T H E

VOL. 13, NO. 3 APRIL 1961

 T HE

VOL. 13, NO. 3 APRIL 1961

ARTICLES

Page

Airmen's Promotion Policy...................... 2

Red Wings Over Canada. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

"No Sweat" In the Arctic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Stations of the RCAF: Trenton Part One... . . . . 12

Intruder: No. 418 Sqn. History- Part Five....... 19

FEATURETTES

RCAF Airmen Receive Honours................. 17

The Engineer's Dictionary...·.----···-·······>.. 18

Staff College Journal Essay Contest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

New "Ops" Room for Vancouver RCC.inside back cover

DEPARTMENTS
THIS MONTH'S COVER
On the Break . Spring lambs and pretty girls remind us that
this April marks a double anniversary: the
What's the Score?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 20th birthday of the wartime WDs and the
10th year of airwomen in the RCAF Regular
and Auxiliary,
The Suggestion Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

RCAF Association. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Letters to the Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

OuR CONGRATULATIONS to all those airmen fortunate information beyond Canada's barren lands. To re-
enough to see their names on the promotion list at the plenish the arctic supermarkets two ATC squadrons,
first of this month. To those who were disappointed we Nos. 435 and 436, are combining their efforts to fly in
say better luck next time and, in the meantime, have a approximately four million pounds of freight. For No.
look at the article on page 2. "Airmen's Promotion 435 Sqn. arctic re-supply is an old story but this year it
Policy" gives an insight into the working of those im- will have a new twist. The squadron will be using its
portant but mysterious bodies, the promotion boards. newly-acquired Hercules aircraft on the operation.
It just may help you in your endeavours to move up
another rung on the ladder of success. On page 9 F/L Vic Eldridge describes a typical
scheduled flight carried out by No. 436 Sqn. weekly to
'['% NUMBER of places and the variety of tasks as- the north and return. "No Sweat in the Arctic" is the
signed to air force personnel seem to be ever increasing. title of this contribution but, to those of us who lead
The RCAF's role with UNEF in the Middle East has somewhat more mundane existences, a "routine" north-
been well told; our contribution in the troubled Congo ern flight, such as the one described, reads like an ad-
is probably less well documented. But, one of the most venture story.
unusual tasks engaged in by the RCAF fliers has re-
ceived almost no publicity namely, that of serving OuR STATION visit this month is to Trenton, one of the
as courtesy crews on board Russian aircraft. In the oldest and today still one of the busiest stations in the
article "Red Wings Over Canada" we give belated rec- RCAF. This place is so steeped in history and tradition
ognition to a handful of our fellow airmen who are we have parted from our usual custom of running a
not only carrying out their flying role with the customary station article complete in one issue. In this first part
high standards but also are doing their bit towards of the Trenton story (page 12). S/L Russ Bowdery
international understanding. traces its origin and development over the past 30 years;
next month he describes RCAF Station Trenton's cur-
'j'% coNcLUDING chapter of the five-part wartime rent roles and activities.
history of No. 418 Squadron begins on page 19. Next
slated for ROUNDELIZATION is No. 436 (Elephant) Squad- [ALL, ROADS lead to Winnipeg for delegates to the I1th
ron, a transport unit which made its debut in the annual national convention of the RCAF Association.
Burma theatre in 1944. Many of the squadrons whose An impressive list of guest speakers has been arranged,
histories have appeared in these pages no longer exist, as can be seen on pages 30 and 31, and the Winnipeg
except in the nostalgic memories of their former per- committee assures us this will be the best convention
sonnel. Not so with No. 436 which is still very much yet. We hope to see you there next month.
alive as can be seen by the following paragraph.

This month the semi-annual re-supply of the Joint

Arctic Weather Stations is being conducted by the
RCAF to keep people operational, healthy and happy
as they go about their business of gathering weather Editor

APRIL 1961 l
 T HE

VOL. 13, NO. 3 APRIL 1961

ARTICLES

Page

Airmen's Promotion Policy...................... 2

Red Wings Over Canada. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

"No Sweat" In the Arctic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Stations of the RCAF: Trenton Part One... . . . . 12

Intruder: No. 418 Sqn. History- Part Five....... 19

FEATURETTES

RCAF Airmen Receive Honours................. 17

The Engineer's Dictionary...·.----···-·······>.. 18

Staff College Journal Essay Contest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

New "Ops" Room for Vancouver RCC.inside back cover

DEPARTMENTS
THIS MONTH'S COVER
On the Break . Spring lambs and pretty girls remind us that
this April marks a double anniversary: the
What's the Score?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 20th birthday of the wartime WDs and the
10th year of airwomen in the RCAF Regular
and Auxiliary,
The Suggestion Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

RCAF Association. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Letters to the Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

OuR CONGRATULATIONS to all those airmen fortunate information beyond Canada's barren lands. To re-
enough to see their names on the promotion list at the plenish the arctic supermarkets two ATC squadrons,
first of this month. To those who were disappointed we Nos. 435 and 436, are combining their efforts to fly in
say better luck next time and, in the meantime, have a approximately four million pounds of freight. For No.
look at the article on page 2. "Airmen's Promotion 435 Sqn. arctic re-supply is an old story but this year it
Policy" gives an insight into the working of those im- will have a new twist. The squadron will be using its
portant but mysterious bodies, the promotion boards. newly-acquired Hercules aircraft on the operation.
It just may help you in your endeavours to move up
another rung on the ladder of success. On page 9 F/L Vic Eldridge describes a typical
scheduled flight carried out by No. 436 Sqn. weekly to
'['% NUMBER of places and the variety of tasks as- the north and return. "No Sweat in the Arctic" is the
signed to air force personnel seem to be ever increasing. title of this contribution but, to those of us who lead
The RCAF's role with UNEF in the Middle East has somewhat more mundane existences, a "routine" north-
been well told; our contribution in the troubled Congo ern flight, such as the one described, reads like an ad-
is probably less well documented. But, one of the most venture story.
unusual tasks engaged in by the RCAF fliers has re-
ceived almost no publicity namely, that of serving OuR STATION visit this month is to Trenton, one of the
as courtesy crews on board Russian aircraft. In the oldest and today still one of the busiest stations in the
article "Red Wings Over Canada" we give belated rec- RCAF. This place is so steeped in history and tradition
ognition to a handful of our fellow airmen who are we have parted from our usual custom of running a
not only carrying out their flying role with the customary station article complete in one issue. In this first part
high standards but also are doing their bit towards of the Trenton story (page 12). S/L Russ Bowdery
international understanding. traces its origin and development over the past 30 years;
next month he describes RCAF Station Trenton's cur-
'j'% coNcLUDING chapter of the five-part wartime rent roles and activities.
history of No. 418 Squadron begins on page 19. Next
slated for ROUNDELIZATION is No. 436 (Elephant) Squad- [ALL, ROADS lead to Winnipeg for delegates to the I1th
ron, a transport unit which made its debut in the annual national convention of the RCAF Association.
Burma theatre in 1944. Many of the squadrons whose An impressive list of guest speakers has been arranged,
histories have appeared in these pages no longer exist, as can be seen on pages 30 and 31, and the Winnipeg
except in the nostalgic memories of their former per- committee assures us this will be the best convention
sonnel. Not so with No. 436 which is still very much yet. We hope to see you there next month.
alive as can be seen by the following paragraph.

This month the semi-annual re-supply of the Joint

Arctic Weather Stations is being conducted by the
RCAF to keep people operational, healthy and happy
as they go about their business of gathering weather Editor

APRIL 1961 l
 RED WINGS OVER CANADA *
By FLIGHT LIEUTENANT T. G. COUGHLIN

bound and terminate their east-

] a visitor to the Ottawa area Iceland, where Russian jets land to
bound flight in Moscow. Such was
should hear several aircrew members re-fuel. From there the aircraft cross
conversing in Russian he shouldn't or land on Canadian territory, via the case last October when F/L
Klingbeil boarded one of these 200-
be too surprised. The personnel con- a re-fuelling stop at Gander, en route "' .
ton Goliaths at Knukovo airport for
cerned are merely practising their to destinations in the USA. The re-
linguistic ability to meet a steadily- verse flight is also a well-travelled an l l-hour direct flight to New York.
increasing need: that of serving as route by Canadian aircrew as they The TU-114 is the largest aircraft
courtesy crews on Russian aircraft fly from Washington or New York in existence. It has a wing span of
either over-flying or landing on Cana- over eastern Canada, via Gander, to 177 feet and an all-up weight of
dian territory. Keflavik where the RCA F officers 400,000 pounds which includes a
In the past five years approxi- deplane. fuel capacity of 176,000 pounds. The
mately a dozen RCAF officers have aircraft carries 220 passengers and
made some 60 flights on board a MOSCOW DIRECT has, in addition, a 48-seat dining
variety of USSR aircraft as Soviet Occasionally, however, the Rus- room section. Only the Russians had
diplomats and government officials sians decide to use their huge TU- a ramp high enough to reach the
shuttled back and forth between 114 turbo-prop aircraft which can door of this mammoth aircraft until
Moscow and various North Ameri- fly the Atlantic non-stop. On these the Americans built a ramp espec-
can destinations. Since Russia is not occasions, the Canadian courtesy ially for the arrival of Premier
a member nation of the I nternation- crew members begin their west- Khrushchov at Idlewild.
a I Civil Aviation Organization RCAF personnel employed as
(ICAO), special bilateral arrange- courtesy crews have the task of hand-
ments must be made with member ling all radio communications, mon-
nations for landings and over-flights. itoring Russian flight procedures to
The RCA F personnel selected to ensure their conformance with ICAO
fly on these aircraft must have cer- air traffic control regulations, and
tain qualifications: current trans- translating Russian into English and
port operational experience, trans- vice versa whenever the need arises.
Atlantic ti me and, if possible, fluency The first trip into Russia for F/L
in conversational Russian. In the Klingbeil was a hectic one. Flying
latter qualification one squadron as a passenger on Aeroflot, the Rus-
has four Russian-speaking aircrew. sian commercial airline, he and an-
Flight Lieutenants H. Madsen, B. other RCAF officer plus six Amer-
Klingbeil, T. Selfe, DFM, and H. ican fliers, found that they were being
Morgan have, collectively, flown diverted to Leningrad because of
more than 30 trips and several hun- lfght bad weather at Moscow. On arrival
dred hours on the TU-104, TU-114, As in at Leningrad they were lavishly en-
IL-18 or AN-JO. tertained by the Aeroflot organi-
Flight Lieutenant Klingbeil made - Jes zation, then given a room for the
his first trip on a Russian aircraft in
September I 960 on what came to
be almost a "milk-run" for the se-
--A
A
night at the airport hotel. Less than
an hour later they were roused from
t bed to board an JL-14 for a trip to
lected RCAF personnel. These trips Moscow where the weather was re-
for the Canadians begin at Keflavik, F/L B. Klingbeil in Warsaw. ported clearing. Arriving at the Rus-

4 THE ROUNDEL
 ® w

..7777TV-
The world's largest transport aircraft, the TU-114, can carry 220 passengers.

sian capital at 5 a.m. they went to of the ocean vessels which is spon- York the TU-114 lifted off a runway
a hotel again but after two hours sored by 18 ICAO member nations and headed eastbound. After IO
sleep they were awakened, taken to for the benefit of trans-Atlantic air- hours of turbo-propping along at
the airport, and boarded the New craft. A radar fix was obtained from 31,000 feet the aircraft landed at
York-bound aircraft. Understand- Gander, their control area was cross- Moscow, mission accomplished.
ably weary by this time, F/L Kling- ed; then, over Yarmouth N.S., F/L Other trips, however, have not
beil and the rest of the courtesy Klingbeil relinquished his duties to been so routine. On occasions F/L
crew were pleasantly surprised to his USAF counterpart as the flight Klingbeil has engaged in rapid fire
see a comfortable sleeping compart- approached American territory. Fol- translation as ground controlled ap-
ment on the aircraft. lowing a three-day stopover at New proaches (GCAs) were carried out.

BUSY BOYS
Resembling a section ofa Pullman
sleeper, the TU-I14 has four com-
partments containing upper and TU-104 aircraft are Aeroflot's main equipment on domestic and international runs.
lower berths. The luxury of sleeping The TU-104B has a maximum cruising speed of 633 mph.
away the miles was short-lived, how-
ever, as four hours later the TU-114
was nearing Keflavik's approach
control area. After passing a posi-
tion report to Keflavik, F/L Kling-
~
beil turned over the radio equipment
to a Russian crew member who con-
p
tacted a Russian ship for a weather
report. Since the purpose of the· trip
was to bring Mr. Khrushchov and
his party back to Russia from the
's I " I

UN, the Russians had pre-positioned

a number of fishing boats to pro-
vide navigation assistance and weath-
er reports to the aircraft. When
the Russian radio operator finished
his task F/L Klingbeil resumed con-
trol of the communications equip-
ment and, presently, contacted one

APRIL 1961
s
 :,
wit' a
TU-104 on his way from
Moscow to New York. In New York
following a quick turnaround, he
boarded the Russian jet again and
flew back to Iceland. In a two-week
period F/L Selfe had flown between
Moscow and New York four times
and had logged over 60 hours.

