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Canadian Warplanes
Canadian Warplanes
Canadian Warplanes
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Canadian Warplanes

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This aviation handbook is designed to be used as a quick reference to the classic military heritage aircraft that have been flown by members of the Canadian Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the present-day Canadian Forces. The interested reader will find useful information and a few technical details on most of the military aircraft that have been in service with active Canadian squadrons both at home and overseas. 100 selected photographs have been included to illustrate a few of the major examples in addition to the serial numbers assigned to Canadian service aircraft. For those who like to actually see the aircraft concerned, aviation museum locations, addresses and contact phone numbers have been included, along with a list of aircraft held in each museums current inventory or on display as gate guardians throughout Canada and overseas. The aircraft presented in this edition are listed alphabetically by manufacturer, number and type.
Although many of Canadas heritage warplanes have completely disappeared, a few have been carefully collected, restored and preserved, and some have even been restored to flying condition. This guide-book should help you to find and view Canadas Warplane survivors.
LanguageEnglish
PublisheriUniverse
Release dateNov 16, 2009
ISBN9781440167591
Canadian Warplanes
Author

Harold A. Skaarup

Major Hal Skaarup has served with the Canadian Forces for more than 40 years, starting with the 56th Field Squadron, RCE and completing his service as the G2 (Intelligence Officer) at CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick in August 2011. He was a member of the Canadian Airborne Regiment, served three tours with the Skyhawks Parachute Demonstration Team, and worked in the Airborne Trials and Evaluation section. He served as an Intelligence Officer overseas in Germany and Colorado, and has been on operational deployments to Cyprus, Bosnia, and Afghanistan. He has been an instructor at the Tactics School at the Combat Training Centre in Gagetown and at the Intelligence Training Schools in Borden and Kingston. He earned a Master's degree in War Studies through the Royal Military College, and has authored a number of books on military history.

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    Canadian Warplanes - Harold A. Skaarup

    Copyright © 2009 by Harold A. Skaarup

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

    iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

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    1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

    Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

    Many significant elements of the history of Canadian Military Aviation and the aircraft flown or operated by members of the Canadian Forces have not yet been told. The information that is found within this collection of technical data, historical reports, first person stories and articles generally reflects the observations and flight experiences of past and current members of the Canadian Forces. Much of the information is based on their personal recollections of events that may not be complete or fully accurate. Their stories continue to unfold as additional research turns up the missing elements of our history.

    Per Ardua Ad Astra

    ISBN: 978-1-4401-6758-4 (pbk)

    ISBN: 978-1-4401-6759-1 (ebk)

    Printed in the United States of America

    iUniverse rev. date: 11/10/2009

    Contents

    Dedication

    Epigraph

    Museum Abbreviations

    Foreword

    Acknowledgements

    Introduction

    Chapter I

    Chapter II

    Annex A

    Annex B

    Annex C

    About the Author

    Abbreviations

    Aviation Bibliography

    Dedication

    For my father, Warrant Officer Aage C. Skaarup.

    Warrant Officer (Retired) Aage Christensen Skaarup joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1954 after a visit to the recruiting center in Saint John, New Brunswick. He had served with the Carleton and York Regiment as a band member and already had some previous military service. He went on to basic training in St Jean, Quebec. This base is still in use by the Canadian Forces (CF), and I have taken courses there myself-not the first time that I followed in his footsteps in the military. A qualified machinist before he joined, on completion of his basic training in 1955 he was awarded the rank of Leading Aircraftsman (LAC).

    After Dad completed his basic training in St. Jean in 1955, he was posted to the RCAF station located at Camp Borden, Ontario. My Mother Beatrice and my brother Dale and I then moved there from our farm home in Carleton County, New Brunswick. We lived in the nearby town of Alliston before moving into military housing designated Permanent Married Quarters (PMQs) at what is now Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Borden, the first of many trips to the base.

    In the summer of 1957 Dad was posted from Borden to CFB Trenton, Ontario. We lived in a small home about 2 km East of the airfield on the Bay of Quinte side of the highway. I well remember the many rows of yellow Harvard trainers and a dozen or more Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar transports on the ramp at the airfield. Dad was also a skilled musician with the violin and trumpet, and played in the RCAF band for many parades and Remembrance Day ceremonies. Both he and my mother who played accordion and piano, continued to perform their duets for various audiences long after his retirement.

    In 1959, during a period that is even now referred to as the RCAF Golden Years, we were again posted, this time to 3 Fighter (F) Wing, Zweibrucken, Germany. I can remember to this day our family taking a Taxi from the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec on 10 June 1959, to Pier 42 on the St Lawrence River, where we boarded the Greek Lines ship Arcadia, along with many other RCAF families making the same journey overseas. We shared fully in my father’s adventure and in the travels which came with his new job. The ship’s passage across the North Atlantic to Europe took a week. Lifeboat drills, whale-watching and sighting the coast of Ireland on a foggy morning would be experiences familiar to many who made the same voyage during the war years. Many years later during my service in the CF, when it came time for my family and I to do the same rotation, it was onboard a Boeing 707 jet. I’ve had several thousand flights since then, but I still remember the first trip across the Atlantic on the Arcadia. Other families travelled on the Ivernia and the Saxonia, and most remember the trip as a great adventure.

    As part of his job on base, Dad operated the mobile radar station which was set up in the middle of the runways at 3 (F) Wing, which meant he saw a lot of take-offs and landings for Canadian Sabres, Canucks and Starfighters as well as various aircraft operated by our NATO allies. For four years we lived on the economy in Germany, with lots of camping and castle hunting and exploring much of Europe from Denmark to Spain. We also lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis (it was the first time I saw Dad come home armed with a pistol), and the raising of the Berlin Wall (it went up in my time as a child and did not go down until I was back there with my own children a generation later), and Dad calling us to come over to the radio to listen to John Glenn’s flight into space. We saw the world through his RCAF service in a way that very few CF families will experience in our present time. We visited the RCAF Headquarters in Metz, France, and the RCAF Bases at 1 (F) Wing, Marveille, and 2 (F) Wing, Grostenquin in France, and 4 (F) Wing, Baden-Soellingen. My father’s younger brother Carl served with the Canadian Army in Soest, Northern Germany, and we visited his family who took us on a tour of the Mohne Dam, one of the targets during the war of the famous Lancaster Dam Busters bombers. There were still many German towns undergoing reconstruction from bomb damage from the war. The old bombed out palace in downtown Zweibrucken was a complete wreck. It is now fully restored and used as a municipal government building.

    On the 19th ofJune 1963, we said goodbye to Zweibrucken, and took a military bus to 1 (F) Wing, Marveille, France. The next day we boarded an RCAF Canadair Yukon transport and flew back to Canada, landing in Trenton and staying in the Yukon Lodge, as have thousands of other Canadian service families. From here, Dad was posted to Canada’s NORAD HQ in North Bay, Ontario, adding my brother Chris to the family while we were living there. North Bay is the counterpart to the NORAD HQ I worked in at Colorado Springs for four years from 1999 to 2003. Again, I seemed to be following in his footsteps.

    Dad served three years in North Bay, and was then posted in the summer of 1966 to Canadian Forces Station (CFS) Gypsumville, a Pinetree Line Radar site in Manitoba. During this time, the RCAF along with the RCN and Canadian Army was renamed and he became a member of the Canadian Forces when it stood up in February 1968. He worked at this radar site on the Pinetree Line until posted to CFS Gander, Newfoundland, that same year, where he served another three years. In the summer of 1971 he was posted to CFB Chatham, New Brunswick, where he completed his 20 years of service, retiring as a Warrant Officer in the Canadian Forces.

