Hangar Queen

I'd heard rumours that there was an old flying boat at the Ganonoque airport, so on our last bike ride in December we stopped by.  By sheer coincidence, the hangar owner was there, otherwise we wouldn't have seen nuttin'.  Anyway, there it was, an amphibian rather than a flying boat, a beautiful Canso, its designation in Canada, while in the US they called it a PBY Catalina in its flying boat form. 

The air museum in Ottawa has an example.  http://www.warplane.com/pages/aircraft_canso.html

The guy who owns it is in his 70's, and it hasn't flown since 1966.  (The guy who owns the hangar told him, "When that thing flies I want to be in it."  The old guy replied, "So do I.")  He doesn't want it as a static display in a museum, but apparently insurance to fly it is prohibitive.  (It also sucks 50 gallons of fuel per hour in standard flight.)  All things told, you'd need to be rich to own it and fly it.

A lovely machine.  Huge Pratt & Whitney radial engines.  Dwarfed all of the other light aircraft stored in the hangar.

Just to get an idea of how big this thing is, below is a picture of a Canso of RCAF 413 Squadron on a Ceylon beach in 1942.  (Taken from Lt. Col. D.J. Goodspeed (Ed.), The Armed Forces of Canada 1867-1967.  Ottawa:  Directorate of History, Canadian Forces Headquarters, 1967. )

There's another Kingston connection with this model of aircraft.  On April 4, 1942, Leonard Birchall was piloting one of 413 Squadron's Cansos when he located a Japanese carrier battle group consisting of five aircraft carriers, four battleships, and other warships, heading to Ceylon.  He was able to radio a warning before being shot down.  This gave the British some time to prepare, although they fumbled their response.  The Canadian press later called Birchall the "Savior of Ceylon" and suggested that if the British fleet had been defeated at Ceylon, the Germans would have won in North Africa.  (For a full account, see Leonard Birchall and the Japanese Raid on Colombo.  There's also a detailed account based on an interview with Birchall in John Melady's book, Pilots.  Canadian Stories from the Cockpit.  McClelland & Stewart, 1989)  Birchall himself spent years as a Japanese P.O.W.  The Air Commodore spent his last years living in Kingston, where he died in 2004.  

Kingston Whig Standard.  November 18, 1989.

Finally, here's a photo of a privately-owned Catalina that was shot up and abandoned in Saudi Arabia in 1960.  For the sad story, follow this link.

We used to make things in this country. #88: Canadian Wooden Aircraft, Stratford Ontario

About 1980 someone gave the family a dining set (as shown but painted dark blue) with the explanation that they had been made from surplus plywood after WW2 from de Havilland Mosquito manufacturing.  I'm not sure that was completely true but this furniture was made by Canadian Wooden Aircraft of Stratford Ontario just after the war. Design by Waclaw Czerwinski and Hilary Stykolt.



This set for sale at http://www.metroretrofurniture.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?item=8857&cameFrom=14  as of 3/23/2012





The Magic Brain Calculator

More than you ever need to know about these things.
http://www.xnumber.com/xnumber/MagicBrainCalculator.pdf



but if you prefer to dial rather than slide...



Early Meter Maids

Canada 1962.  Prepared for the Information Services Division, Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Ottawa, Canada.

Oriental Anglo

 

According to its case, this is a "Midget B.C. Flash Gun."  Really very well made--all of the segments unfold nicely to form the dish.  Interesting that you had to put a separate capacitor in it along with the battery.  The name on the unit is "Anglo."  Naturally, it was made in Japan.

Kawasaki. Green long before you were.

Yvon Duhamel's H1R. Barber Museum

Wagner Loader

A little awkward that the operator now has to climb over the back of the tractor to get to the driver seat. But, having filled manure spreaders by hand, I can say it would be much better than a pitchfork. 

Metralla on the Mantle

Occupational hazards of bio-engineers

Although many of his colleagues considered the attachment to be unnatural, Professor Fielskowitz never went anywhere without his beloved Gucca melons.

Unplanned obsolescence

Having just fully automated their buggy whip factory, the Duke and Mister G learn with dismay about something called  the "Ford Model T."