SIGHTSEEING IN MOSCOW
F/L Selfe found the two-week so-
journ an interesting and rewarding,
albeit somewhat hectic, experience.
In Moscow he and the other mem-
The AN- l O was built ta operate from short airfields. It carries 84 passengers and
cruises at approximately 370 mph. bers of the courtesy crew were taken
around the capital city in a bus
supplied by Aeroflot. Their guides
for the sight-seeing expedition were
two of the Russian fliers. They took
COURTESY CREW VETERAN the Russian aircrews are quite justi- in the usual sights such as the Krem-
Another radio officer who is also fied in their great confidence in lin's tomb, St. Basil's on Red Square
a graduate of the Canadian Tri- their aircraft. Unserviceabilities were and the enormous GUM department
Service Language School is F /L H. almost non-existent on the trips that store. F/L Selfe also had the plea-
Madsen. He has made 14 trips, log- he flew, those that did occur were sure of attending a performance at
ged approximately 120 hours and of a minor nature and were quickly the Bolshoi theatre. He found the
has flown in the TU-104, TU-I14, rectified on the ground by their Russian people in general and the
/L-18 and AN-I0 as a member of flight engineers. Apart from one TU- Russian aircrew in particular very
various courtesy crews. F/L Madsen 104 landing in New York with only friendly. When he ran into a fellow
was first assigned to an /L-I8 carry- JO minutes fuel on board, all trips fisherman or hunter they would dis-
ing Russia's Deputy Premier A. Mi- were completed without incident. On cuss enthusiastically the relative mer-
koyan; then, after completing a num- that occasion the critical fuel situa- its of the sports in northern Canada
ber of trips on the TU-104 between tion was caused by a long holding and Siberia. One item the Russians
Keflavik and Washington in air- period over Idlewild airport. found it impossible to comprehend
craft carrying mail or diplomatic Unlike his two colleagues F/L T. was why I 96 I automobiles were ad-
couriers, he was assigned to the TU- Selfe, DFM, is a pilot but similar vertised in 1960. F/L Selfe's explana-
114 which returned Premier Khrush- to them he is a graduate of the Tri- tion that the situation was the result
chov to Russia from the UN. His Service Language School and has of competition between car manu-
experience in the A N-10 was pro- flown on a variety of Russian aero- facturers made no sense to the Rus-
vided when one of these aircraft was planes both within the Soviet Union sians at all.
used to deliver a variety of shrubs and between places in the western Flight Lieutenant H. Morgan, al-
to former President Eisenhower world. Last September F/L Selfe though not a graduate of the Tri-
a gift from the Russian premier. It flew to Keflavik for his first rendez- Service Language School, is fluent
was also an AN-JO which gave him vous with a Russian aircraft. On 19 in Russian because of the UK School
his fastest trip. Although it is not a September a TU-104 landed at the of Languages. His experience on
jet aircraft, the AN-I0 flew from Icelandic airport for re-fuelling and Russian aircraft dates from a year
Washington to Gander, with the for F/L Selfe. Two days later he was ago this month, when he boarded
aid of a convenient jet stream, in departing New York on a TU-104 an IL-18 at Keflavik for a trip to
two-and-one-half hours for an aver- bound for Moscow. A few days later Washington. Like his colleagues,
age ground speed of 620 mph he was contrailling his way westward F/L Morgan has been responsible
a highly respectable speed for a towards New York in a TU-/ 14. for receiving and confirming clear-
turbo-prop aircraft. After a day-and-a-half he was once ances, obtaining weather informa-
From his experience with USSR more Moscow bound. By the end of tion, passing position reports and
aeroplanes F/L Madsen feels that September he was back in Iceland carrying out normal in-flight pro-

6 THE ROUNDEL
cedures. These duties, however, re-
quire a special degree of skill when
carried out from Russian aircraft.
For instance, when a ground station
requested his aircraft's altitude,
speed and fuel on board, F/L Mor-
gan would have to transpose meters
into feet for altitude, inches of mer-
cury into millimetres for altimeter
setting, kilometres into knots for
airspeed and litres into gallons for
fuel on board. Conversely, when the
ground stations passed clearances,
such information as altitude and

l
altimeter setting would have to be
reconverted into meters and milli-
metres before it had any significance
to the Russian crew. The ability to
translate from one component to F/L J. L. Braiden and F/L H. Madsen pose with the Russian crew which brought
another in a hurry is particularly Mr. Mikoyan to the USA in November 1959.
desirable during a GCA run. A
rapid, although rough, altitude con-
version was achieved by dividing
the given number of feet by three
for an equivalent number of meters. clearances, in the normal manner question. One feature the Canadians
Using this method the RCAF cour- then, as quickly as possible, trans- noticed was that the Russians car-
tesy crews were able to keep the late the instructions into Russian for ried out different flight procedures
Russian captains on the glide path. the Russian crew. This system works and letdowns in Russia than they did
successfully only because of the com- in !CAO countries. The dissimilarity
GOOD CO-OPERATION plete co-operation of the Russians in approach procedures was because
The Canadian crews read back in accepting the clearances without of the comparatively light traffic

The IL- 1 8 can carry 1 00 passengers at a cruising speed of approximately 400 mph.

APRIL 1961
7
 aro und Russian airports. ln lCAO
countries, however, their pro cedures
are dictated by the high density
traffic particularly around the New
York and Washington areas. Many
Russian pilots who had flown on
Aeroflot routes to western countries
were familiar with our equipment
and techniques.
As a result of these trips special
training concerning aviation matters
has been added to the Tri-Service
Language School. The commanding
officer of the school. S/L W. Kere-
luik, is also a veteran of many trips
on Russian aircraft. S/L Kereluik,
however, acts as an interpreter rather
than an aircrew member. Because
of his mastery of both the Russian
and Ukrainian languages he is on
occasions selected as the Canadian
government's official interpreter
when important Russian visitors S/L W. Kereluik (fourth from left) and a group of Russian scientists examine a
piece of aeronautical equipment at the Canadair plant in Montreal.
come to Canada.
Such was the case in June 1958
when a TU-I04, the first Russian
aircraft ever to enter Canada, flew
from Moscow to Vancouver to par-
dinner speeches and to handle Rus- an enjoyable and fascinating exper-
ticipate in British Columbia's cen- sian press interviews. ience. In a very practical way, they
tennial celebrations. Later in the
All RCAF personnel who have are making their contribution to un-
same year S/L Kereluik was the only had the opportunity to engage in derstanding between Canadian and
Canadian interpreter for the oflicial translating duties agree it has been Russian peoples. (:)
visit to Canada of eight Russian
aircraft manufacturers, including
Mr. Mikoyan, designer of the famed FRINGE BENEFITS OF SPACE RESEARCH
M JG fighter aircraft and brother of
the Soviet's Deputy Premier. When Listed below are some of the uses to which the by-products of space
a TU-I04 made a number of flights technology have been put:
at the International Air Show, held
in conjunction with the Canadian A derivative of the rocket fuel hydrazine is being used in the treatment
National Exhibition, S/L Kereluik of certain mental disorders and tuberculosis.
was on the aircraft. He was the Pyroceram, developed for radar tracking domes, is now used in the manu-
translator when the mayor of Rus- facture of pots and pans.
sia's capital city paid a visit to the
mayor of Canada's capital. From Infra-red satellite scanning devices have been adapted for use in ovens,
Ottawa S/L Kereluik travelled with roasters, switches and lamps.
Nikoli I Bobrovnikov, executive Sensitive electronic equipment has been adapted to measure body tem-
committee chairman of the Moscow perature and blood flow.
City Soviet, and his delegation. He
also accompanied the Russian dele- A high-speed electronic computer is now an integral part of North
gation on a IO-day tour of eastern American industry.
Canada. In addition to a normal
Thermoelectric devices are already 111 commercial use for heating and
interpreting role, S/L Kereluik is cooling.
also called upon to translate after- AERONAUTICS

8 THE ROUNDEL
lbl"

rs 6f
- ' ,,r...- -~ -

sirs@Sias

The route from Thule to Canada's Ellesmere Island has some of the most beautiful
scenery in the world. This river of ice flows into Kane Basin.

3yisc sands and equatorial heat the freight could be loaded for the times within a few minutes to pass
for No. 426 (Transport) Squadron first leg of our journey to Winnipeg traffic. First Churchill would be loud
have meant extra arctic operations Monday morning. More freight and and clear, when Churchill faded Re-
for its contemporaries in Canada. passengers were taken on at Winni- solute Bay could be heard. then
Since the Congo commitment began peg, a stop was made overnight at Goose Bay kindly offered to pass
early last summer, northern domes- Churchill, then away the C 119 roared traffic. On a later message a switch
tic scheduled runs have been shared with a capacity load heading north to DOT at Frobisher was necessary.
by Nos. 435 and 436 Sqns., based at of the Arctic Circle. A few minutes later Frobisher faded
Namao and Downsview, respective- About halfway between Churchill and we contacted Thule, Greenland,
ly. and Resolute we noticed a slight with good results. Still on the same
Each Monday a CI 19 of No. 436 difference in the frequency reception USAF frequency, Guam could be
departs from Trenton on Service of ground stations at Churchill, Re- heard talking to Honolulu about
Flight 5/6, commonly known as "Ice- solute Bay, Goose Bay and Trenton. strength five. In fact, in the arctic
burg". Stopping at Winnipeg, Chur- Experience has shown that when island area, traffic can be passed a
chill, Resolute Bay, Thule and Alert, wishing to pass traffic to several lot easier between east and west than
this S/F alone accounts for 200 extra stations operating on the same fre- between much closer points on the
flying hours a month for the 'Ele- quency, but some distance apart, north and south circuit.
phant Squadron.° to improve reception it is necessary
CROWDED RESOLUTE
Come with us on a typical Ice- to backtune to the ground station
burg" round trip. Our crew consists you wish to work. On arrival at Resolute Bay six
of F/L E. Cooke, F/L J. Camire, Now began a series of weird at- and a half hours later the OC, S/ L
F/O J. Ridyard, F/O R. Lomheim, mospheric changes. Approximately B. Millikan, met the aircraft with
FS R. Nott, Cpl. W. Prokuda, LAC every ten minutes when the frequen- a happy grin and said, "There is a
G. Williams and myself. cy was tested the signal strength message for you to return to Chur-
We flew from our Downs view base varied from one to four. It was nec- chill for another load!" The Reso-
to Trenton Sunday afternoon so that essary to change frequency several lute Bay station looked like an in-

APRIL 1961 9
 ternational airport. There were oil
drilling rigs, bearded engineers,
scientists from the Defence Research
Board and females! As soon as the
Boxcar unloaded, about 50 eager
passengers surrounded the aircraft.
However, with the priority freight
to be airlifted, only 28 could be
carried south.
After refuelling the crew piled into
an open truck and, with their parkas
tight over their ears, drove to the
RCAF mess hall. It was the meal
hour and the combined mess was
jammed to capacity. The dress was
very casual. Most of the men were
bearded civilians attired in bush
clothes and looking every inch the
prospectors, oil drillers or base metal
experts that they were. There was
the distinguished looking stock bro- Even the boss helps out during operations. Here W /C J. McCutcheon, DFC, former
ker from Bay Street, Toronto. The Commanding Officer No. 436 Squadron "rolls out the barrel" with F /L J. Tims.
English oil millionaire and one of
Canada's top base metal experts
were casually mentioning rich finds the officers quarters. One of the As the crew returned to their air-
or glowing prospects for Canada's staff advised that she was Molly craft, a helicopter slipped in for a
arctic islands. Nearby airmen gasped Beale, a civilian pilot. The quarters landing alongside the Cl 19. It was
as they heard conversations about had been turned into sort of a hotel, carrying a young woman from the
deals involving hundreds of thou- as there was just no other accommo- DOT ship CD Howe, anchored in
sands of dollars. A girl strolled down dation available for the civilian visi- the ice-filled bay. In fact three girls
the corridor of "never never land' tors. were brought ashore from the ship,
all members of the Department of
No. 436 Squadron oircraft wait at Thule, Greenland, for fog to clear from Alert Northern Affairs. Yes, Resolute Bay
on Ellesmere Island. had certainly changed for the better.
As the Cl 19 roared off the runway
and across the bay, a total of four
ships could be seen riding at anchor.
They were waiting for the ice to
shift so that supplies could be landed.

