November 2009

the Signal THE NEWSLETTER OF THE VENTURE ASSOCIATION

Published roughly twice a year by the Venture Association. Send Letters to the Editor and Pay Dues (by cheque) to the Venture Association, c/o Gordon Longmuir, 903-168 Chadwick Crt, North Vancouver, BC V7M 3L4; e-mail: thesignal@shaw.ca . Changes of address and other personal information should be sent to your Class Rep (see p 6) who will forward them to the Registrar. AND: go to the Venture Website for breaking news: www.hmcsventure.com . The webmaster is Harley Kieran, e-mail: kieranh@ns.sympatico.ca Download back copies of The Signal as .pdf attachments (Acrobat Reader is free at http://www.adobe.com/downloads/ ) And, finally, please let us know if you no longer wish to receive the print version of this newsletter, thus saving printing and mailing costs, as well as a lot of the Editor’s valuable time; send your e-mail address to thesignal@shaw.ca .

REUNION SPECIAL 2009 

RAdm Bob Welland Lights the Candles, Venture Reunion Memorial Service,

St. Michael’s Church, Shearwater, Sep 27, 2009

October 2009

2 the Signal

Letters to the Editor

From Victoria, BC

The summer 2008 issue of the excellent National Newsletter of the Naval Officers Association of Canada, STARSHELL, had an article by a Calgary veteran, entitled “Two Naval Colleges in Canada?” The article referred only the Royal Naval College of Canada (1911-14) and the Royal Canadian Naval College, Royal Roads (1942-47). To say the least I was annoyed at the exclusion of the third one, the “Venture Plan”. This distortion of Naval history, either through ignorance or neglect, needed a retort, which I provided in the next issue of STARSHELL (Autumn 2008); a reprint appears to the right.

Stan Brygadyr, Class of ‘59 From Victoria, BC Does there exist a comprehensive list of the names of the cadets en-rolled in all Venture classes? My memory suggests that I have seen one in the many items of information exchanged during the year before the reunion. It would be a useful tool in my research… . My objective is to establish a list of all persons who were ever enrolled in the Venture Plan by year/class. I suspect that this might be an archival research task for me at the Directorate of History. I had hoped that at some time this was accomplished in the past.

Thanks and cheers,

Wilf Lund, Class of ‘61, Venture Historian [Ed Note: our indefatigable Historian is also in the process of col-lecting bio material for all Ventures : see p. 7]

From Comox, B C ...I am Steve Cowan, the Maritime and Naval History Director of the Comox Archives and Museum Society (CAMS) in Comox. I am arranging a naval display for 1 May 2010 to 15 September 2010 to be a local community effort to celebrate the Canadian Navy Cen-tennial.

Can I ask your help in spreading the word for assistance from your members. What I am asking is the temporary loan of any naval arti-facts, ships pictures or charts from your members. Items for the display will be photographed and recorded as temporary loan. I am still in the display layout planning stage and do not require any loan items until April 2010 when the display is being put together. Items featuring HMCS COMOX I; HMCS COMOX II, or; HMCS COUR-TENAY would be very welcome. All items used would be clearly labelled with the description and owner's name.

I'd be happy to discuss any items and details with your mem-bers. Contact either my e-mail address navygongs@yahoo.ca ; home phone 250 890 0225, or CAMS museum curator 250 339 2885 (Wed-Sat 1200-1600 hrs).

Any assistance is gratefully appreciated,

Steve Cowan [ Ed Note: LCdr Steve Cowan, CD, is XO of HMCS Quadra, the Sea Cadet training centre at Goose Spit, Comox, BC, which many Ventures will have attended a century or so ago]

Newsletter of the Venture Association

October 2009

3

The New President’s Message John Westlake (Class of ‘67)

I hope everyone who was at the Halifax Reunion truly enjoyed themselves and has since recovered. It was a wonderful experience to see all the Venture personnel in one venue at the same time. As a first time attendee I

was especially pleased to have the opportunity to renew old acquaintances and to establish new ones. For those who were not there, you missed an excellent event and I hope to see you at the next Reunion in Ottawa. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ted Kelly and his Halifax organizing team for providing an excellent event and to extend a well done to all who were involved in staging this event. I am proud to have been accepted as your new President. As a new initiate to the Venture Association I can only hope to continue to lead in the tradi-tion of my predecessors. I extend my sincere thanks to Ken Scotten for his efforts over the last five years. I thank him on behalf of those new initiates for gaining the acceptance of the classes of 67 and 68 into the Association. I also wish to extend my appreciation to those who have accepted positions in the Executive and to those who

agreed to continue. I will be relying on you to keep me in the right direction. I thank those members of the Executive who are stepping down for a job well done.

