Here is the announcement email from Jerry Vernon, President, CAHS Vancouver Chapter:
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Join Us at the next regular monthly meeting of The Canadian Aviation Historical Society, Vancouver Chapter
The Vancouver Chapter of the CAHS meets on the 2nd Tuesday of every month, except for July, August and statutory holidays, at 1900 hours(7 PM) at the Richmond Cultural Centre, Minoru Boulevard, Richmond, B.C.
Our meeting location is the Board Room, on the Main Floor of the RCC, down the hall to the right, behind the main Auditorium. This is now our long-term home, as we are able to book it on our normal evening for the full year in advance.
**** 2012 Chapter Dues are now due......see Notice further down in this notice****
Our meetings for the next several months are as follows:
Tuesday, 08 May 12
Tuesday, 12 Jun 12
Tuesday, 11 Sep 12
Our May speaker will be former RCAF test pilot Colonel(Ret'd) R. A. "Bud" White, one of our new Chapter members.
Bud will speak on the RCAF AETE Centennial Project, where he attempted to set a new world's altitude record, using the Lockheed-built CF-104A 12700. This aircraft is on display in the Canada Aviation Museum at Rockcliffe. Although he couldn't quite beat the Russians to establish a new world's record, he did set a Canadian altitude record of 100,110 feet, which still stands to this day. The Russian record was 113,892 feet, set by a rocket-boosted MiG-21. In 1959, a USAF F-104C had set a record of 103,389 feet and in 1963 a rocket-boosted NF-104A reached an unofficial height of 120,800 feet. The current record is 123,523 feet, set by a MiG-25M in 1977.
The RCAF altitude attempt flights consisted of a high-speed run followed by a zoom climb, with no rocket boost. See details at http://www.friendsofcrc.ca/Milestones/AltitudeRecord/AltitudeRecord.html
At least 25 zoom flights were made during the altitude attempt, 12 of them reaching over 96,000 feet. Due to the thin atmosphere at those altitudes, a number of engines were consumed in the attempt!! The aircraft was then retired to the museum.
A lot of preparation went into the altitude attempt, which was premised upon three main points:
- use of STARFIGHTER 12700, which was lighter than the standard Canadian single seat aircraft;
- initiation of the zoom climbs from within the core of the high altitude jet stream winds (thus increasing the aircraft’s total kinetic energy); and
- very carefully calculated and executed climb profiles.
Bud was a graduate of the first post-war class at the Royal Military College at Kingston and had been scheduled to be one of the RCAF's Avro Arrow test pilots. He flew Sabres in Europe with No. 1 Air Division and was one of the founders of the postwar RCAF Flyers hockey team. He had a very interesting military career, which also included a period as an RCAF exchange officer with the USAF on the NASA Mercury and Gemini Launch Vehicle Program Office, Director of Cadets at RMC and Base Commander at North Bay. He was honoured with membership in Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973. Following 31 years of military service, he retired to accept a position as Vice-President of one of Noranda's high-tech manufacturing facilities and later came to B. C. as General Manager of Canadian Aircraft Products(now AVCORP). He spent some years as a ski instructor at Whistler and living in New Zealand before returning to Vancouver, where he is currently President of the Air Force Officers' Association and the Battle of Britain Memorial Fund. Last year, he purchased of one of the Navions that is flown in the Fraser Blues Aerial Demonstration Team, and is having a ball flying it.
Click here for a full biography.
Bud has promised to speak to us again next year on his experiences as an RCAF exchange officer with the U. S. space program. He is a very interesting speaker with detailed technical knowledge.
Other news.....
The Fall 2011 CAHS Journal is in the mail. Some of the Ottawa Chapter people received their copies on Friday, so we should be seeing ours here in B. C. any day now. Don't forget that all new members who joined through the past year will get all 4 issues for 2011, as per the normal practice....one more to come and hopefully we will get caught up and back on schedule this year!!
This Journal mailing will include the billing notice for your 2012 CAHS National Dues. Prompt payment would be appreciated by the National Treasurer.
I now receive 5 extra copies of each Journal issue for promotional purposes and this has already brought in several new National members. If you know someone who is a potential Member, ask me to give you a sample copy for him or her.
Our meeting notices are now also posted on-line, on the CAHS website, at http://cahs.ca .
As noted in the past couple of newsletters, our room rental for 2012 is now $ 42.45/month(including HST), so we have had to raise the Annual Chapter Dues from $ 10 to a new figure of $ 15.
2012 Chapter Dues are $ 15, and can now be paid to me at the next meeting or you can mail a cheque to 3489 Lakedale Avenue, Burnaby, BC, V5A 3E2, payable to CAHS Vancouver Chapter.
