Rockcliffe Ramblings - Rockcliffe Flying Club

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

Many club members and past members, living elsewhere, contributed their 

memories and stories to supplement information gleaned from 25 years of files 

and letters. After much digging and coercing, other stories and anecdotes 

from the past gradually and hesitantly came to light. 

Pete St. Louis generously spent a great amount of time reading and proofreadi 

ng the hodge-podge of materi a1 written. Fall owi n9 wh i ch, Jane Sterl i n9 

did a super job of typing, a task which involved many hours of her leisure 

time, to say nothing of the frustrations of trying to decipher the 

henscratches. Without these two stalwarts, this book could never have been 

written. 

Thankfully, Ron Duck took on the job of painting a crest which will be 

incorporated in a cover for this history book. 

The history would not be complete without pictures, most of which were 

graciously loaned, having been dug out of boxes and albums. It is hoped such 

pictures and stories will awaken fond memories in the hearts of many current 

and former members. 

R. I. Hurst 

Scribe

PREFACE 

The story of Rockel iffe Flying Club 1961 can be said to have had its 

beginning as Rockcliffe Flying Club in the mid-1950s. At that time a nucleus 

of Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) personnel created Rockcliffe Flying Club by 

incorporating it under Part II of the Companies Act on January 12th. 1954. An 

application was then made to the Air Transport Board for a Class 6 Commercial 

Training Licence in December 1954. By January 14th, 1955, the Club was 

granted membership in the Royal Canadian Flying Clubs Association. On 

February 8th of the same year, the Air Transport Board, through Board Decision 

Number 869, granted a C1 as s 6 Fl yi ng Cl ub Commerci alLicence from a base at 

Carp, Ontario. Licence No. A.r.B. 742/55(C) was issued to the Club along with 

Department of Transport Operating Certificate Number 1219 dated February 25th, 

1955. Three Fleet Canuck 80s were to be purchased from Bradley Air Service and 

based tempora ril y at Ca rp wh i 1e seeking permi ss i on to operate from RCAF 

Station Rockcliffe. However, this did not come about, hence many of the 

students were trained by Carp Instructors. One was Mrs. Felicity McKendry who 

was destined to train many more students at Rockcliffe. 

Formation of the Club was based on the following principles; 

(a) To promote an interest in flying amongst personnel on Station 

Rockcliffe, 

(b) To enable qualified personnel in the RCAF to participate in private 

flying at a reduced cost, 

(c) To serve as a potentia 1 source of Ai rcrew among personne 1 who 

through the Club would obtain a basic knowledge of flying and 

thereby promote their keeness to continue to fly in the RCAF, 

(d) to promote social and collective flying activities in the Club and 

to compete in any RCAF sponsored competitions which were held from 

time to time. 

Club officers were: 

President Charles Ian Adam 

Vice President Ernest Arthur Waters 

Secretary Joan C. Seeley 

Treasurer Corporal L.A. Yates 

FEES AND RATES 

These officers set the membership fees as follows: 

LHe Members hip 

Sustaining Membership 

Social Membership 

Rates for flying were: 

Dual Instruction 

Unlicenced Solo 

Licenced Solo 

$100.00 

$ 5.00 per 

$ 5.00 per annum 

annum 

$ 9.50 per hour 

$ 9.50 per hour 

$ 5. 00 pe r hou r

Initially, club members eaeh bought a $5 share in the Club, refundable 

when they left the club. These loans plus one from Non-Public Funds gave a 

$5,000 capital to cover the purchase of three Fleet 80 Aircraft, provide 

insurance and ope rati ng expenses. No allowance was made for rna i ntenance or 

personnel to instruct since those persons were to give their skills in 

exchange for free flying time. This arrangement sounded good and may have 

worked had the club been able to operate from Rockc1iffe. 

PERFORMANCE 

The C1 ub I s performance was commendable cons i deri ng its operat i ng 

conditions. The following' students were the first to graduate with a Private 

Pil at Li cence. They a1so qual ifi ed for a grant of $100 from the Government 

through the Department of Transport: 

DEMISE 

R.G. 

F.M. Fletcher 

Nelson 

W. L. 

R.J. Kemp 

Palmer 

2 

l.W. Gates 

L. laFarrvne 

R.O. 