COMMUNICATIONS PROBLEMS

There seem to be two extremes in

communications in the Arctic, very
good and blanko. During the good
period the radio officer can main-
tain contact with half a dozen sta-
tions on as many frequencies.
During the blackout period you are
hard pressed to even pass position
reports and this is done by the "bud-
dy system" between aircraft. How-
ever, when there are no buddies in
the air at the time, the radio officer

IO THE ROUNDEL
is being pounded on the back every It had been planned to continue the located between those hills I would
five minutes by an im patient pilot airlift to Thule, but the weather have been kind of worried." The
wanting the weather reports of des- soured and this leg of the trip had veteran arctic flyers of the group
tination and alternate stations, or a to be delayed. laughed but secretly agreed.
frustrated navigator demanding the The cloud lifted above limits and
met winds from zero to 20,000 feet! GREENLAND VISIT
the Boxcar again headed for Re-
The crew arrived back at Chur- Our plan was to depart Resolute solute Bay. Radio reception this time
chill and, after a crew rest, were air- for Thule at 6 a.m., but the wind was excellent. Reports from the Joint
borne for Resolute Bay with another howled at 60 mph most of the day. Canadian/ American stations could
load. About three hours flying time In addition, the Thule airbase was be heard. Even the ice stations, lo-
from Resolute a message was re- fogged in a common occurrence cated out in the Arctic Ocean, were
ceived stating that the weather at during the summer months. It was reporting at their scheduled times.
our destination had dropped below necessary to wait at Resolute Bay One ice station gave an electrifying
limits. The weather for Thule, Green- three days before the wind abated. report of a polar bear attacking their
land, was 300 feet and one mile As soon as the wind dropped, the camp a few minutes before. The bear
visibility in fog. A decision was made crew were rushed to the aircraft. It was finally killed 20 feet from the
to divert to a landing strip near a would mean missing a meal but that tent.
DEW Line radar station. The wea- was the usual life when flying in the As the CI 19 landed at Resolute
ther was closing in and other air- far north. You slept when tired and, Bay eager, happy passengers gath-
craft were heading for those aero- as the mess hall was open round the ered around the aircraft. As soon
dromes still open. The radar net- clock, one could eat when hungry. as it was refuelled, we made a direct
work was busy vectoring in anxious With the 24 hours of daylight the flight to Churchill. After obtaining a
crews to the closest aerodrome. Our work shifts went on accordingly. 12-hour crew rest, the flight to Win-
captain, F/L E. Cooke, located the We landed at Thule with the aid nipeg, Trenton and Toronto was
gravel strip through the gathering of Ground Controlled Approach, completed. This meant another 18-
murk and expertly landed the CI19 coming in under a 300 ft. ceiling. It hour work day subsisting on box
without a bounce, despite the rough was the first trip to Thule for F/O lunches, but the return to summer
runway surface. Ridyard and he exclaimed, "Man, was well worth it. Another routine
As usual, accommodation was a if I had known that the runway was operation was completed. ©)
big problem but the CO managed to
locate enough beds for crew and
passengers. It was necessary to use
the rooms of those personnel away
on leave. This was certainly a lot A portion of the fuel oil airlifted by No. 436 Squadron to Alert weather station.
better than using sleeping bags on
the aircraft. The food at the radar
station was the very best. The main
meal consisted of steak and for des-
sert there were a dozen different
types of pastries to choose from.
The crew were confronted with
the usual built-in problem of flight
re
planning a trip further north from r
a DEW Line station, including the
inevitable delay in obtaining wea-
ther reports. There were a number
of crews waiting in the radio shack.
After waiting an hour the radio of-
ficer went out to the Cl 19, started
the auxiliary power unit and con-
tacted Resolute Bay and Thule, di-
rect. With this weather information
now available the balance of the
flight to Resolute was completed.

APRIL 1961 11
 ternational airport. There were oil
drilling rigs, bearded engineers,
scientists from the Defence Research
Board and females! As soon as the
Boxcar unloaded, about 50 eager
passengers surrounded the aircraft.
However, with the priority freight
to be airlifted, only 28 could be
carried south.
After refuelling the crew piled into
an open truck and, with their parkas
tight over their ears, drove to the
RCAF mess hall. It was the meal
hour and the combined mess was
jammed to capacity. The dress was
very casual. Most of the men were
bearded civilians attired in bush
clothes and looking every inch the
prospectors, oil drillers or base metal
experts that they were. There was
the distinguished looking stock bro- Even the boss helps out during operations. Here W /C J. McCutcheon, DFC, former
ker from Bay Street, Toronto. The Commanding Officer No. 436 Squadron "rolls out the barrel" with F /L J. Tims.
English oil millionaire and one of
Canada's top base metal experts
were casually mentioning rich finds the officers quarters. One of the As the crew returned to their air-
or glowing prospects for Canada's staff advised that she was Molly craft, a helicopter slipped in for a
arctic islands. Nearby airmen gasped Beale, a civilian pilot. The quarters landing alongside the Cl 19. It was
as they heard conversations about had been turned into sort of a hotel, carrying a young woman from the
deals involving hundreds of thou- as there was just no other accommo- DOT ship CD Howe, anchored in
sands of dollars. A girl strolled down dation available for the civilian visi- the ice-filled bay. In fact three girls
the corridor of "never never land' tors. were brought ashore from the ship,
all members of the Department of
No. 436 Squadron oircraft wait at Thule, Greenland, for fog to clear from Alert Northern Affairs. Yes, Resolute Bay
on Ellesmere Island. had certainly changed for the better.
As the Cl 19 roared off the runway
and across the bay, a total of four
ships could be seen riding at anchor.
They were waiting for the ice to
shift so that supplies could be landed.

COMMUNICATIONS PROBLEMS

There seem to be two extremes in

communications in the Arctic, very
good and blanko. During the good
period the radio officer can main-
tain contact with half a dozen sta-
tions on as many frequencies.
During the blackout period you are
hard pressed to even pass position
reports and this is done by the "bud-
dy system" between aircraft. How-
ever, when there are no buddies in
the air at the time, the radio officer

IO THE ROUNDEL
is being pounded on the back every It had been planned to continue the located between those hills I would
five minutes by an im patient pilot airlift to Thule, but the weather have been kind of worried." The
wanting the weather reports of des- soured and this leg of the trip had veteran arctic flyers of the group
tination and alternate stations, or a to be delayed. laughed but secretly agreed.
frustrated navigator demanding the The cloud lifted above limits and
met winds from zero to 20,000 feet! GREENLAND VISIT
the Boxcar again headed for Re-
The crew arrived back at Chur- Our plan was to depart Resolute solute Bay. Radio reception this time
chill and, after a crew rest, were air- for Thule at 6 a.m., but the wind was excellent. Reports from the Joint
borne for Resolute Bay with another howled at 60 mph most of the day. Canadian/ American stations could
load. About three hours flying time In addition, the Thule airbase was be heard. Even the ice stations, lo-
from Resolute a message was re- fogged in a common occurrence cated out in the Arctic Ocean, were
ceived stating that the weather at during the summer months. It was reporting at their scheduled times.
our destination had dropped below necessary to wait at Resolute Bay One ice station gave an electrifying
limits. The weather for Thule, Green- three days before the wind abated. report of a polar bear attacking their
land, was 300 feet and one mile As soon as the wind dropped, the camp a few minutes before. The bear
visibility in fog. A decision was made crew were rushed to the aircraft. It was finally killed 20 feet from the
to divert to a landing strip near a would mean missing a meal but that tent.
DEW Line radar station. The wea- was the usual life when flying in the As the CI 19 landed at Resolute
ther was closing in and other air- far north. You slept when tired and, Bay eager, happy passengers gath-
craft were heading for those aero- as the mess hall was open round the ered around the aircraft. As soon
dromes still open. The radar net- clock, one could eat when hungry. as it was refuelled, we made a direct
work was busy vectoring in anxious With the 24 hours of daylight the flight to Churchill. After obtaining a
crews to the closest aerodrome. Our work shifts went on accordingly. 12-hour crew rest, the flight to Win-
captain, F/L E. Cooke, located the We landed at Thule with the aid nipeg, Trenton and Toronto was
gravel strip through the gathering of Ground Controlled Approach, completed. This meant another 18-
murk and expertly landed the CI19 coming in under a 300 ft. ceiling. It hour work day subsisting on box
without a bounce, despite the rough was the first trip to Thule for F/O lunches, but the return to summer
runway surface. Ridyard and he exclaimed, "Man, was well worth it. Another routine
As usual, accommodation was a if I had known that the runway was operation was completed. ©)
big problem but the CO managed to
locate enough beds for crew and
passengers. It was necessary to use
the rooms of those personnel away
on leave. This was certainly a lot A portion of the fuel oil airlifted by No. 436 Squadron to Alert weather station.
better than using sleeping bags on
the aircraft. The food at the radar
station was the very best. The main
meal consisted of steak and for des-
sert there were a dozen different
types of pastries to choose from.
The crew were confronted with
the usual built-in problem of flight
re
planning a trip further north from r
a DEW Line station, including the
inevitable delay in obtaining wea-
ther reports. There were a number
of crews waiting in the radio shack.
After waiting an hour the radio of-
ficer went out to the Cl 19, started
the auxiliary power unit and con-
tacted Resolute Bay and Thule, di-
rect. With this weather information
now available the balance of the
flight to Resolute was completed.

APRIL 1961 11
 RESELECTION CENTRE the Reselection Centre, the greater training instructors rubbed shoulders
proportion of grounded aircrews with clerks and equipment assist-
While the north side of Trenton were salvaged to fly again or to ants. The demand for administration
air station busied itself with the task serve in some non-aircrew trade. In officers at air schools across the coun-
of turning out flying instructors, a existence for over two years (from try brought about the creation of
new unit known as the Composite March 1941 to August 1943) the the School of Administration. This
Training School or KTS" began Centre returned about two per cent school provided officers and senior
to make its presence felt on the ad- of the ceased training aircrew to NCOs with general training in drill
ministrative side of the aerodrome. pilot courses and around 50 per cent and administration.
Throughout the air force, at air to training as navigators, observers, The Reselection Centre at Tren-
training schools everywhere, aircrew wireless operator air gunners or ton pointed up the international
under training would flinch percep- straight air gunners. Thirty per cent nature of the Joint Air Training
tibly at the mention of the term were remustered to ground trades Plan; it was a common thing to see
"KTS". Part of the KTS was the and the remainder were mustered Australians in khaki and broad brim-
Reselection Centre. Here "washed- out of the service. med hats on parade beside young
out" aircrew were sent to be screened The original purpose of the KTS fellows from the RAF, New Zea-
and given a second chance at an- was the amalgamation of several landers, Poles, Czechoslovakians
other aircrew trade or remustered to ground courses, then operating at and Belgians along with Americans
a ground job. Manning Depots and elsewhere, into in RCAF uniforms with USA shoul-
The Reselection Centre during the one school that could supply the der badges.
war years housed the most down- BCATP's voracious need for skilled In September 1942 a sudden
cast, down hearted and downright tradesmen. From the arrival of the change was dictated in the deport-
rebellious group in the service. "The first small group of officers and air- ment of RCAF Station Trenton per-
Nazis will get you if you don't wash men in the early part of March, sonnel. Drill sergeants tempered their
out" was a popular saying among there was steady progress as the new strong language and legend has it
aircrew trainees. They added wryly, unit, composite in name, became that one of these hard bitten NCOs
"If you did wash out, Trenton got composite in nature. Service police- was overheard addressing a group
you." However, through the dili- men, fire-fighters, disciplinarians, of his charges as dears". On 10
gence and interest of the staff of motor boat crewmen and physical September 1942 nearly 200 air-

A visiting RN seaplane and crew spends a day or so at Trenton Air Station personnel, in 1939, prior to departing
Station Trenton in 1936 when a Royal Navy Carrier visited on a route march. Note high necked tunics on men in the ranks
Montreal. (markers have the open necked tunics).

»,
"2a

i°
i'
.;

{
l b». «o

15
APRIL 1961
A crashed RCAF trainer is salvaged and returned to work- A parachutist, identity unknown, prepares to take a para-
shops at Station Trenton. chute jump from a Fairchild monoplane at Station Trenton
in 1936.

Armament School, moved down to take shape in I 935 and remained first desire was to get overseas and
from Camp Borden. at Trenton until it moved west, to help win the war in the air.
Jericho Beach in Vancouver. In April 1940 the FIS became
OPERATIONAL UNITS The aircraft complement at Sta- known as the Central Flying School,
In addition to housing many tion Trenton immediately preceding to conform to RAF practice. By
ground and air training units Tren- the war was a varied one indeed: October 1941 a further re-organiza-
ton for varying periods of time was four Avro Atlases, three Fairchild tion within CFS took place. Pre-
home base for a number of opera- landplanes, two Fairchild 71 sea- viously flying instructors were train-
tional units. Formed there in 1935 planes, one Super 7l, two Fairchild ed exclusively at Trenton. Under the
were No. 2 Army Co-operation 5 Is, twenty-two Fleets, seven Tiger new organization CFS was divided
Squadron and No. 3 Bomber Squad- Moths, three Norseman, two Shark into three flying instructors schools
ron, expansions of the operational seaplanes, two Vancouver flying and four visiting flights. No. 1 FIS
flights which had originally moved boats, three Vedette flying boats and and the visiting flights, whose job
there from Camp Borden in I 931. six Wapiti fighter aircraft. it was to examine and recategorize
Jn 1937 the two squadrons moved to Station Trenton's main claim to the instructors at flying schools
Ottawa to make room for training fame both during this period and across Canada, were located at Tren-
units being formed or moving into until 1959 for that matter was in ton. This new set-up enabled each
Trenton. No. 1 Fighter Squadron, training rather than operational FIS to concentrate on training on
formed from a flight of No. 3 Bomb- work. Following the formation of one type of aircraft.
er Squadron, remained at Trenton the British Commonwealth Air In the meantime, No. 6 Repair
until 1938 when it moved west to Training Plan in 1939 the demand Depot, which in 1940 had a staff of
Calgary. Late in 1938 No. 2 Army for trained flying instructors dictated about 16 men and operated out of
Co-op Squadron returned to take the formation of a Flying Instructors the sports hangar, began to feel the
over the personnel and equipment School. At Trenton it was the job pressure of expansion as the training
and to carry on the work of the of FIS to instill into these graduates plan ballooned. As a result, in late
School of Army Co-operation. The the skill and the desire to pass on to 1940 No. 6 RD became a separate
fourth operational squadron to form others their newly-acquired knowl- station located at its present position
at Station Trenton was No. 6 Tor- edge. In those days this was no at the northwest corner of the flying
pedo Bomber Squadron which began mean chore; each and every pilot's field.

