‘Ole’ Olson during his 22 ops withNevin Filby’s RAAF crew.

Photo courtesy George Olson

Mailed byCanadian WarplaneHeritage Museum,9280 Airport Road,Mount Hope, Ontario,

L0R 1W0A PUBLICATION OF CANADIAN WARPLANE HERITAGE MUSEUMFEBRUARY 2016

OOle’s stomach churned withnew fury; suspended in hismid-upper turret, con-

stantly searching for the enemyfighters he hoped would not appear,he was painfully aware of the inten-sity increasing with each operation.

Eighteen-year-old George ‘Ole’Olson earned his Air Gunner qualifi-cation at No. 3 Bombing & GunnerySchool, MacDonald, MB 28 Jan. ’44;by 07 June ’44, the day after D-Day,he was a ‘Squadron Gunner’ attachedto 98 Squadron RAF at Dunsfold, Sur-rey, flying in B-25 Mitchell bombers.

Due to a shortage of Air Gunners,the RCAF/RAF commands had rushedOlson and other trained Air Gunnersdirectly to operational units, bypassingthe usual ‘crewing up’ at Operational

Training Units (OTUs) in Canada. As a Squadron Gunner, he filled in for

killed, absent, injured or tour-expired reg-ular gunners for 35 operations. On 13 Sept.’44 he was permanently assigned to CyPoissant’s crew, replacing his gunner who,after suffering a breakdown, had left theSquadron.

This 25 Nov. ’44 operation was Ole’s48th. During his six months of operationalexperience he had seen 34 Squadron mateskilled, three become Prisoners of War andnumerous others hospitalized with flakwounds.

His position in the aircraft, with head inthe turret between two .50-calibre machineguns, was flanked by the incredible soundof two 1,700-horsepower engines that didlittle to distract from the furious flak bar-rages sent up by German gunners with theseemingly sole purpose of killing him.

While traversing his turret in search ofLuftwaffe and reporting flak bursts, Olecomposed poems to keep his mind fromdwelling on what might happen; he wrotethem down after returning to base and theylater became a book.

He had seen, on 08 Sept. ’44, MitchellVO-B explode upon landing at Dunsfold,killing the crew just minutes from safety.Two days later he penned the poem ‘NoPlace to Hide’ that would become the titleof his postwar book.

“…There is no cover for you to hide be-hind

Or a slit trench in which you can hideNo safe haven up there for you to findWhere you could take refuge inside…”“Cy, my stomach’s killing me” Ole said

into the intercom. “You better talk to theMedical Officer when we get back” Cy ad-vised. That raid was on the MarshallingYards South of Rheydt; the flak was accu-rate, intense; the windshield was shattered.

By Dave Rohrer

OOn December 7, 2015David Ippolito, CWHBoard of Director, cur-

rent B-25 pilot and a great sup-porter of the museum, wasappointed as an HonouraryColonel of the RCAF 8 WingTrenton ATESS (Aerospace andTelecommunications Engineer-ing Support Squadron).

David was born and raised inBurlington, Ontario and aftercompleting his education joinedthe Ippolito Fruit and ProduceCompany, a family businessstarted by grandparents in the1940s.

After the passing of his fa-ther in 1996, David along withhis brother Joel assumed controlof the company and introducedmany new and innovative ad-vancements in the food produc-tion, processing and preparationbusiness. Over the last 19 yearsthese improvements have re-sulted in a local Canadian com-pany growing from an operationthat employed 30 people with a10-million dollar annual grossrevenue to a fully vertically in-tegrated international agricul-tural and logistics enterprise thattoday employs over 1,000 peo-

ple located in Canada, theUnited States, and Mexico, withover 300-million dollars in an-nual gross revenues.

As a successful businessleader in the community Davidhas been asked to serve onmany Boards of Directors andcommunity committees and hasalways been generous in volun-teering both his time and re-sources to assist and serve onthese important initiatives.

David is currently an activeDirector of the Canadian War-plane Heritage Museum locatedat the Hamilton InternationalAirport which is a not-for-profitnon-government funded organ-ization and Canada’s largest fly-ing museum.

As a professional pilot whoholds both an Airline TransportRating and Commercial RotaryWing License, David is currenton both corporate jet and heli-copter aircraft, as well as, beinga Senior Captain on the mu-seum’s B-25 Mitchell Bomber,which he displayed this yearwith the Lancaster at “AirVen-ture” in Oshkosh, Wisconsin,the largest air show in NorthAmerica.

Both David and his brotherJoel are strong supporters of theCanadian Armed Forces and our

military heritage and became thekey financial contributors to theongoing complete restoration ofa Grumman Tracker aircraft atthe museum which was flownby the Royal Canadian Navy onHMCS Bonaventure and subse-quently by the Royal CanadianAir Force at 880 Squadron inCFB Summerside.

David will be at the controlsof this aircraft when it is readyto fly later this year.

