Warbird Information Exchange

Hi gang,

Here's an embarrassing story which is kinda long (apologies), but hopefully you'll find it interesting, entertaining, or at least marginally worth reading.

So, my girlfriend and I took the ferry across to Victoria for a couple days to get away from the big smoke (Vancouver), and while we were there I thought I'd call up some friends to see if they could show me their planes.

My first call was to Gordon Wirth, who I had been in touch with for over a year with regard to trying to save/purchase the PBY Canso/Catalina that was wasting away further up the island in Nanaimo. As it turns out, this airframe was purchased by the Evergreen Air Museum in McMinnville, OR.

Gordon, though, is involved with the new PBY in town. It's been mentioned before here on WIX, that a PBY was purchased from Buffalo Joe (Buffalo Airways) in Alberta, and was ferried down to Victoria a few months back.

The Canso is ex-RCAF 11024 CF-UAW (http://www.warbirdregistry.org/pbyregis ... 11024.html)

Gordon introduced me to Bob Dyck, who purchased the airplane, and has now formed an organization called the Catalina Preservation Society. They intend to operate the PBY in a similar fashion to the PBY at Duxford, UK, and the one in New Zealand. He also intends to restore it to WWII RCAF markings with original bisters and nose turret. As for operating it, he fully intends to fly it off of land and water which seems to be rare among operating PBY's (non-workhorse types). He's also planning on keeping the waterbombing tanks in for a while and do training with it.

Bob showed me around the plane, in the cockpit, the rear-fuselage and he even took me up on top of the wing and all the way out to the wing tip! What a beautiful airplane, and such a pleasure to get such a grand tour of it! The only other time I'd been atop the wing of a PBY was at the crash site of RCAF 11007 in Tofino, of which I posted pictures a few months back. They've got a website, but it is still in the crude stages of being put together. That being said, they have information about their mission statement, contact info, and membership info. http://www.pbycatalina.com/

While I was waiting to be let onto the other side of the fence to see the Canso, I gave George Maude another call (as he wasn't a few hours earlier when I called), and asked if he'd be willing to come out and show me his airplane. For those those that know the name, you'll know what airplane I'm talking about, but for those that don't, George bought a few airplanes after the war, for what would be consider peanuts in todays terms, but back then he was practically doing the government a favour by taking the airplanes of their hands. He bought two Fairchild Bolingbrokes, and a SHINY P-40 Kittyhawk. I can't remember what he said he paid for the two boly's, but his P-40 cost him $50. In those days that was quite a bit of money, but even back then he knew the importance of these airplanes, and that they needed to be saved.

One of the Boly's ended up at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum: http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/coll ... gbrokeIVT/

and, the other Boly became part of the restoration of the one at the British Columbia Aviation Musuem: http://www.bcam.net/

As for the P-40, George has held on to it since he bought it, despite many big dollar offers. On this visit, I asked him if he's had any offers on it lately, and he said "Oh of course, there's always people asking me." It doesn't sound like he's too bothered by it, but I can tell he will not sell at any price. He mentioned to me that he has really grown attached to the airplane. It is part of his family, and he mentioned to me that it had just celebrated it's birthday a couple weeks before my visit. If anyone is thinking of offering him huge amounts of money for his plane, don't bother. I am pretty certain that it will stay in his posession until he passes, which doesn't appear to be any time soon.

George used to do run-ups on the P-40 to make sure she was kept happy, but he hasn't done so in quite a few years now, but he's done the next best thing by inhibiting the engine. As much as it would have been nice to watch him run-up the P-40, I still got my fill by walking around and taking numerous pictures of his magnificant airplane. I asked him if I could take a look inside the cockpit and he suggested I just climb on in. Who was I to argue, eh? So there I was perched inside the cockpit of this time-capsule of an fighter. The smells were intoxicating! I don't know about you all, but I love the smell of old airplanes, and this one smelled that same sweet smell. Once I got my head out of the cockpit and away from staring at the gauges, switches, and levers, I took a look out. The first thing that grabbed me was what a good position the pilot is in while sitting the cockpit. It felt so comfortable and had I been flying it, I'd feel really attached, or "one with" the airplane. It just felt right; it's hard to explain. I handed my camera to Gordon Wirth who had tagged along to see the P-40 and he got a shot of me grinning like an idiot in the cockpit. I could have stayed in the presence of George and his P-40 all day, but I knew he had to get back home, as well Gordon Wirth said he could get me into Victoria Air Maintenance to see a certain twin-engine fighter/bomber. As we were leaving the hangar George reminded me that I should let him know the next time I'm in Victoria because he'd be happy to show me his P-40 anytime I'm in the neighbourhood. I told him I certainly would, shook his hand, and wished him a good day.