14 THE ROUNDEL
 RESELECTION CENTRE the Reselection Centre, the greater training instructors rubbed shoulders
proportion of grounded aircrews with clerks and equipment assist-
While the north side of Trenton were salvaged to fly again or to ants. The demand for administration
air station busied itself with the task serve in some non-aircrew trade. In officers at air schools across the coun-
of turning out flying instructors, a existence for over two years (from try brought about the creation of
new unit known as the Composite March 1941 to August 1943) the the School of Administration. This
Training School or KTS" began Centre returned about two per cent school provided officers and senior
to make its presence felt on the ad- of the ceased training aircrew to NCOs with general training in drill
ministrative side of the aerodrome. pilot courses and around 50 per cent and administration.
Throughout the air force, at air to training as navigators, observers, The Reselection Centre at Tren-
training schools everywhere, aircrew wireless operator air gunners or ton pointed up the international
under training would flinch percep- straight air gunners. Thirty per cent nature of the Joint Air Training
tibly at the mention of the term were remustered to ground trades Plan; it was a common thing to see
"KTS". Part of the KTS was the and the remainder were mustered Australians in khaki and broad brim-
Reselection Centre. Here "washed- out of the service. med hats on parade beside young
out" aircrew were sent to be screened The original purpose of the KTS fellows from the RAF, New Zea-
and given a second chance at an- was the amalgamation of several landers, Poles, Czechoslovakians
other aircrew trade or remustered to ground courses, then operating at and Belgians along with Americans
a ground job. Manning Depots and elsewhere, into in RCAF uniforms with USA shoul-
The Reselection Centre during the one school that could supply the der badges.
war years housed the most down- BCATP's voracious need for skilled In September 1942 a sudden
cast, down hearted and downright tradesmen. From the arrival of the change was dictated in the deport-
rebellious group in the service. "The first small group of officers and air- ment of RCAF Station Trenton per-
Nazis will get you if you don't wash men in the early part of March, sonnel. Drill sergeants tempered their
out" was a popular saying among there was steady progress as the new strong language and legend has it
aircrew trainees. They added wryly, unit, composite in name, became that one of these hard bitten NCOs
"If you did wash out, Trenton got composite in nature. Service police- was overheard addressing a group
you." However, through the dili- men, fire-fighters, disciplinarians, of his charges as dears". On 10
gence and interest of the staff of motor boat crewmen and physical September 1942 nearly 200 air-

A visiting RN seaplane and crew spends a day or so at Trenton Air Station personnel, in 1939, prior to departing
Station Trenton in 1936 when a Royal Navy Carrier visited on a route march. Note high necked tunics on men in the ranks
Montreal. (markers have the open necked tunics).

»,
"2a

i°
i'
.;

{
l b». «o

15
APRIL 1961
 ta! engine failure. This action saved Paterson states that by displaying ceived his Letter of Commendation
a costly aircraft and the lives of outstanding professional skill as an for displaying outstanding profes-
those who might have been endan- approach controller in placing a dis- sional skill and teamwork in mon-
gered by a falling aircraft. Flying tressed aircraft in a perfect position itoring the position of the Sabre and
Officer Batcock was taking part in a to complete a successful forced land- accurately relaying this position to
practice air fighting mission in a ing his actions assisted in preventing the approach controller. Flight Ser-
Sabre when his aircraft suffered a what could have been a major and, geant MacMillan, the ground con-
flameout 50 miles from his station. possibly, fatal accident. trolled approach controller, co-or-
The sky was completely undercast Flying Oflicer Zinkan's Letter of di nated his efforts with F] L Paterson
beneath him with cloud extending Commendation was earned by his to guide the aircraft down through
from an uneven base of I ,000 feet to assistance to his comrade during the approximately 25,000 feet of cloud
5,000 feet and solid to 30,000 feet. emergency. On being advised of F/O to a successful forced landing.
Beneath the cloud visibility was lim- Batcock's engine failure, F/O Zinkan Flying Officer Wilford won his
ited by rain and fog. ln spite of these joined the disabled aircraft and flew Letter of Commendation as a result
conditions which presented a se- in a chase position. Throughout the of a flying incident. On 30 May 1960
rious risk to his life, F/O Batcock descent which followed, he provided at No. 3 Wing, F/O Wilford was
stayed with his aircraft and safely sound advice to the pilot of the flying a Sabre when he experienced
landed it. To quote from the citation disabled aircraft, monitored his head- engine failure of a serious nature
governing the award, "his devotion ing, altitude and speed, handled that could not be rectified. In spite
to duty, skill and courage have serv- most of the numerous radio trans- of the fact that he was 60 miles from
ed as an inspiration and splendid missions and continuously checked his home station and above an over-
example to fellow aircrew." the aircraft for evidence of fire. Fly- cast, he decided to stay with the
At an altitude of 26,000 feet the ing Offcer Zinkan's presence pro- aircraft. The citation concerning the
pilot of the disabled aircraft con- vided moral support as well as as- incident reads in part, "the aircraft
tacted F/L Paterson and remained sistance to his comrade in effecting was safely landed without damage
under his control and direction for a successful forced landing on Soel- only as the result of F/O Wilford's
the remainder of the descent. The lingen airfield. skill and courage'. ©
Letter of Commendation sent to F /L Flight Sergeant MacMillan re-

THE ENGINEERS DICTIONARY

[ass.y the latest publication to be created with- Engineers, it can be seen by the publication, are not
in the RCAF is a quarterly entitled CONSTRUCTION only human but have a sense of humour. In the first
ENGINEERING NEWS. This magazine does much to dispel three issues of the magazine a glossary of engineering
the myth that engineers are little more than walking terms and definitions were printed. Selections from that
digital computers whose main interests are reading EOs. glossary are printed below.

WORM DRIVEN Henpecked husband behind the wheel DE LUXE- Not Palmolive
ACTIVE CONDUCTOR A spry ticket-taker ARRESTER=- Policeman
AILERON Ronald's not feeling very well EXTRADOS A raise in pay
ANCHORAGE-To inspire; eg, "Anchorage him to do better" FRIABLE Bacon and eggs
ARMATURE Kitchener- Waterloo Dutchmen (supposedly) CHARLES' LAW Charlie's wife
GOOSENECK - The reason for most goslings CLAPPER BOX Canned applause
COLD CUT Result of too many Cold Slugs COLD SLUG Rye on the rocks
CROSS GRAIN Puffed Wheat after being "shot from guns" LOCKNUT- Stir Crazy
CROW BAR A tavern that's for the birds DISMANTLE Stengel's boy
CADMIUM - Oxford-educated Indian talk for "I'm a rotter" VARNISH Disappear
CANT HOOK Always straight off the tee VENT The opposite of "Came"
CAPE CHISEL - Neck of land near Las Vegas
GYPSUM To cheat a little bit
POLYGON The parrot escaped
INFLUENT Lots of drag
TELEPHONY- Wrong number
WING NUT- Bird watcher ASSAY - I declare
DEGRAS The lawn BACKFIRE- Sunburn

18 THE ROUNDEL
 ~ ..

~·-
Pilots and navigators of No. 418 Squadron prepare a headache for the Hun.

IICRUD ER
By SQUADRON LEADER A. P. HEATHCOTE

Air Historical Section

Conclusion of No. 418 Wartime History

From V-Bombs to Victory

[Ar 6.40 p.m. on 8 September 1944 Thirteen individual patrols were The squadron flew a total of 36
the V2 introduced itself to London. flown without a sighting. Finally "Big Ben" sorties, all in September.
This horror differed from VI by S/L D. N. ("Doug") Annan and Its crews saw only four launchings,
virtue of its immunity to intercep- navigator F/O A. M. MacIntosh saw but each time the launching site was
tion. It was a rocket that travelled at a launching and pinpointed the site. pinpointed.
ultra-sonic speed; once it was Suc- Annan described the sighting as fol- In September, besides chasing Vl
cessfully launched, no power on lows: and scouting V2, the Edmontons
earth could stop it. The only active flew well over 100 intruder sorties.
"At 2135 hours (12 September) we saw For the first three weeks their suc-
defence against it was to destroy the what appeared to be Big Ben". . • It
launching sites, and the first step in ascended vertically, only a large blob of cessful kills were confined to road
light similar to a flare being visible ... and rail transport; S/L Bannock, for
this direction was to learn exactly At 8000-9000 feet it went on a course of
where these were. V2 reconnaissance 270 degrees true, climbing steeply until example, having an especially fruit-
patrols were flown by Air Defence of it disappeared. When first seen, it was ful sortie with six trucks and two
about two miles away ... Viewing it railway coaches destroyed.
Great Britain even before 8 Sep- from behind, we saw a grey smoke-trail
tember, No. 418 Squadron being extending down to the ground.° A lull of 23 days without an E/A
assigned to such work on the first
night of that month. Code-name for Y2 enemy aircraft

APRIL 1961
19
 destroyed ended over Bad Aibling guns on a bomber parked at S. P. Seid and D. N. McIntosh alone
(Munich) on the 21st, as Ross Gray Horshing. was the most fruitful single sortie
and Noel Gibbons clobbered an air- A simultaneous day-ranger over ever flown by the Edmontons. From
craft attempting to land there. They the other extreme of 418s opera- Le Culot, Belgium, they intruded to
presently destroyed one on the tional theatre Denmark result- Stargard and Kolberg airfields in
ground and damaged two others, ed in the loss of F/LR. H. Thomas north-east Germany and strafed to
while their partners, F/L P. R. and F/O G. J. Allin (both RAF). their hearts' content. Their tally: five
Brook and F/O A. D. McLaren, They were avenged by their partners, Ju. 88s, one Me. I JO and one Stuka
destroyed one and damaged one. All Miller and Hooper, who sent an destroyed, plus two Ju. 88s, two Me.
this took place in just three minutes. Me. 109 crashing to earth near 109s and an unidentified aircraft
Brook's aircraft, damaged by its vic- Aalborg by shooting off its star- damaged. Not a round of enemy fire
tim's debris, was landed at newly board wing. Still another day- even grazed the Mosquito, but a
captured St. Dizier airfield, which, ranger saw the team of Forsyth- flock of birds contested its use of
over a span of a year-and-a-quarter Esam boldly blast a Focke-Wulf their airway and considerably dam-
(until as recently as three weeks be- 190 head-on and send it down in aged its rudder and tailplane. For
fore), had been kept under regular flames near Eggebek (Schleswig- their sterling efforts on this opera-
surveillance by No. 418. Three air- Holstein). tion and many another, Seid and
to-ground victims were claimed at As of 10 October the squadron McIntosh were gonged simultan-
Helmshagen and Tu tow on the 22nd was under new management. Wing eously. Seid's citation mentioned
by Forsyth-Esam and one by F/O Commander Barker, departing on this American's long hours of
J. S. Hill-FS W. Roach. The Baltic posting, was succeeded by newly careful planning and studying of
airfield of Parrow was the scene of a promoted W/C Russell Bannock, tactical situations, which were all too
double kill on the 27th by Bannock- DFC. obvious in his outstanding record.
Bruce, who subsequently were them- In cold figures that record was: nine
selves attacked from the air. They THE SCORE BUILDS UP E/A, four Vis and three locomotives
dodged the enemy, but, shortly after, Though free to concentrate on destroyed, 20 vehicles destroyed or
their port engine took fire and had to the Luftwaffe in October, the squad- irreparably damaged, and seven E/ A,
be shut off. It took them nearly four ron, strangely enough, failed to catch six locomotives and three escort
hours to cover the 600 miles to a single enemy in the air. It did, ships damaged. Small wonder his
base. So did Bannock become co- however, author an impressive score C.O. called him "an operational
holder of the squadron endurance on the ground to the tune of 18 E/A pilot whose eagerness to attack the
record (he tied Lou Luma's old destroyed and I 6 damaged, this in enemy has known no bounds.
mark of 6 hours and 22 minutes) and four daylight sorties. Responsible for For nearly 11 months the Edmon-
a wearer of the DFC. A "Flower" most of these successes were day- tons had been venturing forth by
that night saw F/Ls F. A. Johnson rangers Gray-Gibbons and F/O R. day as well as by night. On their
and Noel Gibbons down a Ju. 88 D. Thomas-F/L R. W. MacDonald, day-intrusions particularly, eminent
over Hailfingen. It was the squad- combined to chalk up nine destroyed success had been realized and losses
ron's 100th air-to-air victim. and nine damaged on 418's first in- were surprisingly low (only 2.8 per
On 30 September the unit made trusion over Czechoslovakia, on 12 cent, involving five fatal casualties).
its first operational take-off from an October. Operating from Jesi, Italy, On 17 and 22 October, however,
airfield in continental Europe. Gray- they first dropped in on Ceske Bud- three stunning losses were incurred
Gibbons and Brook-McLaren left ojovice and wrote off three Ju. 34s on successive day-rangers, and in
at noon from St. Dizier to visit while damaging another. Proceeding each case Fate was no respecter of
Erding (near Munich) and Eferding to Nemecky Brod, they found it operational experience. Four vet-
(Austria) airfields. At Erding their packed with Stukas, six of which eran aircrew were eventually pre-
cannon fire chewed to pieces two they destroyed while damaging eight. sumed dead F/L Stan Cotterill,
parked fighters and damaged five For Gray, who accounted for six DFC, and S/L Ken Boomer, DFC,
more. At Eferding Gray blasted one of each category, the Czechoslovak- with their navigators, F/O Colin Fin-
fighter out of the air and his fire was ian trip was a glorious wind-up to a layson, DFC and Bar, and F/L Noel
eating up the tail and rear fuselage tour and boosted his bag to 10 E/A. Gibbons, DFC and Bar. Cotterill
of another when his cannon ammu- He was to be gonged early in the had downed four E/A and Yls, be-
nition ran out. He had to content New Year. sides damaging two locomotives and
himself with emptying his machine- A day-ranger on the 15th by F/Os 15 vehicles. Finlayson had assisted