As a new member of the Association and the Executive I am slowly coming to grips with all that is involved in its organization as well as all that is expected of the President. I can only promise to try to maintain the organization as I received it. It is my intention to continue to use the members of the Executive to advance our program and to implement new ideas that come forward. As I reside in Ottawa, I am not co-located with the ma-jority of the Executive, so I would encourage the membership to use the Class Reps to put forward suggestions or comments. If you desire to pass your comments to me directly you may do so via e-mail at westlakej@rogers.com . I also intend to keep the membership advised of decisions taken, activities being discussed by the Executive and new initiatives via “the Signal” and the website.

The Signal The Signal continues to be our main means of communications between reunions and we thank Gordon Longmuir for continuing as Editor.

The Venture Website

Harley Kieran our Webmaster has recently updated the site to reflect Reunion activities. He has also expressed a desire to relinquish the duties of webmaster and a search is underway to identify a new webmaster.

The 2014 Reunion

George Kolisnek has volunteered to organize the next reunion in Ottawa in 2014. It was suggested in Halifax that the Reunion be moved forward to 2012 due to our “aging” membership. I have contacted the Executive to solicit their opinions and the overwhelming consensus is to maintain the current schedule for the next reunion. So Ottawa in 2014 it is!

In closing I wish you and yours all the very best for the upcoming holiday season.

Yours aye, John

________________________________________________________________________________________

B orn and raised in Carrying Place Ontario, John Westlake joined Venture in Sep 1966 after completing High School. His Cadet cruise was aboard Beacon Hill. The class then proceeded to Halifax to complete training at Fleet School Halifax. In 1968 John received his Watch-

keeping ticket aboard Assiniboine, then proceeded west to serve in Mackenzie and Chaudiere. In the fall of 69 he returned east as air controller in Protecteur. He joined Annapolis in early 1971. John and Meredith were married in 1970.

In the summer of 1972 John went to Fleet School Halifax for the Combat Control Officers course. Upon completion he was sent to Margaree as Weapons Officer. In May of 1974 his first son Scott was born. In the summer of 1975 he was posted to Huron as Weapons Officer, then to Fleet School Halifax for two years as Sonar Training Officer. Second son Craig was born New Years 1976. In the summer of 1978 John proceeded to Combined Support Division as a Maritime Tactical Programmer until June 1981 at which time he went to the UK on exchange as Communications Officer for Commander Submarine Forces Eastern Atlantic at Northwood.

John returned to Canada in the summer of 1984 as CANDESRON 1 Combat Officer until posted to Margaree as XO in the summer of 1986. After recovering from an accident suffered in Plymouth, England, he went to the US Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk Virginia. Upon completion, he went to Fleet School Halifax as Combat Division XO until July 1989 when he was posted to NDHQ Ottawa on the staff of the Director Mari-time Operations, Plans and Reserves. During that period, he was awarded the CDS Commendation for his efforts in supporting HMC ships de-ployed in the Gulf War.

Promoted Commander in 1991 John went to the DNR staff as Section Head for both Above and Underwater Combat Systems. In 1993 he was appointed CO of HMCS Nipigon in refit. In January 1994 he became CO of Gatineau where he served until the summer of 1995. During this time he participated in the ``Turbot War``. In 1998 he went to NDHQ as Naval Career Management Section Head. In 1999 he was on CMS Staff as Project Director for the DDH 280 replacement project until his retirement in June 2002. Upon retirement, Meredith and John have remained in Ottawa, and have recently become proud grandparents to two lovely girls, one in Ottawa and one in Canmore, Alberta.

October 2009

4 the Signal

Venture Reunion: the AGM and Other Stuff The complete Minutes of the AGM along with the Financial Statement and Reunion Statistics are on the web-site: www.hmcsventure.com. The main business of the AGM was to elect and introduce the new Executive—they are listed in their usual place on Page 6. Please let us know if there are any changes in the Class Representatives, who are ex officio members of the Executive.

Other important issues included the presentation by Wilf Lund of the Memorial Book (see the August 2009 Signal) and messages from ab-sent friends, as well as a tribute to Peter Birch-Jones, one of the original Venture term lieutenants and a loyal supporter of the association, who had passed away on the very eve of the Reunion.