    Working for himself on his farm, he restored old bulldozers and tractors and for his 70th birthday, he built and learned to fly his own airplane, a two-seat, single-engine Challenger Ultralight. He sold his aircraft when he reached the age of 85 because the time he was spending in it was beginning to interfere with his time skiing at Crabbe Mountain. On 11 November 2009 he will be 86, and still thinking of his proud service with the RCAF.

    Epigraph

    Shortly after crossing the French coast, Lancaster VR-A, No. KB726 ofthe Royal Canadian Air Force 419 Moose Squadron was briefly coned by enemy searchlights. After some evasive manoeuvres, they were in the safety of darkness again. They began descending to the level of their planned attack when a German Junkers Ju 88 night-fighter came in from astern. Its cannons blazed from below. Three explosions tore the aircraft. Both port engines were knocked out and began to flame. Hydraulic lines to the rear turret were severed and the fluid ignited, turning the rear ofthe fuselage into an inferno. The Captain, Art de Bryne gave the order to bail out.

    Warrant Officer Mynarski left his post at the mid upper turret and began to make his way to the rear escape door. Through the fierce flames, he could see his friend Pat Brophy, desperately trying to escape from the immobilized rear turret. Pat was trapped. The turret hadjammed in a position where the doors to escape didn’t line up and, in his frantic attempts to free himself, he had broken the manual back-up system as well. By now, all ofthe other crew members had made their escapes from the stricken aircraft.

    In complete disregard for his own safety, Andrew Mynarski crawled through the flames to assist hisfellow gunner. Not noticing that his own flight suit andparachute had caughtfire, hefought heroically to free the turret, but all his efforts were in vain. Brophy signalled that there was nothing more he could do and that he should bail out and save himself. Reluctantly, Mynarski complied. Backing through the flames to the escape hatch, he stood up and, before jumping, he saluted his doomed comrade. French witnesses saw him plunge earthward in flames but when they found him, he was so severely burned that he died within hours.

    Ironically, Pat Brophy survived, unhurt. When the Lancaster crashed at a shallow angle, two ofits twenty bombs immediately exploded, throwing the tail gunner clear. His watch stopped at 2:13 a.m., Friday, 13 June 1944.

    Posthumously, with the rank of Pilot Officer, Andrew Charles Mynarski was awarded the Victoria Cross, the British Commonwealth’s highest awardfor bravery. "

    Internet: http://www.spitcrazy.com/andrewmynarskistory.htm.

    Museum Abbreviations

    Aero Space Museum of Calgary (ASMC), Calgary, Alberta.

    Aero Space Museum Association of Calgary (ASMAC), Calgary, Alberta.

    Air Force Heritage Museum and Air Park (AFHM&AP), CFB Winnipeg, Manitoba.

    Alberta Aviation Museum (AAM), Edmonton, Alberta.

    Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Park (AGBHP), Baddeck, Nova Scotia.

    Atlantic Canada Aviation Museum, (ACAM), Halifax, Nova Scotia.

    A.V. Roe Canada Heritage Museum (AVRCHM), Calgary, Alberta.

    British Columbia Aviation Museum (BCAM), Sidney, British Columbia.

    Bagotville Air Defence Museum Bagotville (BADM), CFB Bagotville, Quebec.

    Base Borden Military Museum (BBMM), CFB Borden, Ontario.

    Base Gagetown Military Museum (BGMM), CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick.

    Base Petawawa Military Museum (BPMM), CFB Petawawa, Ontario.

    Billy Bishop Heritage Museum (BBHM), Owen Sound, Ontario.

    Botwood Heritage Centre (BHC), Botwood, Newfoundland.

    British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), Vancouver, British Columbia.

    Brome County Historical Society (BCHS), Knowlton, Quebec.

    Canada Aviation Museum (CAM), Rockcliffe, Ottawa, Ontario

    Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame (CAHF), Edmonton, Alberta.

    Canadian Aeronautical Preservation Association (CAPA), CFB Greenwood, Nova Scotia.

    Canadian Air and Space Museum, (CASM), Toronto, Ontario.

    Canadian Airborne Forces Museum (CABFM), CFB Petawawa, Ontario.

    Canadian Air Land Sea Museum (CALSM), Markham, Ontario.

    Canadian Aviation Artist’s Association (CAAA), Sydenham, Ontario.

    Canadian Aviation Heritage Centre (CAHC), Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec.

    Canadian Aviation Historical Society (CAHS), Windsor, Ontario.

    Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre (CBHC), Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.

    Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum (BENMM),

    CFB Esquimalt, British Columbia.

    Canadian Forces Command and Staff College (CFCSC), CFB Toronto, Ontario. Canadian Forces Museum of Aerospace Defence, (CFMAD), CFB North Bay, Ontario. Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Training and Engineering (CFSATE), CFB Borden, Ontario.

    Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association (CHAA), Tillsonburg, Ontario.

    Canadian Historical Aircraft Association (CH2A), Windsor, Ontario.

    Canadian Military Heritage Museum (CMHM), Brantford, Ontario.

    Canadian Museum of Flight (CMF), Langley, British Columbia.

    Canadian War Museum (CWM), Ottawa, Ontario.

    Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum (CWHM), Mount Hope, Ontario.

    Cold Lake Air Force Museum (CLAFM), CFB Cold Lake, Alberta.

    Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum (CATPM), Brandon, Manitoba.

    Comox Air Force Museum (CAFM), CFB Comox, British Columbia.

    Edenvale Classic Aircraft Foundation (ECAF), Staynor, Ontario.

    Forest Protection Limited (FPL), Fredericton, New Brunswick.

    Frontiers Military Aviation Museum (FMAM), St Jerome Chrysostome, Quebec.

    Great War Flying Museum (GWFM), Cheltenham, Ontario.

    Greenwood Military Aviation Museum (GMAM), CFB Greenwood, Nova Scotia.

    Jack Arnold Aviation Museum (JAAM), Brantford, Ontario.

    Labrador Military Museum (LMM), CFB Goose Bay, Labrador, Newfoundland.

    Maritime Command Museum (MCM), CFB Halifax, Nova Scotia.

    Memorial Military Museum (MMM), Campbellford, Ontario.

    Mosquito Bomber Group (MBG), Windsor, Ontario.

    Nanton Lancaster Air Museum (NLAM), Nanton, Alberta.

    National Air Force Museum of Canada (NAFMC), CFB Trenton, Ontario.

    National Museum of Science & Technology (NMST), Ottawa, Ontario.

    Naval Museum of Alberta (NMA), Calgary, Alberta.

    Naval Museum of Quebec (NMQ), Quebec City, Quebec.

    New Brunswick Museum (NBM), Saint John, New Brunswick.

    North Atlantic Aviation Museum (NAAM), Gander, Newfoundland.

    Northwest Aviation and Heritage Museum (NAHM), Okotoks, Alberta.

    Ontario Science Centre (OSC), Toronto, Ontario.

    Prince Edward Island Heritage Aircraft Society (HAS), Summerside, PEI.

    Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre (PWNHC), Yellowknife,

    Northwest Territories.

    Quebec Air & Space Museum (QASM), Saint-Hubert, Quebec.

    Quesnel Heritage Aircraft Museum (QHAM), Quesnel, British Columbia.

    RCMP Museum (RCMPM), Regina, Saskatchewan.

    Reynolds-Alberta Museum (R-AM), Wetaskiwin, Alberta.

    Shearwater Aviation Museum (SAM), CFB Shearwater, Nova Scotia.

    Tiger Boys’Aeroplane Works and Flying Museum (TAWFM), Guelph, Ontario.

