Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Monuement Started and Honour Roll Completed

Post Supplied by: Bill Bishop 
The sod was turned last week for the 400 Squadron Monuement in Trenton.  We'll keep you posted on completion date and dedication ceremony date.

The Honour Roll section on the Blog has been removed and can now be accessed on our web site CLICK HERE TO VIEW.  The section has been completely revised and contains more complete information along with a guest book for each member on the honour roll.
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Sunday, June 5, 2011

400 SQUADRON MONUMENT

Post Supplied by: Carl Mills   

On Thursday May 27, 2011, I accompanied Col. Gerry Gilroy to Belleville and Trenton where he signed the contract documents to commence the construction and placement of 400 Squadron’s Monument.  The project was initiated by Col. George Georgas some years ago, and although there were some changes to the design, the memorial features were all of Col. Georgas’ ideas.  The monument will be placed in the RCAF Memorial Air Park of the National Air Force Museum in Trenton, ON.  The monument also satisfies all of the Museum’s requirements.

The monument will be two-sided as shown on the drawings and will be 5 foot - eight inches high.  The front side will feature the squadron Standard plus the original dialogue as written by Col. Georgas.  Colour for the Standard was considered, however, it was determined that the colour eventually fades.  Because of this the Standard will be on a polished black granite insert.  The black insert is two inches thick.

Col. Georgas’ dialogue has been translated into French and is in accordance with the Museum’s rules which states, “Monument inscriptions must be in both official languages, however, the extent of bilingualism is discretionary.”  
The reverse side will contain the Honour Role of 35 names.  The main part of the monument is unpolished grey granite.  The grey granite is smoothed by using high velocity steel shot.  The black granite comes from India while the grey granite is from Vermont.  Apparently Ontario granite is too grainy for lettering.

The memorial will be located as shown on the layout (marked by an ‘X’) and will be about 15 feet from the Museum’s walkway.  The path will be three feet wide and made of light grey brick with a dark grey trim.  The path will surround the monument.  This is the same location as originally considered by Col. Georgas.  The memorial will be placed on a four foot deep concrete base to prevent heaving by ground frost.  There will be ample space for those who wish to have their own inscribed in-ground stone (Ad Astra stone program) in the future.  For those who may have already place a stone at the Museum, there is a free relocation opportunity for those who wish to have their stone near the 400 memorial.
The view is toward the west with a vista of several of the Air Park’s aircraft.  On the left is a CF-100 while on the right is an empty grassed space backed by trees.  Across the Park is a Canadian flag with a long row of trees.  There was some discussion about the empty space.  It was expressed that it should be a 400 squadron type aircraft.  The T-33, Kiowa, F-86 are already in the Air Park.  Perhaps a Vampire or surplus Griffon helicopter would fit.  This could be another 400 squadron project.

This project was funded from the 110 Squadron Trust Fund and is estimated at $14,000 including the installation, brick walkway, and a 10% perpetual maintenance fee to the Museum.  The Fund was established when the squadron went to war in 1939.  It resulted from the sale of furnishings from the Trethewey farm airfield in Toronto.  Over the years it has been entrusted to several of 400 Squadron’s senior officers and has been invested.  It has paid for other items such as the Squadron’s Standards in 1961.  The latest trustees were Cols. Georgas, Gilroy and Davidson.

The Honour Role is an important part of our heritage but has been a ‘moving target’ for the squadron over the years and previous documentation has some errors and omissions.  For this project, there was a significant review to confirm the information.  During the 110 Squadron era in the UK, there was also a 110 RAF Squadron and this caused some confusion with the four fatalities during this era.  The 400 Squadron history book (1996) was a significant basis for the Honour Role.  To confirm some information, the book published by the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum (1996) was used, however, there were also errors in this book.   Other information came from tombstone data, the Veterans Affairs on-line data, and the Book of Remembrance in Ottawa.

One story is of interest.  All of the personnel who were killed in the UK are buried at the Brookwood Cemetery near London with the exception of F/O McKiggan.  Although his Spitfire crashed near the airbase (Odiham), he is buried in a town in Wales.  It turns out that he was married to a lady from that town.  F/O McKiggan was from Sault St. Marie, ON and it also turns out that his wife emigrated to SSM.  Further, we found out that his wife was expecting a daughter when he was killed.  We were able to find both his wife and daughter in SSM.  The daughter was delighted to know about the memorial cairn with her father’s name on it.  She also said that they often visited friends in Belleville. 