As to the Financial Statement, in spite of a small operating deficit for the period since 2004, the Reunion showed an interim net surplus of $8,392.59 (to be finalized by the Treasurer shortly). Most of this will go toward preparations for the next Reunion, in Ottawa in 2014 [see the President’s Message where he reports that the Executive overwhelmingly opted not/not to move the event up to 2012 as suggested by some at the AGM.] Anyone who wishes a copy of the full Minutes and does not have access to the website may send a note to the Signal (see footnote p.1) and we will mail you a copy. As we have said before, however, the website may be accessed from any computer with an internet connec-tion, e.g., at any cybercafé or local public library — or at the home of your grandchildren! Also on the website is a complete roster of all Ventures who attended from far and wide, listed by class.

Dues: Most members have generously paid their “dues” either at the AGM or in the intervening period between Reunions 2004 and 2009. For those who are unclear on how membership fees work, the following policy has been observed for several years: Since all Ven-tures, whether they completed their training or not, are automatically members of the Association, there is no compulsion to pay dues. How-ever, we gently suggest that members contribute $10 per annum, largely collected at the AGM in five-year bites, i.e., $50 per member. Since we have no way to track arrears, this is always “paid forward”. Those who attended the Halifax Reunion and paid their $50 are paid up to 2014 UNLESS they already had a credit, which will be added on. The Registrar keeps a list of who have paid and how far ahead. If some generous souls have paid a total of $100, for example, they are paid up to 2019. One member is paid up to 2028 — we should all live so long. Between Reunions, send a cheque at any time (c/o the Signal, 903-168 Chadwick Court, North Vancouver, BC V7M 3L4, payable to the Ven-ture Association). The payment will be registered and deposited to the Association account in Victoria.

Newsletter of the Venture Association

October 2009

5

“Prequel”? Class of 65 Cele­brates its Very Own Reunion  

By Matt and Jane Durnford The class of 65 held it's 45th reunion in Halifax 18/19/20 September, i.e., the week before the main Venture Reunion in Halifax. We have held reunions every five years starting in 1974, celebrating the date we joined VENTURE: September 1964. Eighteen VENTURES and their partners/spouses at the reunion. Conversations continued where they left off at the reunion of 2004 when we met on a Friday evening in the Soldiers Library at the Citadel. The Meet and Greet was followed on Saturday evening by our Dinner/ Dance in the fabulous Compass Room in Casino Nova Scotia. On Sunday, we met at the Boondocks Restaurant in Eastern passage for brunch followed by a visit to the Shearwater Aviation Mu-seum to see the VENTURE wall and tour the museum. Chuck

Coffen joined us for lunch and was tour guide extraordinare for our group. A.J. Field was reunited with "his plane", Tracker 157 in which he had performed his through the wave shot from Bonnie. Lots of pictures of that plane during the tour. With lots of back-slapping and hugging our 45th ended after the museum visit, with everyone keen for our 50th to be held in Victoria in 2014. Some departed Halifax after our reunion, but a good contingent remained to meet other friends at the VENTURE Association’s Reunion the following weekend. For those of us who were at both events, it was a busy and most enjoyable two weeks."

****************

October 2009

6 the Signal

The Editor’s Corner Gordon Longmuir (Class of ‘57)

O h, it was a wondrous event! We had a fine time, didn’t we? Astounding to see

all those familiar faces and to greet old friends from all over Canada and the US, and from as far away as Australia and New Zealand!

Our new Prez has extended appropriate words of congratulation to the organizers (see p. 3), but I wanted to ex-press my gratitude for the generous words of praise for this little newsletter. I appreciated the promises of contributions in the form of articles, photos (see pp. 4&5 for a small selection from various Reunion events — the website www,hmcsventure.com has much more). I welcome Word documents, as I can then cut and paste rather than laboriously retyping copy. I was also delighted that so many former snail mail recipients have finally opted for the 21st century and will henceforth receive e-mail messages directing them to the website. Embrace the technology — buggy whips went out long ago.

Please advise of address changes, etc., as well as the inevitable news of crossings of the bar. This will be the last Signal until March or April, depending on Y’r editor’s schedule. Have a joyful and healthy festive season and enjoy the changing of the seasons, wherever you may be!

Aye

Gordon

Distribution of the Signal As of this edition, 504 copies distributed: 428 electronically

via the website or direct e-mail; 76 (!) by snailmail .

To addresses in: Australia, Bahamas, Belgium, Canada, Mexico, New Zea-

land, Norway, Thailand, the UK and the USA.