In honour of the 120,000Bomber Command veteranswho served in WW II which in-cluded about 40,000 Canadiansand the 55,573 airmen includ-ing 10,659 Canadians who didnot return, the museum flew thelast flying Canadian built Lan-caster to the UK in 2014 to jointhe only other flying Lancasterin the world which is ownedand operated by the RAF Battleof Britain Memorial Flight atRAF Coningsby.

The seven-week tour of theUK was seen by millions ofpeople and was a true act of re-membrance that will likelynever be repeated. As such,David immediately understoodthe importance of capturing thisepic journey in a documentaryand when museum funds werenot available to allocate to this

project, together with his wifeMarilyn provided the seed fund-ing for the documentary andcontacted their personal friendMorgan Elliot, a highly re-garded professional in the in-dustry to produce the doc- umentary Reunion of Giantswhich is now available on DVDfor all to see.

In addition to being a com-mitted family man, a successful

entrepreneur, a talented profes-sional pilot, and an involvedcommunity leader, David is alsoan avid sportsman and enjoysmany seasonal sporting activi-ties and hobbies.

David and his wife, DoctorMarilyn Gregus, reside in thelocal Ancaster area and theyhave four children, Tyler, Sean,Greg, and Leah, and a firstgranddaughter, Vaida.

David Ippolito – HonouraryColonel Investiture Ceremony

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum Director appointed as HonouraryColonel of RCAF 8 Wing Trenton. Congratulations to Colonel Ippolitoon this significant accomplishment!

Photo courtesy Suddenly SeeMore…Productions Inc.

CWH B-25Mitchell.

Photo courtesyDarren Harbar

Photography

• continued on page 3

lack ofmoralfibre(lmf)

lack ofmoralfibre(lmf)

By David Poissant

Cineplex donates $50,000 to CWHM

2 CWH FLIGHTLINES FEBRUARY 2016

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

Printed as a supplement toCOPA Flight

for the CanadianOwners and PilotsAssociation and theCanadian WarplaneHeritage Museum.

Published by

Flightlines

November 23, 2015 – Whilenot quite to the same scale as thefabulous Canadian Premiere byCineplex at 23 theatres acrossthe country, the invitation onlyUK Theatrical Premiere was noless poignant.

Hosted in Woodhall Spa (ourbase of operations for the 2014Lancaster UK Tour) at the Cin-ema in the Woods, Veterans fea-tured in the film, VernonMorgan and James Flowers,were in attendance as well as acontingent from the Battle ofBritain Memorial Flight, JustJane and the Canadian Lancasterflight crew.

The following day, there wasa ticketed screening for the gen-eral public. In attendance for thisscreening was the Canadian Lan-caster flight crew.

Only one Veteran was in at-tendance – Harry Bontoft, Lan-caster wireless operator and hismoving speech during the ques-tion and answer session after thefilm rightfully stole the show!

One question that came upwas “when are you comingback?” Answer: “When Just Janeflies!”

Museum’s News Briefs

UK author Tom Allett (left) is seen interviewing David G. Rohrer, the mainperson behind the trip actually taking place.

Canadian Lancaster flight crew at the UK pre-miere with veteran Lancaster wireless opera-tor Harry Bontoft.

Veterans featured in the film, Vernon Morgan and James Flow-ers, with Morgan Elliott, Reunion of Giants producer.

Photos courtesy of Darren Harbar Photography

David Rohrer and Lancaster veteran James Flowers.

CWHM President/CEO David G. Rohrer ad-dresses audience with VeRA crew.

Official UK tour book in the works While the Canadian Lancaster flight crew were back in England

for the Reunion of Giants premiere, they spent a day of their trip con-ducting interviews with author Tom Allett for the official tour book.

While the Reunion of Giants tells only one story in 83 minutes,there are so many great stories to be told and many unseen photos tobe published from the tour. With a working title of “Once in a LancTime”, the official Lancaster UK tour book is scheduled for releasein late 2016.

Cineplex Entertainment hasdonated $50,000 to the CanadianWarplane Heritage Museum,whose Avro Lancaster bomberwas featured in a documentary en-titled Reunion of Giants debutingat select theatres November 11.

As depicted in the film, it hadbeen 50 years since two Avro Lan-caster bombers flew in formation.The Canadian Warplane HeritageMuseum’s Avro Lancaster, knownas VeRA, flew from Hamilton,Ontario to meet her British coun-terpart, Thumper – the only othersurviving flightworthy Lancasterbomber in the world.

Cineplex’s $50,000 donationcoincided with a special freescreening of Reunion of Giantson the big screen at 23 theatresacross the country this past Re-membrance Day. “Cineplex is aproud Canadian company and weknow that our donation to theCanadian Warplane Heritage Mu-seum will support the preserva-tion of important artifacts fromour country’s history,” said PatMarshall, Vice-President, Com-munications and Investor Rela-tions, Cineplex Entertainment.