    Ventura Memorial Flight Association (VMFA), Edmonton, Alberta. Vintage Wings of Canada (VWC), Gatineau, Quebec. Western Canada Aviation Museum Inc. (WCAM), Winnipeg, Manitoba. Western Development Museum (WDM), Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

    Foreword

    For those of us who must look up when an aircraft flies overhead or have avgas in their veins or simply enjoy aviation of all sorts, this is a must book for you.

    Hal Skaarup has spent endless hours conducting accurate research to provide us with a handbook of Canadian Warplane survivors.

    You will be amazed at the number of aircraft contain within this volume that Canadian airmen have had an association with. I know I was. Additionally if you are on the road seeking these airframes or plan to be in the near future, you will find the location of each of them providing they are still in existence.

    Simply put, there is an astonishing amount of data contained within that will provide you with endless hours of saved research, outstanding information and an excellent companion when travelling to see these marvellous Warplanes.

    Simply stated, this is a volume that each and every aviation enthusiast should have in his or her knapsack.

    Enjoy as I did.

    Bryan Nelson

    Executive Director

    Canadian Aeronautical Preservation Association Inc

    Acknowledgements

    No catalogue of Canadian military aircraft can be compiled without expert advice and accurate information from the sources closest to the subject. I would like to extend a very large thank you to the museum staffs and aviation enthusiasts who kept me supplied with updates on the aircraft being preserved along with their current locations that are part of Canada’s aviation history. This list does not have every name, but each one deserves special mention:

    R.W.R. Walker for the generous access to his list of Canadian Military Aircraft Serial Numbers. Erin Napier, Curator, and Jim VanDyk, Chief Engineer, Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, Mount Hope, Ontario. Robin Hadfield, Edenvale Classic Aircraft Foundation, Edenvale, Ontario . Bryan Nelson , Curator, Greenwood Military Aviation Museum, CFB Greenwood, Nova Scotia. Daphne Frost, North Atlantic Aviation Museum, Gander, Newfoundland. Tom Dietrich and Bob Revell, Tiger Boys’ Aeroplane Works and Flying Museum, Guelph, Ontario. Shane Clayton, Archives & Museum Chairman, Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association, Tillsonburg, Ontario. Jim Charters, The Great War Flying Museum, Cheltenham, Ontario. Christine Hines, Curator, Shearwater Aviation Museum, CFB Shearwater, Nova Scotia. Bob Evans, Volunteer Curator, Nanton Lancaster Air Museum, Nanton, Alberta. Stuart L. Beaton, LCol (Ret’d), Base Borden Military Museum, CFB Borden, Ontario. Ian Waterlow, Library and Archives, British Columbia Aviation Museum, Vancouver, British Columbia. Anne Lindsay, Base Petawawa Military Museum, CFB Petawawa, Ontario. Lt (N) Aura Pon, Naval Museum of Alberta, Calgary, Alberta. Matt Offer, Collections Management, Canadian Museum of Flight, Langley, British Columbia . Captain John Low, 19 Wing Heritage Officer, Director Comox Air Force Museum, CFB Comox, British Columbia. Marcel Richard and Jason Meade, Base Gagetown Military Museum, CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick. Olivier Emond . adjuc, Officier du patrimoine, Musee de la Defense aerienne , 3e Escadre, CFB Bagotville , Quebec. Brent D. Suttie, Project Executive, Archaeological Resources, Heritage Branch, Fredericton, New Brunswick. Major Brendan Bond, Deputy Director, and Sgt Patricia McNorgan, Deputy Air Force Historian, Office of Air Force Heritage and History, 1 Canadian Air Division, CFB Winnipeg, Manitoba. Paul A. Hayes, AeroCan Aviation Specialists Inc., North York, Ontario. Chris Cotton , Executive Director, and William (Bill) Nurse, Researcher, National Air Force Museum of Canada, CFB Trenton , Ontario . Dan V. Dempsey, CD, High Flight Enterprises Ltd., Victoria, British Columbia. Grant Johnson, Chief Instructor/Hangar Supervisor, British Columbia Institute ofTechnology, Vancouver, British Columbia. Jim Sulis, President, Canadian Aviation Historical Society New Brunswick Chapter, Saint John, New Brunswick. Bruce McLeod , Canadian Aviation Heritage Centre , Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec. Arlene Royea, Managing Director, Brome County Historical Society, Knowlton, Quebec. Joe Green, Assistant Curator, Cold Lake Air Force Museum , CFB Cold Lake , Alberta. Carolyn Leslie, Vintage Wings of Canada, Gatineau, Quebec. Kim Verrier, Volunteer Manager, Aero Space Museum of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta. Stephen Hayter, Executive Director, Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, Brandon, Manitoba. David Samson, Museum Technician, Moose Jaw Western

    Development Museum, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Joanne Bird, Curator of Collections, Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Paul Squires, Curator, Alberta Aviation Museum, Edmonton, Alberta. Michael Beale, President, and Pauline Stanton, Library/Archivist, Canadian Historical Aircraft Association, Windsor, Ontario. Byron Reynolds and Noel Ratch, Curator, Reynolds-Alberta Museum, Wetaskiwin, Alberta. Carl Mills, Ontario. Larry Milberry, Toronto, Ontario.

    Introduction

    As an aviation enthusiast, I have learned over the years that there are a lot of us who have an interest in military aircraft that have been flown by Canadian servicemen and women throughout Canada’s long and interesting aviation history. Many of Canada’s retired warplanes have completely disappeared, particularly those from the early years. Fortunately, a good number of our retired warplanes continue to exist, preserved in aviation museums and in some cases as gate-guardians in a wide variety of locations. Canadians have been successful in preserving a good number of them, although many are still being sought and in some cases, being restored to flying condition again. As an aviation artist, photographer and enthusiast, I have attempted to keep track of where our warplane survivors are presently located, and to try to identify at least one each of every warplane ever flown with a Canadian at the controls. For those of like mind, the purpose of this handbook is to provide a simple checklist of the classic heritage aircraft that were actually on the Canadian Air Force (CAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), Canadian Army or Canadian Forces (CF) inventory (including serial numbers where known), as well as those combat aircraft that were in service with an active squadron at home or overseas in peacetime and war. I have borrowed a great number of photographs to try and illustrate an example of each warplane wherever possible, and to list a location for where one can find an example of surviving aircraft now.

    It is exciting to see the actual numbers of former Canadian warplanes increasing as a few rare examples are being recovered from their crash sites in the bush, traded for, or bought back from owners who have been flying them in other countries. In a few outstanding cases, accurate replicas, such as the Burgess-Dunne, Canada’s very first official warplane, and the Vickers Vedette biplane have been constructed. Full scale models such as the Avro CF-105 Arrow replica in the Canadian Air and Space Museum (CASM) are also making a welcome appearance. In spite of these successful additions to our visual and archaeological history, there are still many warplanes from Canada’s aviation history for which no single complete example exists anywhere in the world, and of those that do exist, an example can not be found in Canada, including biplane fighters such as the Atlas or Siskin, or a complete C-119 Flying Boxcar transport. Perhaps this state of affairs will one day be corrected. One of the aims of this book is to identify what our former warplanes on active service looked like and to help an enthusiast track down more detailed information such as a serial number or museum location which might be helpful in identifying an aircraft to determine if it was one of ours. Aircraft are listed in this handbook alphabetically by manufacturer, number and type. The data is also appended with a list of most of the current aircraft found in the various collections and Museums in Canada.

    No list can ever be completely up to date, and therefore, if a reader has additional information to add an update would be most welcome. It is my sincere hope that more of the aircraft listed here will one day be added to the list of survivors, as more of them are recovered and restored. Grant that you find this checklist useful.

