Testing, testing...

[HawkerHurricane]

Is this thing on?

New avatar, new sig pick... just making sure they work.

[zx22778a]

1. Looks good - is that a Junkers 88

in the background???

The very rare times my father would discuss WWII, he once mentioned defending the aluminum refineries at Arvida QC. At the time they produced most of the total allied supply of aluminum. It would have been possible, and a real coup, for the Germans to put commandos ashore from subs and start blowing up things.

One of the weapons Dad had as a very junior officer in the RCAF was a pair of brand new Hawker Hurricanes straight out of the Hawker plant in what is now Thunder Bay ON.

Now apparently these airplanes came with no manuals. And it seemed impossible to get any. After all, there was a war going on and they weren't going to pass out confidential information on near state of the art fighter aircraft to just any Tom, Dick or Harry.

It was finally decided by more senior officers to simply take the planes apart, measuring everything that could possibly be adjusted and assuming all these adjustments were set right at the factory and that's what they wound up doing.

Rob

[HawkerHurricane]

2. The plane in the back is a Dornier 17.

First used as a light passenger plane and 'mail plane', it was designed and used before the Nazi's were officially allowed to have a airforce... but built to be easily converted into a bomber. Fairly fast, but a light bombload, they were obscelescent by the time the Battle of Britain was fought... as was the Hurricane.

The story about the lack of manuals sounds like a typical military snafu.

Thunder Bay Ontario? That sounds familiar... I've never been there, but perhaps a relative?

[zx22778a]

3. Thunder Bay used to be Port Arthur and Fort William

Back in the 1700's the rival fur trading organizations the Hudson's Bay Company and the North-West Company built posts at the west end of Lake Superior only about a mile apart. The two trading posts sat there glaring at each other as a city grew up around them. Finally, in 1970, the two cities merged into Thunder Bay.

The Hawker Siddeley plant in Thunder Bay built Hurricanes early in the way and then switched to American naval aircraft built under license. Can't recall just which models. As an aside, the Canadian Hurricanes came with Packard Merlin engines, and I can recall Dad saying that you could tell the Packard engines from the Rolls-Royce engines at a glance, because the Packard engines were built to tighter specs, and the outside of the engine housing was completely machined. The RR engines were just as cast.

[HawkerHurricane]

5. You are going to hate me for this...

Thunder Bay is/was the home of Lynn Johnston, who writes/draws the comic feature "For Better or For Worse"... she often refers to it.

The American Naval Aircraft were F4F(C) Wildcats and F4F2(C) Hellcats... at least, that was the American designation (the (C) was for Canada, wouldn't you know)... The Royal Navy called Wildcats 'Martlets'.

[zx22778a]

6. Actually Lynn is from North Bay ON.

A beautiful small city (about 50 k) maybe 500 miles east of Thunder Bay. Been there many times and love it.

So, is Elizabeth going to get the motorcycle???

[HawkerHurricane]

7. Looks like...

she will, in spite of her Mom's... Paranoia.

And according to her bio, she lived in Thunder Bay about 20 years ago. Did you know the strip is based (loosely) on her real life? And that the names of the Husband and Kids (except April, who's fictional) are the middle names of her husband and children... the Wife, Elle, is named after her best friend in High School.

[zx22778a]

4. Another bit of Hawker Trivia

The old Hawker factory on TBay after the war went back to it's old business of building railway passenger cars. It's now known as the Urban Transit Development Corp. Do a Google on UTDC - you may have ridden in a vehicle made in the same plant.

[asthmaticeog]

8. Is that a picture of two planes... DOIN' IT?