“Since we announced the Re-union of Giants screenings earlierin the summer, we’ve had count-less inquiries about when tickets

would be available. We’repleased to debut this film to hon-our our veterans.”

“The kind and generous sup-port of Cineplex, an outstandinghome grown Canadian company,is invaluable to the CanadianWarplane Heritage Museum inour mission to honour the service,duty and sacrifice of our veteranswho have served Canada soproudly. Thank you most sin-cerely for this key and vital finan-cial assistance,” said David G.Rohrer, President and CEO,Canadian Warplane Heritage Mu-seum and Lancaster pilot.

Canadian Warplane Heritage Lancaster pilots.

UK theatre premiere of Reunion of Giants

CWH FLIGHTLINES FEBRUARY 2016 3

Ground crew would count 94 flakholes.

Ole reported his troubles tothe M.O. who, after a long con-versation and examination, deter-mined that Ole’s nerves wouldnot take another flak barrage. Thecrew was declared tour-expired.

When I asked George aboutthe experience, he told me thatthe medical staff were very un-derstanding; they listened atten-tively, asked a few questions andsoon told him that his tour wascomplete.

It was not always so in thewartime RAF; just a short timebefore, Ole’s problem had a verygood chance of being considered‘Lack of Moral Fibre’, a monikercreated to dissuade aircrew fromvoicing such things.

In the Journal of Military His-tory, Edgar Jones states in hispaper ‘LMF: The Use of Psychi-atric Stigma in the Royal AirForce During the Second WorldWar’: “Lack of Moral Fibre, anadministrative term rather than apsychiatric diagnosis, first ap-peared in an Air Ministry policyproposal to deter aircrew from re-porting sick without due cause orsimply refusing to fly. Firstsuggested in March 1940and formally introduced inApril, it was a response torising psychiatric casualtiesfrom the early operationsof Bomber and CoastalCommands.

“Facing the threat of in-vasion and presented witha shortage of aircrew, agroup of senior RAF offi-cers decided to impose se-vere penalties on thosewho lost the confidence oftheir operational com-manders without an exten-uating reason. As a generaldeterrent, driven by the be-lief the anxiety was conta-gious, the RAF sent thosesuspected of LMF to as-sessment centres where

they were shamed by the loss ofrank and privileges.

“Aircrew who were judged tohave exhibited LMF were givenno opportunity to redeem them-selves, many being dischargedfrom the service as expeditiouslyas possible. The calculated use ofstigma gave the policy force, andthe label ‘LMF’ was designed todifferentiate cases from psychi-atric diagnoses such as flyingstress, aeroneurosis, or aviator’sneurasthenia.

“These disorders, like shellshock in the First World War, at-tracted popular sympathy andcarried an entitlement to a warpension, which the authoritieswere keen to avoid. However, thegeneral causes of shell shock andLMF were the same: exposure to,or the immediate prospect of,life-threatening experiences.”

The referenced assessmentcentres included the ‘AircrewRefresher School’ at RAF Nor-ton in Sheffield, described by au-thor Kevin Wilson in hisexcellent book Men of Air. ForNCOs, a quick interview withtheir commanding officer wasfollowed by a stripping of rank

and flying brevet and a posting toa demeaning job in an unpleasantpart of the country.

Hostilities-only officers werecashiered and drafted into thearmy as privates. Officers withpermanent commissions wouldbe ‘invited’ to resign. In all cir-cumstances, whether officer orNCO, their files were markedwith a large red W for ‘Wa-verer.’ Those retained for ‘Air-crew Refreshing’ faced threeweeks of parade square bashing,hours of day and night runs,courses in airmanship, law, dis-cipline and administration;physical training and unarmedcombat, weaponry, hygiene andpersonal sanitation.

Judgments were handed downregardless of an airman’s experi-ence. Men who had completed atour and reached their breakingpoint during a second when theyrefused to fly were still consid-ered to be lacking in moral fibre.This shocking lack of logic wassoon changed so that no airmanwho had completed a tour couldbe considered LMF.

Less heavy-handed command-ing officers could send selected

aircrew to one of a number ofconvalescent centres for psychi-atric care: Rauceby, Lincolnshireand Warneclife Hospital,Sheffield. The RCAF had theirown facility at Hackwood Park,Basingstoke. The greatest num-ber of cases were sent to theRockside Hospital at Matlock,Derbyshire. A third recoveredsufficiently to return to ops.

The U.S. 8th Air Force took amore enlightened view. Airmenshowing signs of stress were sentto rest homes, usually in requisi-tioned country houses. Extensivesport and amusement facilities

were available, as was the best offood. Airmen who showed littlesign of recovery were sent homewithout shame.

As the air war against Ger-many turned in favour of the Al-lies, the RAF Senior Commandsoftened their views on stress.The British Commonwealth AirTraining Plan was supplying air-crew at a rate that created excessnumbers. There was also, nodoubt, a fear of post war publicreaction to such harsh treatmentof many gallant men.

