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The Canada Appreciation Thread

Peemacgee
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pdxleaf pdxleaf
They're so young.

They certainly were.

My father was actually evacuated with the other local children at the beginning of the war and then went from his first year in the university air squadron to Canada to train to fly.
So he’d be 18 or 19 I guess.
 
pdxleaf
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Peemacgee Peemacgee
They certainly were.

My father was actually evacuated with the other local children at the beginning of the war and then went from his first year in the university air squadron to Canada to train to fly.
So he’d be 18 or 19 I guess.
Pictures like this help me appreciate more the sacrifice.

BTW, you can probably sing the praises of Canada and still praise the Irish. Ireland sent it's citizens all around the world. My Irish great great somethings first went to Quebec, so on their behalf I should also thank Canada.
 
Spruce
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Peemacgee Peemacgee
They certainly were.

My father was actually evacuated with the other local children at the beginning of the war and then went from his first year in the university air squadron to Canada to train to fly.
So he’d be 18 or 19 I guess.
A man I worked with in the 1970s was one of those who learnt to fly in Canada in the early 1940s.

He married a Canadian girl he met there. Her mother (his mother in law) could recall crossing the Canadian plains in covered wagon trains with her parents…
 
Archer
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Not just flight schools - a technical training school was located near where I live that trained 50,000 ground crew from 1939 to 1945.

A few kms to the West of where I live there was a bombing and gunnery school, and a few more kms to the East was a flight school.

There were 19 schools operated by the RCAF during the war, and they trained people from all over the world.

The local airport still has a few Harvard trainers that they fly every so often...

 
Canuck
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Commonwealth Air Training Plan:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Commonwealth_Air_Training_Plan

In the 1950s, we lived a couple miles from the air base at Currie Air Force Base (Calgary), a major facility for training air crews. When the weather was right, we’d see up to a dozen Harvards in the air at one time, flying a circuit in that area, doing “touch and goes”. Day and night, sometimes. We’d see the odd Lancaster bomber, as well. Lots of noise, but exciting for a kid.

Training was also done at Claresholm and Namao (also in Alberta).
 
BPD
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OK. I haven't logged into the forum for a while but have seen this thread floating around. I have been resisting to post my thoughts because knowing me, my 'emotions' may get the best of me but oh well, here goes....

This April 30th will mark the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. I was born three days after, so yes, you now all know my exact age along with my birthday 😀 My parents lost everything they have built over night and the only way to give me and my brothers a future was to escape and escape is exactly what we did to a refugee camp for over a year.

My family was fortunate enough to get sponsored by a loving couple in Brampton, Ontario, Canada and with the support of their local church in 1979. When we arrived, we were the first Vietnamese family in the city. The city welcomed us with wide open arms, provided with all the necessary support to help us start a new life.

Long story short, yes I was born in Vietnam and to be honest I have posted here on the forum that I will make my way home one day. But I'm Canadian, my wife & son are Canadian and Canada will always be our home!
 
Jones in LA
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Here's a nice combination of items, featuring perhaps the best bit of aviation-themed poetry ever written. This short video was often used as the "sign-off" for broadcast television stations in the 1960s. Who couldn't love watching an F-104 Starfighter in flight?



500px-John_Gillespie_Magee,_Jr.webp

The poem's author is John Gillespie Magee, an Anglo-American who enlisted in the RCAF before the US declared war on Japan and Germany following the Pearl Harbor attack. Magee became a fighter pilot and was assigned to a Spitfire squadron based in England. He flew his first combat missions in mid-to-late 1941, escorting bombers between England and occupied Europe. In September 1941 Magee sent a manuscript of his poem "High Flight" as part of a letter to his parents back home in Washington D.C.. He was subsequently killed in a training flight over England just four days after Pearl Harbor.
 
watchyouwant
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Jones in LA Jones in LA
Here's a nice combination of items, featuring perhaps the best bit of aviation-themed poetry ever written. This short video was often used as the "sign-off" for broadcast television stations in the 1960s. Who couldn't love watching an F-104 Starfighter in flight?