20 THE ROUNDEL
:in nore kills I8\% '4
than any ers" and night-rangers, with which
other navigator of 418.S/L Boomer, ranger over south-east Germany and
at every opportunity were combined
u"h a fighter pilot or long stand- west Austria. So was written "finis"
attacks on suitable ground targets.
t: I o.
1O
"'
had only recent!y I joine
. . d the
I to the brightly glowing "Intruder"
in±gs h A The squadron's Mosquitoes, occa- chapter of 418's history. That day
squadron.But on his last sortie sionally taking off from advanced word had come that a move to
(22 October) he did knock out one air bases on the continent, prowled Hartford Bridge was imminent, such
E/A and damage a second on the over the Reich from Dummer See to coincide with a transfer of the
around at Holzkirchen. Both attacks in the west to Breslau in the east unit to No. 136 Wing of No. 2
were witnessed by F/L F. A. John- from Peenemunde in the north to Group, Second Tactical Air Force,
son and his navigator, WO E. W. Munich in the south. and another phase of operations. In
Pace, whose aircraft partnered It was during "Flowers" to two future its work would be close sup-
Boomer's on the operation. Gibbons, Hessian airfields on I November port of the ground forces, virtually
a second-tour navigator who had that the squadron both suffered its all by night.
guided three different pilots to de- last loss on intruder operations and The move to Hartford Bridge took
stroy 15% E/ A and damage 15 more, inflicted its last fatal blow on a man- place on 21 November. The follow-
was also the squadron's navigation ned EJA. PJO J. S. Hill and FS C. ing day brought a change of com-
leader. W. Roach were briefed to cover mand as WJC Bannock handed over
Both members of the third mis- Giessen aerodrome but were never to W JC J. C. ("Jack") Wickett upon
sing crew survived and evaded. FJL seen again after take-off. They were being posted to No. 406 Squadron.
S. N. May and F/OJ. D. Ritch took eventually presumed lost in action. With Bannock's departure the unit
off on the 17th from a base in Italy Despatched almost simultaneously lost not only a proven leader but
to range over the Vienna area. While to Hanau, Miller and Hooper in- also its number one sharpshooter.
strafing Piestany airfield (Czecho- tercepted a Ju. 88G at nearby Un- In fact, with 11 EJAs and 18½Vls
slovakia) their aircraft was so badly denheim and blasted it to eternity. to his credit, Bannock was the
damaged by flak that they had to Shortly before midnight on 18 RCAF's leading destroyer of aerial
crash-land only two kilometres from November SJL C. S. Leggat and FJO weapons. He was soon to add a bar
the field. They lay low for two days R. R. Bruce returned from a night- to his DFC.
and then contacted Russian officers
from a Partisan group. Handed from
one band of Partisans to another
over the next four months, they were F/Ls Noel Gibbons and F. A. Johnson - the century mark
smuggled into the Russian lines on
19 March. Two days later they were
3_w
'.1 ' ¢
received in Lucenec by a Russian »h2
» s
major "in charge of repatriation"
'o's4'
<.J
... Presently May became ill and
entered a Hungarian hospital, but
Ritch embarked for the U.K. via
Odessa on 16 April.

FLOWERS AND NIGHT-RANGERS

Although practically all its anti-
Luftwaffe successes were being
counted by day, most of 418's oper-
ations in the fall of 1944 were" Flow-

* Although tour-expired and on non-flying

duties, Finlayson had volunteered to replace
another navigator who was ill.

# As OC 111 Squadron in September 1943,

S/L Boomer had destroyed a Japanese Zero
over Kiska in the RCAF's first and only
air combat in the North American theatre.

APRIL 1961
21
 NEW RO LE

Having been pronounced "non-

operational" on 20 November, the
squadron was free to concentrate on
settling into its working and living
quarters at Hartford Bridge and on
training for its new operational role.
In the latter connection, exercises
in dive-bombing, low-level bombing,
air-to-ground firing and cross-coun-
try navigation were under way by
the 24th and continued uninter-
rupted for a month.
Came Christmas 1944. But there
was no Yuletide spirit in the heart
of the enemy, who was showing any-
thing but goodwill toward men of
the Allied ground forces in the Ar-
The men who kept them flying and the men who flew them combined to give the
dennes area. It was on this morning
squadron an unbeatable team.
24 hours or so after Rundstedt's
troops had reached their point of
maximum penetration in "The
Bulge" that the Edmontons were would in some aspects resemble the By mid-January The Bulge" had
again pronounced operational. air-to-ground part of the old. It been straightened out and another
There followed, in the words of would still be intruding in a loose was developing in an easterly di-
418s diarist, "a huge flap". All sense, but in support of a ground rection. Operating ahead of the Brit-
squadron personnel on leave or pass force instead of a strategic air force. ish Second Army, Wickett's crews
had to be recalled at once, many The main targets were now the Wehr- regularly worried the Wehrmacht
being interrupted at Christmas din- macht and its supply lines rather (whenever the weather permitted)
ner. The weather, which had favour- than the Luftwaffe and its airfields. until, by the 22nd, they were at-
ed Rundstedt all along, remained tacking objectives east of the Rhine,
poor and delayed the tactical debut RETURN TO ACTION among these being the supply com-
for nearly a week. Finally, on 30 The return to action entailed main- munications centres of Munster, We-
December, a high pressure area ma- ly bombing and strafing roads and sel, and Dorsten.
terialised off south-west England and military towns in the Ardennes and Favourable weather at low level,
skies began to clear. Eifel regions. On eight nights in the sine qua non of effective close
Before the end of 1944 "The January 1945 these areas were re- support operations, deserted the unit
Bulge" had become a salient from visited, as the Edmontons patrolled on 20 days of January. (For a total
which the enemy was making a stra- behind the battle front and along of two-weeks it was grounded by
tegic withdrawal. With the improv- the bomb line", smashing road and freezing rain, sleet, blizzards or fog.)
ing weather an intensive aerial coun- rail transport, barracks, beacons, On several occasions, when oper-
ter-attack was put up to impede his and everything showing a light. From ating in the worst weather imagin-
eastward movements. Such was the the number of attacks made on able, it had to use as a bombing
situation when 418 flew its first tac- lights it appeared that the enemy's guide the navigational aid, Gee".
tical sorties, on New Year's Eve. black-out was being loosely enforced. The device was employed to good
Now the unit's duties were to dis- He would pay for his carelessness effect during operations from 29
rupt Jerry's communications, bomb with heavy losses of vehicles and January to 6 February, when enemy
his troop concentrations and area drivers. strongpoints impeding the advance
headquarters (the latter were usually The squadron had its losses too. of the U.S. Ninth Army on Cologne
well hidden), and generally raise In one nine-day period in January were bombed.
merry old hell behind his lines, there- four crews were lost, two on oper-
by smoothing the way for our foot- ations and two on a communica-
sloggers. Albeit no longer officially tions flight over Wales in an Ox- More than once in this bad-weather period
"intruder," the new assignment 418 was the only Allied squadron in action
ford aircraft. over north-west Europe.

22 THE ROUNDEL
 17. When are you going to Cox-
yde ?"**
+ Hte also
1 sai, 'd " I expect S/L
I
I Annan will take over your squadron,
as he is the senior flight commander.
He knew No. 2 Group's losses,
Lv wing by wing. He knew when No.
iv 136 Wing had been formed and that
it had just received a new Wing
Commander Operations.
The day after his release from "the
hole" W/C Wickett was moved to
Dulag Luft, from which, on 27
March, all POWs were evacuated to
begin a forced march. This lasted
more than three days, during which
the only nourishment consumed was
a little soup and a few bites of con-
centrated food from a Red Cross
parcel. On the 30th the party was
overtaken and liberated by an ad-
vance unit of Americans.
The only ill-treatment of prisoners
Notwithstanding that for eight of C. Hackett with F/O W. S. E. Brit- seen by the wing commander
the next 15 days Hartford Bridge tain (RAF). Of the Canadians, Wic- throughout his captive period had
was virtually "socked in", 81 more kett was captured, Hope was pre- come from Gestapo bully-boys, who
night sorties were flown in the fort- sumed dead, and Hackett was listed kicked and threw bricks at P.O.W.s
night. On these forays the Mosqui- as safe. The only information avail- marching through village streets.
toes slashed at towns largely in the able on the RAF personnel con-
INFORMATION WAS CORRECT
Zwolle-Munster-Osnabruck and cerned was, Jessop (captured) and
northern Ruhr areas, towns through Brittain (safe). Wickett's interrogator had been
which the Germans might try to The squadron commander's air- well informed. S/L Annan did take
bring up reinforcements to combat craft, crippled and on fire, had been over, on 23 February, and was pro-
moted a week later. Moreover, from
the Canadian's offensive between the crash-landed south of Oldenburg,
10 to 15 March a cross-Channel
Maas and the Rhine. and its crew were immediately ap-
shuffle of men, aircraft and material
On 22 February the stage was set prehended. They spent the night on took place as 418 vacated Black-
for Operation Clarion, a large- a barge and were interrogated and bushe for Coxyde.
scale air-to-ground strike aimed at shouted at by a naval petty officer In the fortnight between its acqui-
annihilating in 24 hours all means of and a policeman. In the next six days sition of a new commander and a
ground transport still available to they were moved to an airfield near new base the squadron despatched
the enemy. Nearly 9000 aircraft, op- Lingen, thence to Rheine, thence to 120 sorties on 12 operations (mostly
erating from England, France, Hol- Oberusel. For the latter journey they in the Munster-Osnabruck sector)
land, Belgium and Italy, ranged over were given a loaf of bread and a and lost two crews, both members of
a quarter million square miles of the sausage, which had to last four days. one being eventually safe. On one of
Greater Reich, attacking every trans- At Frankfurt they had to be shel- these operations 418s bombs fell on
portation artery, medium and facil- tered in the basement of the railway the edge of the Hochwald Forest,
ity imaginable. It was 4 l 8's only depot when menaced by a group of which was alive with Wehrmacht
tactical operation by day and it townspeople. Upon arrival at the then under heavy attack by the Sec-
proved the costliest in its history. Oberusel camp, Wickett was given ond Canadian Division.
Missing were W/C Wickett, with his a week's solitary confinement.
navigator, F/O W. Jessop (RAF), On his second day of confinement
F/LH. E. Miller with FS W. Hooper he was interrogated three times. His The squadron call-sign and W/C Wickett's
interrogator lost no time, greeting number.
(both RAF), F/L M. Hope with
F/O L. A. Thorpe (RAF), and F/L him with the words, "Hello Credo An airfield in Belgium.

