| The Canadian Aviation Historical Society |
The Canadian Aviation Historical Society |
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December 2020 e–Newsletter |
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| Season's Greetings from our National President |
Season's Greetings from our National President |
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| This has been an exceedingly difficult year for everyone and every organization, with the CAHS being no exception. Our convention, planned for June in Richmond, had to be cancelled, with the hope that we will be able to reschedule it sometime in 2021. Although our membership numbers are way down in the face of challenging financial consequences, many of our members and chapters have generously come through with donations to get us through the year. We are so grateful for every donation, regardless of amount. We still need your help, so please consider making a tax-deductible donation if you can. We were sorry to say goodbye to our newsletter editor, Lisa Ruck, after last month’s newsletter. We thank Lisa for all of her excellent work to bring the newsletter to our members and friends. We are incredibly happy to welcome our new editor, Katherine Simunkovic. I know she is going to do a great job bringing you the newsletter each month, full of interesting aviation stories and all the content you have always enjoyed. It is now time to renew your national membership for 2021. I know this year is going to be so much better than 2020 and you will not want to miss any of the events and publications coming your way in the months ahead. Despite all the stress and problems 2020 has thrown at us, we have much to be thankful for. This year has brought many of us closer together, if only by Zoom video and all the other electronic means we have learned to use. Please stay safe and healthy, obey the recommendations of your health authorities, and wear a mask. Thank you to every member of your National Board of Directors, the Chapter executive members, our Journal editor, our e-newsletter editor, our webmaster team, all our members, and everyone receiving this newsletter for their support this year. We continue to make the CAHS the world's authoritative voice of Canadian aviation history. On behalf of your National Executive and Board of Directors, I wish everyone a Happy New Year and the hope for only blue skies and an end to COVID-19 in 2021. Blue skies, |
Gary Williams, National President, Canadian Aviation Historical Society |
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From the Treasurer's Desk |
Since the May 2020 newsletter, I have noted that the CAHS has been hit financially hard by the pandemic: our income for the first half of 2020 was more than 50% less than the income received for the same period in 2019 (convention not included in this calculation). I also explained how this shortage of cash was actually impacting out ability to pay bills, and I asked on a monthly basis if people could renew their memberships or make a donation to help us make it to the end of the year. And here we are now, only hours away from the end of 2020. I would like to sincerely thank everyone who responded to our call for financial help. Through your member renewals, donation top-ups to renewals, and some significant donations, the CAHS has been able to cover all its bills for 2020, and we know we can cover January and February's bills too. Every amount has been so appreciated and has helped us end this year in a much better financial position than were were in since last spring. But 2021 is a new year with new financial commitments, from maintaining the website, to producing/printing/mailing the Journal, to paying mandatory insurance premiums. We ask that your make sure your membership is up-to-date for 2021, and if you are able to donate, this is extremely appreciated. We also invite you to browse the merchandise we have for sale at discounted rates. Is there an aviation book or calendar you did not get for Christmas? You can still get a copy for yourself! Later in January watch for new book offerings from author Shirlee Matheson. Please contact me here, if you need to enquire about your membership status or would like to learn more about donating to the CAHS or contributing to special projects that all help fund our efforts. Thanks again for your support and generosity and Happy 2021 !! |
Dr. Rachel Lea Heide, National Treasurer, Membership Administration, and Digital/Special Projects Co-ordinator, Canadian Aviation Historical Society |
| Click the button above, then click on the little magnifying glass to begin your search. |
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CAHS Media in Transitional Times – from 2019 into 2021 |
We have concluded transitioning all material from the old http://www.cahs.ca. Some of the main menu items on www.cahs.ca will now redirect to the equivalent content on the new www.cahs.com. Over the next little while, whether you type www.cahs.com or www.cahs.ca in your web browser, you will arrive at our new and revised website. We owe a debt of gratitude to the late Allan Rust, his colleague Wayne Albertson, and now-retired e-Newsletter Editor/Webmaster Lisa Ruck for helping us use and maintain the former website and the newsletter functions associated with it. The departure of our long-serving e-newsletter editor also coincides with the conclusion of a fairly extensive overhaul of the way our Society will work in the online/digital realm in the future. To keep up with the times, we have made changes involving our website(s, as noted above), our contacts management system, and our email management system. A more-modern e-newsletter design platform will help the team (introduced below) deliver more bandwidth-friendly e-newsletters. Other features will be brought incrementally into play for the delivery of different types of communication - watch for announcements in future newsletters for the launch of new features. A system for managing the range of CAHS.ca domain email addresses, and the email traffic to and from these addresses, was also present on the legacy site. The CAHS.ca domain itself was recently transferred to the same registrar as CAHS.com, but all "@cahs.ca" email addresses you may have in your address books will continue to work fine, even though our site itself is on the CAHS.com domain. With our website, contact management (including e-Newsletter) system, and email system all now on separate services, our Society's digital assets' security is greatly enhanced. Should any one system goes down or becomes temporarily afflicted by some as-yet-unknown ill will lurking on the internet, it is implausible that the other two will be affected by it. This helps us avoid altogether some of the problems that had begun to affect some aspects of the old site's performance. At the same time, we are now in a better position to start building a secure members-only side of our website. Please feel free to contact me here if you have any questions or concerns regarding our digital domains, including content scope, e-shop operations, or other structural / performance-related issues. If you would like to have something considered for publication either on the site or in the e-newsletter, please contact one of the team members below. |