    Cheers,

    Harold Skaarup

    Fredericton, New Brunswick

    Ex Coelis, E Tenebris Lux, Per Ardua Ad Astra

    (From the Skies, Out of Darkness-Light, Through Adversity to the Stars)

    Chapter I

    Canadian Warplane Checklist

    The following is an alphabetical list of aircraft operated by the CF, or flown by Canadian aircrew with allied forces (RAF, RN & USAF) with notes on the surviving aircraft and their present location. Each aircraft is identified as follows: Aircraft manufacturer, type, code number name and the number of this type of aircraft that were officially on CAF, RCAF, RCN, Canadian Army or CF strength. Location of Survivors, Mark or variant number, Serial Number, Colour Scheme, Notes. Where there are no Canadian survivors, a few places and museums in other countries are listed where one can view an existing example of a similar aircraft type.

    Aerial Experimental Association (AEA) Silver Dart

    J.A.D. McCurdy flew the Aerial Experimental Association’s (AEA) Silver Dart from the ice of Baddeck Bay, Nova Scotia on 23 February 1909. Shortly after the successful flight, Alexander Graham Bell attempted to interest government officials in aviation. In early June the Silver Dart was shipped to Camp Petawawa, where J.A.D. McCurdy and his partner F.W. Baldwin test flew the aircraft on 2 August 1909. A shed was erected to house the machine and a new 40-hp Kirkham automobile engine was shipped in for the aircraft. McCurdy flew the Silver Dart briefly, and was then joined by Baldwin for two more hops. On the fourth flight that morning, McCurdy misjudged his landing and crashed in rough ground. He and Baldwin were shaken up and cut and the machine was badly damaged. This was the Silver Dart’s first significant accident after some flights, although it had been lightly damaged during one of its previous 14 flights in the USA.

    The Silver Dart flew 50 times including the 14 in the US and the four at Petawawa. Total flights of the four AEA aircraft: Red Wing-2, White Wing-5, June Bug-54 (Loon configuration-0), Silver Dart-50. The AEA was disbanded at the end of March 1909 and, also, after that the ice became unsuitable for flying. Neither Baldwin nor McCurdy had done any flying from Mar to Aug. It was decided that they would ship the Silver Dart to get some practice flying in before the flight demos with the Baddeck 1. The Dart flights were done in the early morning because the press were bothering them. Part of the cause of the accident was the sun coming up in McCurdy’s eyes. No military folks were in attendance for these flights on 2 Aug 1909. (E-mail, Carl Mills/Hal Skaarup 25 May 2009).

    Their second machine, the CAC Baddeck No. 1 was soon assembled and fitted with the Silver Dart’s Kirkham engine. This aircraft crashed on its second flight and was a total wreck. The Baddeck No. 1 was repaired in Nova Scotia and Baddeck No. 2 was built, with the second version completing more than 50 successful flights. The Canadian Militia Council was offered both of these aircraft, but the offer was turned down. (CF Archives and Rob Macllreith). It should be noted that the first flights in Canada wouldn’t have gotten off the ground if Alexander Graham Bell’s wife Mabel hadn’t used her personal fortune to finance the aerial operations.

    Carl Mills wrote the Baddeck 1 was flown five times-twice at Petawawa in Aug 1909 and three times in Montreal in June 1910. It never flew in Baddeck. Reference the story of Dolena MacLeod, although we were all cheering for this, no primary evidence was found. The only printed information was via newspapers which came from interviews with her much later in her life. Older local Baddeckians recall hearing the story. Even Debora Baldwin (wife of Sean who is a grandson to ‘Casey’) could not uncover any hard evidence. I included Dolena in my presentation as local folklore but didn’t have a definitive conclusion. Significant Canadian aviation historians like Fuller, Molson, Ellis, and Griffin have totally ignored this event in their publications. If the event occurred then she would have been the first Canadian female and also the first woman in the British Empire. Statements in the interviews didn’t help. She indicated that ‘she flew with Baldwin on the Silver Dart in July (1909) at the Bentick Farm’. However, the Dart had been shipped to Petawawa (and never returned), Baldwin was in Petawawa and flying didn’t start at the Bentick airfield until Sep. The only aircraft that flew at Bentick was the Baddeck 2 and Baldwin only flew it a few times in Sep. However, in the newspaper interviews, her description of the short flight is compelling. E-mail, Carl Mills/Hal Skaarup 19 May 2009.

    The Curtiss engine that powered the Silver Dart is preserved in the CAM. An engine, propeller and gas tank have been preserved in the Alexander graham Bell Museum in Baddeck. The Silver Dart on display in the CAM is covered with doped linen, and is an airworthy replica built by RCAF volunteers between 1956 and 1958. The aircraft was flown at Baddeck on the 50th anniversary of the original flight, but crashed due to high, gusty winds. It was repaired for display at the CAM. Internet: http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/collections/artifacts/aircraft/ AEA_Silver_Dart.

    Replicas of the Silver Dart are displayed in the Aerospace Museum, Calgary, Alberta. Reynolds-Alberta Museum, Wetaskiwin, Alberta; in the Canada Aviation Museum, Rockcliffe, Ottawa, Ontario. Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. Atlantic Canada Aviation Museum, Bedford, Nova Scotia.

    The aircraft in the ACAM was built by Gordon McRae of Baddeck, Nova Scotia, with the help of the 75th Anniversary Committee, and is the second Silver Dart Replica that Mr. McRae built. The first replica eventually found its way into the RAF Museum in Hendon, England. Mr. McRae and his team built the replica from the original Bell drawings, which are owned by the Alexander Graham Bell Museum, in Baddeck. The replica is a fine display of craftsmanship right down to the last stitch. The engine was reproduced from wood to save weight and not strain the Frame over its display life. However, to look at the engine one cannot tell that it is wood, the construction is so exact. The replica has appeared in the movie: The Sound and the Silence. Its only flight was during the filming of the movie where it was tethered and towed by a pick up truck. The Silver Dart was acquired by the ACAM in the fall of 1993. Internet: http://www. atlanticcanadaaviation.com/relica.htm.

    A %-scale replica of the Silver Dart is on display in the Robert L. Stanfield International Airport, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Glenn Curtiss Museum, Hammondsport, New York. Ed Lubitz is building a replica at his airfield just west of Kitchener, with completion planned for Aug 2009. The AEA 2005 replica which flew in February 2009 is being rotated to a number of sites including CFB Greenwood until a display site is completed at the Bell Museum, possibly by 2011. The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, Mount Hope, Ontario has a 1-scale replica. Jack Minor, Port Colborne, Ontario has a trailerable 1-scale replica. The Town of Baddeck, Nova Scotia has a *4-scale replica.

    missing image file

    AEA Baddeck No. 1 (Canadian Forces photo)

    Canadian Aerodrome Company (CAC) Baddeck No. 1

    The CAC Baddeck No. 1 was demonstrated for the Canadian Army at Camp Petawawa on 12 August 1909, but crashed during its second test flight. It was later rebuilt along with a second model, which completed more than 60 successful flights. Total flights of the CAC: Baddeck 1-5 (2 Petawawa, 3 Montreal), Baddeck 2-60 (36 at Bentick Farm-beginning 25 Sept 1909 to Dec-then remainder on ice in 1910 from Feb to Mar 1910, with the last flight on floats near Baddeck. Hubbard monoplane-9. E-mail, Carl Mills/Hal Skaarup 25 May 2009. The Baddeck was offered to the Canadian government. This offer was turned down in 1910.