500px-John_Gillespie_Magee,_Jr.webp

The poem's author is John Gillespie Magee, an Anglo-American who enlisted in the RCAF before the US declared war on Japan and Germany following the Pearl Harbor attack. Magee became a fighter pilot and was assigned to a Spitfire squadron based in England. He flew his first combat missions in mid-to-late 1941, escorting bombers between England and occupied Europe. In September 1941 Magee sent a manuscript of his poem "High Flight" as part of a letter to his parents back home in Washington D.C.. He was subsequently killed in a training flight over England just four days after Pearl Harbor.

Time for Watch Pics. here : Starfighter were in abundance with the German Airforce as well. Quite a few fell out of the Sky as well .... Germany issued Heuer BUND`s Flyback Chronographs for the F-104. Great , Large , Rugged Chronos with a great Wrist Presence , like that one:
heuerach1.webp
 
Larry S
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I think all blue states need to become part of Canada if you will have us.
 
Trev
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Peemacgee Peemacgee
I for one am grateful for Canada welcoming my father and his squadron to the snowy wastes of Winnipeg and allowing them a safe place to learn to fly during WWII.
Can confirm this is an accurate description of my hometown. 😂
 
Canuck
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My late father was born in Chicago to an American father and a Canadian mother. He lived in the US until 8 years of age when his widowed mother moved back to Canada with her sons. He lived in Canada the rest of his life. He was still an American citizen, living in Canada, in Saskatoon in 1939. Canada entered WWII in September, 1939. As someone with U S citizenship, he joined the RCAF in December 1939.

In 1951, we as a family were headed for Detroit to visit family. When US officials at the border found that, as a U S citizen who served in the armed forces of a “foreign power”, (Canada), they refused us entry to the US. (W did finally enter.) Immediately upon returning to Canada, he became a naturalized Canadian. This was the result of “McCarthyism”. They considered him to be a draft dodger!
 
Jones in LA
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I wondered who narrated the "high flight" film short I posted earlier...the voice sounded a little like Charles Heston, but not entirely. I queried Google A-I (aka Gemini) and the response was that William Conrad is the likely narrator. I find that believeable as I'm familiar with him as the voice of Matt Dillon in the original radio version of Gunsmoke. Interestingly, Conrad is also said to have been a fighter pilot during WW2 though I've been unable to find out where he served and what he flew.

William_Conrad_1952.webp
Edited:
 
MRC
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Jones in LA Jones in LA
Interestingly, Conrad is also said to have been a fighter pilot during WW2 though I've been unable to find out where he served and what he flew.

William_Conrad_1952.webp
"In World War II, he flew a P-39 under the Golden Gate Bridge twice." IMDB


So there's one of the aircraft types, must have been based close to SF Bay at one time.
 
Evitzee
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Larry S Larry S
I think all blue states need to become part of Canada if you will have us.
Great idea.
 
tpatta
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Larry S Larry S
I think all blue states need to become part of Canada if you will have us.
I believe Denmark has already reached out to California 😎
 
Canuck
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Larry S Larry S
I think all blue states need to become part of Canada if you will have us.
I’m certain denizens of the “blue” states would no more likely wish to become part of Canada than Canada would wish to be annexed by the U S A.
 
Larry S
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Canuck Canuck
I’m certain denizens of the “blue” states would no more likely wish to become part of Canada than Canada would wish to be annexed by the U S A.
If things continue as they are , certainty goes out the window. So much worse than anyone thought it would be. One must keep hopeful however.
Edited:
 
ErichPryde
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Larry S Larry S
If things continue as they are , certainty goes out the window. So much worse than anyone thought it would be.


Then let's fix it. I think we still can.
 
CalgaryJim
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Larry S Larry S
I think all blue states need to become part of Canada if you will have us.
Things could get confusing here in Canada then because we associate blue with the Conservative Party, red with the Liberal Party.
 
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