It appears, given the results ofa 1945 Air Ministry survey, that

Operational Commandersheld a much more enlight-ened view of nervous ten-sion than did SeniorCommand. Just 4,059 air-men and officers had theirfiles submitted for classifi-cation as LMF during thewar; and of those 2,726were actually branded LMF.

On 04 Dec. ’44 George‘Ole’ Olson, along withRCAF crewmates Cy Pois-sant and Peter Ryan,boarded his last Air Forceflight (a Dakota) from RAFAerodrome B-58 Mels-broek to Swanton Morleyupon completion of Tour,posted to No. 3 PersonnelReception Centre to beginthe journey home toCanada.

Lack of Moral Fibre • continued from the front page

George and Jo Olson now live in Abbotsford, British Columbia.

By David G. RohrerAs I review the 2015 year of activities at the CWH it is ap-

parent that as a group our accomplishments last year werequite impressive once again. From the 70th VE Dinner Dancewith 101 WW II Veterans in attendance as well as John Mc-Dermott, Ashley MacIssac, Ted Barris, The RHLI ConcertDance Band, to the Lancaster Day last July with 11 LancasterVeterans present, to an air show with the Darnell’s Jet Truck /B-25 Race to Remembrance Day with our Guest SpeakerGeneral Tom Lawson, to the release of the Reunion of Giantsdocumentary, it was a very good year.

Consequently as we start anew in 2016 let us all rememberhow privileged we are to be contributors to this rich Canadianaviation history at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum.

In 2016 we will see the addition of the Avenger Mk. 3 andNorseman Mk.V aircraft to our flying program, as well as, theFleet 21 aircraft. Additionally we will continue to add manyevents and functions at the museum through our catering andCafé business, with new lines of goods and products throughour internet and retail operations and expanded sources ofrevenue through our planned giving programs; “Keep’em Fly-ing campaign, Lancaster Support Club activities and growingcorporate sponsorship and support initiatives.

All in all we will likely face many of the same challengeswe have in the past and perhaps some new challenges in2016, but I know that the same Canadian spirit, ingenuity,know how, and determination that we have inherited from ourrich Canadian aviation pioneers will help us to meet and ex-ceed our goals for the new year.

With the team we have at the Canadian Warplane HeritageMuseum, I expect 2016 to be another safe, successful, andexciting year, so strap in and hold on – we are about to lift offonce again for the wild blue yonder!

Per Ardua Ad Astra

From the deskof the

Presidentand CEO

Ole’s final crew, pictured, from left: Cy Poissant, Peter Ryan, Fred Bing, and Ole. Fred would be re-placed (sinus problems) by Trevor Grice (inset). Photo courtesy Peter Ryan collection

Insetphoto,below:CourtesyD. Poissantcollection

4 CWH FLIGHTLINES FEBRUARY 2016

By Ted Lowrey

WWith our CWH Mu-seum’s ever-so-specialLancaster bomber as

the centrepiece of our museum,and the opportunity it offers forpeople/members to fly in it, wecan’t help but be aware of the ex-istence of other Allied heavybombers available on a similarbasis as our Lancaster.

In July of 2013 our museumhad as a guest the B-17 Sentimen-tal Journey. It was flown to ourmuseum for a week’s visit.Flights were sold in the B-17.Within two days a full week’sflights had been booked.

When I became aware of aflight opportunity in 2015 fromthe nearby London, Ontario air-port in another B-17 FlyingFortress, Yankee Lady, I bookeda flight, – and began researchingthis article.

WW II Heavy BombersThe first thing I looked up was

the numbers of Allied heavybombers built, and numbers stillairworthy. The numbers are:

• Lancaster – 7,377 built, andonly two still airworthy, with onlyone available for people/memberflights;

• Flying Fortress – 12,731built, and 12 still airworthy (10 inthe United States and two in Eu-rope), some of which are avail-able for flights;

• Other WW II Allied bomberbuild numbers are B-24 Liberator- 18,482; the Halifax - 6,176; andthe B-29 Superfortress - 3,970.

(1945 records list the cost ofone B-17 as $238,329. For thatprice in 1945 one could buy fourMustangs, or almost three Dako-tas).

B-17, Flying Fortress, history Its first flight was July 28,

1935. The first model flew withfour 750-horsepower Pratt andWhitneys. It was advanced for itsday, especially with its number of

protective guns – hence thename “Flying Fortress.” Howeverthe need for the heavy bombers ofWW II was not yet anticipated;the power, the load capacity, andthe armament of the B-17 E, theB-17 F, and the B-17 G were stilla long way off. Only 134 B-17s,prototype to D model, had beenbuilt by late 1941.

