Our next monthly general meeting is at St. Matthews Church, 126 Plains Road E. on Wednesday October 22 from 7:30 to 9:00
We have a very special treat:
Tim Speed, from Canadian Warplane Heritage, will give a talk and slide show about
the sad history of the Avro Arrow, Canada’s world beating jet interceptor.
Don’t miss it.
The Avro Arrow Story
In the 1950's AVRO Canada developed a jet interceptor that was capable of flying higher
and faster than any other contemporary aircraft. Five planes were built and test flown.
On Feb 20, 1959, the project was abruptly cancelled. Existing aircraft along with jigs,
tooling and blueprints were all destroyed byorder of the Canadian Government. Why?
Tim Speed
Tim comes by his interest in aviation honestly despite the fact that he is not a pilot and has no
military experience. His father was a Navigator in WWII flying Special Operations in a Handley -
Page Halifax. Tim first became involved with aviation as an Air Scout while still wearing short pants!
He obtained a Business Degree in the United Kingdom and joined British Overseas Airways
Corporation (BOAC) after graduating from University. He served as a Station Operations Officer in
Dubai, Tokyo and Beirut. He returned to the UK and worked in BOAC's Air Cargo Division before
becoming General Manager of an All-Cargo Airline based at East Midlands Airport.
Later Tim began working for an air freight forwarder. He immigrated to Canada, with his family in
1980. Before retiring he was the CEO of a large air freight and logistics company.
He has been a volunteer Tour Guide, Speaker and Educator at the Canadian Warplane Heritage
Museum since retiring in late 2010.
A Tale of Two Spitfires
Geoff Norman
Bio
October 7, 2025
I love Spitfires.
I’ve lost count of how many Spits I’ve built way back to my adolescence.
A few years ago I built a 1/9 scale Spit IX from a Royal kit.
Now I’m in the final stages of a 1/7 scale Top Flite Spitfire.
Building has been easy, even though the kits are decades old and original accessories and decals are long gone.
However it turns out that FlightLine markets a 1300 mm (1/9 scale) and a 1600 mm (1/7 scale) ready to fly foamy,
exactly the same size as my two. So the retracts fit perfectly and cost about $50 a pair.
Motor and 4-bladed prop and scale spinner are all available and cheap.
Even the decal sheets were obtained at reasonable price.
But that’s not all of my Spitfire passion.
I also had the thrill of flying in a two place Spit out of Biggin Hill, south of London this time last year.
I had the controls for a minute or two. We did 4 successive barrel rolls. It was an absolute blast.
Here is a picture of me getting strapped in and an in-flight picture of the plane.
However if you take a close look at the photo of the aircraft, it has very unusual markings.
It’s actually painted with the markings of 457 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force,
complete with Flying Tiger-style teeth. They were called “Grey Nurse” squadron.
Why Grey Nurse? Why shark’s teeth?
It turns out that there’s a shark native to Australia called a “grey nurse shark”.
So all their planes had “grey nurse” lettering and were embellished with the shark teeth and eyes.
The absence of the red centre of the roundels is more common; since they were fighting in the Pacific theatre,
it was really not a good idea to have red circles on your wings if you wanted to avoid friendly fire.
Royal Navy Corsairs did this too.
I thought no more about the markings, until it came time to finish the TF Spitfire.
I started to think about it, and I could count about half a dozen club members who owned a FlightLine Spit.
So having ordered FlightLine decals, I would have exactly the same markings as many of them.
How to make it unique? Callie Graphics!
I went online to see what they had. And there I hit paydirt.
To my amazement, one of the 20 or so Spitfire decal schemes was none other than Grey Nurse!
Only trouble was that it was RG V, with a red spinner, not the one I flew in, ZP W with a white spinner.
However Callie provided me with the correct markings.
You can see the result in the photos.
That piqued my interest in the history of the Grey Nurse I flew in?
So I spent a merry evening with Google. And boy did it yield paydirt:
Grey Nurse Squadron History
457 Squadron was formed in 1941 and fought in the European theatre.
In 1942 they were shipped off to Australia and saw action in the Pacific Theatre.
As it turns out, both the ZP and RG call signs are associated with 457.
But I can’t find out any more about RG V.
Postwar Story of my Spitfire - ZP W
ZP W is a different story. The original aircraft is no more.
However, the aircraft that now carries this call sign was built in 1945 and never saw action.
In 1946 it was one of a batch of Spitfires that underwent a conversion to a two seat trainer and was sold to the Irish Air Force.
In 1968 it was decommissioned and sold to the company that filmed “the Battle of Britain”.
A few years later, it was sold to two Canadian businessmen from Windsor, Don Plumb and Jerry Billing.
They turned it back into a single place.
Plumb was, I think, a founder of Canadian Warplane Heritage.
Billing, a former Spitfire pilot in the war, flew it around Canada and the US.
Billing was quite a character.
At one point, to demonstrate his flying ability, he did a loop around the Tower of London (vertically) in a Tiger Moth.
Roguishly handsome, he appeared to make his living flying Spitfires.
But he also flew other planes – Meteor, Hunter, Vixen, as a test pilot for RAF and de Havilland.
He emigrated to Canada in 1958, and trained the Golden Hawks F-86 RCAF aerobatic team, among other things.
In 1973, he was employed by Cliff Robertson, the actor, to fly his Spitfire.
He finally quit flying in 1999, where he then received a letter from Queen Elizabeth 2 commending him for having flown Spitfires for 50 years!
He died in 2015, age 93. And to really cement the local connection, in my research, I uncovered a
video interview of Billings being interviewed by Elwy Yost, TVO interviewer, at Canadian Warplane Heritage!
