Page 36 - December 2019

The need for training aircraft led to the manufacture in Though training casualties came down with
Toronto of 2,800 examples of the JN-4(Can) Canuck, a experience, there still is an annual memorial service
slightly modified adaptation of the American-designed at Deseronto to salute eight cadets killed in training
Curtiss JN-4 Jenny. There was a less-successful attempt and buried there — a tangible tribute all of those
to manufacture a large military flying boat for the U.S. cadets and their instructors.
Navy near the end of the war, but an important
“We have a really vibrant aviation history,” said
technical hurdle had been cleared: this led to the
Hunt. “I wasn’t really an aviation history buff until
construction of other aircraft types in Canada during
about a few years ago. I’d say we’ve got more
the 1920s, and also created a large pool of surplus
aviation history than just about any other nation of
Canucks that were sold to Canadian entrepreneurs for comparable size.’’
fledgling aviation companies in 1919 and 1920.

It is a measure of the danger of First World War flying
that of the 15 members of one class from mid-1917 that
Hunt traced, the end of that year found that five
members had been killed, three seriously wounded, Time to plan ahead!
three were missing in action and only two were still
flying. The Regina chapter of the Canadian
Aviation Historical Society (CAHS
Leaving aside the dangers of air war against a tough and
clever enemy, Hunt said that an obvious problem was And
inadequacies in the flying training syllabus used in
Canada. The RFC was of the attitude that a pilot could 600 Wing of the RCAF Association
solo after only six hours of instruction; the American
armed services came to believe that 10 hours flying was hold their joint Christmas banquet on
more reasonable. That led to heavy casualties typified the evening of Saturday, December
by a report in an Orillia newspaper that found one day’s
flying at nearby Camp Borden brought no fewer than 7, at the Eagles Club, 1600 Halifax St.
seven crashes, with one man killed and five in hospital. The speaker will be Reginan Deana
A well-known photograph of an instructor stretched out
over the upper fuselage of his Canuck in mid-air Driver, editor of the new book Flight --
emphasized how casual the rules were. And the OX-5 Stories of Canadian Aviation, Volume
engine used in the Canuck was generally reliable (if it 1.
went through drive shafts and bearings quickly), it had
an unfortunate habit of “coughing “ a few times when The cost of the supper is $25 per
pilots applied power during landings. person. For that evening, drinks are at
Hunt’s research even turned up some intriguing 6 PM; supper at 6:30 PM.
anecdotes, like the officer who was stunting over his
family’s farm, lost control and crash-landed and Important: We need to have an
escaped by claiming that his engine had failed. There accurate count of those attending by
were also the two airmen, rivals for the affections of a
young woman, who crashed their aircraft head-on November 29.
within view of her rural home. And there was Vernon To RSVP, hit "reply" or send an email
Castle, who, with his wife, were ballroom dancing stars
– though he apparently had plans to divorce her and to cahsregina@hotmail.com
marry a Belleville woman whom he’d met while training
at Deseronto. Alas, he was killed in a plane crash in
Texas in early 1918.