In 1941, when the UnitedStates became part of the WW IIAllied bombing effort, then twoparts of the B-17 story changedquickly. American productionquantity and speed producedhuge numbers of B-17s. Also im-provements in the original designwere implemented to improve theaircraft dramatically.

The B-17s were to be built inthree factories – Boeing in Seat-

tle, Lockheed in Burbank, andDouglas in Long Beach. Themuch upgraded B-17s E, F and Gnow used four Wright Cycloneengines: turbo-supercharged,nine-cylinder, single-row config-uration, air-cooled, radials, at1,200 horsepower each. Each en-gine had a 30-gallon oil tank.

During WW II, for long-rangeflights/raids the fuel capacity was3,000 gallons. 12,597 upgradedB-17s were built at the threewestern factories. (The last B-17was built July 28, 1945).

A major part of the B-17 usein WW II was the “CombinedBomber Offensive” – Americanbombers during the day, andBritish Commonwealth bombersat night – against German indus-trial targets.

Avery few B-

17s were used for trans-port, search and air-sea rescue, orother purposes. Indeed just re-cently our CWH Archives Cura-tor, Erin Napier, wrote in ourPlane Talk about the RCAF ac-quiring six used, stripped of ar-mament, B-17 Es and Fs, in 1943,to be used to transport mail to ourforces overseas.

Erin wrote of the positive ef-fect this mail, carried by B-17s,would have had on our overseasforces. (I know of this positive ef-fect. My father was stationed inIndia and Burma in 1944 and1945. My mother wrote him eightletters every week).

Characteristics ofthe B-17 Our visual image of a B-17 is

of a B-17 E, or later model. Theycarried an enormous tail thatstarted just aft of the radio opera-tor’s position and rose massivelyto the back of the aircraft. It gavethe aircraft a high degree of con-trol and stability for bombingfrom high altitudes (If you see apicture of a B-17 with a small tailit’s an early model).

What else did the late modelB-17s have that made them souseful to the “Combined BomberOffensive” against German tar-gets? It truly was a “fortress”.Each successive model carriedmore armament for protectionagainst enemy fighters. Also B-17s eventually flew in large,close formations so they coulddefend each other from enemyfighter attack.

From a pilot’s standpoint theywere very stable, and well suitedto close formation flying. Also,they had the ability to fly abovethe effective range of Germananti-aircraft guns (Maximum al-titude for a B-17 was 35,000feet).

Not only were they well-armed the B-17 could absorbhuge damage, and engine loss,and still get back to home base.There is a story circulating abouta WW II B-17 crewman whoseaircraft made it back to base aftera raid on Germany. Only two en-gines were working, and the B-17sustained 179 battle damage hits.In 2010 the veteran airman wrotea letter to Boeing, telling them thestory of his B-17, and thankingthem for “. . . making such a goodairplane.”

Initial B-17 raids against Ger-man military and industrial sites –aircraft assembly plants, aircraftengine factories, and ball-bearingplants – had high losses. Tightformation flights hadn’t been per-fected. Aircraft lacked nose pro-tection from head-on attacks.

Flying in a B-17...

Of the12,731FlyingFortressesbuilt only12 are stillin flyingcondition.

PhotoscourtesyGarryBalsdon

B-17 carried an enormous tail that started just aft of the radio operator’s position and rose massively to the backof the aircraft.

THEN

• continued on next page

CWH FLIGHTLINES FEBRUARY 2016 5

Flying in a B-17...By Ted Lowrey

KKnowing I would be flying in the Yankee AirMuseum B-17, in early August, when I wasgiven the opportunity on July 23rd to fly in our

Canadian Warplane Heritage Dakota (as part of ourvery special Summer Camp Program). I enjoyed theflight, and the contrast between flying in two quite dif-ferent aircraft within a few weeks of each other

On the 23rd our Dak was flown by Bill Craig andSten Palbom.

Remembering the fact that the B-17 had a reputationfor being very stable at high altitudes, (and thereforecould fly in close, protective, formations) the flight inour Dak offered quite a contrast. As Bill and Sten flewthe Dak along the Lake Ontario shoreline east toToronto, around the CN Tower, and back to HamiltonInternational Airport, the ride was rather “bumpy,“ withthe aircraft needing minor direction corrections.

After the flight I asked Bill Craig if that was typicalof Dakotas, and would the flight in the B-17 be muchsmoother. Bill was quick to explain to me that the“bumpiness” was a result of mechanical turbulencecaused by ground effect weather influences on that par-ticular day. He stressed that on a day when none ofthese weather influences are present the Dak is a de-lightfully easy aircraft to fly. It has no bad habits.

Bill went on to explain to me that aircraft are morestable, (and modern jets more fuel efficient as well),flying at higher altitudes – around 10,000 feet orhigher – where they are free of ground effect weatherinfluences.

Bill said that he doubted that the B-17 flight I wouldbe going on would reach higher altitudes, but he con-firmed to me that B-17s, as well as other WW II air-craft, flying at higher altitudes (where oxygen maskswould be required), would be quite stable, and rela-tively easy to fly in close formation.