Terry Higgins, Creative Director, Website Administrator, CAHS Journal Managing Editor and Graphics Director, Canadian Aviation Historical Society |
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Welcome to the all-new CAHS Newsletter 2.0! |
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Katherine Simunkovic Digital Content Managing Editor Canadian Aviation Historical Society Katherine comes to us after nearly three years of editing historical aviation material for Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame (CAHF) newsletter, The Flyer. She also continues to serve as the Collections Manager for the CAHF. We're thankful to have Katherine's wealth of aviation history-steeped experience at the helm of our monthly email newsletter. Bearing in mind that she is now the core person for the collection and preparation of content for this, and by extension certain interconnected pages on our website, potential digital content contributors are invited to contact Katherine here. |
| Zach Downey-Higgins Digital Content Manager Canadian Aviation Historical Society While continuing in his role as CAHS.com webmaster, Zach's new responsibilities will now include that other aspect of our former e-newsletter editor's role – the visual presentation / layout of each edition's content. In addition to ongoing coordination with Katherine, Zach will also continue to work directly with Chapter liaisons and other potential website–only contributors to ensure that incoming content lands in the right places on our website. Chapter liaisons and other direct-to-site content contributors are invited to contact Zach here. |
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Please note that this first issue of our "e-newsletter 2.0" uses a new contact list management system. If you receive this newsletter even after unsubscribing from our old mailing list, please consider that it was not intended to retain your email in the list. To remove your name permanently from the rebuilt mailing list, simlply use the one-click unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email. If you receive this e-newsletter via more than one e-mail address, just follow this link to let us know which email address(es) to remove from the list to avoid similar duplicates in future. |
Recent Features on CAHS.comA selection of new articles, videos, and other materials now on our website |
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| | Calgary's Hurricane Flies Again! |
Canadian Built Hurricane 5389, a veteran of the Second World War, now at its new home in the Hangar Flight Museum at Calgary, is flying again! Although the restored warbird will remain on static display at the museum, it has taken to the air in an oil painting by aviation artist, Allan Botting, of Victoria BC. By John Chalmers |
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| | Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre Addendum |
Author, photographer, and CAHS Vice President Gord McNulty provides additional notes and images of the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre, supplementing his coverage in October's e-Newsletter. By Gord McNulty |
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| The Vertical Flight Society has posted all six history presentation from Forum 76 to YouTube. The Forum was supposed to take place in Montreal in May 2020 and has two presentations that highlight Canadian rotorcraft history. Two of the series are posted in the Video Viewport on CAHS.com, from where you may also access a link to the Society's YouTube Channel for the other videos. |
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1. Perseverance: Some Reflections on 55 Years of the Canadian Sea King Helicopter, Author: Colonel (Ret’d) John L Orr, Shearwater Aviation MuseumOn August 1, 1963, the first two Canadian Sea King helicopters arrived at their new home station, Shearwater, Nova Scotia and joined the Royal Canadian Navy. On Saturday, December 1, 2018, three Canadian Sea King helicopters, now part of the Royal Canadian Air Force, made their final flight over their home station at Patricia Bay, British Columbia. This paper outlines some of the highlights of the intervening 55 years with particular emphasis on procurement and fleet introduction, the helicopter’s rapid change of roles from dedicated anti-submarine warfare helicopter to a general-purpose surveillance platform for the First Gulf War and finally, the truly amazing accomplishments of the Canadian Sea Kings in the year 2010. It is worth bearing in mind that although the personnel may have changed and the roles and equipment of the aircraft have been modified, the requirement to provide ‘Wings for the Fleet’ has remained constant over the years.
A copy of this historical paper may be downloaded from the Vertical Flight Society store. |
| 2. A Helicopter Design Worthy of Success, Author: Rénald Fortier, Curator, Aviation and Space; Canada Aviation and Space Museum, Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaThis short historical documentary looks at the development of Intercity Airlines Company’s SG Mark VI by a unique team-based for a time in Montréal, Québec. Bernard W. Sznycer and Selma G. Gottlieb conceived one of the most advanced and innovative helicopters of its day. Designed to minimize vibrations and facilitate production, the SG Mark VI first flew in July 1947. Canada’s Department of Transport awarded a Certificate of Airworthiness to a second prototype, in April 1951. The SG Mark VI was the first helicopter designed within the British Commonwealth of Nations to be so honored.