    The idea for constructing the Baddeck began in April 1909. Alexander Graham Bell encouraged Frederick W. Casey Baldwin and J.A. Douglas McCurdy to set up the Canadian Aerodrome Company (CAC) and its facilities in Baddeck, Nova Scotia, and provided the financing for the venture. Their goal was to begin making airplanes for possible sale to the Canadian Army. In June 1909, the Canadian Military invited McCurdy and Baldwin to demonstrate their flying machines at the base in Petawawa, Ontario. Plans were made to take the Silver Dart and the Baddeck I, the first CAC produced airplane to the base. The CAC Baddeck No. 1 was of exclusively Canadian manufacture. The AEA Silver Dart was shipped to Ontario on 26 June 1909 with CAC Baddeck No. 1 following at a later date. Test flights in Petawawa begin 2 August 1909 on an undulating field. McCurdy piloted the 1st flight on his own and the second flight with Baldwin as the passenger and a third flight with Willie MacDonald of Baddeck as the passenger. On the fourth flight, the Silver Dart struck a knoll, stalled and fell about 30 feet. The rough landing resulted in damage to the aircraft that could not be repaired at Petawawa. McCurdy and his passenger Baldwin were only slightly injured. Baddeck No. 1 arrived the same day and the Silver Dart was not repaired.

    On 12 August 1909, Baddeck No. 1 took to the air in a 100 meter flight, but engine failure prevented further testing that day. After a short flight on 12 August, Baddeck No. 1 was damaged after a hard landing. The military saw no need for further testing and remained sceptical of the practicality of flying machines. Upon their return to Baddeck, the CAC built the Baddeck No. 2. Test trials began on 17 September, with the first flight of the Baddeck No. 2 taking place on 25 Sep 1909 at Bentick. When the bay froze over, Baddeck No. 2 began flying on the ice on 26 Feb 1910 with flights continuing until 12 Mar 1910. It flew one more time-on

    1 June 1910, mounted on floats. Baddeck No. 2 had 36 flights at Bentick and 24 off the ice with one on floats for 60 flights which continued into October and November 1910. Baddeck No. 1 also underwent further modification, with the ailerons being relocated to a position between the wings. The Baddeck No. 1 was not flown at Baddeck and the new configuration was not tested, which may have been the source of trouble with the aircraft when it was flown later in Montreal. In theory, the Baddeck No. 1 was a better aircraft than the Silver Dart due to the modifications made as a result of its poor performance in Petawawa.

    The Silver Dart was capable of flying and crashed because of ground conditions-the engine apparently performed well-at least for short flights. The Baddecks were better aircraft, but the problem was that they had never flown the Baddeck 1 before it went to Petawawa. There was a major difference in the control of the front mounted elevators. The bi-wing front elevators were covered on both sides (vs. top only on the Dart) with a different camber. McCurdy tried to fly it like the Silver Dart, over-controlled, and stalled the aircraft. E-mail, Carl Mills/Hal Skaarup 25 May 2009.

    During this timeframe, Dolena MacKay MacLeod, age 22, flew as a passenger with Casey Baldwin in one of those airplanes over Bentick farm, entering local lore as the first woman to fly in an airplane in Canada. In February 1910, with McCurdy as pilot, Baddeck No. 1 made its first flight of 90 meters off the ice on Baddeck Bay on 23 February. Both Baddeck No. 1 and

    2 made many more flights and were the first to use automobile engines. Through March 1910 McCurdy made many successful flights in Baddeck No. 2 over Baddeck Bay. On 18 May work began on equipping Baddeck No. 2 for a trial water landing. The goal was to determine if in alighting the airplane will turn over bow or stern first. On 1 June the trial was made on Baddeck

    Bay. McCurdy was drenched upon landing in the water but the engine escaped wetting and Baddeck No. 2 did not overturn.

    CAC Baddeck No. 1 was shipped to Montreal on 14 June 1910 to take part in Canada’s first aviation meet. Entries included ten flying machines, two dirigibles and two balloons. Baddeck No. 1 was assembled in 5 hours, a record for the meet. No shelter was available for the aircraft at the meet and unfortunately CAC Baddeck No. 1 overturned during a storm and one wing was wrecked. Repairs were made and on 30 June the airplane reached a height of 50 feet, made a turn and swaying from side to side crashed. Internet: http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/ns/ grahambell/natcul/natcul4_e.asp.

    Aeronca Champion

    The Aeronca Champion, more commonly known as the Champ, is a single-engine, two-seat, fixed conventional gear airplane. Originally designed for flight training and personal use, it entered production in the United States in 1945. The Champ first flew in 1944, having been designed in tandem with the 11AC Chief-the Champ with tandem seating and joystick controls, and the Chief with side-by-side seating and yoke controls. The intention was to simplify production and control costs by building a pair of aircraft with a significant number of parts in common; in fact, the two designs share between 70% and 80% of their parts. The tail surfaces, wings, landing gear, and firewall forward-engine, most accessories, and cowling, are common to both airplanes.

    The Aeronca 7BCM with an upgraded Continental C85 engine went into service with the USAF, US Army and National Guard as the L-16A. The US Army also flew the L-16B with a Continental C90-8 engine, an enlarged vertical tail and hydraulic brakes. The L-16A and B featured an enlarged greenhouse canopy glazing whereas the civilian 7CCM had the original type windows and headliner. Many USAF and Civil Air Patrol L-16B’s returned to the civil market as 7CCM’s after their military service.

    Selling for US$2,095, the Champ outsold the Chief by an 8 to 1 margin. Engine upgrades in 1948 and 1949 resulted in the Models 7DC and 7EC. Between 1945 and 1950, Aeronca was producing 50 light aircraft per day and by the time production ended in 1951, the company had sold more than 10,000 Champions. Internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Aeronca_Champion.

    The R-AM has Aeronca C-3, (Serial No. A-194), CF-AQP, NC12480); Aeronca O-58B, L-3 Defender, (Serial No. 0-58B-5712), CF-XVG; Aeronca Chief 65LA, (Serial No. L6249), CF-WLP, NC23964), and Aeronca 7KC Olympia. The Canadian Museum of Flight has Aeronca 11A Chief, CF-HGN. The Moose Jaw Western Development Museum has Aeronca K, (Serial No. K280), CB-BIN . The CAM has Aeronca C-2, (Serial No. 9), (ex N525V), CF-AOR The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Museum has Aeronca 15AC Chief, CF-UXX. The Edenvale Classic Aircraft Foundation has Aeronca Champ . CF-JVJ . The Tiger Boys’ Aeroplane Works and Flying Museum has Aeronca C-3, (powered by a 2-cylinder, 36 HP 113 Aeronca Engine), being restored; and Aeronca 7AC Champ, CF-OTD, still flying. The Atlantic Canada Aviation Museum has Aeronca C-3 (P).

    Airbus A310-304, CC-150 Polaris (5) (Serial Nos. 15001-15005).

    The Polaris is a long-range military transport conversion of the Airbus Industry A310, powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7R4D1 turbofans. The CC-150 replaced the Boeing CC-137 (converted Boeing 707) in 1997. The five Airbus aircraft were originally purchased by Wardair and were transferred to Canadian Air Lines when the two Air Lines merged in 1989. They were subsequently purchased by the Canadian Forces from Canadian Air Lines. The purchase included a support contract for service of the aircraft for a fixed number of flying hours.

    Four of the five aircraft were converted to the Combi-Freighter standard with a reinforced floor and side opening cargo door. The fifth was redone as a VIP transport aircraft for government executive transport. The Polaris is classified as a strategic airlifter by the Canadian Forces. The CC-150 is able to carry cargo and personnel over long distances, but it lacks the oversize cargo capacity and ability to operate from austere locations which are a common requirement of military airlift.