And now it was time for Gary and I to drive toLondon, Ontario, and fly, in 2015, in a WW II B-17 GFlying Fortress.

The London airport is a few kilometers off Highway401; because the road signage is frequent the airport iseasy to find. When the Yankee Air Museum B-17comes to London it operates out of the Jet Aircraft Mu-seum, near the edge of the airport property.

Now – not during WW II – Yankee Lady flies witha crew of three – pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer. Itcarries 12 “passengers.” Cost per person per flight is$450 U.S. A flight has a half-hour of actual flying time.A flight will occur if there are as few as six passengers;with less than six the museum would lose money.

In 2015, from May to September, Yankee Lady wasscheduled for 120 “passenger” flights from 11 differentlocations. The Yankee Air Museum flight booking per-son is Dave Wright – available at phone number 1-734-483-4030, ext. 236.

From start-up to shut-down was 3/4 of an hour; ac-tual flight time was a full half-hour. We flew south fromLondon out over Lake Erie and back.

One difference I noticed between flying in the B-17and flying in our CWH Lancaster was the noise levelin flight. Our Lanc absolutely requires ear/noise pro-tection, – the B-17 not so. (Garry Balsdon noted thatwith each B-17 Wright Cyclone engine the exhaust ex-ited through one pipe, at the bottom of the engine. OurLanc’s Merlins exhaust directly from each cylinderhead through very short straight pipes.

The B-17’s ride was very smooth, in spite of ratherinclement weather. One could not help but look out, seethe huge and graceful wings, and think that they con-tributed to the smooth flight.

Contrasting with our Lanc, which allows easymovement inside the aircraft, provided you can swingover the main spar, the B-17’s interior seems broken up

with structural features. I stayed in one lo-cation, close to our entrance door, and close to the

waist guns (Every passenger, as they passed the guns,would stop and check the view through the gun sights).

After the flight, as I left the aircraft, I noticed a smallplaque on the door in memory of the 79,265 B-17 crewmembers who lost their lives during WW II.

It was a delightful flight, well worth the trip to Lon-don (I did miss our museum’s protocol of giving each“passenger” a Certificate of Flight, to be signed by thepilot and co-pilot).

I have two final thoughts about the location of theflights out of London – the Jet Aircraft Museum.

The museum owns, and offers/sells rides in its BACJet Provost Mk 4. It flew with a “passenger” when Iwas flying in the B-17.

And, in the corner of the museum is a display dedi-cated to Canadian participation in unlimited class hy-droplane racing.

Most people are unaware that one of Canada’s mostsuccessful hydroplane racers was band leader GuyLombardo. One of his racers is on display – a racerbuilt of wood, with an aluminum bottom skin, poweredby a 2,400-horsepower Allison aircraft engine.

The display also made reference to Canada’s mosttalented unlimited class hydroplane racer – the late BobHayward. Before Bob Hayward raced boats he was adrag racer. This author raced against Bob Hayward atthe Kohler drag strip. I came second.

It was a delightful morning and early afternoon forGarry and myself, (in spite of the threatening weather).Both of us were well received by the Yankee Air Mu-seum people. Garry took some great pictures, especiallywhen he was given a tour of the interior of YankeeLady. I enjoyed my flight in the B-17. And the Jet Air-craft Museum was interesting; their people treated theirvisitors with appreciation for their presence.

The B-17 G “Yankee Lady” underwent an extensive rebuild. Photo courtesy Garry Balsdon

Fighter escorts – often P-47Thunderbolts – didn’t have therange to accompany bombers totheir targets, (and so Germanfighters would wait just beyondthe escorts’ range). As an exam-ple of loss, in a daylight raid onOctober 14, 1943, of 291 attack-ing B-17s, 60 were shot down, 5crashed on return to England, and12 more were scrapped upon re-turn. One hundred and twenty-two bombers needed repairbefore they could fly again. Only33 returned undamaged.

Of the 2,900 airmen involvedin the raid 650 didn’t return. 300German fighters did incredibledamage.

Of the over 12,700 B-17sbuilt, more than 5,000 were lostin combat.

However in late 1943, thefinal B-17 upgrade – the B-17G – came into service, witheven more defensive armament,especially in the previously vul-nerable nose section. Also the P-51 Mustang fighter, with itslong-range capabilities, couldnow provide fighter escort, allthe way to the target and back.Eventually B-17 loss rates wereso low that replacement aircraftfor B-17 squadrons were nolonger needed.

In comparison with our CWHLancaster, the B-17G was muchheavier. It carried a smaller bombload. Also it was less powerful by400 horsepower per engine.

Rather than the Lancastercrew of seven, the B-17 carrieda crew of 10, adding a co-pilotand two gunners (Unlike a WWII Lancaster, it really was a two-pilot aircraft, requiring a skilledand active co-pilot assisting thepilot).