As to the aircraft, ZP W was sold in 1983 and changed hands among several American owners after that.
In 2008 it crossed the ocean again and was sold to Warbird Experience at Biggin Hill.
It was converted again back to a two place version.
And in 2024 I flew in the back seat for the thrill of a lifetime.
We have now scheduled fall/winter/spring meetings for the following dates:
Wed, Sept 24
Wed, Oct 22
Wed, Nov 26
Meetings are held, as before, at St. Matthews on the Plain, 126 Plains Road E, Burlington from 7:30 to 9 PM.
Next weeks’ meeting is a “Show and Tell” where you have an opportunity to show off the planes other
people didn’t get to see over the summer, and a swap meet.
So bring the valuable stuff you don’t want anymore and a checkbook, cash or I.O.U.
See you there
Geoff
Success at Breakfast
September 12, 2025
On Saturday, Sept. 6 we held our annual “Breakfast at Bayview” fun fly.
The weather overruled the meteorologist and we had a relatively windless day.
About 40 fliers were in attendance and enjoyed the breakfast offerings.
Brent Hill was awarded the “Warbirds over the Bay” trophy for his magnificent collection
of WWII birds at the July Warbirds event.
CORRECTION:
Thanks to the hard work of John Johansen who did the cooking at the funfly
and his wife Ann, and Steve Waterfall for running the kitchen.
Also all the other volunteers who pitched in.
Lost & Found
September 7, 2025
Found on the runway today, an E-Flite Viper 90mm ventral fin.
You can pick it up in the clubhouse.
For Sale
Classified
September 2, 2025
Dear friends and fellow RC modelers
As some of you guys know, I entered the fatherhood group and had my first child.
As great as it is, the baby (and my wife mostly) doesn't let me come to the RC field as often.
Moreover, my family gave me the evacuation notice of all my RC stuff from the bedroom
(now soon to be baby's room), the basement, and the garage.
Hence, I am selling more RC stuff than Horizon Hobby😃
That being said, you guys are in luck, because I am selling everything I have for a super cheap price.
Since the list is so long, I made one mega advertisement here to have everything I have for sale
organized in groups and categorize them all in one place.
Take a look at the list below and all the pictures and either message me directly on Facebook
or comment under this post if you are interested in any of the items.
Your purchase will help a baby in need of room and diapers very much 😃
Full list of all the items:
All kinds of 2 blades and 3 blades propellers for RC Airplanes and Drones, all diameter and pitch, both brand new and used
All kinds of airplane tires and wheels in different materials and diameters
A lot of different servos, different brands and specs
JR PRO DSX7 Radio (Transmitter) for RC Plane & Drone
Spektrum DXS 7-channel DSMX Radio Transmitter
DJI Mavic Pro Drone Spare Parts
DJI Mavic Drone Battery Charging Hub
Spektrum AR8010T 8-Ch Air Integrated Telemetry Receiver
All kinds of Li-Po Battery adapter, convertor, and connector
JST-XH Balance Board 2S to 6S Li-Po Battery Charger
3 Blade Propellers for RC Airplanes
Li-Po safe storage bag
Erfan KhademAgha
Fun-Fly
Event
August 22, 2025
As the poster indicates, we are having our "Breakfast at Bayview" event
on Saturday, September 6 from 9 AM till whenever.
It is a club Fun-Fly, and pilots do require club membership and also need RPAS certification for flying models over 250 grams.
Our head chef Barry will be serving Peameal bacon on a bun, sausages and baked beans; with Ian managing the dining room.
If neccessary, the rain date will be Sunday the 7th.
Fulko's UFO (unidentified fallen-flying object) Retrieval Service
fhew
August 16, 2025
A few have commented on my ability to find crashed aircraft (without the use of a drone).
During my short tenure with the club, I have already found 6 aircraft. The latest two were
both last Thursday. Below is an 'after' picture, and if needed, also a 'before' picture to help you
recognize your plane.
After (random foam bits, 2 rusted servos)Before (an E-Flite V900)
Also found (on the runway) was a retaining nut for a transmitter switch:
P.S. The 'after' bits will be in the club house for a few days for retrieval, contact me for the nut.
P.P.S. You can also contract me for my recovery services at any time.
Sunset over the Heli-field
fhew
Maintenance
August 16, 2025
There have been a few changes to our internet gear at the field.
Since April (after a possible lightning strike) our field's weather station had stopped
reporting temperature, and then two weeks later it also stopped reporting humidity.
The weather station has has finally been repaired. (Actually, I managed to get the manufacturer
to replace it with a new unit under a 'good will extended' warrantee.)
The old camera has been moved to the 'west' covering the heli-field as you can see here:
And the pictures from the NEW 'south' camera is quite impressive, and if you zoom in with
your browser you will probably be able to recognize the people in the pictures.
Also, not that it matters, but it has excellent night vision.
The old camera only showed a single red dot at night (the warning light on the smoke stack),
but now... check out this view taken afte midnight in total darkness.
Don't let the sky glow fool you, it really was pitch black.
Finally, some people that had problems viewing the cameras on some browsers have reported
that their problems have 'gone away', so if you used to have a problem and its now working,
please let me know.
And if you had used the direct addresses/links to view the cameras, please note that you will
have to fetch and use the new 'south' address because that camera address is now the new 'west'.
Pub Night
Event
August 9, 2025
The club will be holding a Pub Night at the American Hotel, 324 Dundas Street (at Mill Street), Waterdown,
on Thursday Aug. 21 from 7:00 to 9:30.
Finger food provided by the club through a donation by Thomas Barritt,
in memory of his father.
