ON PROUD WINGS

THE COMOX VALLEY AIR FORCE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

19 Wing Comox 19 Wing Comox June 2007 June 2005

Volume 2

Issue 1

Photo Ken Oxley

Spitfire pilots meet at the Comox Air Force Museum for lunch 20 May 2007
See caption on page 2

CVAFMA Executive 2006-07

President: Vice President: Secretary: Treasurer: Membership: Director at Large: Bingo Coordinator: Fund Raising: Ex-Officio: Ex-Officio: Mike Hendren Harlin Price David Stinson Mike Spooner Ken Hutchison Bill Cuell Herb Lightfoot Terry Chester John Low Lorraine Angly

Newsletter Staff Publisher:

Ken Oxley Contact Information

Museum Chairman: John Low, Capt. 19 Wing Heritage Officer Curator/Program & Volunteer Manager: Lorraine Angly Gift Shop Manager: Noreen Purdy Comox Air Force Museum 19 Wing Comox, Lazo BC V0R 2K0 (Vancouver Island) Phone/Fax: 250-339-8162 E-mail: info@comoxairforcemuseum.ca Website: www.comoxairforcemuseum.ca Museum, Library and Gift Shop open 10am - 4pm daily Spitfire Hanger - Saturdays 10am-3pm Spitfire/Y2K Project Website: www.y2kspitfire.com Heritage Airpark is open May-September - 10am - 4pm Cover Picture Left to right - F/O Jim O'Toole RCAF, S/L Hart Finley RCAF, Lt Cmd Jim Rankin RN, W/O Jan Pomietlarz RAF, W/C Stocky Edwards RCAF/RAF, W/C Duke Warren RCAF/RAF, S/L Art Sager RCAF, F/L Kit Carson RCAF/RAF 2

TOUGHTS FROM OUR CURATOR

Historica Fair a Huge Success The Museum recently hosted the 2nd annual School District 71 History Fair on the 27th and 28th of April. The event, held at the Military Family Resource Centre, saw 380 students representing kindergarten to grade 12 from nine schools display their work. On the Friday, 43 judges evaluated 265 projects and interviewed students on their research. The judges were excited at the quality of the projects produced by the students and the level of energy exhibited in the room. To facilitate the judging, students were separated into divisions, with only one division being judged at any one time. Museum volunteers were kept busy hosting events for the divisions while they waited their turn at evaluation. Marty had her hands full with the junior students, drawing Aircraft pictures and playing Bingo. David challenged middle school students and teachers with a famous Canadians historical quiz. Amanda and Mike reviewed the construction and aerodynamic capabilities of paper planes in the arena. The volume of students through the Museum provided some interesting moments for the volunteers. Irv, Don and Mike did a great job of managing the traffic flow. There must have been some confusion though, as after a large group of senior students went through, our Argus engine Tech lost his drawers. All in all, the fair was a huge success. Considering the original estimate was for 100 participants. The students were very pleased with the activities held for them and the public was pleased with the projects. The big lesson for next year will be to not underestimate the level of participation.

Lorraine Angly

Curator/Program & Volunteer Manager

THE PUBLISHERS CLIPBOARD

As always, thanks to those who contribute articles and other material to the newsletter. There must be more members out there who have something to submit that would be of interest to others, whether its a photo, a story, or anything relevant to what we do and who we are. Please dont hesitate to send it to me. Contact us at info@comoxairforcemuseum.ca or leave a message at the Museum. Visit www.comoxairforcemuseum.ca or drop by the museum to find out more about current activities. To join our Association download the application on our website under Volunteer, leave a phone message at the Museum, or drop by and fill out an application. For only $10 annually, some of the benefits you receive include our newsletter, discounts in the gift shop, and a voice in the organization. Ken Oxley Publisher/Volunteer If you are currently receiving this newsletter by mail, please forward your email address to receive a high quality issue via the Internet.

A Word from the Museum Chairman

Our 20th Anniversary Celebration is now well underway. Since the last newsletter, we have been very busy. The Snowbird autograph session brought a lot of visitors to the Museum. We have all heard the sad news about the accident that has happened since then. The School District #71 Heritage Showcase was a great event, with approximately 350 students participating. The Y2K Open House saw over 1500 visitors. The Garage Sale and Operation Paper Shredder were both successful, with over $2,400 being raised. We have received excellent coverage in the media with articles in the Echo, Record, Totem Times and coverage on A-Channel (see our website News page to view this clip). I am happy to say that, at this point, we are up over a thousand more visitors than other years the actual number being 5,900. That means we are halfway to our usual yearly total of 12,000, and the busy season is just starting. Talking about the busy season, June continues the trend of April and May, with even more weekend events. June 2nd is the 19 Wing Open House. It remains to be seen just how many visitors this will bring to the Museum, as it is the Wings first Open House. The Heritage Stone Dedication ceremony will take place June 3rd. At the time that I am writing this, we already have over 155 guests and not everyone has RSVPd. Needless to say, we had to order more chairs, 250 to be exact. Now, all we need is good weather. Then, on the 23rd and 24th June, the Museum hosts the RC Model Aircraft event. For those of you who have been by the Heritage Air Park recently, you will have noticed that more paths are being put in. This is part of the continuing beautification of the Air Park. Don Smith has sent us a detailed drawing of the Heritage Entrance - now all we have to do is figure out who is going to build it. As you can see, the Museum continues to be a happening place. Thanks volunteers, you continue to make it happen.