And we all know that whenWW II was over fighters andbombers – those beautiful Lancs,B-17s, et al, – were cut up for

scrap. Again, of the 12,731 Fly-ing Fortresses built only 12 arestill in flying condition. (The in-formation I have is that none ofthe 12 flying today actually sawWW II military service, althoughsome are named after B-17s thathad a combat record).

The B-17; “Yankee Lady” The restoration of the Yankee

Air Museum’s B-17 – the YankeeLady – very closely parallels therestoration of our Canadian War-plane Heritage Museum’s Lan-caster – in terms of history,usage, and contribution of volun-teers. Here’s some of the story ofthe restoration of Yankee Lady.

The B-17 G was made byLockheed in Burbank, California.It was delivered to the Americanmilitary July 14, 1945. Like ourLancaster it was no longer neededfor WW II bombing operations.By September, 1945, it and otherjust-built B-17s were placed instorage, in Texas, never havingflown any combat missions.

In 1946 it was put back intoAmerican service, for air-sea res-cue and other maritime duties.Guns and turrets were no longerneeded and were removed. Bombcapacity was no longer a neces-sity; instead it could carry a ton-and-a-half, 27-foot-long, woodenlife boat, that could be air-dropped to people in maritimedifficulty. It stayed in that dutyuntil 1958.

In May of 1959 the B-17 wassold – for $5,997.93 – and usedfor aerial survey work, and lateras a water-bomber and crop-sprayer.

In June of 1986 it was pur-chased, in flying condition, bythe Yankee Air Museum. It wasflown to the Willow Run airportin Michigan. It landed July 2,1986 – and didn’t fly again fornine years.

B-17... then • continued from previous page

The B-17 G underwent an ex-tensive rebuild. Of course themain goal was to have an aircraftthat would fly with completesafety. For example every electri-cal wire and all hoses were re-placed with new ones. Twoengines had to be completely re-built.

But a secondary goal was tobring it back as close to “1945bomber condition” as possible.Floors and bulkheads that hadbeen changed for its post-warusage were moved back to origi-nal placement. All turrets that had

been removed were replaced, ifpossible with still-obtainable vin-tage units.

As those who work on ourCWH Museum floor would wellknow, much of the restorationwas done by volunteers, whoselove of WW II vintage aircraftgave them reason to donate theirskills and time to the restorationof an exquisite B-17 FlyingFortress.

Its first post-restorationflight was July 13,1995.

It is thought that there was nota Yankee Lady flying in WW IIservice. The name and the noseart were created to represent whatwas typical of many WW II Al-lied bombers.

The Yankee Air Museum B-17 flies today with a crew ofthree, and an additional 12 en-thusiasts.

& now

6 CWH FLIGHTLINES FEBRUARY 2016

By Pamela Rickards, Vice President - Operations

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you whohave been thoughtful enough to include us in your wills. Inrecent years we have been the very fortunate beneficiary ofseveral of our members who were kind enough to think ofCanadian Warplane Heritage Museum and our constant fi-nancial struggles.

We are planning several special events here at the mu-seum during 2016, including a fundraising concert featur-ing John McDermott, special aviation days and car shows,to name a few. With the many fundraising events that areheld here at the museum, I would like to suggest that youbookmark our website www.warplane.com and visit regu-larly to keep up-to-date on the happenings here at MountHope.

Many of our supporters have helped fund our museum ina variety of ways, including planned gifts, memorials, in-kindgifts and cash donations. If you would like any informationon planned giving, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum is proud to recog-nize those supporters who have made significant contribu-tions to our museum of the past few months and we arepleased to add the following to our donor walls:

Memorial Hangar Doors - $1,000 - $4,999F/O Harry Prior Farr, 434 Bluenose Sqdn., Much Loved!F/O Harland Boyd Akerman, RCAF, For King and CountryW/O Gordon A.C. Eby, RCAF flew with RAF 101 Sqdn, DFC

Oct.2, 1944 – died 1957F/S Mark Kerr RAF Volunteer 236 Sqdn., died April 20, 1944W. David Barnes, Bison Squadron RCAFIn Memory of Flt/Sgt Howard “Bud” Watson, Air Gunner 427

Sqdn.W. David Barnes, Bison Squadron, RCAFIn Memory of our Uncle Allan McIntost, RCAF 1954 – 1957

Life Members now include: Peter SmithThomas SavageClare J. ShortJames Walters

DevelopmentOffice update

Several signatures were discovered behind some panels, one isdated Feb. 27, 1945.

FZ692 was named ‘Kwicherbichen’ shortly before D-Day.

CWHM’snew

DouglasC-47

DakotaMk. III,FZ692.

