Save the Canso - Update

We had a recent comment on the Blog/Update from Holly at 17:03PM on 1/16/14 commented on War Years, and she said: My great uncle Francis Lawrence was a part of the 162 squadron, RCAF. He was a flight officer. His plane got shot down over the sea near Wick, Scotland. Anyone have any info on him or that squadron? He died June 14, 1944.

If anyone has any information to pass along to Holly, please let us know.

Holly:  please contact me and provide your email so we can forward some information about your great uncle.

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At least, FARS has an agreement with the very generous Newfoundland towns of St. Anthony and Stephenville which will allow some of the Fairview Canso Crew to travel to St. Anthony and swap display engines/props, with the two excellent low time engines/props that they currently have on their display Canso PBY FIZU.

We will soon have lots more information about the engines - the plan to exchange the engines/props and the amazing boost that FARS got from the agreement with St. Anthony and Stephenville.

In the meantime, check out their website for details on the aircraft and how they came to get their Canso PBY from the Newfoundland Government, for a static display: http://www.town.stanthony.nf.ca/tourist_park.php

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We recently received a phone call from Derwyn Ross who is the secretary of the Catalina Preservation Society at North Saanich, BC.  They are working with Bob Dyck and his Canso, which was purchased from Buffalo Air last year.  Derwyn asked if we would put a link to their site on our website and we would be very happy to direct our visitors to their site which is:  www.pbycatalina.com

I have checked out their site and it is great!  We look forward to working with the Catalina Preservation Society in the future.

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A SOP (Standard Operating Precedures) is a written document or instruction detailing all steps and activities of a process or procedure.

We were very fortunate to be gifted a copy of Peter Austin-Smth's SOP for FNJE.  Peter flew the Canso for many hours post-war with the RCAF, and has been closely following our progress.  Please see the details and his story below.

Email Comment below from Peter Austin-Smith (former 11094/FNJE pilot)
Hello Doug: Sometime ago I believe, I mentioned the possibility of providing your organization with a copy of my original and very old, standard operating procedures for the Canso. I don't know the date of publication but likely it was around the late 40's or early 50's. They were given to us out at Sea Island Boat School (now Vancouver International Airport) when I was learning to fly the Canso in the spring of 1955.  If you are still interested, I will mail a copy out to you. My original is with the CWHM in Hamilton as they fly 11084,(now in WW2 livery as 5754) an aircraft which I also flew. The SOP's are fairly detailed and of course, refer to the both wartime and post- wartime configuration in that the engineer was situated in the tower with several engine instruments and controls for fuel flow. Now of course,in commercial Canso's, all controls and instruments have been moved into the cockpit. BTW, I checked my logbook for time on 11094, which turns out to be a little more than 110 hours . We flew 094 while on detachment on Anticosti Island in the summer of 1956. The airfield was a combination of gravel, grass and dirt!! At the time, we were support aircraft for survey engineers who were checking out various sites around the Gulf of St.Lawrence for suitabilty for radar stations to close the "radar gap" of that cold war period. We lived in an old house on the edge of Port Menier (sp?), and lived largely on venison as the island had an abundance of white-tailed deer . I should mention that during our Anticosti flights to various locations around the Gulf, we also had several water landings and takeoffs,including one takeoff which required JATO as the lake looked a bit small, and also landings and takeoffs on the gulf. The last take-off from the northeast shore of Anticosti Island with a full load was a bit exciting as the wind came up while we were loading, and on take off, the a/c with full power, began to plow through the waves . Water came over the nose and cockpit even though both pilots were holding the controls full back to get the a/c up on the step. When we finally did, each advance in airspeed was knocked back somewhat when we hit another huge wave. Eventually, we bounced from wave top to wave top, then slowly lifted up above the water. At a safe altitude, we all had a few puffs on a cigarette to relive the tension! Looking back into the aircraft, we could just make out the survey crew, with white knuckles and similarly coloured faces, still clutching what ever they could, to steady themselves in that heaving fuselage. Wouldn't have missed that experience for anything, but of course, I was young and damn cocky. You know the old saw about old pilots and bold pilots!!
Peter

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The fabric replacement on the ailerons for FNJE has progressed very well during the last few months.  The work needed to be done but it was decided that it would be a great idea to do it before Robert Lawrence and his wife, Jolene, left Fairview in late January to join the family veterinary practice in Westlock, AB.  Robert was very instrumental in the fabric work and painting on other control surfaces done earlier in the year and we knew he was the man for the job.  Robert was up to the task and, under the direction of Henry Dechant, the Canso Crew started the replacement of fabric on the two ailerons.  The fabric was replaced, the ribs stitched and taped, layers and layers of polybrush applied, coats of polyspray were followed by silver spray and the final coats of white and orange trim -- all in just two months' of spare time work. Our special thanks to Robert for all the good work he has done to help "Save the Canso".

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Sorry that the blog is a little behind .. but that doesn't mean that nothing is happening!