APRIL 1961 23
 Jerry waited three days to wel- ground was accompanied by a sim- These were 4 18's last operations in
come the new tenants of Coxyde. A ilar drive in the air so intensive that, time of war.
reception committee at Dunkirk, for 418, as with many other Tactical
barely 1l miles away, laid down a squadrons, the last full calendar VICTORY
small-scale artillery barrage accurate month of hostilities was the busiest
enough to damage a few aircraft. of all. From the first operation of The hysteria of victory made the
This did not prevent the Edmontons the month, on I April, to the last, Edmontons forget for a while even
from operating virtually full on the 26th, the unit flew 273 sorties their damp tents. Then, within two
blast on IO of the next 11 nights. and operated on all but two nights. weeks after the hubbub had sub-
From their continental home they On their last 18 working-nights in sided, 20 of them were given a full
now struck at the heart of Germany April they ranged over the Bremen- reprieve from the mud and rats of
(e.g. Stendal, Magdeburg) for the Hanover area and Berlin's western Volkel by being posted. One of these
first time since their intruder days. approaches. was tour-expired W/C Annan, whose
With their more advanced situation, The crescendo of operations in DFC was to be gazetted about three
and availability of alternate landing- April brought a rising toll of enemy months later. His successor was W/C
fieldsclose to the scene of operations, road and rail transport and consid- Howie Cleveland, DFC, who had
their fuel problems were minimized erably fattened the individual scores been briefly interned in Sweden fol-
and their striking power consider- of several pilots. Heading 418's lowing an operation with 418 al-
ably increased. ground strafers was W/C Annan, most exactly a year before.
In the last week of March the whose final score of ground targets For most of the 21 crews that re-
squadron assisted the Second Army destroyed or damaged was 50 or mained, there were some compensa-
in Operation Plunder (the crossing more MET and eight trains. Also tions. On 10 June, for example, they
of the Rhine) and in the final push prominent were F/L J. McKitrick, flew in a 1,400-'plane flypast at
into north-west Germany. During F/O W. N. Macleod, S/L F. A. Frankfurt for the benefit of Mar-
one of these operations it suffered Montgomery, F/L W. Drake, and shal Georgei Zhukov. Three weeks
its last fatal casualties of the war. F/O Nicol, with respective total later they took part in an air show
Mosquito C-Charlie failed to return, scores of 30, 26, 25, 20, I 5 and 12 at Copenhagen, over the same air-
and later known to have been killed MET destroyed or damaged. Nicol field (Katsrup) where they had per-
in action near Roogeveen, Holland, also destroyed at least 12 freight cars formed once or twice when it was
were its crew of F/L George Graham and one locomotive. under German management. There-
and his RAF navigator, F/O R. T. On 25 April the squadron under- after, while the wheels of demobili-
Styles. This pair had only recently took yet another move to an air- sation slowly turned, the discom-
scored against an unusual victim, a field in another country Volkel, forts of Yolkel had to be endured
small German coaster, which, de- Holland. Awaiting the squadron for about another ten weeks.
spite vicious flak, they had attacked there were accommodations which, On 7 September 1945, after a war-
from 50 feet and left listing and in to most 418 personnel, constituted time life of three years, nine months
flames. a novelty - tents. In the next 4% and 23 days, the City of Edmonton
But for a plucky performance by months all the little hardships at- Squadron officially ceased to exist.
its pilot, another aircraft might well tendant upon life under canvas were To assess in capsule form the con-
have failed to return in this period. to become only too familiar to the tribution to victory of a fighting
While attacking a target in the Osna- Edmon tons. unit, figures are often better than
bruck area, F/O Alister Nicol was A few hours after they bivouacked words. In the case of No. 418 Squad-
wounded by flak in the chest and at Volkel the weather went sour. ron the statistics speak volumes for
right arm, and his navigator, F/O From 26 April through 6 May it themselves. In the 37 months from
T. H. Wicken, was even more seri- hardly stopped raining. Operations their first operation to their last,
ously wounded. Resolutely control- were nevertheless carried out on the 418's crews flew 3492 sorties, all but
ling the aircraft even while rendering night of 2 May, when enemy lines a score or so in search of the enemy.
all possible aid to the navigator, of communication were patrolled, These sorties kept them airborne for
Nicol reached friendly territory and and the following night, when a sin- a total of 11,248 hours, a figure prac-
masterfully landed the damaged gle reconnaissance sortie was flown. tically duplicated on training and
Mosquito despite his useless arm and communications flights.
weakness resulting from loss of During all but four months of
blood. This earned him a DFC. their active life the Edmontons
In April the all-out drive on the Mechanized enemy transport. sought chiefly to destroy the Luft-

24 THE ROUNDEL
 « herever they could find it. or were safe, and 27 (all non-RCAF)
wafle wI,, :, 5% [J)-5
": s uccess in this is seen in their
Their must be listed here under fate un-
ictory-list 178 E/ A destroy-
long VI .E. ® 5b known", no information on them
ed (73 on the ground), nine 'proba- being available.
,, aiid 103 damc1ged. All 105 air- In the lists of honours and awards
b l es ' . •
' kills were registered
to-Jtr . by visual
. 418 was well represented, winning
con t a
·ict a·ilone 3 the unit never
•
having• 62 decorations for valour on oper-
had Airborne Interception equip- ations. These consisted of three
men ( . 111 downing these aircraft they DSOs, nine Bars to the DFC, 43
must havea taken at least as many en- DFCs, five DFMs, one American
em Y 1·1ves ·, on the other hand,
. 111 . de- DFC, and one U.S. Air Medal. Also
stroying 83 VIs they quite possibly bestowed on unit personnel were
S,
wed even more Allied
. .
lives.
.
Out . of several King's Commendations and
these scoring statistics arises one in- numerous mentions in dispatches.
controvertible fact: even though Of such a squadron the late Air
4 18's kill record remained static Chief Marshal L. S. Breadner, CB,
throughout the war's last six months, DSC, once wrote:
in matter of total winged weapons "The record blazed across the skies
destroyed, manned and unmanned, of Europe by the gallant members
it was equalled by no other day or of 418, the City of Edmonton Squad-
night-fighter unit in the RCAF. ron, is outstanding in the annals of
No less impressive was the squad- air warfare. No group of young Can-
ron's bag of ground targets other adians ... displayed more courage,
than aircraft. Its bombs and guns more of the 'press on' spirit, than No. 418, City of Edmonton Squadron,
destroyed approximately 200 motor did these men ... official crest.
vehicles and damaged nearly twice "There was no finer spirit in the
that number. Likewise destroyed RCAF than that which impelled the
were 16 locomotives, while 23 were changes within three years. On 31
members of 418 to herculean efforts
probably destroyed and 36 more ... They were night intruders, a March 1958, after nine years on
were damaged. Some 52 railway light-bomber duties, it was given an
name that had the call to adventure
freight cars and passenger coaches emergency, search and transport role
in its very sound. Theirs was a job
were destroyed, seriously damaged and accordingly converted to Ex-
that called for cool courage, aston-
or derailed, and strikes were scored peditors. More recently the unit ac-
ishing risks, and individual fortitude
on at least 50 other trains. Com- quired two Otter aircraft.
excelled by no other branch of the
pleting the anti-transport list, three service ...3 In June 1958 the City of Edmon-
barges and trawlers were sunk and ton Squadron acquired an official
Probably the supreme tribute ever
about 20 appreciably damaged. Of accorded the squadron by anyone
badge, and, in keeping with the unit's
the static targets attacked, one bridge wartime background, a distinctive
outside the RCAF came from the
was known destroyed, IO factories emblem it was. Symbolising the
C.O. of Station Ford, W/C G. C.
were damaged, and hundreds of hits functions of the squadron standing
Maxwell, MC, DFC, AFC (RAF),
were made on searchlights, defen- on guard on Canada's northern fron-
who professed, as he watched its
sive positions, rail facilities and sun- tiers, it has as a central figure a
crews head for their aircraft and
dry other objectives. harpoon-wielding Eskimo on an 1ce-
another operation, "There go the
A comparison of the squadron's floe. The first badge ever presented
finest pilots and navigators in the
kills of conventional E/A and its to an RCAF Auxiliary squadron, it
world." also sets two other precedents for
own operational aircraft losses (59)
reveals a 3:1 ratio in its favour. Its PEACETIME POSTSCRIPT squadrons: its design incorporates
aircrew casualties totaled 143, of a human figure and its motto, Pi-
On 15 April 1946 the squadron
which 94 were killed or presumed was re-activated at Edmonton as one yautailili" (Defend even unto Death),
dead, 14 were captured, eight evaded of the first units in the RCA F's post- is in the Eskimo tongue. ©
war Auxiliary component. Origin-
ally a fighter-bomber squadron
For every VI that fell on the U.K., ap- The designation "City of Edmonton" had
equipped with Mitchells and Har- been incorporated in the post-war squad-
proximately I .4 people were killed and 4. I
seriously injured. yards, it underwent three designation ron's title in 1952.

APRIL 1961 25
 Jerry waited three days to wel- ground was accompanied by a sim- These were 4 18's last operations in
come the new tenants of Coxyde. A ilar drive in the air so intensive that, time of war.
reception committee at Dunkirk, for 418, as with many other Tactical
barely 1l miles away, laid down a squadrons, the last full calendar VICTORY
small-scale artillery barrage accurate month of hostilities was the busiest
enough to damage a few aircraft. of all. From the first operation of The hysteria of victory made the
This did not prevent the Edmontons the month, on I April, to the last, Edmontons forget for a while even
from operating virtually full on the 26th, the unit flew 273 sorties their damp tents. Then, within two
blast on IO of the next 11 nights. and operated on all but two nights. weeks after the hubbub had sub-
From their continental home they On their last 18 working-nights in sided, 20 of them were given a full
now struck at the heart of Germany April they ranged over the Bremen- reprieve from the mud and rats of
(e.g. Stendal, Magdeburg) for the Hanover area and Berlin's western Volkel by being posted. One of these
first time since their intruder days. approaches. was tour-expired W/C Annan, whose
With their more advanced situation, The crescendo of operations in DFC was to be gazetted about three
and availability of alternate landing- April brought a rising toll of enemy months later. His successor was W/C
fieldsclose to the scene of operations, road and rail transport and consid- Howie Cleveland, DFC, who had
their fuel problems were minimized erably fattened the individual scores been briefly interned in Sweden fol-
and their striking power consider- of several pilots. Heading 418's lowing an operation with 418 al-
ably increased. ground strafers was W/C Annan, most exactly a year before.
In the last week of March the whose final score of ground targets For most of the 21 crews that re-
squadron assisted the Second Army destroyed or damaged was 50 or mained, there were some compensa-
in Operation Plunder (the crossing more MET and eight trains. Also tions. On 10 June, for example, they
of the Rhine) and in the final push prominent were F/L J. McKitrick, flew in a 1,400-'plane flypast at
into north-west Germany. During F/O W. N. Macleod, S/L F. A. Frankfurt for the benefit of Mar-
one of these operations it suffered Montgomery, F/L W. Drake, and shal Georgei Zhukov. Three weeks
its last fatal casualties of the war. F/O Nicol, with respective total later they took part in an air show
Mosquito C-Charlie failed to return, scores of 30, 26, 25, 20, I 5 and 12 at Copenhagen, over the same air-
and later known to have been killed MET destroyed or damaged. Nicol field (Katsrup) where they had per-
in action near Roogeveen, Holland, also destroyed at least 12 freight cars formed once or twice when it was
were its crew of F/L George Graham and one locomotive. under German management. There-
and his RAF navigator, F/O R. T. On 25 April the squadron under- after, while the wheels of demobili-
Styles. This pair had only recently took yet another move to an air- sation slowly turned, the discom-
scored against an unusual victim, a field in another country Volkel, forts of Yolkel had to be endured
small German coaster, which, de- Holland. Awaiting the squadron for about another ten weeks.
spite vicious flak, they had attacked there were accommodations which, On 7 September 1945, after a war-
from 50 feet and left listing and in to most 418 personnel, constituted time life of three years, nine months
flames. a novelty - tents. In the next 4% and 23 days, the City of Edmonton
But for a plucky performance by months all the little hardships at- Squadron officially ceased to exist.
its pilot, another aircraft might well tendant upon life under canvas were To assess in capsule form the con-
have failed to return in this period. to become only too familiar to the tribution to victory of a fighting
While attacking a target in the Osna- Edmon tons. unit, figures are often better than
bruck area, F/O Alister Nicol was A few hours after they bivouacked words. In the case of No. 418 Squad-
wounded by flak in the chest and at Volkel the weather went sour. ron the statistics speak volumes for
right arm, and his navigator, F/O From 26 April through 6 May it themselves. In the 37 months from
T. H. Wicken, was even more seri- hardly stopped raining. Operations their first operation to their last,
ously wounded. Resolutely control- were nevertheless carried out on the 418's crews flew 3492 sorties, all but
ling the aircraft even while rendering night of 2 May, when enemy lines a score or so in search of the enemy.
all possible aid to the navigator, of communication were patrolled, These sorties kept them airborne for
Nicol reached friendly territory and and the following night, when a sin- a total of 11,248 hours, a figure prac-
masterfully landed the damaged gle reconnaissance sortie was flown. tically duplicated on training and
Mosquito despite his useless arm and communications flights.
weakness resulting from loss of During all but four months of
blood. This earned him a DFC. their active life the Edmontons
In April the all-out drive on the Mechanized enemy transport. sought chiefly to destroy the Luft-

