Fall Contrails 2017
A moment of panic overtook some of our 101 Squadron members after the final dedication for RCAF Station Coal Harbour on September 23 - have we REALLY run out of projects? Our worry is we will have no more reasons for meeting at the Cockpit. So, we did what we do best, we called a meeting at the Cockpit and discussedthe issue. While we don’t have any more crashes to commemorate we do have ongoing duties (Battle of Britain, Remembrance Day, Battle of the Atlantic, maintenance of our memorial cairns…) There will be other things that turn up that will need our attention, so we are confident we will not be running out of reasons for meetings for some time yet. Whew!
For example, the thing with planning is things don’t always go as planned. We had plannedon the Canadian Rangers, Shearwater Resort, possibly the Coast Guard, and othersto mount the plaques commemorating the RCAF Radar stations at Ferrer Point, Langara Island, Marble Island, Cape St. James and Spider Island this summer. For assorted reasons, that didn’t happen, and we will be looking intomoving those projectsahead.Yayyyy – more of those meetings!
This year’s big event for us – the commemoration of RCAF Station Coal Harbour - went off well. The weather was kind once again, as we’d planned. The plaque outlining the station’s history was unveiled at a ceremony attended by members of 19 Wing, 888 Wing, the Canadian Rangers, and next of kin of crewmen from the crashed planes commemorated at the Coal Harbour RCAF Memorial park. Wilderness Seaplanes provided two of their colourful Goose aircraft and Joey Eilertson provided three of Air Cab’s Beavers for a flypast. And then there was the dinner… Joey had very generously offered the use of the WWII hangar for the dinner and did a phenomenal job of getting it ready – he even painted the floor. He placed several gleamingly restored old-time engines, compressors, pumps and other historical items around the seating area, and of course there is his RCAF and Whaling Museum full of interesting memorabilia that our guests enjoyed. Thank you, Joey!
For this, our final memorial dinner, we pulled out all stops, with a pig roast, native style salmon barbecue, tons of crab, and all the other usual fixings (put together by Dave Gage) so no one went hungry. The Port Hardy Lions ran the bar and there was wine on the tables helping everyone be happy. Acting Wing Commander,LCol Paula Fraser spoke to the guests, as did some of the family members of the crash crews. Awards were presented to: Jim Pollock – “Merit”, other two awards? After dinner everyone returned to the Glen Lyon Inn where the Three Titted Moose was put to good use. The next morning, we gathered at Port Hardy’s Cenotaph and First Nations Memorial to honour the Battle of Britain. The weather was clear and cool, though a low fog out at the airport prevented Wilderness Seaplanes from launching their Goose aircraft for a flyby. LCol Fraser again spoke to the gathering, wreathes were laid, and poppies placed on the Memorial Stone. Then we all headed back to the Glen Lyon for brunch and refreshments. We sent a cooler with packages of frozen halibut and snapper on the bus for anyone who wanted some. We had expected to cook it for the dinner but there was more than enough food so sending it home with our guests seemedan appropriate use for it.
One of the benefits of hosting our website that people sometimes get in touch with us to offer information or make inquiries about RCAF history. Recently we were contacted by someone who had Googled “RCAF Cape Scott.” Turns out he’d got possession of a baseball that someone had bought at an auction. On it was written “RCAF Cape Scott”and several signatures, presumably some of the personnel who were stationed there and played on the baseball team. When we dedicated the plaque at Cape Scott back in May we had been told about a small museum the lightkeeper maintains to display memorabilia from the past. Russ thought it made perfect sense for the baseball to be put on display where it came from - and off it went in a Coast Guard chopper….! The lightkeepers, Harvey and Todd, said they will make a glass display case for it and show it off proudly.
The Squadron will carry the RCAF Ensign when we parade with the Port Alice Legion on Remembrance Day. Then we’ll race back to Port Hardy for a hot rum or two with Port Hardy’s Legion members. We are planning on coming down for the Deputy Wing Commander’s Christmas party on November 25. Hopefully we’ll get an opportunity to visit our parents briefly. Later on we’ll be holding our annual Wives Appreciation Christmas Luncheon where we host our spouses and tell them what a great job we did this past year. They put up with it. Then we’ll settle back and ponder another long year of busy times.