It was an
accomplishment requiring a staff exceeding one hundred thousand. The final cost
was two billion, two hundred and thirty one million dollars.
When
By the end
of
It was the
Training Plan that originally brought these men together. Many went on to fly
sophisticated combat aircraft overseas. Some continued in civil aviation after
the War. But when they trained here, in
Dunnville
was No. 6 Service Flying Training School of the R.C.A.F. during the Second
World War. Over 2400 pilots received their training here, mostly on a
fighter-type aircraft known variously as the North American AT-6, the SN-J or
the Harvard.
The Station
was not short on morale-in fact, it was known for an esprit de corps which
continues to this day. But it was a war that robbed a whole generation of its
youth, which probably justifies the crack square-bashing skills demonstrated at
reunions such as in this 1956 film. And there were to be many more reunions
here in Dunnville in the years to come.
The year:
1979. Today a special service will be conducted here at the Harvard memorial,
erected in 1964 by the wartime personnel of the Station, with the cooperation
of the town council of Dunnville.
Over
100,000 Air Force veterans, men and women, are here for the 34th
Annual reunion, some from as far away as
Already the
tournament is underway for the Clair Thunder-Mug trophy, named after First
Reunion Chairman, the late Fred Clair.
Tonight, at
a banquet at the Dunnville Golf and Country Club, Grand Champion Ken Gordon
will present the trophy to the winner. The festivities will continue with a
Chinese auction, movies, and of course, much camaraderie of the kind Dunnville
was famous for. Bright and early Sunday morning, former mayor Charles Lundy
will host his annual pancake breakfast—with bullshots—a sobering concoction,
compliments of Milt and Marie Hannigan, who met at the Station during the War.
For those who wish to visit the old Station, that’s been taken care of. For
some veterans, it’s been over thirty-five years.
Some have
attended many reunions: Charlie Fox, who twice won the D.F.C. flying spitfires
on intruder missions; Larry Walker, who at nineteen was one of the youngest
flight Commanders in the R.C.A.F.; Richard Manser, who flew Mustangs on
low-level photo reconnaissance; John West, who successfully crash-landed a
Liberator in a swamp in Burma… the list goes on. But before these events they
would perhaps rather forget, they shared this place of their youth-this place,
where impressionable nineteen year olds learned to fly big, hefty, full
aerobatic, 600 horse-power aircraft.
Some of
them would lose their lives in training accidents. But for those who return,
it’s the good times that persist. Like the night someone smuggled Marie
Hannigan up in a Harvard, to buzz
It’s all
curiously preserved here on this parcel of land, despite the ravages of time.
It is even satisfying to some that what used to a wartime effort has been
turned into a civilian operation, even if it is a turkey farm…
(musical
interlude: “We’re going to hang out our washing”)
Over the
years, attendance and interest has increased. Frank Scholfield, former pilot
and general secretary for the Reunion practically since its inception, is the
main dynamo behind the scenes. To him, and to Jim Buchanan, former flying
instructor at the Base who films the reunions, they mean more as the years go
by. This year’s Chairman, Vince Egan, and Vice-Chairman, John West, are in
command, and will conduct ceremonies aided by 150 Royal Canadian Air Cadet
squadron and Padre Allan McEachern. Also participating is New Zealander Claude
Spooner. On a business trip to North America and unaware of the Reunion, his
curiosity had led him back to his old training base, just in time to fall in.
The Harvard
Mark 2 aircraft erected here is a tangible memorial to the forty-seven airmen
who made the supreme sacrifice while serving at Dunnville, and is a tribute to
the many thousands of personnel who flew and served this aircraft during World
War II.
There is a
memory that both pleases and haunts these veterans. The Harvard is at once the
wondrous vehicle that unlocked a new world, and a hideous, mud-splattered heap
of yellow aluminum that snuffed out the life of a luckless friend.
Pilot
Officer Alexander Angus
Flying
Officer Jessie Baldwin
L.A.C.
Donald Benniman, Pilot Trainee
L.A.C.
Robert Davidson, Piulot Trainee
W.O.1 Lloyd
Dean, Pilot
Flight
Lieutenant Arthur Dunstan, Admin. Officer
L.A.C.
Marshall Fleming, General Duties
L.A.C.Clyde
Kendall, Pilot Trinee
W.O.2
Norman Kirk, Pilot
Pilot
Officer Richard clintworth
W.O.1
Arthur Lawrence, Pilot
L.A.C.Sydney
Moore, Pilot Trainee
Pilot
Officer James McIntyre
L.A.C.John
McMartin, Pilot Trainee
Flying
Officer Ross Naismith
Flight Sgt.
John Paterson, Pilot
L.A.C.
Patrick O’Connor, Pilot Trainee
Flying
Officer Lloyd Penn
Sgt. George
Pomeroy, Pilot
L.A.C.
Robert Stevens, Pilot Trainee
L.A.C.
Harold Stewart, Pilot Trainee
Sgt. Peter
Strickland, Pilot
L.A.C.
William Taylor, Pilot Trainee
What is it
that brings them back to this small town in rural Ontario, year after year? It
is not to glorify war; those who fought want it least again. Neither will
famous air aces be found in their midst—just otherwise ordinary men and women
whose patriotism and sacrifice of self for the common good, still holds a
lesson for today. It reminds us to ask what we are doing with the freedoms they
so dearly won.
And now,
with thanks to Glen Miller, some of Jim Buchanan’s impressions…