Our new Dakota - FZ692‘Kwicherbichen’ C-GRSBOur new Dakota - FZ692‘Kwicherbichen’ C-GRSB

WWhile preparing the interior ofour new Dakota for conversionfrom its current configuration

to a more historic look, several signatureswere discovered behind some panels.One is dated February 27, 1945. We willdo further research to see if we can un-cover any more details.

Douglas C-47 Dakota Mk. III, FZ692,was built by Douglas in the United Statesin 1943 and was delivered to the RAF inFebruary 1944. The aircraft served with233 Squadron at RAF Blakehill Farmuntil September 1944 when it was trans-ferred to 437 Squadron RCAF.

FZ692 was painted olive drab greenall over and shortly before D-Day had theblack and white ‘invasion stripes’ addedfor identification purposes.

The stripes on the rear fuselage cov-ered the ‘5T-UK’ squadron code letters sothe aircraft’s individual letters ‘UK’ weretranscribed onto the nose (This is not,therefore, an indication of the aircraft orunit’s nationality).

FZ692 was named ‘Kwicherbichen’and this was painted on the port side ofthe nose under the cockpit. Just behindthe port cockpit window was a block ofsymbols detailing the ‘ops’ it had flown.

FZ692 survived the war and recentlyjoined the collection at the CanadianWarplane Heritage Museum.

CWH FLIGHTLINES FEBRUARY 2016 7

CANADIAN WARPLANE HERITAGEMUSEUM GIFT SHOP

HAMILTON AIRPORT, 9280 AIRPORT RD., MOUNT HOPE, ONTARIO, L0R 1W0

Call today: 905-679-4183 Ext. 232 or Toll Free 1-877-347-3359 Ext. 232 Fax 905-679-4186

E-mail: giftshop@warplane.com • All prices subject to applicable taxes • Visit us at www.warplane.com

CF-18A HornetCF-18A Hornet2015 RCAF Demo Team, ‘Battle of Britain Anniversary’

1/72 scale diecast by Hobby Master

$119.99

Short Sunderland Mk. IIIShort Sunderland Mk. III

EJ134 - 461 Squadron RAAF, 19431/72 scale diecast by Corgi

$329.99(*extra $10 shipping charge due to size)

Avro LancasterAvro LancasterRCAF 419 Sqdn., KB726 VR-A

1/72 scale diecast by Corgi

$199.99

LAST CHANCE! Less than 100 left in stock!

North American P-51D MustangNorth American P-51D MustangRCAF 424 Sqdn.,

Mount Hope, ON, 1950

1/48 scale diecast by Hobby Master

$109.99 SALE $94.99

Exclusively available from the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museumde Havilland Tiger Moth, RCAF 8922

by Aviation 72 - 1/72 scale diecastde Havilland Canada Chipmunk, RCAF 18035

by Aviation 72 - 1/72 scale diecast

Limited editions. Month of release and prices TBA.

at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum Gift Shop

(*extra $10

shipping charge due to

size)

8 CWH FLIGHTLINES FEBRUARY 2016

There are only two Avro Lancasters left f ly ing in the world today and when they joined and f lew together, i t was. . .

H I S T O R Y I N T H E M A K I N G

The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum is pleased to present

I t had been 50 years s ince two Avro Lancaster bombers f lew side by s ide. The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Avro Lancaster, VeRA, f lew from Hamilton, Ontario to meet her Brit ish counterpart, Thumper – the

only other surviv ing f l ight worthy Lancaster bomber in the world – the RAF Batt le of Britain Memorial Fl ight’s (BBMF) Lancaster in England.

This much anticipated documentary includes first-hand accounts from the men and women who experienced the war and were connected to the Lancaster.It transports the viewer back in time as they share what it was like during the Lancaster’s glory days. REUNION OF GIANTS documents this historic mission as it unfolds through the eyes of the flight crews, veterans, friends and family. It includes all parts in this new chapter of the bomber's history, as VeRA cross-es the Atlantic.

For additional information please visit warplane.com

I t had been 50 years s ince two Avro Lancaster bombers f lew side by s ide. The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Avro Lancaster, VeRA, f lew from Hamilton, Ontario to meet her Brit ish counterpart, Thumper – the

only other surviv ing f l ight worthy Lancaster bomber in the world – the RAF Batt le of Britain Memorial Fl ight’s (BBMF) Lancaster in England.

This much anticipated documentary includes first-hand accounts from the men and women who experienced the war and were connected to the Lancaster.It transports the viewer back in time as they share what it was like during the Lancaster’s glory days. REUNION OF GIANTS documents this historic mission as it unfolds through the eyes of the flight crews, veterans, friends and family. It includes all parts in this new chapter of the bomber's history, as VeRA crossIt includes all parts in this new chapter of the bomber's history, as VeRA crosses the Atlantic.

83 minutes, Colour, Aspect ratio 16:9, PCM Stereoand 5.1 surround sound.

The Off ic ia l LancasterUK Tour Documentary!

DVD (NTSC - Region 0)

$34.99Blu-ray (Region free)

$39.99