~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\^/| _| TCA |_ _|\| AIR |/|_ N E T L E T T E R > CANADA < B E T W E E N O U R S E L V E S >_./|\._< for P I O N A I R S | Your crew is: Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson Chief Navigator - Terry Baker tm number 80 date Aug 16th 1996 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . Reminders - Vancouver Island Pionairs Up Island luncheon on Aug 29th at Kingfisher Oceanside Inn Courtenay Telephone area code for Vancouver Island and areas OUTSIDE the Lower Mainland will change from 604 to 250 effective Oct 19th ~-=o0o=-~ . Vesta sends along this information about visiting the Smithsonian - continued from Netletter nr 78 - WWII's displays include much more than just the aerial hardware, although that is impressively represented by a number of aircraft, including a Spitfire, a P-51 Mustang, a Hellcat, a P-40 Warhawk done up in the "shark's mouth" paint scheme of the Flying Tigers, and its principal opponent, a Mitsubishi Zero. But there's also a fascinating display case that features literally hundreds of ordinary items collected from US airmen who were stationed in England. The Museum's gift shop carries the book that is the companion to this exhibit: "Overpaid, Over-sexed and Over Here." The display includes tickets to shows, personal i.d. cards, music hall programs, letters, post cards, handwritten notes, ration coupons, civilian admission badges to base dances, photos, newspaper clippings. The whole effect is like opening someone's long-forgotten attic trunk and having this enormous pile of the ordinary bits of service life spill out in front of you. You can easily spend an hour reading this one display alone. There is memorabilia from Jimmy Doolittle, Clair Chennault (who commanded the Flying Tigers) and Richard Bong, the quintessential blonde->haired, blue-eyed, boy-next-door American Ace who survived the War only to die testing an experimental aircraft shortly thereafter. There is no B-17 Flying Fortress, the workhorse bomber of the US Eighth Air Force, but aviation artist Keith Ferris fulfilled a commission to provide the Museum with the next best thing. The backdrop for the Hall that houses the Spitfire, Mustang and Zero is a 1:1 scale mural painting that features a flight of B-17's coming right at you. I read an interview with Ferris some time ago and he said he took as his starting point the wall itself, where he positioned the perspex nose of the lead bomber, in exactly the size it would be if it were parked in the room. Everything else in this spectacular painting is scaled back from there in both size and perspective and, if you can forget you're standing in a Museum, you can easily imagine yourself in the tailgunner's position of the bomber immediately in front of this one. The sky is filled with vapour trails, dozens of other B-17's sharing this mission, and the much smaller dots of the "little friends," the fighter escort that is flying cover for you. The jet age receives at least equal time. Besides Gary Powers' U-2 and Yeager's Bell X-1, there's a Messerschmitt Me-262, the jet that was supposed to turn the whole war around for the Nazis; too few, too late, as it turned out. There's a post-war mission-scarred X-15 rocket plane that preceded NASA's manned capsule launches into Earth orbit and several other jets in which records for speed, altitude or endurance were broken. Even commercial aviation has its showcase. Right beside a display case featuring uniforms of several of the world's airlines, there's a DC-6 airliner cabin, which is set up with stairs at either end to allow you to walk through and compare today's cramped cabins with the comparative space luxury afforded passengers in the 1950s. I cringed when I saw how much polished wood was used in the interior - the storage compartment doors, armrests and table tops, for example, were all poised to fuel the first hint of fire. (Nowadays, of course, we all choke to death on the toxic chemical smoke that modern "fire-retardant" materials give off when they finally ignite.) Mail carrying, air racing (including a sleek aluminum machine designed and flown by Howard Hughes), even entertainment in the form of kites, ultra- lights and home-built replicas are all represented. Final chapter later - ~-=o0o=-~ . Found on the Internet - The 1st McDonnel Douglas MD90 for China Northern was delivered Aug 1st under co-production arrangement for 20 models. Canadi>n has sold Canadian Holidays to Trans A.T. The London England underground system is scheduled to be hit by labour dispute on Aug 27th, Sept 5th and 9th. Vancouver International Air Races at Boundary Bay Airport on Sept 17th and 18th. ~-=o0o=-~ . Vesta sends the follow up to this Constellation saga - The text in this post is an abridged version of an article appearing on Etobicoke Life of July 31, 1996, relating the restoration and impending public display of a Connie by Philip Yull, of Mississauga, Ontario. The airplane will be parked in front of the Regal Constellation Hotel at Dixon Rd. and Carlingview Drive. The self-confessed airplane nut is hoping there are others like him - people that will pay to take a peak inside the 63-seat aircraft, which is one of only a handful of Constellations remaining. Soon to be Etobicoke's newest landmark, it was trucked into town [in June] and is being pieced together by a team of volunteer workers in a Derry Road hangar. Early Monday [Aug. 5] the 115-foot-long fuselage will be set gently on a flatbed truck and taken to the hotel at 900 Dixon Rd., where they will bolt on the wings. Mr. Yull plans to launch the plane Thursday, Aug. 22, when the doors will swing open for public view. He plans to make the plane available for tours, conferences and parties. Parked on hotel property with a long-term lease, the aircraft has cost the Mississauga man "a lot of money". But given it is one of only a few with an original cockpit and intact interior, Mr. Yull feels it is worth the expense and trouble of preserving a former "Queen of the skies". ~-=o0o=-~ . Constellation affectionadoes - From 'Touchdown' the British Airways Retirees magazine The 6th Lockheed Constellation L049 aquited by B.O.A.C. (now British Airways) was G-AKCE and its aquisition was unusual. B.O.A.C. bought this aircraft from TWA as NX54212, originally built Aug 4th 1945, who in turn had purchased it from an enterprising US serviceman who had fiddled the aircraft out of the US Military Air Transport. He arranged for a pilot friend to fly the aircraft into a field where it sat until the demand and price was right. The Chief Flying Instructor for B.O.A.C. at Dorval went and collected the aircraft from TWA and flew it back to Dorval. After many weeks of being checked and brought up to B.O.A.C. standards it was introduced into the B.O.A.C. fleet. Anybody remember this at Dorval? For you Dehavilland Commet affectionadoes - Seattle Museum of Flight is to restore the last D.H.Commet IVC (c/n 6424) in North America to the highest static display standards. ~-=o0o=-~ . That's it for this time, please we need your input, send comments and email addresses of any others who may be interested to Vesta with a copy to Terry. -!- Landing on an Island in the Pacific. _____(~)_____ ! ! ! This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. <<<>>> This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ................................................... . GREETINGS FROM . . Vancouver Island . . BEAUTIFUL B.C. CANADA . ...................................................