    The CF primarily relies on leased aircraft to transport large cargo such as armoured vehicles. This has mostly been accomplished via commercially available types such as the Ilyushin Il-76 Candid and occasionally the Antonov An-124 Condor which was used to transport the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to Sri Lanka in 2005. Four Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, designated CC-177 by the CF, are now in service with the CF to realise the capabilities that the CC-150 lacks, fulfilling the Future Strategic Airlifter Project. The five CC-150s are operated by 437 Squadron at CFB Trenton, Ontario.

    Two of the five CC-150s are undergoing conversion as air-to-air refuelling tankers for the CF-18 fleet as CC-150Ts. This was a capability that was lost when the CC-137s were retired. The conversion is part of the Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) program. The MRTT program was initiated because of a German Air Force (Luftwaffe) requirement and provided a cost effective solution for the CF. The CF has used converted C-130s, CF designation CC-130H (T), for training of CF-18 crews, but has relied on allied air forces for refuelling tankers when the CF-18s have been deployed. The first converted CC-150T was delivered to the CF in October 2004. Internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CC-150_Polaris.

    Airspeed A.S. 51 Horsa Mk. I, Mk. II Transport Glider (3) (Serial Nos. TL334, TL349, TL401).

    The Horsa was a large troop-carrying glider with a hinged nose used for the airborne invasions of Sicily and Normandy. Space for a pilot and 15 fully loaded troops. The Horsa was used to carry assault troops in the invasions of Sicily, Normandy and the South of France. Named for the legendary 5th century conqueror of Southern Britain, the Horsa was often towed by Dakotas, Stirlings and Albermarles flown by a number of Canadian aircrews.

    It first flew on 12 September 1941. The Horsa was a high-wing cantilever monoplane with wooden wings and a wooden semi-monocoque fuselage. The fuselage was built in three sections bolted together, the front section was the pilot’s compartment and main freight loading door, the main section was accommodation for troops or freight, the rear section supported the tail unit. It had a fixed tricycle landing gear and it was one of the first gliders equipped with a tricycle undercarriage for take off. On operational flights this could be jettisoned and landing was then on a sprung skid under the fuselage. The wing carried large barn door flaps which, when lowered, made a steep, high rate-of-descent landing possible-allowing the pilots to land in constricted spaces. The pilot’s compartment had two side-by-side seats and dual controls. Aft of the pilot’s compartment was the freight loading door on the port side. The hinged door could also be used as a loading ramp. The main compartment could accommodate 15 troops on benches along the sides with another access door on the starboard side. The fuselage joint at the rear end of the main section could be broken on landing to assist in rapid unloading of troops and equipment on landing. Supply containers could also be fitted under the centre-section of the wing, three on each side.

    The later AS.58 Horsa II had a hinged nose section, reinforced floor and double nose wheels to support the extra weight of vehicles. The tow was attached to the nose-wheel strut, rather than the dual wing points of the Horsa I. The Horsa was considered sturdy and very manoeuvrable for a glider. A total of 3655 were built. The specification for the gliders had demanded that they were built in a number of sections, and to use facilities not needed for more urgent production, and as a result production was spread across separate factories which limited the likely loss in case of German attack.

    With around 28 troop seats, the Horsa was much bigger than the 13-troop American WACO CG-4A (known as the Hadrian by the British), and the 8-troop General Aircraft Hotspur glider which was intended for training duties only. As well as troops, the AS.51 could carry a jeep or 6-pounder anti-tank gun.

    The Horsa was first used operationally on the night of 19/20 November 1942 in the unsuccessful attack on the German Heavy Water Plant at Rjukan in Norway (Operation Freshman). The two Horsa gliders, and one of the Halifax tug aircraft, crashed in Norway due to bad weather. All 23 survivors from the glider crashes were executed on the orders of Hitler, in direct breach of the Geneva Convention which protects POWs from summary execution. After this Hitler called the airborne soldiers Red Devils due to their maroon berets. The name stuck with them.

    On 10 July 1943, 27 Horsas were used in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. Large numbers were subsequently used in Operation Tonga and the American airborne landings in Normandy (Battle of Normandy), southern France (Operation Dragoon), and the allied airborne landings at Arnhem (Operation Market Garden) and crossing the Rhine River (Operation Varsity). In Normandy, the first units to land in France did so by Horsas, capturing Pegasus Bridge. Internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airspeed_Horsa. A Horsa replica is on display at the Pegasus Bridge Museum in Normandy. One has been restored by the Assault Glider Trust, Midland, UK. Three were disposed of near Gimli, Manitoba, including two in crates.

    Airspeed A.S. 10 Oxford Mk. I (27) (Serial Nos. 1501-1525, A89, A101), Mk. II (606) (Serial Nos. T1119, T1127, T1139, T1167, T1172, T1177, T1180, T1181, T1184, T1273, T1277,

    T1280, T1282, T1312-17, T1323, T1326, T1328, V-3247, V-3268, V-3289, V-3290, V-3291, V-3294, V-3310, V-3312, V-3313, V-3315, V-3316, V-3319, V-3332, V-3342, V-3348, V-3351, V-3353, V-3379, V-3883, X6520, X6521, X6529, X6534, X6536, X6538, X6539, X6541, X6543, X6544, X6549-X6552, X6555-X6557, X6559, X6563, X6564, X6589-91, X6593, X6596, X6610, X6665, X6675, X6679, X6683-X6686, X6688, X6689, X6692, X6733-X6735, X6880-X6884, X6952, X6954, X6957, X6961-X6964, X6967, X7038, X7042, X7057, X7116-22, X7124, X7137, X7140, X7141, X7143-X7149, X7156, AP413, AP415, AP418, AP424, AP452, AP486, AP487, AP491, AR756, AR757, AR761, AR762, AR765, AR766, AR768, AR770, AR774, AR775, AR778, AR780, AR784, 8 AR75, AR809, AR810, AR813, AR814, AR819, AR830, AR833, AR834, AR836, AR844, AR847, AR850, AR872, AR875, AR877, AR913, AR919, AR921, AR924, AR927, AR935, AR937, AR953, AR969, AR971-AR974, AR978, AR981, AS148-AS150, AS157, AS159, AS162, AS164-AS168, AS170, AS172, AS173, AS180, AS181, AS184-AS186, AS202, AS203, AS205-AS215, AS217-AS225, AS227-AS230, AS255, AS257-AS264, AS266, AS268, AS270, AS272, AS275-AS278, AS299-AS301, AS303-AS308, AS312, AS314, AS316, AS317, AS319-AS322, AS329, AS330, AS347, AS349, AS350, AS352, AS359-AS363, AS365-AS368, AS372, AS373, AS378, AS381, AS383, AS386, AS388, AS390, AS394-AS396, AS503, AS505, AS510, AS513, AS514, AS516, AS517, AS521, AS523, AS537, AS538, AS540, AS544, AS545, AS549, AS550, AS552, AS553, AS556, AS559, AS561, AS564, AS565, AS568, AS569, AS571, AS591, AS592-AS595, AS599, AS600, AS603, AS607, AS608, AS610-AS614, AS616, AS617, AS619-AS621, AS624-AS626, AS629, AS637, AS639, AS640, AS666-AS670, AS673-AS675, AS677-AS680, AS684-AS686, AS688-AS691, AS693, AS695-AS701, AS704, AS706, AS726, AS730, AS734, AS738, AS764, AS769-AS771, AS773, AS775, AS777, AS778, AS781-AS784, AS787, AS788, AS790-AS792, AS795, AS796, AS798, AS800-AS804, AS806, AS813, AS828, AS829, AS831, AS833-AS835, AS837, AS838, AS846, AS848, AS850, AS851, AS853, AS854, AS859-AS862, AS869, AS912, AS914-AS916, AS918-AS922, AS924-AS927, AS930, AS931, AS933, AS935, AS936, AS938, AS939, AS941, AS942, AS980, AT440, AT442-AT450, AT452, AT453, AT455-AT458, AT460, AT461, AT464-AT466, AT472, AT473, AT482, AT483, AT502, AT504, AT511, AT516, AT517, AT519, AT523-AT525, AT533, AT535, AT576, AT584, AT589-AT592, AT599-AT601, AT605, AT607, AT641, AT642, BF800, BF866, BF881, BF904, BF905, BF909, BF910, BF977-BF980, BG125, BG289, BG294, BG295, BG297, BG298, BG303, BG304, BG322, BG323, BG325, BG327-BG329, BG331, BG332, BG334, BG352, BG354, BG355, BG357, BG360, BG363, BG366, BG369, BG370, BG372, BM675-BM682, BM684, BM685, BM689-BM691, BM696, BM697, BM699-BM702, BM714-BM718, BM720, BM747-BM754, BM758-BM764, BM766-BM773, BM780, BM781, BM801, BM805-BM817), A.S.46 Oxford Mk. V (188) (Serial Nos. EB425-EB461, EB463, EB484-EB489, EB491-EB4518, EB435-EB484, EB599-EB5640, EB554-EB577), for a total of 819 of all Marks of the Oxford operated by the RCAF in Canada.