The Executive*

John Westlake (‘67) - Presi-dent: (613) 837-0081; westlake@rogers.com

Ken Scotten (‘61) - Past Presi-dent: (250) 472-6187; kscotten@shaw.ca

John Carruthers (‘56) - Secretary: (250) 478-7351; johncarruthers@telus.net

Ron McLean (‘65) - Treasurer: ((250) 595-5087; ronmclean@shaw.ca

Gordon Longmuir (‘57) - Registrar and

Editor of The Signal: (604) 980-1718; thesignal@shaw.ca or dglo@shaw.ca

Harley Kieran (‘56) - Webmaster: (902) 835-7208; kieranh@ns.sympatico.ca

Doug McClean (‘64) - Director-at-Large Victoria: (250) 658-3554; dmcclean@telus.net

Tim Porter (‘58) - Director at Large Ot-tawa: (613) 843-7004;

timporter@rogers.com

Matt Durnford (‘65) - Director-at-Large Halifax: (902) 766-4104; cormorant@eastlink.ca

George Kolisnek (‘67) - Chairman 2014 Reunion Ottawa: (613) 837-0463;

kolisnek@rogers.com

Wilf Lund (‘61) - Venture Historian: (250) 598-5894; wilflund@telus.net

Class Representatives 1956: Bob Lancashire, (902) 679-0601; casalanc@eastlink.ca

1957: Don Uhrich, (902) 462-2980; dgu@ns.sympatico.ca

1958: Tony Smith, (250) 479-5676; afsmith@trilan.com

1959: Tom Essery, (250) 477-9321; tessery@shaw.ca

1960: Pierre Yans, (250) 592-5997; pjyans@telus.net

1961: Wilf Lund, (250) 598-5894; wilflund@telus.net

1962: Phil Johnson, (250) 652-0264;

johnstonsp@shaw.ca

1963-I: Russ Rhode, (250) 642-0086;

russal@shaw.ca

1963-II: Tim Kemp, (250) 494-5043 timkate@shaw.ca

1964: Gord Oakley, (250) 544-1616; gordon_oakley@telus.net

1965: Graeme Evans, (250) 361-2646; gnbevans@shaw.ca

1966: Ross Beck, (613) 492-0130; rpbeck@rogers.com

1967: Errol Collinson, (250) 704-0048; erroni@shaw.ca

Staff: Joe Cunningham, (250) 360-0450; josephcunningham@shaw.ca

*NB: Class Reps are members

of the Esecutive

Naughtical Terms*

NAUTICAL MILE - a nautical mile was originally defined as the distance on the surface of the ocean that would be trav-eled on a great circle while changing the vessels angular position rela-tive to the center of the earth by one sixtieth of a degree. One nautical mile was thought to be 5000 ft long in 1574. Instructions contained in Wm Bourne's "A Regimen for the Sea" suggested that knots should be affixed to the log line at 7-fathom intervals. This would cause the num-ber of knots that passed by a fixed point over the period of time taken for a 30-sec. glass to run out to indicate the speed of the vessel. Later, it became obvious that the distance so measured was short of the angular distance traveled, so the time frame was shortened to 28 sec giving a more accurate nautical mile at 5400 feet.

Given the error in the assumption that the wood chip anchoring the log line remained stationary when indeed it followed the ship at a speed relative to the resistance of the mechanism used in paying out the line, the real distance measured was probably closer to 5800 feet. Richard Norwood measured the distance between London and York in the early 1600's resulting in new advice in 1637 that seamen should mark their log lines on the basis of a 6120 ft nautical mile. As a result, log lines were marked at 8 fathoms or 48 ft for a 28 sec. glass, or a theoretical measured distance of 6172 ft - in error in the opposite direction. The current measurement of 6080 ft to a nautical mile was established at the time of publishing the first Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephem-eris in 1767. The Admiralty has retained the use of 6080 ft to a nautical mile in order to retain the basis of Admiralty charts, for more accurate astronomic measurements an International nautical mile is defined as 6076.11 ft. One should always be careful to use the same unit used in the chart survey, a caution which is related more to the conversion of charts to metric measurements, rather than differences between British and American standards.