This short historical documentary was first presented at the Vertical Flight Society’s 76th Annual Forum by Rénald Fortier, Curator, Aviation and Space, Canada Aviation and Space Museum, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in conjunction with other introspective accountings of aviation and helicopter history.
A copy of this historical paper may be downloaded from the Vertical Flight Society store. |
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Canadian Aviation MomentsAviation Trivia Q&A, with thanks to Dennis Casper of the Regina Chapter (answers will appear in next month's e-newsletter) |
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Question: Why did a flight of two airplanes turn tragic over Regina in the fall of 1921? Hint: The answer is somewhere on the CAHS Regina site 1920-29 Chronology page that can be accessed here. |
| Question: The PBYs the RCAF received in 1941 – 42 were of three different variants with three different names. What were the three names and how did they differ? Hint: Have you read Roger Sarty's War in the St. Lawrence? |
| Question: What percentage of the air that went through the engines of the Arrow ended up in the air conditioning system? What were the important areas in the Arrow to have controlled temperature? Hint: At least one book dedicated to the Avro CF-105 Arrow provides a succinct answer. The Arrow Scrapbook: Rebuilding a Dream and Nation by Peter Zuuring. |
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More Canadian Aviation Moments– In the News – |
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Would you believe it has been 60 years since the RCAF began flying the Hercules?!See this story about the venerable Herc, which you can read online at the SKIES magazine web site here… If you are reading this issue of the newsletter over your morning coffee, while you are sitting at your computer, an entertaining story about two pilots who got into the coffee business is another item in SKIES that you should read! Check it out here… |
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We still have limited availability on these recent additions left in the e-shop… |
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| The annual CAHS Aviation Art Calendar, 2021 edition is a 13-month calendar featuring 13 full colour aviation artworks by talented artists within the CAHS membership, The price of $20 each (shipping included) is hard to beat! |
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| We are still able to offer both volumes of Flight at a special discount of $17 each, or $32 for the pair, plus shipping. Each volume features approximately 3 dozen short Canadian aviation stories, including pieces contributions by CAHS members Gary Williams and Will Chabun. The variety of coverage appeals ot those interested in the entire gamut of Canadian aviation experiences. While we still have them… |
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Airlift to the Top of the World: The Royal Air Force and the British Greenland Expedition 1951-1954 is the definitive text on this rarely-covered subject. Illustrated throughout – an enjoyable, educational read, and a visual feast. |
| Our own CAHS Journal manages to feature accounts of aviation trials and tribulations in the High Arctic from time to time, but this story is one rarely seen, even among the pages of our UK-based counterparts. It is also a diverse one, featuring Danish Cansos, RAF Sunderlands, JATO-boosted Albatrosses and Skytrains, field-repairs in less than ideal conditions, polar aviator Bernt Balchen, and a climbing-enthusiast Royal Navy officer. We have less than 10 copies left in our special discount offer. |
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| | | Welcome aboard to the Canadian Aerospace Artists Association, our newest, and first virtual chapter. The chapter's page is now up on our website. Pay them a visit and follow the organization's own links from our CAHS Chapter page. Visitors should appreciate that the CAHS has long enjoyed a close association with CAAA member artists – many are willing participants in our annual CAHS Aviation Art Calendar programme and some have been CAHS members for many years. |
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| The CAHS Regina Chapter presents: Photos from the collection of Brian Findlay 7:30 pm CST, Thursday 21 January 2021 |
| | The late Brian Findlay was a Regina pilot, flying instructor, aviation artist, scale model builder, and photographer – of aircraft ranging from those at Canadian airshows in the 1970s to the cream of Britain's aviation museums and much more – like an RAF Vulcan that visited Canada in 1969.
To take part in this Zoom presentation by CAHS member Will Chabun, please email CAHS Regina no later than Wednesday, 20 Jan. 20. |
No 1 STU Sabres at Moose Jaw, c.1968 • Brian Findlay collection photo |
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Special Thanks To Our Supporters |
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If you have changed your mailing or e-mail address, please get in touch to keep us up to date. Contact the Membership Administrator here. To enquire about membership payment records, contact the Treasurer here. Click here to renew immediately online, or to join as a new member. If you would like to register or renew by mail, printable forms are also available in the bottom area of this page on our site. If you have any aviation history-related news or events to share, please contact our newsletter editor here. Please feel free to forward to friends and family members, or encourage them to sign up on our website to receive the newsletter directly for FREE. We hope that you enjoy receiving this monthly newsletter and find the contents informative and enjoyable. If you no longer wish to receive it for any reason, please use the unsubscribe option below to have your email address removed immediately from the mailing list. |
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The Canadian Aviation Historical Society (CAHS) P.O. Box 2700 • Station D • Ottawa • Ontario • K1P 5W7 visit us at www.cahs.com The CAHS is incorporated as a Canadian Registered Charity under a Federal Charter with the business registration number 118829589 RR001 |
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