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We had a very interesting visitor from England, Dick Milne, a former school teacher who's now on a mission that's taken him around the world in his search for Catalinas, and their Canadian cousins, the Canso PBY.  Dick says his interests in Catalinas only developed in the mid-70s, so his fascination lies with the "modern" role of the type as an executive aircraft, as a fire fighter and as a museum attraction.  

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Since December, 2010 fabric work has been going on Norbert Luken's farm shop, just outside of Fairview, and we are finally finished for now.  The months of work have really paid off and resulted in two re-finished ailerons, the rudder and two stabilizer extensions.  A very special thanks to Norbert and Janice for making space and putting up with our frequent visits to the shop.

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Here is a very interesting story from Chris Templeton regarding some of his experiences with a Canso...

Shortly after the CAHS meeting in Calgary, I was contacted by author Shirlee Matheson about Save the Canso project. Shirlee knew that I had some experience  on Canso's while stationed at Sea Island in the RCAF. I was transferred  there in 1957 and we had I think 7 Cansos, 3 DC3s 2 Otters and 2 Piasecki H21 helicopters. The boat school where all RCAF Canso pilots were trained  was part of 121 Search and Rescue squadron. I was an aircraft electrician and we got to work on all aircraft and as I loved flying I went up when ever I had a chance.

I was part of the crew on a medevac trip to Prince Rupert on June 30,1959 in Canso 11041 and we had the misfortune to crash on landing in Seal Cove when the right nose door broke the front hinge and the door swung back and right through the fuselage. The aircraft front end was destroyed and the nurse on board was killed. The rest of us were picked up by a tug and some of the crew were injured but luckily survived. The Canso's were replaced by SA16 Albatross in 1960 and I had the good fortune to be picked for the last official trip for the Canso in RCAF service when we ferried 11089 from Sea Island-(now Vancouver International) to Claresholm, AB - Rivers Man-Lakehead to Toronto Downsview. It took us 17+ hours going east and we flew back in a new CP Air DC-8 in 4 hours. 

+. Great recollections

Chris Templeton 250-493-4645 email tomahawk422@shaw.ca

Thanks,Chris: If you have any photos or other stories, 

please send them along.

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Another great contact from a post war pilot of C-FNJE!  A few days ago we got an email from Neil Shae of Riverview, NB (see below) with a wonderful photo of the Canso in Conception Bay, Newfoundland (photo on the front page)

     I was looking at your web site on Canso C-FNJE. I worked with the NL Government Air Service and was a canso co-pilot for the 1979 and 1980 fire seasons and C-FNJE was part of our fleet , a check in my log book indicates that I have some time on this particular canso and have fond memories. I probably have about 250 hrs all told on the canso. I have attached a photo of C-FNJE taken by Kelly’s Island, Conception Bay, Newfoundland probably 1980 or 1981 not sure.

 Cheers

 Neil Shea

Riverview, NB

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I received the below email from Henry Dechant about their meeting with CAHS on March 17, 2011 in Calgary.

Hi, Doug, 

As an addendum to my little report on the CAHS meeting last Thursday, I also want to express our sincere  thanks to the group at the meeting not only for their hospitality but also for the contribution$ to cover our expenses in coming to the meeting.  After covering our expenses there will be a significant contribution to our society to be applied to the restoration of FNJE.  

Thank you, CAHS and CMS.   

Henry Dechant

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A few months ago we received an invitation from CAHS, Calgary Chapter, to speak to their group about the rescue and restoration of the Canso FNJE.  It seemed like a great opportunity to spread the word and and meet with a group of fellow historic aircraft enthusiasts.  Last Thursday Don Wieben and Henry Dechant travelled to Calgary and attended the CAHS meeting and made a presentation.  Don and Henry were very pleased with the time spent in Calgary.

Below is email from Henry regarding their visit.   

Hi Doug, 

The meeting and presentation went very well.  Don and I joined some 40 to 50 enthusiastic members of the Canadian Aviation Historic Society on Thursday March 17th at the Art Smith Aero Centre of SAIT in Calgary.  The President and Chairman Richard de Boer conducted the business of the organization in the first half hour of the meeting and this consisted mainly of short reports from several members on activities and achievements.  This group is also heavily involved in the proposed restoration of a WWII mosquito aircraft for display purposes.  The Calgary Mosquito Society has been formed to conduct the project.  Their website is  calgarymosquitosociety.com 

Our presentation was very well received.  The savethecanso video presentation was shown and with the additional photos the allotted time went by very quickly.  A couple of points which I observed were:  The savethecanso 'brand' has taken hold as it was used on a few occasions, also our project is being held up as an example of what can be achieved with determination and focus.   Our success with the retrieval and transporting of FNJE from the Arctic down to Fairview was regarded as an exceptional achievement.  We received gratitude and admiration for our achievements so far. 

Receiving this kind of credit and publicity should be extremely rewarding for us.

The CAHS also has a website:  http://www.cahs.ca/chapters/calgary.html, we could put their site on our site as a link.

Henry

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Work goes on - some days and every Wednesday night with several enthusiastic Canso Crew members involved.  The weather has been very cold, -25 to -35 degrees C. with strong winds, but progress is good and the crew is learning as they go.

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