*courtesy of our ancient and revered

Past Past President, Joe Cunningham

Newsletter of the Venture Association

October 2009

7

In Memoriam

Lawrence William (Bud) Clark

Class of ‘62

Peter Birch-Jones

Staff

Ray Beagle, Class of ‘58

Register Changes Class of ‘56

Robert Ferguson, e-mail ferg.robert1@sympatico.ca or f2h3@sympatico.ca

Jim Green, e-mail deejay@seaside.ns.ca

Valerie MacIntosh, 162 Nawantin Dr, S. Grafton, ON K0K 2G0

Leo Macdonald, e-mail:

leomacdonald@ns.sympatico.ca

Bruce Wells, e-mail aureus@eastlink.ca

Class of ‘57 Don Uhrich, e-mail dguhrich@eastlink.ca Ed Lauer, 66 Kinmount Private, Kanata, ON K2T 1K3; (613) 435-2788

Class of ‘58 Robert Edey, e-mail redey@eastlink.ca Mon Verheyen, tel (289) 837-0755

Class of ‘59

John Baxter, e-mail crystal_61993@hotmail.com

Wendy Leslie, e-mail wendysharleenleslie@gmail.com John Simpson, 511-130 Solutions Drive, Hali-fax, NS B3S 0B8; (902) 445-3668 Sieg Deleu, 655 West Pennant Rd, West Pen-nant, NS B3V 1M2

Class of ‘60

Rene Hoeben e-mail rene.hoeben@telenet.be Ted Davie e-mail tediane@king.igs.net

Michael Sanguinetti e-mail

sangeng@shaw.ca

Class of ‘61 Louis Segui e-mail lmsegui@netscape.net

Class of ‘62

Bruce Rapier e-mail brapier67@gmail.com Lucien Van den Eycken e-mail lucien.vandeneycken@base.be Terry Wolfe-Milner, 400 Old Scott Rd, Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 2L7; e-mail terry_wolfe_milner@yahoo.ca

Class of 63-II

Bob Price e-mail klyakwin@dccnet.com Malcolm Symonds e-mail msymonds@mts.net

Class of ‘65 Claude LeClerc e-mail cleclerc40@cgocable.ca

Bill Sloan, e-mail sloanw@rogers.com

Jim Helps, e-mail jahelps@shaw.ca

Class of ‘66 Steve Dufour e-mail dufours@telus.net Sydney Helmkay e-mail sandy.syd@shaw.ca

Staff

Paul Roggeveen e-mail paroggeveen@shaw.ca

Honorary/Associate

Edie Armitage, e-mail doylearmitage@shaw.ca Chuck Coffen, e-mail chuck.coffen@eastlink.ca

VENTURE HISTORY PROJECT: Cadet Memoirs

By Wilf Lund, Class of ‘61, Venture Historian

I will be presenting a paper entitled “By Sea and Air: HMCS Venture 1954-68.” at a his-tory conference in Halifax next year commemorating the 100th anniversary of the RCN/Canadian Navy. To assist me in developing the paper, I am asking all former Venture cadets, graduates or not, to answer the following four questions on one page:

1. Why did you join Venture/RCN?

2. What were your initial impressions?

3. What person, activity or aspect of training do you remember and/or influenced you most?

4. How did the Venture experience prepare you for your service/civilian career and life?

R espondents should not feel restricted to one page and I would appreciate additional commentary on service/civilian career, rank/position attained, command time, etc.

Send your responses directly to me at wilflund@telus.net. I have received over 70 re-sponses already. My ultimate objective is to produce a book by the 2014 reunion.

HMCS Montreal

October 2009

8 the Signal

Who Dunnit? By Brian Worth, Class of ‘66

W e were Navy Course 66-1 and as far as we could tell, we’d been selected to be the first course of aspiring Naval Aviators to go to RCAF Stn Centralia for flying training because we were older and more mature compared to the much younger Navy 66-2. You may have cause

to doubt the wisdom of that decision by the end of my little story.

For the most part we were as old as 25 and we even had S/Lt Chip Milsom join us when we commenced training in January 1966. As we gathered in the blister/classroom of the hangar on the flight line at Centralia we did notice an individual who stood out from the rest. He was tall, barrel-chested, straight-backed, square-shouldered and dressed smartly in a suit with red vest and slightly older than most of us: an instructor of some sort maybe? The Air Force Course Director came in and we all leapt to our feet and came to attention, smartly, Navy style and then, about a quarter second later we heard the crash of a large right boot (did I men-tion that he was huge?) as the ‘civilian’ came to attention Air Force style, foot slamming down from a good 2-foot height. We all flinched and tried to eye him without moving our heads. This was our introduction to Flight Cadet Steve Crutcher, RCAF Reserve from Montreal. He hadn’t been active long enough to have been issued a uniform, hence the suit.