    The Oxford was a twin-engine light transport aircraft designed for all aspects of aircrew training. Oxfords were brought into Canada from the UK in 1939 for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). The aircraft was also used as an air ambulance, as well as for communication, radar calibration and anti-aircraft training. The Mk. I was equipped with two 355 hp Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah IX or X radial air-cooled engines, the former fitted with Fairey-Reed metal fixed-pitch airscrews and the latter with wood airscrews. Primarily used as a bombing and gunnery trainer, a few Oxfords were equipped with an Armstrong-Whitworth Gun turret amidships.

    Although the Oxford was equipped with fixed-pitch Fairey-Reed propellers, the cockpit contained a propeller pitch lever which had to be moved from Coarse to Fine for landing. This was done to reinforce this important step for training pilots. Curiously for a twin-engine aircraft, the Oxford had a tendency to yaw, which was nearly impossible to correct by trimming the aircraft. Landings could be tricky with a tendency to perform a ground loop. Internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airspeed_Oxford.

    The Oxford Mk. II was equipped as a navigation and radio trainer, and had no turret. Examples exist in the ASMC, Calgary, Alberta, Airspeed A.S. 10 Oxford Mk. II, parts. NLAM, Nanton, Alberta, Airspeed A.S. 10 Oxford Mk. II. R-AM, Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Airspeed A.S. 10 Oxford Mk. II.

    The Mk. V Oxford was equipped with two Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN6 Wasp-Junior nine-cylinder radial air-cooled engines and Hamilton Standard two-blade variable-pitch airscrews. This aircraft was primarily used as a navigation and radio trainer.

    Allgemeine Elektricitats Gesellschaft (AEG) G.IV

    This German WWI bomber (Serial No. 574/18) was powered by a pair of 180 hp Mercedes engines. The majority of over 540 AEG G bombers built were of G.IV type, powered by 194kW Mercedes D.IVa engines. The AEG G.IV bomber entered service with the German Air Force in late 1916. Because of its relatively short range, the G.IV served mainly as a tactical bomber, operating close to the front lines. The G.IV flew both day and night operations in France, Romania, Greece and Italy, but, as the war progressed, the AEG G.IV was restricted increasingly to night missions. Many night operations were considered nuisance raids with no specific targets, but with the intention of disrupting enemy activity at night and perhaps doing some collateral damage. The G.IV was often used in a photographic reconnaissance role or as general combat aircraft. The AEG G.IV carried a warload of 400 kg (882 lb). While Gotha crews struggled to keep their heavy aircraft aloft, the AEG was renowned as an easy machine to fly. Some G.IV crews of Kampfgeschwader 4 are known to have flown up to seven combat missions a night on the Italian front. A notable mission involved Hauptmann Hermann Kohl attacking the railroad sheds in Padua, Italy in his AEG G.IV bomber. G.IVs remained in service until the Armistice. The AEG in the CAM was a war trophy shipped to Canada in 1919, and later restored at CFB Trenton in 1968-69. This example is significant not only as the only one of its kind in existence, but as the only preserved German, twin-engined combat aircraft from World War I. Internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AEG_G.IV. CAM, Ottawa, Ontario, AEG G.IV, (Serial No. 574), (18).

    Arado Ar 196 (Serial No. AM92).

    The Arado Ar 196 is a German two-seat coastal patrol and light attack aircraft powered by one BMW 312K nine-cylinder radial air-cooled piston engine. It had a top speed of 194-mph, a cruising speed of 166-mph, service ceiling of 22,965’, and a range of497 miles. Loaded, it had a weight of 7,282 lbs. It had a wingspan of 40’ 10, a length of 35’ 11-1/2 and a height of 14’7". It was armed with two wing-mounted 20-mm MG FF cannon with 60-rpg plus one 7.9-mm MG 17 machinegun in the starboard side of the forward fuselage and one 7.9-mm MG 15 on a flexible mounting with 525-rpg; plus one ETC 50/VIII rack underneath each wing for a single 110-lb SC 50 bomb. David Donald, Warplanes ofthe Luftwaffe, Aerospace Publishing London, 1994, p. 12.

    The Ar 196 was loved by its pilots, who found it handled well both in the air and on the water. The first Arado Ar 196 to fall into allied hands was an example belonging to the Admiral Hipper captured by Norwegian forces at the beginning of the Norwegian campaign, used against its former owners, and flown to the UK in May 1940 by a Norwegian pilot. The plane was shortly thereafter crashed by a British pilot while in transit to a naval air base for testing. Internet: Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado Ar 196.

    A captured seaplane version of the Arado Ar 196 was flown by RCAF S/L Ian Somerville at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, England in 1945.

    Only three Ar 196 floatplanes still exist from the total production run of 526 aircraft, excluding the prototypes and pre-production aircraft. Ar 196A-3 (Werk-Nummer 75526), (The Werk-Nummer is the German manufacturer’s serial number), marked as White 3 (Serial No. 0219), is on display in the Bulgarski Vozdushni Voiski Muzeum in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, with Bulgarian insignia. This Ar 196A-3 is one of twelve the Bulgarian Navy operated during World War II from Varna on the coast. Ar 196A-5 (Werk Nummer 623167) marked +HG, T3+BH, belongs to the National Air & Space Museum. The Allies recovered two Ar 196A-5s found on board the German Heavy Cruiser Prinz Eugen when she surrendered at Copenhagen, Denmark. Ar 196A-5 (Werk Nummer 623183) marked T3+CH is the second of these two aircraft, and is being restored by the US Naval Aviation Museum, NAS Pensacola, Florida. The Norwegian Historical Museum in Sola, Norway, has the fuselage frame of an Ar 196A-2 raised from the sunken German Heavy Cruiser Blucher. Internet: www.preservedaxisaircraft.com.

    When the US Navy took custody of Prinz Eugen, they were more interested in the catapult system used to launch the floatplane rather than the Ar 196 but they saved the two aircraft anyway. The Ar 196A-5 (Werk Nummer 623167) in the NASM has only 14 hours of operational flying time and U S Navy pilots added just four more hours during testing and evaluation at the Naval Air Materiel Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The US Navy evidently repainted the airplane with markings copied from a different aircraft. That floatplane bore the code letters GA+DX (Werk-Nummer 68967). Today, the National Air & Space Museum’s Ar 196A-5 still carries the bogus paint and markings of GA+DX. After years in storage, the Navy transferred the airplane to the Museum in 1961, where it is now preserved. Internet: Http://www.nasm.si.edu/ research/aero/aircraft.