24 THE ROUNDEL
 « herever they could find it. or were safe, and 27 (all non-RCAF)
wafle wI,, :, 5% [J)-5
": s uccess in this is seen in their
Their must be listed here under fate un-
ictory-list 178 E/ A destroy-
long VI .E. ® 5b known", no information on them
ed (73 on the ground), nine 'proba- being available.
,, aiid 103 damc1ged. All 105 air- In the lists of honours and awards
b l es ' . •
' kills were registered
to-Jtr . by visual
. 418 was well represented, winning
con t a
·ict a·ilone 3 the unit never
•
having• 62 decorations for valour on oper-
had Airborne Interception equip- ations. These consisted of three
men ( . 111 downing these aircraft they DSOs, nine Bars to the DFC, 43
must havea taken at least as many en- DFCs, five DFMs, one American
em Y 1·1ves ·, on the other hand,
. 111 . de- DFC, and one U.S. Air Medal. Also
stroying 83 VIs they quite possibly bestowed on unit personnel were
S,
wed even more Allied
. .
lives.
.
Out . of several King's Commendations and
these scoring statistics arises one in- numerous mentions in dispatches.
controvertible fact: even though Of such a squadron the late Air
4 18's kill record remained static Chief Marshal L. S. Breadner, CB,
throughout the war's last six months, DSC, once wrote:
in matter of total winged weapons "The record blazed across the skies
destroyed, manned and unmanned, of Europe by the gallant members
it was equalled by no other day or of 418, the City of Edmonton Squad-
night-fighter unit in the RCAF. ron, is outstanding in the annals of
No less impressive was the squad- air warfare. No group of young Can-
ron's bag of ground targets other adians ... displayed more courage,
than aircraft. Its bombs and guns more of the 'press on' spirit, than No. 418, City of Edmonton Squadron,
destroyed approximately 200 motor did these men ... official crest.
vehicles and damaged nearly twice "There was no finer spirit in the
that number. Likewise destroyed RCAF than that which impelled the
were 16 locomotives, while 23 were changes within three years. On 31
members of 418 to herculean efforts
probably destroyed and 36 more ... They were night intruders, a March 1958, after nine years on
were damaged. Some 52 railway light-bomber duties, it was given an
name that had the call to adventure
freight cars and passenger coaches emergency, search and transport role
in its very sound. Theirs was a job
were destroyed, seriously damaged and accordingly converted to Ex-
that called for cool courage, aston-
or derailed, and strikes were scored peditors. More recently the unit ac-
ishing risks, and individual fortitude
on at least 50 other trains. Com- quired two Otter aircraft.
excelled by no other branch of the
pleting the anti-transport list, three service ...3 In June 1958 the City of Edmon-
barges and trawlers were sunk and ton Squadron acquired an official
Probably the supreme tribute ever
about 20 appreciably damaged. Of accorded the squadron by anyone
badge, and, in keeping with the unit's
the static targets attacked, one bridge wartime background, a distinctive
outside the RCAF came from the
was known destroyed, IO factories emblem it was. Symbolising the
C.O. of Station Ford, W/C G. C.
were damaged, and hundreds of hits functions of the squadron standing
Maxwell, MC, DFC, AFC (RAF),
were made on searchlights, defen- on guard on Canada's northern fron-
who professed, as he watched its
sive positions, rail facilities and sun- tiers, it has as a central figure a
crews head for their aircraft and
dry other objectives. harpoon-wielding Eskimo on an 1ce-
another operation, "There go the
A comparison of the squadron's floe. The first badge ever presented
finest pilots and navigators in the
kills of conventional E/A and its to an RCAF Auxiliary squadron, it
world." also sets two other precedents for
own operational aircraft losses (59)
reveals a 3:1 ratio in its favour. Its PEACETIME POSTSCRIPT squadrons: its design incorporates
aircrew casualties totaled 143, of a human figure and its motto, Pi-
On 15 April 1946 the squadron
which 94 were killed or presumed was re-activated at Edmonton as one yautailili" (Defend even unto Death),
dead, 14 were captured, eight evaded of the first units in the RCA F's post- is in the Eskimo tongue. ©
war Auxiliary component. Origin-
ally a fighter-bomber squadron
For every VI that fell on the U.K., ap- The designation "City of Edmonton" had
equipped with Mitchells and Har- been incorporated in the post-war squad-
proximately I .4 people were killed and 4. I
seriously injured. yards, it underwent three designation ron's title in 1952.

APRIL 1961 25
 The following individuals have received awards from the Suggestion
Award Committee, Department of National Defence, for suggestions which
have been officially adopted by the RCAF. Photographs of winners of $IO0
or over appear below. Proper procedure for submitting suggestions is de-
tailed in AFAO 99.00/01.

W02 J.P. Baril of Stn. Greenwood FS G. E. Robichaud of I I 32 TS LACK. A. Walters of Stn. Saska-
suggested the issuance of transporta- Det. Montreal made a suggestion toon suggested changes to the mount-
tion warrants for leave purposes to concerning the repair of synchro ing and servicing procedure of the
Canadian Service College Cadets at transmitters which was adopted of- rudder trim indicator light in Ex-
civilian rates instead of military rates ficially by the promulgation of EO peditor aircraft which was adopted
which was adopted in November 30-210C-6B/17 dated 9 May 1960. officially through the promulgation
1957. of EO 05-45B-6A/144 dated 21 July
1960.

Other award winners:

F/L H.J. W. Lang Cpl. R. W. Rennie LACE. J. Bell
WO! H. D. Harragin Cpl. J. A. Cox LAC J. L. Brown
WO2 S. J. Shaw Cpl. J. F. Sellars LAC W. Peeples
Cpl. J. H. Logan Cpl. C. E. McMullen LAC J. Emslie
Cpl. H. Phillips Cpl. R. Mc Mullan LAC H. G. Hopkinson
Cpl. F. A. J. Holman LAC C. Dewey

"B" IS FOR BOMBER

Bis for Bomber, an old-fashioned however, Missiles can be used only A man has to live with himself,
but accurate means of delivering A- once. A mixture of the two, in suf- and he should see to it that he always
bombs over great distances to de- ficient quantity, is the foundation of has good company.
stroy opposing aerospace and other Deterrent strength. What constitutes Charles Evans Hughes
forces. Despite its limited altitude "sufficient quantity" is variously in-
and speed, it is reliable, recallable, The world has so many critics
terpreted by Columnists, Generals,
and has a high degree of intelligence. because it is so much easier to criti-
Analysts, Admirals, Reserve and Vet-
Born bers can be used in a variety of cize than to appreciate.
erans' Associations, various Leagues, Vauvenargues
ways, as Bomber advocates are quick Committees and Bureaus, Editors,
to point out. Missile advocates take Politicians, and Candidates for Of- The more virtuous any man is,
pride in the Missile's speed and pen- fice. Anybody can be an expert who the less easily does he suspect others
etrative ability. Without warning, is not overly burdened with facts. to be vicious.
Born bers are prey to Missile attack; AIRMAN Cicero

28 THE ROUNDEL
 This section of THE ROUNDEL is prepared
RC AF ASSOCIATION by RCAF Association Headquarters, 424
Metcalfe St., Ottawa, Ont. Wing contribu-
tions should be sent directly to this address,

WHO HAS THE KEYS? the Curtiss Company in Toronto.

However, it does seem strange that
a good photo cannot be found of a
By K. M. MOLSON,
Canadian Vickers built Avro 504N
(RCA F registration Nos. 32 to 43)
Curator, National Aviation Museum
or the Canadian Vickers A vro 552
(the Avro Viper) to name just two
types.
The operational side of our avia-
'['cu is still a considerable a few articles have dealt with the tion history is recorded much more
amount of Canadian aviation history history of three or four aircraft types, completely, but, even so known gaps
missing or incomplete. It should be these have barely scratched the sur- exist which probably could be filled
possible in a country the size of face. One hundred and eight differ- in with the help of surviving partici-
Canada, where relatively few people ent aircraft types have been pro- pants. In addition one often hears
have been involved in the develop- duced in Canada over the years. This from "old timers" that the accepted
ment of aviation, to assemble a com- total does not include the various story of some event is not altogether
plete history. This would be much home built machines nor does it correct. In these cases the Museum
more difficult in countries like Eng- include different Mark numbers of is most interested in gathering more
land and the United States where the same types. Information and complete information.
large numbers of people would have photographs of many of these air- The story of Roy Maxwell's flight
to be reached to obtain the complete craft are often inadequate and some- to James Bay from Cochrane, On-
history of aviation. times unavailable. tario, on August 17, 1920, does not
Many people who participated in This may not seem surprising in even receive a mention in any of the
our early aviation development are cases such as the Polson aircraft of books or articles published on Cana-
still alive and could provide the keys 1916 or the early aircraft produced by dian aviation history. This would
to some unrecorded events in our appear to be the first flight into the
aviation history. The National Avia- area and an United States aircraft
tion Museum is most interested in firm selling HS2L's placed a two
The Association has been asked page advertisement with large head-
contacting people who think they by the Curator of the Museum
might be able to fill in some of the lines in an aeronautical magazine
to assist in locating material of acclaiming this flight as an outstand-
gaps, either with their own recollec- historical aviation interest and al- ing effort at the time. Unfortunately
tions or with documents and photo- so to aid in the recording of the detail information and photographs
graphs of various events. correct story on our earlier Cana- concerning this flight are lacking.
It is impossible to outline all the dian accomplishments in avia- Can anyone help fill in the details?
pieces that are known to be missing tion. The story of civil flying in Eastern
from our history but a few items can A bulletin detailing the com- Canada and also in British Columbia
be mentioned in hopes that they may plete requirements is being sent remains to be told. Who can help
jog the memory of someone who to all Wings of the Association. here? Herve St. Martin was one of
can provide some of the missing in- Readers at large having informa- the most respected pilots in Eastern
formation. tion to offer are asked to write Canada and yet his name is almost
The story of Canada's aircraft to the RCAF Association, 424 unknown today outside of the "old
manufacturing industry is almost Metcalfe Street, Ottawa, Ont. timers". Is there not someone who
unrecorded. While in recent years

29
APRIL 1961
 knew him well who could write down concerning this survey has been lo- graphs can be used in many ways by
his accomplishments? cated and published in the last cou- the Museum, e. g., a good photo of
The story of the actual flying done ple of years but apart from Captain an airport or seaplane with the lo-
on Canada's first photographic sur- Owen being quoted as saying how cation established and dated can be
vey expedition would seem to hold difficult the flying was, nothing is used to establish the location of
most interesting possibilities if some known of the actual flying opera- other unidentified photos. Photos of
of the surviving members could be tions. aircraft can be used to establish air
located and persuaded to set down In addition to the above specific line markings, provide data for mod-
their experiences. The expedition was items photographs or negatives are els, to provide information on spe-
led by Captain Daniel Owen of An- needed showing Canadian airfields, cial equipment such as cameras and
napolis, N. S., who took it to the aircraft and aviation personnel dusting equipment, and used with
Alexis River in Labrador and made throughout the years. The loan or other photos, to provide informa-
a timber survey in the summer of gift of any such material would be tion on the complete development
I 919. Some of the basic information much appreciated. These photo- of an aircraft type.

11th ANNUAL NATIONAL CONVENTION

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
MIA'Y 18-19-20, 1961
Again this year it is our pleasure to present an outstanding roster of speakers for the convention:

• The Honourable Douglas S. Harkness, PC, GM, ED, A special invitation is extended to members of the
Minister of National Defence. Association and all former members of the RCAF to
• Air Marshal Hugh L. Campbell, CBE, CD, attend this convention as Fraternal delegates. The regis-
Chief of the Air Staff. tration fee is $10.00. Those wishing to attend only the
• Honourable Dufferin Roblin, Premier, Annual Dinner may secure their tickets from Conven-
Province of Manitoba. tion Headquarters, 643 Academy Road, Winnipeg, tele-
• His Worship Mayor Stephen Juba, Mayor, phone number HUdson 9-5187.
City of Winnipeg.