Capt. John Low Chairman CAFM

Presidents Report
Summer 07 Three Cheers for the Volunteers!
What a crazy busy spring weve had and it was all a great Success because of the enthusiasm, hard work and support of the Association Volunteers. The 2nd Annual Heritage Stone Dedication on June 3rd was very well attended, had great weather and our special guest, the Lieutenant Governor, Iona Campagnolo delivered one of her wonderful thought provoking speeches. The two hundred guests couldnt say enough good things about the event. We can look forward to an article about the Heritage Stone Program and the Museum in the Infocus Magazine in the next couple of months. Amazing turnout for the Spitfire Annual Open House, a 3rd successful Garage Sale and the unveiling of Op. Shredder were all on the same day. I think everyone of our volunteers was involved in some capacity that Sunday. The Snowbird autograph session was again hugely popular with line-ups stretching through the museum. Being part of these events, we were all out doing what we love to do; working for the Museum. Its difficult to single out any individuals for special recognition as everyones time is very valuable but a few of the people have contributed above and beyond and are usually at every event helping in some capacity, and they are: Allison Hetman, Bill Cuell, Mel Birnie, Val Kaehler, Don Manley, Ken and Lynda Oxley.

Mike Hendren President CVAFMA 4

UPCOMING MUSEUM EVENTS

23-24 Jun 07: 24 June 07: 1 Jul 07: 4-6 Aug 07: 15 Sep 07: 15 Sep 07: 16 Sep 07: Joel Clarkston Memorial R/C Aircraft Scale Model Event Organization of Military Museums tours our Museum CAFM participates in Courtenay Parade with heritage vehicles CAFM participates in Comox Nautical Days Parade with heritage vehicles 20th Anniversary of the Comox Air Force Museum Open House REXPO Battle of Britain Ceremonies at Heritage Air Park

BOOKS
Lets start with what I consider a must read book for those who are interested in the criteria used by the Awards Committee when they Gave an award. The book by Hugh Halliday, Valour Reconsidered makes inquiries into the Victoria Cross and other awards for extreme bravery. ISBN 10: 1-896941478. This book raises many questions and answers only a few. It is published by Robert Brass Studio. Several chapters explain the questions: (1) Air Force Victoria Crosses, Granted and Denied (2) Not the Face of the Enemy (3) Gallantry With a Supporting Cast (4) Righting Wrongs or Settling Scores The author describes how politics affected the granting or withholding of awards and revisits the controversy stemming from the awarding of the Victoria Cross to Billy Bishop in 1917. In Canadian Service-Starfighter CF-104 is number 4 in the series by A.L. Stachiw and A. Tattersall, ISBN 10: 1-55125-114-0. This book profiles the design, operational history and variants of the CF-104 in Canadian Service and is published by Vanwell Publishing Limited. Canadian Combat and Support Aircraft, a Military Compendium by BGEN Terry Leversedge, ISBN 10: 55125-116-7 is a brief summary of the majority of aircraft used by the various arms of Canadas Forces from the Burgess-Dunne up to the Sagem Sperwer used in Afghanistan. This is a most valuable addition to any serious aeroaficionados library. Two additional books by Chris Weight in his series Air Pilot Navigator Vol. 3 and 4, ISBN 14-1208861-5 and ISBN 142512073-3 are about some obscure and other wellknown airports. Vol. 4 covers the lower mainland from Vancouver to Lethbridge. If you are doing research on aviation in BC, all four volumes are a useful series and should help you in your quest. They are available from the author.

Brian OCain Volunteer

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The Spitfire Hangar

7th ANNUAL OPEN HOUSE A GIGANTIC SUCCESS Over 1,700 Spitfire enthusiasts attended this years open house and gave a standing ovation to the 9 veteran Spitfire pilots as they entered the restoration hangar, led by piper Wally Lewis. To make the event even more spectacular Major Jack Shapka of 386 Squadron, Air Cadets provided an honour guard and an escort for each pilot. The visitors were entertained by the Air Cadet Band and music they provided drifted into the hangar and annex and was appreciated by all. Special thanks to the Air Cadets who brought a touch of pomp and ceremony to our event. Rob Roy and his team did an excellent job transporting the Spitfire veterans to the hangar in the heritage military vehicles while the RCMP and the Military Police provided an escort for the procession. We appreciate their efforts and the veterans loved it. Many visitors that turned out for the open house brought memorabilia with them including group photos of Fathers or Grandfathers taken at air bases in England or the continent during the War. They wanted to share the pride they grew up with knowing that a loved one had flown Spitfires and had been part of something historic and special. The restoration team draws a tremendous amount of energy and motivation from these family members. The main attraction as always was the veterans; collectively they signed thousands of autographs and charmed everybody, regrettably former F/L Eric Marsh RAF one of our invited Spitfire veterans passed away at the Nanaimo Regional Hospital on Friday May 18. He was looking forward to attending the event, to promote the project and to spend some quality time with the other Spitfire veterans. Erics picture will be displayed in the hangar and we shall share his story with our summer visitors.

If you missed this years open house; you missed the premier aviation event on Vancouver Island this year.

Pat Murphy, Spitfire Volunteer

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THE PAST THREE MONTHS

Snowbirds Visit 2007

Operation Paper Shredder

Garage Sale
Photos Ken Oxley

Canadian Forces Day 2007

Photos Ken Oxley

Heritage Stones Dedication Ceremony June 2007

Photos Ken Oxley