The National Air Force Museum of Canada’s RCAF Memorial Air Park is a significant location for the memorial and the Honour Role.  Our memorial joins a growing number of other significant military memorials around the Park.  An attempt will be made to contact descendants of those on the Honour Role.  See the website for more details on the Honour Roll.

The memorial should be ready for viewing early in August.  At this point there are no immediate plans for a ceremony.  Suggestions are welcome.  Information will be posted on the 400 Squadron website.  Next year is 400 Squadron’s 80th anniversary.

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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

400 SQUADRON DOES WHEELS AND WINGS DOWNSVIEW – SAT. & SUN. 28 & 29 MAY 2011

Post Supplied by: Carl Mills
Sometime during the first week of May,  I got an urgent e-mail from the Canadian Air and Space Museum (CASM) (aka Toronto air museum) indicating that they needed volunteers for their annual 'Wheels and Wings' aviation event at Downsview.   I had no idea what I was volunteering for, however, I also volunteered my long-suffering (due to my aviation stuff) wife, Sonia, for two-days of duty.  It turned out that they needed over-night guard duty, for me, and Sonia got to supervise the kids' air-filled bouncy castle.

The CF-18 Hornet and 400 Squadron’s Griffon arrived later on Saturday morning due to weather but were a great hit along with the many other aircraft on display.  There were also over a hundred exhibitors in the hangar with all manner of interest and excitement.  It was great to see old friends including Col. Chris Colten (Executive Director of our National Air Force Museum in Trenton), Col. Dan Dempsey (of Snowbird and author fame),Gen. Paul Hayes (Past Honourary Colonel of 400), and the folks from the Canadian Aviation Historical Society – Toronto Chapter.

For guard duty on Saturday night, I parked my car between the Griffon and the Hornet in full view of an open fence area about 100 yard away.  You have to understand that the old 400/411 hangars are now a sportsplex with vast spaces for floor hockey, soccer, and basketball etc.  Hundreds of young males patronize these facilities until midnight, every night.  They depart all pumped up and ready for more action.  The first thing that they saw on Saturday night was the two aircraft on the ramp.

I had several interesting challenges up to about 0100 but managed to keep these guys away with my car horn and by flashing my lights.  I did have the Downsview Park (that’s what they call the base now) security as back up and was on the verge of calling them a few times.  That part of the evening gave a whole new meaning to our motto “On The Watch To Strike”.

During the night it was dead quiet and I could hear the red ‘remove before flight’ tails hitting the airframes in the light breeze - kind of spooky.  At 0700, my relief showed.  It was raining and the ramp was inundated with squawking sea gulls – the finale to a nostalgic (sort of) night on the old 400 ramp with the 400 Griffon.

PHOTO COURTESY: TERRY MOSSMAN
Sunday, I arranged a photo op. with the four-man crew from Borden.  Gen. Hayes was there and then I found Peter Mossman and Terry Cleland.  Terry has been our exceptional 400 Squadron bandmaster forever and Peter, the well-known Canadian aviation artist, has created six of the 21 known pieces of 400 Squadron artwork.

L to R: Gen. Paul Hayes,  Cpl. Arthur Pidgeon, Capt. Courtney Hunt, Peter Mossman,  WO “JP” LesParance, Capt. Geoff Baker, Terry Cleland, Carl Mills



After nearly two days of endless and inquisitive spectators who wanted to know all about the machines and who wanted to get inside and touch everything, both the Griffon and Hornet crews prepared for departure at about 1500.  The 400 guys, after a detailed check of the helicopter, fired up and did a neat exit.  They hovered and then moving backwards toward the runway – the crowd applauded.
PHOTO COURTESY: TERRY MOSSMAN


They then rotated away, came around for a great flypast, and a wave to the crowd.  Bravo Zulu (well done in navy speak) 400 Squadron – northern branch!!!

WO “JP“ LesParance waves farewell to the crowd during the departure flypast.

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Sunday, May 29, 2011

Joyful Breaking News

Post Supplied by: Bill Bishop 
What an amazing, and joyful, discovery I have made.  
Freddy K's unofficial 400 Squadron site is Alive
I have just email Fred Kuzyk to let him now that I have found his original site alive and well in cyber space.  A truly dedicated, and very skillful, computer enthusiast in The Netherlands managed to copy almost ALL the files from the GeoCities website owned by Yahoo before they shut it down completely in late 2009.  He then created a new site called ReoCities and has restored (to date) some 2,370,970 old GeoCities accounts.

Freddy K's Unofficial Air Reserve Squadron Web Pages is alive and well with most of the original content restored in tact.  For those of you who desire (for curiosity or nostalgia) wish to view the offerings from "The Father of 400 Squadron In Cyberspace", check it out by clicking here.

