Tomorrow, by Canadian Federal "Order in Council", Sunday Sept 17 is the
ceremonial anniversary of the Battle of Britain (it is always held on the
Sunday nearest Sept 15 as I recall) as a Wing Parade. Starts about 11:00. It
commemorates the turning point of the Battle of Britain - "Adler Tag
September 15, 1940" (Eagle Day) when the Luftwaffe finally backed off its
massive daylight raids. [I HOPE I gote the date and spelling correct!] Go
watch the movie "The Battle of Britain" and/or documentaries on the subject
to understand more about it. Our weather will be slightly overcast we
expect. No gas (petrol) shortages here like in the UK right now, but our
prices have gone up 40% in the last year on gasoline. Ouch! Still not as
pricey though as in the UK. How can the Brits afford to drive those big
Diamond Ts, Scammells etc? It is not the distance really, so here is a "new"
saying - "If you have to ask about the price of the gas (petrol), you can't
afford the Grizzly M4 tank and the Diamond T and Rogers trailer to transport
it!"
The Royal Canadian Air Cadets parade each year for this Battle of Britain.
Remember there were many Canadian pilots fighting as well as other
Commonwealth countries involved, as well as the US "Eagle Squadron"
(Americans who refused to wait the two years as it turned out before the USA
joined in the war), Polish pilots etc. One of those Polish pilots, Jan
Zurakowsky, was later the test pilot of the Avro Arrow jet fighter in Canada
in the late 1950s. Also watch the movie: "Reach for the Sky" about Douglas
Bader who flew Spitfires during the Battle of Britain - with TWO (yes 2 !)
artificial legs !!
Yes, our air cadets STILL retain the ROYAL part of their title in spite of
Canadian government's gradual elimination since the late 1960s of this hard
earned honour from many formations and forces. e.g. Our Royal Canadian Air
Force is now just plain the Canadian Air Force. :-( Mind you, about 20
years ago the "Royal" had been cut off of the air cadet shoulder titles, but
was later reinstated. :-)
Here in British Columbia at least the Battle of Britain anniversary is one
of three compulsory parades annually for the air cadets, with the other two
being Remembrance Day (Nov 11) and their Annual Inspection in May. My
squadron, 583 Coronation (from maple Ridge, BC), will be attending.
I plan to take my 1944 Willys MB and 1942 BSA airborne bicycle and RCAF
Ensign to display at the event this year in Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC.
Please note the military vehicle content of this message! More MV stuff at
end of message. :-) The jeep is now in RCAF markings. I do not know if
there will be a fly-by, but the Spitfire Mk. IX that once belonged to Cliff
Robertson (the actor), is owned by a local man who owns at least one sports
team. I suspect that there will be a fly-by by vintage aircraft. Locally we
also have sevreal Harvards (= US AT-6 Texan), ex-RCAF Albatross post-WWII
amphibian, Tiger Moth, Fleet Finch, Cornell, Soviet Yak, 7/8 scale SE-5a
etc.
Interesting coincidence at the last local gunshow. I bought a set of maps
off the son of a veteran RCAF radio operator who had died in August. It
looks like he was with 2nd Tactical Air Foce, 126 Wing which is how I had
marked my jeep (which was an air force jeep at one time in its service
career - I'm just not sure WHOSE air force! Probably USAAF, USAF, RAF or
RNoAF i.e. Royal Norwegian Air Force). My jeep came out of Norway in 1985.
It had been painted a dark air force blue at one point in its military
career long ago. Can anyone help me narrow the field a bit - i.e. did any of
the above listed air forces NOT use dark blue paint on vehicles? So, now I
have the authentic maps of Normandy, Arnhem, Paris, Belgium and Holland to
go with the jeep. Oh yes, and there was a bright yellow rubberized linen (?)
1941 Luftwaffe air navigation map (Mercator Projection) of England/Wales and
Ireland (not Scotland though!) on one side and Northern Europe on the other
side included. The fellow's father had taken it off a German pilot. Now I
just have to find WWII RCAF or RAF battledress to fit me (6' 4") to wear
with my jeep.
More MV content: Prior to the Battle of Briatin the RAF had painted their
vehicles blue. They found however that they made nice targets for the Stukas
etc. so they switched to drab colours for the duration of the war. Plain
army type colours but they also used camouflage patterns e.g. Mickey Mouse
Ear (MME) camo pattern which is what I have on my jeep. Post-war a prettier
paint job appeared with black fenders on RAF vehicles.
Captain Colin Macgregor Stevens, CD
DCO, 583 RCACS
MVPA Member 954 (since 1977)
Editor MAPLE LEAF UP (Est. 1977) newsletter
of Western Command Military Vehicle Historical Society
Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, Canada
E-mail: colin@pacdat.net
Personal web site: http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net
1944 Willys MB
1942 BSA airborne bicycles (2)
=====================================
----- Original Message -----
From: NIGEL HAY <nigel@milweb.net>
To: Military Vehicles Mailing List <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2000 3:23 AM
Subject: [MV] This weekends important anniversary
> I thought one of us Brits should remind the list of this weekends
> significance, it is of course the 60th anniversary of the RAF's victory
over
> the Luftwaffe. 530 pilots lost their lives , plus many other RAF
personnel
> and civilians.
> Unfortunately appalling weather is currently preventing several
ceremonial
> flypasts planned for today. On this Sunday it is planned to have 17
> Spitfires and 2 Hurricanes flying at the Battle of Britian airshow at RAF
> Biggin Hill, one of the best known BoB airfields. ( I can actually look
out
> and see another major BoB airfield RAF Manston from my house. Manston took
a
> terrible battering from the Germans and was bvirtually wiped out 60 years
> ago)
> A very fitting tribute to what Winston Churchill called "their finest
hour".
>
> NIGE,
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Oct 24 2000 - 20:55:35 PDT