    Arado Ar 232B-0

    The Arado Ar 232 was a German four-engine heavy transport aircraft powered by four 1,200-hp BMW-Bramo 323R-2 radial piston engines. It had a maximum speed of 211-mph, a cruising speed of 180-mph, a service ceiling of 26,245’, and a range of 658 miles. It had a maximum weight of46,595-lbs at take-off. It had a wingspan of 109’11, a length of 77’2, and a height of 18’8". The Ar 232 was armed with one 13-mm MG 131 machinegun in the nose, one or two similar weapons at the rear of the fuselage pod and one 20-mm MG 151/20 cannon in a power-operated dorsal turret.

    Nicknamed the Millipede, the Arado Ar 232 was equipped with a pod-and-boom fuselage with a hydraulically operated rear-loading door. It also had a novel arrangement of 11 pairs of small wheels used to support the fuselage during loading and unloading operations, the tricycle main landing gear having been partially raised by means of two hydraulic rams. David Donald, Warplanes ofthe Luftwaffe, Aerospace Publishing London, 1994, p. 15.

    An Ar 232B and an Ar 232B-1 were test flown by RCAF S/L Joe McCarthy with the Royal Aircraft Establishment’s Foreign Aircraft Flight at Farnborough, UK at the end of the war. None appear to have survived. S/L McCarthy, DSO, DFC and Bar, had flown with the RAF’s famous Lancaster Dambusters. After the war he chose to remain in the RCAF, finishing his service on Argus ASW aircraft at CFB Greenwood, Nova Scotia, in 1968.

    Arado Ar 234B Blitz

    The Arado Ar 234B-2 Blitz is a German jet bomber powered by two Junkers Jumo 004B-1 axial-low turbojets, each with 1,984-lb thrust. It had a maximum speed of 461-mph, a cruising speed of 435-mph, a service ceiling of 32,810, and a range of 967 miles with a 1,100-lb bomb load. The aircraft weighed 11,464 lbs empty and 21,605 lbs with maximum bomb load. It has a wing span of 46’3, a length of 41’5 and a height of 14’1". It was armed with two fixed aft-firing 20-mm Mauser MG 151/20 cannon with 200-rpg. David Donald, Warplanes ofthe Luftwaffe, Aerospace Publishing London, 1994, p. 21.

    In July 1944 the fifth and seventh prototypes of the Ar 234 were subjected to operational evaluation in the reconnaissance role by 1/Versuchsverband Oberbefehishaber der Luftwaffe at Juvincourt, near Reims. Fitted with Walter RATO equipment, they defied interception during numerous sorties over Allied territory and were joined later by some Ar 234B-ls which, in small detachments, equipped experimental reconnaissance units designated Sonderkommandos Gotz, Hecht, Sperling and Sommer. Two other units, 1. (F)/33 and 1. (F)/100 were still operational at the war’s end. The bomber version first became operational with the Stabstaffel of KG 76, deployed during the Ardennes offensive, but at that stage of the war the number of sorties that could be mounted was limited severely by fuel shortage. Among the most noted bomber operations were attempts to destroy the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine at Remagen, which was held by US troops. For 10 days from 7 March 1945 almost continuous attacks were made on this target until finally the bridge collapsed, but within two more weeks bomber operations had virtually come to an end for lack of fuel. The Ar 234 was also flown by Kommando Bonow, an experimental night-fighter unit which operated until the end of the war under the control of Luftflotte Reich.

    Total construction of the Arado Ar 234 amounted to 274 aircraft, of which 30 were prototypes and 244 production aircraft. Internet: Http://www.century-of-flight.freeola.com. A total of 210 Ar-234Bs and 14 Ar-234Cs were delivered to the Luftwaffe, but with Germany in chaos, only a handful ever got into combat. A final inventory taken on 10 April 1945 listed 38 in service, including 12 bombers, 24 reconnaissance aircraft, and 2 night fighters. Http://www. faqs.org/docs/air/avar234.html.

    On 24 February, an Ar-234B suffered a flameout in one of its engines and was forced down to a hard landing by an American Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter near the village of Segelsdorf. The jet was captured by the advancing Allies the next day. It was the first example of the type to fall into Allied hands largely intact. Ar 234s continued to fight in a scattered and ineffective fashion until Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945. Some were shot down in air combat, destroyed by flak, sometimes their own, or bounced by Allied fighters when they came in to land. Others performed their missions and then fled too fast for enemy fighters to follow, to land and then wait for scarce fuel to be found so they could fly other missions. Http://www. faqs.org/docs/air/avar234.html.

    After the war ended, a race began to collect advanced technology. Ar 234s were scattered all over Western Europe, and the British obtained about a dozen of them. The Soviets apparently only recovered one. For whatever reasons, the Ar 234 had been primarily used in the west.

    The AR 234C was equipped with four BMW 003A engines to free up Junkers Jumo 004s from use by the Me 262. The utilisation of four engines improved overall thrust, especially in take-off and climb-to-altitude performance. 15 prototypes of the AR 234C were completed before the end of the conflict. Although Hauptmann Dieter Lukesch was preparing to form an operational test squadron, the AR 234C was not developed in time to participate in actual combat operations. Internet: Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado Ar 234.

    Four Ar-234s along with an assortment of other advanced German aircraft and shipped to the USA on the jeep carrier HMS Reaper. Three were given to the US Army Air Force and one to the US Navy, though the Navy’s aircraft turned out to be in permanently unflyable condition. One of the three obtained by the USAAF was put through intensive tests at Wright-Patterson AFB, and ultimately handed on to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air & Space Museum. Internet: Http://www.axishistory.com.

    The National Air & Space Museum’s Blitz, an Arado Ar 234B-2 bomber carrying (Werk-Nummer 140312), and marked F1+GS, is on display in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Centre, Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia. This aircraft was one of nine Ar 234s surrendered to British forces at Sola airfield near Stavanger, Norway. It is the sole surviving example of an Ar 234.

    F1+GS had been on strength with 9/KG 76 (Ninth Squadron/bomber Wing 76) during the final weeks of the war, having served earlier with the unit’s eighth squadron. It and three other Ar 234s were collected by the famous Watson’s Whizzers group of the USAAF (United States Army Air Forces) for shipment to the United States. After flying from Sola to Cherbourg, France on June 24, 1945, the four Ar 234s joined 36 other advanced German aircraft aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Reaper for shipment to the United States. HMS Reaper departed from Cherbourg on 20 July, arriving at Newark, New Jersey eight days later. US Army Air Forces personnel reassembled and flew two Ar 234s, including 140312, to Freeman Field, Indiana, for testing and evaluation. The USAAF assigned the foreign equipment number FE-1010 to this Ar 234 for inventory and tracking purposes.

    After receiving new engines and replacement radio and oxygen equipment, FE-1010 was flown to Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, in July 1946 and transferred to the Accelerated Service Test Maintenance Section (ASTMS) of the Flight Test Division. After flight-testing was completed on 16 October 1946, the aircraft remained at Wright field until 1947, when it was moved to Orchard Place Airport, Park Ridge, Illinois. On 1 May 1949, the USAF (United States Air Force after 1947) transferred the Ar 234 and other aircraft at Park Ridge to the Smithsonian Institution. During the early 1950s, the airplanes were finally moved to a new Smithsonian storage facility at Suitland, Maryland to await restoration.

    Restoration of the NASM’s Ar 234 began during 1984 and was completed in February 1989. Because all of the original German paint was stripped off the airframe before the aircraft’s transfer to the Smithsonian, restoration specialists applied markings of a typical aircraft of 8/KG 76, the first bomber unit to fly the Blitz. The Arado Ar 234 is currently on display at the Steven

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