I'm sure that Fred will have much to say about this on his blog and, after I have a chance to chat with him, may make a further post on this subject here at PropWash.
Rejoice !
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Friday, May 13, 2011

They Are Not Forgotten

Post Supplied by: Bill Bishop 

I was helping Carl Mills to get photos for the cemeteries and/or grave sites of our Squadron members listed on our Honour Roll.
Pierre Vandervelden
I discovered a truly remarkable website called In Memory run by Pierre Vandervelden of Belgium.  This site contains links to 3,561 cemeteries  (both large and small) in Belgium, France, and Switzerland.

A link on the main page accesses a cemeteries section which provides a list of all cemeteries (be they WWI, WWII Memorial, Military cemeteries, Communal cemeteries, or Churchyard cemeteries) by country or region.
Once a country or region has been selected, all the cemeteries in that region and the number of veterans (by country of origin ... UK, CAN, NZ, AUS, S.AF, IND) who are interred there will be displayed.
Selecting a specific cemetery displays a listing of all veterans in the cemetery, sometimes with picture(s) of the cemetery and/or individual tombstones.
The work required to create this site and keep it current boggles the mind !
But read on....
On May 2, 2011 I left the following message on Pierre's web site :
Merci mille fois, Pierre, for your excellent efforts....they are appreciated.
I am the administrator of the 400 squadron RCAF blog (http://400sqn.blogspot.com/) and came across your site while looking for a picture of the Epinay Churchyard in Eure, France to include with the details of one of our past members buried there.
F/O ROBERT WILLIAM CLARKE - PILOT - J12318 - From Ottawa, ON. 
Killed 2 June 1943 - age 20. F/O Clarke was engaged in operations in a Mustang aircraft (#AM256) over the Cabouty - Tisieux area of France and crashed, due to enemy action, at Epinay. 
F/O Clarke is buried in the Epinay Churchyard at Eure (Epinay), France
If you have a picture I would deeply appreciate same by return email.
Once again, many thanks for your outstanding efforts.

Today, May 12 (just 10 days since my guest book entry) an email arrived from Régis Biaux who received permission from Pierre (site owner) to email me.  His mail read, in part:

 I am a contributor with Pierre to cover the region, departments where he has not the possibility to go.Also I visit systematically the french cemeteries where there are Commonwealth graves, specialy in Normandy and for the Seine-Maritime, Eure, Calvados, Orne, Oise..
Recently I have read you message on the guest book of Pierre and I have seen your require.Last saturday, I have visited the Epinay Churchyard in Eure and I have pictures of the RCAF Pilot RW Clarke grave. Epinay will be on line next thursday or friday...
I have attached two photos of the grave and if you want others pictures of the site, church, churchyard entry with the Commonweath Grave Plate, large view of the cemetery..., I can return to you in a next message and I will be a very high pleasure to send to you these pictures. Also as the photos are mine, you can used them on your site if you want but only with the legend "Photo Coutesy Régis Biaux" as we note on the Pierre site..
Here are the two pictures Régis sent me:
Photo Courtesy Régis Biau
Photo Courtesy Régis Biau






View F/O RW Clarke











Here is my reply 
Dear Régis,
… or I should say dear Comrade,
Many thanks for what you have done.  It is deeply appreciated.  I just put your photographs on our blog.  You can look at your fine work here: F/O R.W. Clarke (link)
Régis, in addition to providing a link to Pierre's “In Memory”, I have also written an article describing how we connected. You can see it here: They Are Not Forgotten (link)
At your convenience, I would also appreciate a copy of the other photos you mentioned.
I used a translator to change English to French.  I hope it is understandable in French.
Again, in the name of all the members of 400 Squadron, of the  Royal Canadian Air force, I express our sincere appreciation for your efforts.
Best Regards,
Bill Bishop
Now, something truly amazing !
The following information is relative to my Uncle Herbert, after whom I am named 
...William Herbert Bishop

Flight Lieutenant HERBERT BOND  CLARKE 
138020: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Division: RAF Transport Command, Group 45
who died age 24,on February 6,1945
OTTAWA MEMORIAL


Although F/O R.W. Clarke and my Uncle Herbert, F/O H.B. Clarke share the same last name they are not biologically related . However.....
No one can convince me that there was not unseen, and unknown, guidance involved in leading me in the direction I have travelled during this search. 
Maybe not biologically related ....but I wonder ?
Return To: F/O Clarke
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