Pacific Perspective - August 2002

By Tony Swain

COPA Convention 2002 was an adventure back in time

GETTING THERE…
Getting Ole Bessy to Red Deer for the COPA Convention consumed my thoughts for weeks.
Had to be there by Wednesday evening to ensure my presence at the board meeting cum first thing Thursday morning. We directors don’t get chance to loll around on these festive occasions.
Anyway, I went out and bought a bunch of new charts at Tailwinds, the Boundary Bay airport pilot shop. Well, two for me, and one good WAC for the World Champion back seat pilot who chivvies me around all the time. Without my Mary I’d get nowhere.
Although we’ve criss-crossed these particular Rocky Mountains dozens of times before, the pucker factor of flying around eleven or more thousand foot peaks tends to concentrate the mind on spending less time than absolutely necessary in getting to the other side.
Just how many routes are there? If one is to be forced down by some silly glitch or itinerant snowstorm, one would prefer it to be somewhere within walking distance of a nice restaurant close by a cosy, inexpensive motel. Such is the ideal.
However, after trying many options via my super duper DOS computerized navigation program, designed for the older Lear Jets and stuff, I trimmed it down to seven possible routes, all including Hope, Revelstoke, Golden, and Red Deer.
The variables were via Banff, Pincher Creek, or Rocky Mountain House. We could leave Tuesday, or Wednesday should the weather be iffy, ...i.e. Some clouds in the sky.
Mary meanwhile, had been winnowing down the required clothing and support stuff for a six or seven day absence from our den, and had managed to cram everything into one soft suitcase . My slide presentation for the Penhold Reunion Thursday night had been squeezed down into a Power Point CD via a vast six day learning effort on my part, and so took up no space at all.

WEATHER OR NOT...
Perversely Tuesday dawned horrible with rain and cloudy things oozing about the mountain passes, provoking the sudden realization that if this happened Wednesday as well, we’d be late for everything. Big change of plan... Jammed everything in our trusty old Volvo, and went out and rented a car from Hertz. The down side was the drive would take two old folks at least two days, and the upside was Mary could quit worrying about weight and stowage space.
Much of the way through the mountains the cloud was either a couple of hundred feet above the highway, or we drove through fog. Peering left and right down valleys as we discussed whether we could have made it down here, or there, and at what point we would have turned around. Fact is, we wouldn’t have left.
We arrived at Red Deer Wednesday afternoon, and were immediately roped into stuff the nice carry-alls you got on registering. Local computer guru, Jerry Mulder, had a quick look at my amazing CD, only to find it wouldn’t load properly, and no amount of hand wringing by me was going to help. However, he simply stayed up all night re-uploading, downloading and re-converting, and telling me not to worry.
By this time I needed to sleep for a week, but was up at dawn for the board meeting. It is always good to get together with the other directors from across Canada, and the discussions were thoughtful and informative. Sherry Cooper told us this promised to be a successful convention, and that maybe 200 aircraft and 600 people would register. This was indeed good news after our miserable weather experience earlier.

THE REUNION DINNER...
The 4 FTS Penhold Reunion dinner was wonderful. Our modest group of 45 filled the dining room in the Old Officers Mess, the very place we ex-Flight Cadets received our graduation scrolls and wings. It really was deja-vue!
The RCAF ran this pilot training scheme for NATO, making us a very international bunch. So you can imagine how thrilled we were that old trainees arrived from Denmark, England, Wales, Italy and of course, Canada.
I was also surprised to find that former Surrey mayor, Bill Vogel, was a Flight Cadet from my year, and that he had encouraged a number of old friends to come from Europe. A number of COPA directors also joined us for dinner.
The whole thing was pretty jolly, however, we followed as best we could some of the old mess traditions that we were taught at the Officer Qualities class...
We said grace and thanked The Lord for gathering us yet again at this wonderful place, a place where, as young men, we enjoyed the best pilot training available in the world. And were provided with adventures of flight and discovery none of us could even imagine a few scant months before. Thank you Canada.
I always expect to fumble things, however, after tea was served, I stepped up to the podium, welcomed everyone, and reminded them that we vintage bunch, particularly those from the UK, needed to thank the lovely young woman who had originally made it all possible. So I called on Mr. Vice, my friend Fred Grisley from Wales, to propose a toast. And as per tradition, ex A.P.O. Grisley raised his glass, and called... “Ladies and Gentlemen, The Queen!” And it was a hearty toast.
A course mate from Scotland, Archie Gilchrist, sent regrets, with good wishes, and asked that we remember absent friends, which we did in the proper manner with another heartfelt toast.
I then read a poem titled “At Last They’ve Learned to Fly!” written by RCAF Flight Cadet Wigston in 1953, which succinctly told the story of the trials and tribulations of our nine months of Basic Flight Training right there at Penhold. My slide presentation “The Old Days!” went off smoothly, thanks to Jerry Mulder’s efforts.
Thanks to Kent Roberts, RCAC, and of the Memory Lane Gallery in Red Deer. We had a wonderful limited edition print “Harvards over QF” as the major door prize. Other prizes were eight large posters of Harvard scenes and course cartoons from those days, which had been used to decorate the Mess Bar and Hallway.

