANSO Canadian Warplane Flightlines is the official publication of the Canadian Heritage Museum’s Flying Boat Warplane Heritage Museum. It is a benefit of membership and is published six times per year (Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr, Cover: May/June, July/Aug, Sept/Oct, Nov/Dec). Consolidated PBY Canso flying boat. KOOL SHOTS Readers are encouraged to submit articles and photos. All contributions published with the author’s name is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinions and policies of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. Responsibility for accuracy rests solely with the author. ©2017 Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. Printed in Canada by All rights reserved. News Year End As we move towards the end of 2017, we can look back on a very busy year at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. Within the last few weeks of summer the Museum hosted two of the largest and successful events of the year; the Community Charity Airshow in Brantford and Classics of the Golden Age car and aircraft display. Coming up is the annual Remembrance Day Service at the Museum that is attended every year by thousands of people, from students to seniors. Remembrance Day November 11th is the day of the Armistice; the day the battles of the First World War came to an end. Nov 11th is about remembering, as we honour those who fought and continue to fight for our country, and we remember so that the atrocities committed in the past will never happen again. It is the day we honour those who sacrificed for our country and we also take the time to honour those families who sacrificed so much as well. In this issue of Flightlines, we briefly look at CWH’s flying boat, and the most famous Canso as piloted by F/L David Hornell, who was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award of the United Kingdom honours system. This issue also provides an insight of some personnel experiences of an airman - some funny, some tragic - who served in Canada during World War Two. Quite often we forget that during the days of World War Two, the air force recruited men and women who served in Canada instead of away from their homeland. They did their duty with the same spirit and determination as those who were sent to overseas war zones, contributing to the peaceful Canada we live in today. Bill Cumming, Volunteer Editor [email protected] 2017 Community Charity Air Show at Brantford a huge success by Gord McNulty Record breaking crowds and hardworking volunteers ensured a successful inaugural Community Charity Air Show at Brantford Airport on August 30. This year’s event, inspired by the former Rotary Charity Air Show that started in 1999, was held under sunny skies. AL MICKELOFF CF-18 Demo team signing autographs lead It raised funds for both the Rotary Club of Brantford by Captain Matthew “Glib” Kutryk. and the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum was highlighted by a fine demonstration of the B-25 Mitchell, the DC-3 Dakota that dropped jumpers from the Hamilton Sport Parachute Club to open the show and the PBY-5A Canso. Spectators also enjoyed the CF-18 Demo Hornet painted to celebrate Canada’s 150th Anniversary of Confederation; the Snowbirds; the Great War Flying Museum World War I replicas; Gord Price in the Yak-50; Trevor Rafferty in his “Rafferty Javelin,” Danny Richer’s BAC Strikemaster; Danny and Alf Beam in T-28 Trojans; and the Waterloo Warbirds ‘Mako Shark’ CT-133. The family oriented show was co-chaired by Dave Rohrer of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum and Sherry Kerr of the Rotary Club of Brantford, leading the team, volunteers and sponsors whose commitment made the show possible. Member Profile – Wally Wintermute by Mo McIntosh I recently sat down with Walter “Wally” Wintermute, crew chief of the Bolingbroke restoration crew. It was wonderful to hear him reminisce with the Boly being lovingly restored in the background. Wally is originally from St. Thomas. Leaving school at 15, Wally’s adventures took him to the Central Aircraft Company in London, Ontario. Here during 1943-44 he would perform modifications to the de Havilland Mosquito bombers. On his 16th birthday he became of civilian worker for the RCAF. Working very hard, Wally would often get 3 aircraft done BILL CUMMING a night. When the pilots arrived in the morning, they’d be quite pleased and they would always take him flying where Classics of the he would get a chance to fly himself. Golden Age 2017 He was also an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer for many years. In his early years of service in the OPP he was After an absence of more than 20 years, CWH presented transferred out of Toronto to the Crystal Beach detachment Classics of the Golden Age on September 9 & 10. Over 35 during the busy summers. Every weekend would see over elegant and some rarely seen automobiles were showcased 10,000 people flock to the park. It was a going concern for public viewing with the CWH aircraft throughout the dealing with so many mischief makers. hangar. All automobiles on display were invited to the event, and ranged from a 1907 Stanley Steamer to a 1960 MGA. His journey in his professional life saw him transferred The classic vehicles were staged among the CWH aircraft, to the Smithville OPP detachment. His duties included offering a mix of displays of aircraft and antique vehicles accident and criminal investigations. The last ten years together. The star of the show was the rare 1936 Bugatti of his career was in plain clothes duty and he travelled 575C Aerolithe, which was provided courtesy of Dave all across Canada. Grainger from the Guild of Wally made many friends around the world in his travels Automobile including his visits with his friend, Sidney Poitier. Restorers. Large crowds were Wally joined CWH in 1988. Shortly thereafter he was present for both asked to join the Boly crew. First order of business was to days of the event pick the best one of the derelict aircraft which was located and favourable on the airport side. Thus began the restoration. comments about the event have Wally was happily married to Lee for over 59 years, a been received valued member of CWH. He currently resides in Beamsville, from both the Ontario, enjoying life with his current wife Judith. public as well as the participants. AL MICKELOFF 5 Aircraft Updates Tracker Tidbits Westland Lysander by Bob Freeman There is little visible progress on the restoration, but behind the scenes, many small parts have been cleaned, overhauled and repainted ready for installation. The difficult repair on one of the stringers inside the nose wheel well was completed by CWH staff and since then we have been able to clean inside the area and paint it. New bearings located in the cockpit floor and underside of the cockpit (for elevator controls) have been installed and the bearing housings AL MICKELOFF A replacement landing gear was located in Ontario and re-riveted into place. We await a couple of special fasteners recently arrived in the hangar for our Westland Lysander to complete the work required in reattaching all the associated and its future restoration. controls and we should then be in a position to reinstall the nose landing gear. Both LHS and RHS wing fold sequence valves were removed, inspected and rebuilt with new seals. All linkage surface corrosion was mitigated and parts repainted and reinstalled.