We are open to any suggestions for a new meeting location that will be more economical as well as being more convenient than....or no less inconvenient than.....our current long-time home, which we have used since the mid-1970s(before I was a CAHS Member!!) However, we have now paid and are committed to stay where we are for 2012.
2012 Air Force Tour of the UK....
Special Travel International are now taking bookings for the 2012 Air Force Tour of the UK that I put together for them, for a tour to take place on 24 Sep - 05 Oct 2012. We had an indication that 20 or more people were interested in signing up for the tour, but people have been slow in registering. Detailed itinerary, prices, etc. can be viewed at http://www.sticanada.com/tours/0912UKAF.pdf or phone them at (604) 291-1332. STI have moved their office today from their previous location in Burnaby to 4603 Main Street in Vancouver(V5V 3R6)
Bookings have been slow for the tour, but STI decided this week that the tour will go ahead as planned, as they hope to be able to pick up a few more people between now and July. If you are interested, please contact them as soon as possible or contact myself for more details.
It will be a small group, but I will be on the tour, of course, as will be Vancouver Chapter Member Jet Johnson.
We did a successful tour of the UK, Normandy, Vimy Ridge, Arnhem and Amsterdam in 2006 and a tour of the UK and Scotland in 2007, but were unable to attract enough sign-ups to make the proposed 2009 UK tour happen.
We have not included the Yorkshire Air Museum, Duxford or the RAF Museum at Hendon in the 2012 tour, as we did them on the last tour, and it is important not to make the tours too long. However, if there is enough interest in it, a short 2 or 3 day extension tour of the London area can probably be arranged, which could include Hendon and the Imperial War Museum in London, and perhaps Duxford too. Also, if you have other suggestions, we are still at the point of being flexible enough to make itinerary changes that would fit the overall schedule.
BOOK FOR SALE - "From Sailing Ships to Spitfires":
I have been given a box of books for sale, to benefit the Vancouver Chapter. Tim Dubé has also received several boxes for the Ottawa Chapter to sell. The book was written by Shirley Walker, who lives in Mission. She wrote and published the book, but then her husband died and she had other distractions in her life, so she decided to donate the books to CAHS rather than try to market them herself.
The main theme of the book is the story of her family, who emigrated from Norway to the U. S. and Canada in the early 1900s. The secondary story is about her uncle, F/L Arnold Roseland, who was killed in action in Normandy a few weeks after D-Day. Arnold Roseland had been a Kittyhawk pilot with 14(F) Sqn. in Alaska and then went overseas to fly Spitfires with 442(F) Sqn. His wingman when he was lost was the late F/O Hugh Morse, DFC, a well-known Maple Ridge dentist who I have met at the 442 reunions. After he was shot down, the Germans took away his identification tags, leaving him for the French civilians to bury as an unknown Canadian pilot. This was not resolved until 55 years later, in 1999, when his grave was identified from an engraved cigarette lighter that one of the French locals had recovered at the crash site.
I will bring some copies to the meeting and I am selling them for only $ 10.00.
I also still have a few of the RAPCAN CD available for sale....only $ 5.00 for Chapter members, although I have been getting $ 10.00 for them at the Quarter Century in Aviation Club and the Air Crew Association. The sale of these and the book will be a welcome boost to the Chapter treasury.
VANCOUVER AIRLINE & AVIATION COLLECTIBLES SHOW 2012 - 06 Oct 12:
Henry Tenby has advised me that he will be running another Airline & Aviation Collectibles Show on Saturday, 06 Oct 12, at the Oakridge Centre Mall Auditorium in Vancouver(41st and Cambie St.).
Details: http://www.airlinehobby.com/welcome/VancouverShow/vancouver2012.cfm
I will probably still be away in the UK at that time, but we will also need to decide if the Vancouver Chapter would like to order a table($ 30.00) in order to promote CAHS membership, sell our books and CDs, etc. This may also be an opportunity for some of the Chapter members to sell a few things, if they don't have enough volume to justify renting a sales table of their own.
STORY AND PHOTO TIME:
This month we feature our May speaker, Colonel(Ret'd) Bud White and his CF-104A.
NOTICE:
Note that Keith Wade is still looking for fresh people to give Chapter presentations, and the Chapter can't always rely on he and I and Jim and a couple of others to entertain us ever month at the meetings, even though most of us have 50 years worth of slides and now have access to digital material!! If you have something worthwhile to show, contact Keith at (604) 985-6202.
J. E. (Jerry) Vernon,
President, CAHS Vancouver Chapter