With F/Cdt Crutcher along we were a course of 20, but as we progressed through Primary Flight training on the Chipmunk we lost several individuals; one was airsick every flight, one had depth perception problems and two figured out that flying just wasn’t their thing, so by March 17th, Saint Paddy’s Day, 15 gifts to Naval Aviation boarded the train bound for RCAF Stn Portage La Prairie for the final phase of our training on the C-45 Expeditor. Three days later, in various states of disarray and mostly hung over, we stumbled off the train in Portage railway station right in front of the Base Commander, Group Captain Christmas who happened to be there for some other busi-ness. I’m sure he was impressed.

All this time F/Cdt Crutcher had packed up all his important belongings in, get this, his Riley 1.5 (about the size of an Austin Mini without the charm) and had driven to Portage. I think he was a little late due to car problems. So we settled into our Advanced Flying Training and were all housed, two to a room, except Steve come to think of it, on the top floor of an H Hut with Steve at the end room right by the stairs.

This is where the fun began. Now Steve had been an Army Reservist, a sergeant in the 48th Highland Regt, was promoted 2nd Lt, had attended 2 years of Royal Roads before going to a civilian university in a commerce program and had been a manger for the Robert Simpson Corporation. He’d seen some of what was expected of life and was now serious about gaining a flying career. To this end he was a perfectionist, a hard worker, a driven student of aviation, was fastidious about his clothes (he musta had at least 15 silk ties) and he treasured his privacy.

There were, however, several individuals who, for breaks in the rigors of flight training, enjoyed ‘poking the bear’ with Steve being the bear. Larry McWha and Bill Madder made it their goal in life to bug the hell out of Steve. I’m sure they did it because, again, Steve was extremely serious about everything to do with flying and was always at or near the top of the class. I’m equally sure they did it because they revelled in his explosive reactions and they, in fact, liked him.

I remember two incidents quite well and another ‘regular occurrence’.

The ‘regular occurrence’ was Steve coming up the stairs, turning immediately into his room only to find Larry perched on his desk reading his mail. Often, before Steve could fully explode, Larry would impishly say that he agreed with Steve’s girl friend that he was being unreasonable or the decision whether to pay the car repair bill next week was wrong; at which point there would be a roar, a mad scramble and a chase as the large Steve tried to catch the small and elusive Larry. Thankfully for Larry’s sake, Steve never did catch him. I’m sure Steve would have got off for justifiable homicide. Larry always observed that Steve over-reacted every time this occurred; couldn’t quite understand what the fuss was about; but he always had a smirk on his face.

One occasion on a hot summer day Larry and Bill were bored and Steve thundered up the stairs, he never came up quietly, only to find his cabin door open, his bunk upside down and every item of furniture and all he owned stacked up on top of it. The whole course avoided eye contact with Steve that day and, for days it was worth your life even to snicker.

Now, as I said, both Bill and Larry were in on most of the pranks but Bill made it his mission to convince Steve that it was all Larry; of course Bill had nothing to do with these childish pranks, not our Bill. Larry had to be the sole culprit and you know, I think Bill raised enough doubts in Steve’s mind that he wasn’t slaughtered.

The Coup de Grace had to be when Steve came into the stairwell on the first floor and right at eye level was his iron suspended over the railing from the floor above, held by all 16 silk ties knotted together and then snaked through the door of his cabin and secured, with excellent naval like knots of course, to the ceiling light fixture in the middle of his cabin. I’m sure the base commander remarked on the ensuing roar and asked a sergeant to look into.

Larry, although he loved the panache, the élan, the sheer beauty of the skit, denies any part of it and there are strong indications that it was Bill and Bill alone who pulled off the ‘Silk Tie Caper’. Of course he is loath to admit to it and, I don’t know, but Steve may still believe that it was all Larry’s doing.

Such were the ‘salad days’ of Flying Training for Navy 66-1 and we’ve all moved on. Willy Madder, after 10 or so years in the military, went on to be Chief Rotary Wing Pilot for Trans-Canada Pipelines; Larry McWha did a full career in the military and commanded a Sea King Squadron while participating in a theatre of war and Steve Crutcher, now known as Captain Crunch, couldn’t find his place in the regular military scheme of things but flew for the Air Force 438 Sqn in Montreal for eight years all the while enjoying a very long and fruitful career with Air Canada. They are all fast friends now.

**************