So, back into the car I get, and I follow Gordon Wirth to the other side of the airport to Victoria Air Maintenance to see the de Havilland Mosquito that is being restored to flying condition there. The airplane, originally owned by the Zalesky family, and now belonging to Bob Jens of Vancouver, BC has been at Victoria Air Maintenance for a little while now, and I hadn't heard of any updates for the restoration in a while. I was curious to see what changes I'd notice. So, we pop our heads in the back door of the facility and Gordon asks a woman sitting at a desk if we could quickly go in and see the Mosquito. She asked if we had set up an appointment with Mike (I think his name was), but we didn't. Luckily Gordon worked his charm and told the woman that he knew Mike, which he did, and has known for a very long time. So, she let us in, and we stroll into the hangar and come upon the Mossie. From my relatively layman position I couldn't really see any substantial work that's been done on her since the last update on the Victoria Air Maintenace website. The Mosquito was still engineless, and now wheeless sitting on jacks. There wasn't really anyone there to talk to about it, but from what Gordon told me, the project seems to have slowed down a little. Whether it has or not, it's hard to tell. There are many things that go into a restoration that take a lot of time, while not showing much for it. I did notice that the instrumentation was installed, and all of the metal components were now corrosion protection treated (green). Seeing as how I had gotten my warbird fix, and that we were getting hungry, I thanked Gordon for taking time out of his day to show me around Victoria Airport and to get me into places to see some beautiful airplanes.

Then back to downtown Victoria Marina and I went. We had a wonderful meal at the Sticky Wicket and then headed went to the local movie theater to take in a movie.

Now, where the OOPS comes in... This is embarassing, but honestly I just laughed and it wasn't a bit deal. I mentioned that I had been taking lots of pictures while at Victoria Airport. How could I not? There was a PBY Catalina/Canso, a P-40 Kittyhawk, and a de Havilland Mosquito!!! Now, it wasn't until I got to the Victoria Air Maintenance hangar that I noticed I didn't have a memory card in my digital camera. DARN!!!! The only thing that bothered me about this happening was that I would be able to share the pictures I thought I was taking with all of you on WIX.

So, for the excuse...

My girlfriend and I have two cameras that we regularly use, each with a memory card. Very often we'd switch the cards between cameras and that must have caused one of them to become corrupted, or at least screwed up to the point that we don't use it anymore. Before we left for Victoria I grabbed the camera I wanted to use, and left the other one behind. I didn't even consider the notion that it wouldn't have a card, because I had gotten so used to both cameras always have one card or the other in it. The fact that I took what I'd estimate to be more than 150 pictures without noticing that there was no indicator showing how many images I had left, should be enough to have told me something was wrong. But, I was so caught up in the aura of the amazing planes and people I was meeting that I didn't even think about it. Sigh.

Peace,

David McIntosh
Vancouver, BC

Oh well. I'm sure your mental snapshot are good ones.

I sure know what you mean about the feel of the P-40 seat.

Pretty cool to connect with a time-capsule like that, not to mention the other aircraft.

Dave

Perspective is a strange thing isn't it? you stand under a PBY and marvel @ how long those wings are, then you get up on top and feel like you're standing on the coffee table.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Cool story!
The Kiwi Cat often does airshow hops with water landings, e.g. to Lake Wanaka from Warbirds Over Wanaka.

Sometimes we get so focused on taking pictures and critiquing how they came out that we forget to experience the experience. Sounds like you had a great experience that will stay with you a lifetime. Thanks for sharing.

Here's a (pre-digital) photo from years ago of the P-40 when it got to go outside sometimes.

Thanks for the kind words guys,

It was a really fun trip and so great to connect with the people and the planes. The main reason I wanted to take pictures was to share them with you guys. I wasn't really upset at ending up not having any pictures to show for it. I did indeed experience the experience. My eyes were wide open and taking in everything and every moment. I simply held the camera up to my face for a brief second every one and a while to snap something interesting.

It was fun talking with George Maude because as it turns out, he worked at RCAF Station Patricia Bay (Now, Victoria Airport) during WWII in a ground crew capacity of some sort, and he knows for sure that the new Canso in town (RCAF 11024), was stationed at Pat Bay while he worked there, and he knows with almost complete certainty that he took part in the support of that exact airplane, and "probably drove a tug into it too" he said jokingly.

Inspector, you're very correct about the difference in perspective with regards to the PBY wing. I was too busy checking out the airplane itself that I thankfully didn't take too much notice of how high off the ground we were. I reckon it's a good 20 feet?

It's kind of funny to think that with all the airplane stuff I was doing at Victoria Airport, I didn't have time to check out the air museum here. The British Columbia Aviation Museum has a really nice collection of planes and is definitely worthy of a visit. If anyone's planning a trip to the area, I'd be happy to pass on the contact info for George Maude because he is always happy to show off his pride and joy P-40, and I can also get you in touch with the Bob Dyck and Gordon Wirth to arrange a look at their PBY Catalina/Canso. PM me and I can set you up.

Oh, and Dave... After sitting in the P-40 and having that feeling of connectedness with it, I am even more jealous of what you have the honour of doing with VWoC. Fly safe!

Peace,

David M

P.S. If anyone's wondering about the polished aluminum markings on George's P-40, they are authentic and as they were when he bought it. The plane was struck off strength in the same scheme it carried during it's stint with the War Bonds tour in Western Canada. It's very unique to say the least.

I'd rate that as my favorite P-40 for a number of reasons.

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Always looking for WW2 Half-Tracks and Parts.