The Honourable Douglas S. Harkness Air Marshal Hugh L. Campbell

Minister of National Defence Chief of the Air Staff
The Honourable Dufferin Roblin Premier of Manitoba His Worship Stephen Juba Mayor of the City of Winnipeg

MRS. A. L. MORFEE NEW BRUNSWICK AIR CADET

The sympathy of all members of SQUADRON MOST PROFICIENT
the Association goes out to Air Vice-
Marshal A. L. Morfee whose wife
The RCAF Association Trophy,
Estelle died on February 4th as a
awarded annually to the top Air
result of burns received in the tragic
Cadet Squadron in Canada, was won
accident in their home at Annapolis
this year by No. 333 Lord Beaver-
Royal, N.S. Air Vice-Marshal Mor-
brook Sqn. Fredericton, N.B. This
fee was severely burned in attempting
Sqn. is fully sponsored by the Fred-
to rescue his wife. He is now re-
ericton Wing of the RCAF Associa-
covering in hospital at Annapolis
tion.
Royal, N.S. The National President of the As- Mr. L. N. Baldock presents the Associ-
sociation, Mr. L. N. Baldock, pre- ation Trophy to Mr. Donald Welsford,
Chairman, New Brunswick Provincial
1961 WING MEMBERSHIP DUES sented the trophy to Mr. Donald Committee, Air Cadet League.
Annual dues of Wing members Welsford, Chairman of the New
were payable on April 1st. This year Brunswick Provincial Committee at
the Seigniory Club during the an-
ROUNDEL' subscriptions will be can-
celled on June 1st for those who
nual meeting of the Air Cadet
have failed to renew. League.
31
APRIL 1961
 FIGHTER PILOT REUNION
Dear Sir:
The third reunion of No. I 15 and No. I
Fighter Squadrons, which later became No.
SEA ISLAND POSTSCRIPTS course which was held at the University or 401 Squadron, will take place at Molson's
Western Ontario in May 1941. Brewery reception room, l 670 Notre Dame
Dear Sir: It is my intention to organize a reunion St. East, 25 April I 961 at 1800 hours.
I was interested in your story of RCAF of my old classmates for the 20th anniver- Since we would like as many original
Sea Island in THE ROUNDEL (Jan-Feb sary of the course's beginning. I would ap- members of these squadrons as possible
61). The article indicates that the first RCAF preciate it if the former members of this to attend we would appreciate this notice
activity was No. 8 EFTS in 1940, course would write me. being printed in THE ROUNDEL. If fur-
Actually a somewhat forgotten squadron Derwent L. Underhill, ther information is required by anyone, it
had been there for some years before. No. 750 Grosvenor Street, can be obtained by phoning me at HU 4-
II1 (Army Co-operation) Squadron (Re- Woodstock, Ont. 5081 or UN 6-1705.
serve), later No. 111 (Coastal Artillery Co- Mr. Howard Carp,
operation), was founded in I 932 and oper- 5265 Bessborough Ave.,
ated on Sea Island until 1939 when it began CURLING CORRECTION Montreal 29, Quebec.
the move to Patricia Bay. In 1940 the squad-
ron was broken up although I believe a 111 Dear Sir:
Communications Flight carried on for a I read with interest G/C McMillan's ar-
time, ticle on curling which appeared in your Jan-
I enclose a picture of the officers just to Feb 61 edition. However, I think there must MISSING PERSON
prove that the squadron really did exist. In- be something missing in Fig. 5 of this arti-
cluded is our permanent force adjutant, who cle, The caption .. Velocity- High Friction" Dear Sir:
I must say was a very good one. is, as it stands, quite meaningless. For the past four or five years I have been
Mr. A. Watts, It would be appreciated if you could ob- trying to locate an old air force buddy whom
800 West Georgia St.. tain a solution to my query, I served some three years with at RCAF
Vancouver I. B.C. F/O D. J. Gilpin, Station Rockcliffe. He is now out of the
(An oversight, indeed. The adjutant re- t AMC Headquarters, service and is living somewhere in the prov-
ferred to was F'L Hugh Campbell.- Editor.) Zz Rockcliffe, Ont. ince of Saskatchewan. His name is Lapohn

~k
O (The key word 'low" was (formerly Cpl. Lapohn.)
erroneously omitted from this Since I have tried many times, without
Dear Sir: caplion. Fil[. 5 should have success, to reach him I would appreciate it
The article, Stations of the RCAF: Sea appeared like this. Editor.) if you would print this letter in THE
Island (Jan-Feb 61) is in error as regards
the type of aircraft with which No. 8BR
I p ROUNDEL in the hope that one of your
readers might be able to help me locate the
Squadron was equipped. Neither at Sydney, RELATIVE VELOCITY > whereabouts of my friend.
N.S. nor at Station Sea Island did that unit Mr. J. W. Murray,
have Stranraer aircraft on its inventory. 301 First st., E.,
S/L J. A. Connolly, LOW VELOCITY= HIGH FRICTION Cornwall, Ont.
NORAD Ent Air Force Base, fig. 5
Colorado Springs, Col.,
USA.
(S/L Connolly is quite right. No. 8 Sq. RCAF STAFF COLLEGE JOURNAL
operated with Deltas, Bolingbrokes and Ven-
tures, but not Stranraers. The squadrons with
Stranraers were No. 4, at Jericho Beach, No. ESSAY CONTEST FOR 1961
5 (Dartmouth) No. 6 (Alliford Bay), No. 7
(Prince Rupert), No. 9 (Bella Bella), and An award of $250.00 will be made to the member or former member of
No. 120 (Coal Harbour).-- Editor).
the Canadian Armed Forces or Civil Service who writes the best unsolicited
essay, not exceeding 5,000 words, likely to stimulate thought on a topical
GOOD LUCK, RICHARD matter of military significance.
Dear Sir: 1n addition to the prize money, the author of the winning essay will be
I am 14 years of age and hope to go
through Royal Military College and join the paid a professional fee if his article is accepted for publication in the
RCAF. Right now I am interested in sub- JOURNAL. If the quality of Honorable Mention° essays meets the JOURNAL
scribing to your magazine "THE ROUNDEL. literary standards, up to a maximum of five will be selected for publication
I would like to know how much a year's
subscription would cost. My address is be- and the authors also awarded a professional fee for the printing of their
low. Thank you. work.
Richard W. Day, Entries must not contain classified information. Manuscripts must be
59 Smith Ave.,
Hamilton, Ont. double-spaced, and submitted in duplicate to the Editor, RCAF STAFF
(Subscriptions may be purchased as indi- COLLEGE JOURNAL, Armour Heights, Toronto 12, Ontario, by 1 June,
cated on our inside front cover. Editor) 1961.
The Board of Directors of the JOURNAL will appoint the judges, whose
REUNION DESIRED decision will be final. Arrangements for the presentation of the award will
Dear Sir: be made known when the winner is announced. If no essay meets the stan-
With the backing of No. 440 (Oxford)
Wing, RCAF Association, I am trying to dard of excellence set by the judges the right to make no award will be
locate the members of the first RAF radar reserved by them.

32 THE ROUNDEL
The Honourable Dufferin Roblin Premier of Manitoba His Worship Stephen Juba Mayor of the City of Winnipeg

MRS. A. L. MORFEE NEW BRUNSWICK AIR CADET

The sympathy of all members of SQUADRON MOST PROFICIENT
the Association goes out to Air Vice-
Marshal A. L. Morfee whose wife
The RCAF Association Trophy,
Estelle died on February 4th as a
awarded annually to the top Air
result of burns received in the tragic
Cadet Squadron in Canada, was won
accident in their home at Annapolis
this year by No. 333 Lord Beaver-
Royal, N.S. Air Vice-Marshal Mor-
brook Sqn. Fredericton, N.B. This
fee was severely burned in attempting
Sqn. is fully sponsored by the Fred-
to rescue his wife. He is now re-
ericton Wing of the RCAF Associa-
covering in hospital at Annapolis
tion.
Royal, N.S. The National President of the As- Mr. L. N. Baldock presents the Associ-
sociation, Mr. L. N. Baldock, pre- ation Trophy to Mr. Donald Welsford,
Chairman, New Brunswick Provincial
1961 WING MEMBERSHIP DUES sented the trophy to Mr. Donald Committee, Air Cadet League.
Annual dues of Wing members Welsford, Chairman of the New
were payable on April 1st. This year Brunswick Provincial Committee at
the Seigniory Club during the an-
ROUNDEL' subscriptions will be can-
celled on June 1st for those who
nual meeting of the Air Cadet
have failed to renew. League.
31
APRIL 1961
 FIGHTER PILOT REUNION
Dear Sir:
The third reunion of No. I 15 and No. I
Fighter Squadrons, which later became No.
SEA ISLAND POSTSCRIPTS course which was held at the University or 401 Squadron, will take place at Molson's
Western Ontario in May 1941. Brewery reception room, l 670 Notre Dame
Dear Sir: It is my intention to organize a reunion St. East, 25 April I 961 at 1800 hours.
I was interested in your story of RCAF of my old classmates for the 20th anniver- Since we would like as many original
Sea Island in THE ROUNDEL (Jan-Feb sary of the course's beginning. I would ap- members of these squadrons as possible
61). The article indicates that the first RCAF preciate it if the former members of this to attend we would appreciate this notice
activity was No. 8 EFTS in 1940, course would write me. being printed in THE ROUNDEL. If fur-
Actually a somewhat forgotten squadron Derwent L. Underhill, ther information is required by anyone, it
had been there for some years before. No. 750 Grosvenor Street, can be obtained by phoning me at HU 4-
II1 (Army Co-operation) Squadron (Re- Woodstock, Ont. 5081 or UN 6-1705.
serve), later No. 111 (Coastal Artillery Co- Mr. Howard Carp,
operation), was founded in I 932 and oper- 5265 Bessborough Ave.,
ated on Sea Island until 1939 when it began CURLING CORRECTION Montreal 29, Quebec.
the move to Patricia Bay. In 1940 the squad-
ron was broken up although I believe a 111 Dear Sir:
Communications Flight carried on for a I read with interest G/C McMillan's ar-
time, ticle on curling which appeared in your Jan-
I enclose a picture of the officers just to Feb 61 edition. However, I think there must MISSING PERSON
prove that the squadron really did exist. In- be something missing in Fig. 5 of this arti-
cluded is our permanent force adjutant, who cle, The caption .. Velocity- High Friction" Dear Sir:
I must say was a very good one. is, as it stands, quite meaningless. For the past four or five years I have been
Mr. A. Watts, It would be appreciated if you could ob- trying to locate an old air force buddy whom
800 West Georgia St.. tain a solution to my query, I served some three years with at RCAF
Vancouver I. B.C. F/O D. J. Gilpin, Station Rockcliffe. He is now out of the
(An oversight, indeed. The adjutant re- t AMC Headquarters, service and is living somewhere in the prov-
ferred to was F'L Hugh Campbell.- Editor.) Zz Rockcliffe, Ont. ince of Saskatchewan. His name is Lapohn

~k
O (The key word 'low" was (formerly Cpl. Lapohn.)
erroneously omitted from this Since I have tried many times, without
Dear Sir: caplion. Fil[. 5 should have success, to reach him I would appreciate it
The article, Stations of the RCAF: Sea appeared like this. Editor.) if you would print this letter in THE
Island (Jan-Feb 61) is in error as regards
the type of aircraft with which No. 8BR
I p ROUNDEL in the hope that one of your
readers might be able to help me locate the
Squadron was equipped. Neither at Sydney, RELATIVE VELOCITY > whereabouts of my friend.
N.S. nor at Station Sea Island did that unit Mr. J. W. Murray,
have Stranraer aircraft on its inventory. 301 First st., E.,
S/L J. A. Connolly, LOW VELOCITY= HIGH FRICTION Cornwall, Ont.
NORAD Ent Air Force Base, fig. 5
Colorado Springs, Col.,
USA.
(S/L Connolly is quite right. No. 8 Sq. RCAF STAFF COLLEGE JOURNAL
operated with Deltas, Bolingbrokes and Ven-
tures, but not Stranraers. The squadrons with
Stranraers were No. 4, at Jericho Beach, No. ESSAY CONTEST FOR 1961
5 (Dartmouth) No. 6 (Alliford Bay), No. 7
(Prince Rupert), No. 9 (Bella Bella), and An award of $250.00 will be made to the member or former member of
No. 120 (Coal Harbour).-- Editor).
the Canadian Armed Forces or Civil Service who writes the best unsolicited
essay, not exceeding 5,000 words, likely to stimulate thought on a topical
GOOD LUCK, RICHARD matter of military significance.
Dear Sir: 1n addition to the prize money, the author of the winning essay will be
I am 14 years of age and hope to go
through Royal Military College and join the paid a professional fee if his article is accepted for publication in the
RCAF. Right now I am interested in sub- JOURNAL. If the quality of Honorable Mention° essays meets the JOURNAL
scribing to your magazine "THE ROUNDEL. literary standards, up to a maximum of five will be selected for publication
I would like to know how much a year's
subscription would cost. My address is be- and the authors also awarded a professional fee for the printing of their
low. Thank you. work.
Richard W. Day, Entries must not contain classified information. Manuscripts must be
59 Smith Ave.,
Hamilton, Ont. double-spaced, and submitted in duplicate to the Editor, RCAF STAFF
(Subscriptions may be purchased as indi- COLLEGE JOURNAL, Armour Heights, Toronto 12, Ontario, by 1 June,
cated on our inside front cover. Editor) 1961.
The Board of Directors of the JOURNAL will appoint the judges, whose
REUNION DESIRED decision will be final. Arrangements for the presentation of the award will
Dear Sir: be made known when the winner is announced. If no essay meets the stan-
With the backing of No. 440 (Oxford)
Wing, RCAF Association, I am trying to dard of excellence set by the judges the right to make no award will be
locate the members of the first RAF radar reserved by them.

32 THE ROUNDEL