TIME MACHINE...
Friday, prompt at eleven, two Harvards joined the old Penhold circuit and flew by, one breaking off and landing. Warbird Cadet Don McTaggart, taxied his Mark 2 to the line, shut down, and was soon surrounded by enthusiastic Re-unionists. He graciously allowed the old guys to climb in and savour the smell and feel of a live Harvard. They were ecstatic. The distinctive sounds of a hot Harvard engine ticking down, and the pungent aroma of hot oil is nostalgic indeed, and turned that beautiful Harvard into a time machine second to none for us guys!
We had hoped for four Harvards, but as Don explained at the dinner, one of the Harvard groups favourite older members, Cece Law, had passed away only a few days earlier, and the services were that very afternoon, and so, the others were unable to join us. Don kindly left his Mark 2 on the line for the day for our visitors to enjoy.
The other Harvard was flown by Byron Reynolds who had to return to Wetaskiwin for important business. We thank them both for doing this for us on such a sad day.

NO CHIPS OFF THE OLD BLOCK!
Next day, BCAC’s Jerry Lloyd, Mary, and myself decided to take a closer look at the old barrack block we stayed in as cadets fifty years ago.
I led the way to the top floor, and down the spotless hall to my old room 217. We peered in and... gasp! There were the old iron double tier beds, freshly made up with original Air Force grey blankets and white sheets! All tucked in neat and looking as if we had just left it an hour ago for inspection after a bull night! Everything was as it had been fifty years ago! It was weirdly un-nerving.
“Can I help you?” A pleasant middle aged woman appeared down the hall wearing summer shorts and print blouse.
“Well,” I said, “We used to train here in ’53 and just looking around. It’s amazing, just like we left it yesterday?”
She laughed. “Thanks, I’m Captain Slack, and I live here for the summer. We have the Air Cadets arriving here next week and this is still an active base.” That explained it. But the great thing was that nothing in the camp had experience any changed in fifty years! Though, Capt. Slack told us the discipline was a bit more relaxed now.
The dining hall and the Cadets social Mess were also immaculate and unchanged, except that the Juke Box had gone, and there was no piano. How do they survive?
The hangars were not so well preserved, at our F flight anyway, but it was still there.

THE COPA CONVENTION...
The Convention itself was a great success. The promised 200 planes turned up and lined the parking areas from one end to the other. The registration was ably handled by the local folk of COPA Flight 92 and friends in the Flying Club.
The exhibit hall was cool and welcoming next door in the AvTech hangar. The myriad study sessions held in the three Sky Wings hangars were well attended, and a ramp “people mover” helped to cut down on sore feet.
The hotels were excellent, and not too far away from either the airport or downtown Red Deer which was a bit hard to find for those of us still thinking 1953! The trick was to drive through town looking west until you saw the old railroad station, then head for it and look down the side streets.
Congratulations are abundantly due to convention Co-Chairs Sherry Cooper and Mike Sutherland and their volunteers, who organized such a wonderful Alberta Western experience in such a historic aviation location. It was nice to see the old Harvard sitting by the club, patiently waiting for it’s restoration to a place of prominence by the gate. They are seeking donations.
The Friday night COPA Award’s Barbeque was terrific, with the wonderful immaculate Norseman on stage. The specifics of the various awards appear elsewhere in the paper, but I wish to say here what an honour and a pleasure it is for me to emcee this important event.
So many deserve such recognition, and we are pleased to find those few outstanding efforts among our family and be able to thank them publicly. Time to start thinking about deserving people we meet in our aviation wanderings for next year’s presentations. Get to it!
The Saturday evening Banquet allowed me to relax and simply enjoy. I certainly hope I don’t need to learn how to juggle for next year like Rick Sauter did. He was fabulous. The way he deliberately dropped all that stuff was hilarious. His timing was spot on.
It was a wonderful weekend... but come Sunday it was time to go.

HOME JAMES...
1953 Cadet friend, Dave Wick and wife Vivian, invited us to a barbeque at the Elks club in Calgary Sunday evening.
The event turned out to be a Quarter Century in Aviation club social, and I met a lot of old friends, and was honoured to be presented with a 50 year pin.
We stayed at their place and left early Monday morning for Banff. The Banff Strip looks fine, and even had two Cessna 172’s tied down on it back in the bushes.
We drove out to Creston airport Tuesday, and spent a pleasant hour chatting with the guys in Mike Wigen’s hangar and admiring his super modified D.H. Beaver, with high lift wings and other goodies. They sent us on to the International airstrip at Porthill a few miles south where a dedicated flying enthusiast named Bill and his friend Nipper Bradford had restored a classic Monocoach. It was beautiful, but they were busy, so we didn’t stay long.
On to Grand Forks where we heard that after all the work they put into clearance lights around the valley etc, approval was still wanting for night flights for medic flights and the like.
We arrived at Olivers Southwind Hotel just in time for dinner, and enjoyed a most delicious meal. This was a favourite place for our Warbird fly-ins. The lobby is still resplendant with great pictures from those days. We got our usual room overlooking the airport, and could see our old friend Walt Lannon’s Harvard parked by his hangar.
The hotel is a popular rendezvous today for the Boundary Flying Club
and other West Coast flying groups. The Nancheng Owners hold their annual fly-in there.
Whilst we would have preferred to fly to Red Deer, the long drive by car let us see things we could not have seen from Bessy.

DELTA...
It was good to get out to Delta and check on Bessy. The Air Cadets had been out and done their annual big clean-up of the Air Park and their enthusiastic work is well appreciated by the committee and the tenants. I guess that’s it! ...Fly safe...
Tony Swain has been a COPA member for over 20 years and has been an active participant in many aviation groups. He flies many types of aircraft and is concerned about the rights of sport pilots.

Tony Swain has been a COPA member for over 20 years and has been an active participant in many aviation groups. He flies many types of aircraft and is concerned about the rights of sport pilots.