W.J. Thebault 

Mclean 

Unfortunate ly, the Cl ub I s Li cence was canee 11 ed on December 4th, 1956, 

after a somewhat shorter life than expected, mainly because it was 

uneconomical to operate from Carp as Club members were reluctant to drive to 

and from Carp for training. Accordingly, Ai r Transport Board Order No. 1730 

dated December 4th, 1956 spelt out the formal demise, as did the cancellation 

of Operating Certificate Number 1219.

3 

ROCKCLIFFE FLYING CLUB (1961) 

The demise of the first Rockcliffe Flying Club had no sooner drifted into 

the past when an RCAF Offi cer by the name of Wi ng Comma nder Norman Hoye 

arrived on Station Rockcliffe with a strong desire to see the formation of a 

service operated flying club. Consequently on February 21st, 1961 a meeting 

was held at Station Rockcliffe of persons interested in reforming Rockcliffe 

Flying Club. Considerable support was lent to its formation by senior 

officers: 

Air Vice Marshal (A.V.M) Claire Levi Annis 

Group Captain (G/C) Donald Morrison Holman 

Group Captain (G/C) Robert McMillan 

Wing Commander (W/C) Francis Wilfred MacDonnell 

Wing Commander (W/C) William Norman Hoye 

Wing Commander (W/C) Donald Sterling Charles McDonald 

Flight Lieutenant (F/L) Ronald Allan Holden 

Flight Lieutenant {F/L} Walter Rupert Wickson 

Wing Commander Hoye was past President of the Cold Lake Flying Club and 

Flight Lieutenant Holden had also been at Cold Lake as Chief Flying Instructor 

(CFI). Flight Lieutenant Wickson was an Accounts Officer on Station 

Rockcliffe. Hence, the Club had three experienced officers to give it a sound 

start. As a result of their past experience, they were made President, CFI, 

and Treasurer respectively. Group Captain Holman became Vice President and 

Group Capta; n McMi 11 an, Wi n9 Conunanders McDona 1d and MacDonnell directors of 

the Club. In addition to being President, Wing Corrmander Hoye was also an 

inst ructor. The or; gina 1 Engi neeri ng Off; cers were fl i ght Lieutenants A. D. 

James and F. Kaponski. 

An application was made to the Air Transport Board on May 11th, 1961 for 

a Class 6 Flying Club Commercial Licence with a base at Rockel iffe Airport. 

The application was approved and formal Decision Serial No. 1606 was issued on 

June 7th, 1961 followed in late August by Licence No. 1222/61(C). On the same 

date, the Department of Transport issued Operating Certificate No. 1859 dated 

August 28th, 1961. These authorities permitted the Club to conduct an 

approved Department of Transport Flying Training Course to Club members and to 

provide aircraft for recreational flying by club members. At this point, 

another RCAF officer, Squadron Leader (S/L) Karel Weinstein joined the Club 

having had instructor experience at the Namao and Cold Lake Alberta clubs. 

Rockcliffe Airport being Department of National Defence property, 

resulted in considerable correspondence between Mr. J. R. Baldwin, Department 

of Transport, and Mr. E. B. Armstrong, Deputy Minister of National Defense, 

regarding authority to conduct a civilian flying course from an airport 

belonging to National Defence. They eventually authorized the C1 ub to fly 

from Rockcliffe Airport. 

Aircraft-wise, the Club purchased an Aeronca 7AC, CF-JKW for $1,825 and 

leased a Luscombe 8E, CF-KUS, from Mr. Terry Peters. JKW was to achieve some 

fame later in the Club's history. A second Aeronca, Model 7BCM was bought for 

$1,374 Canadian funds. It was registered as CF-NMY.

4 

Luscombe CF-KUS (T. Peters) 

Aeronca CF-JKW (c. Ma rtin)

The second civil i an aircraft to be based at the C1 ub was the Watson's 

Luscombe, CF - KZV. Mrs. B. Watson t one of the owners t was one of the fi rs t 

students to graduate with a Private Pilot licence. She and her husband, Al, 

were quite active with the Club, until poor health curtailed such activities. 

FAUX PAS AND FABLES 

6 

The Watson's Pride and Joy, Luscombe CF-KZV 

(B. Watson) 

Bea Watson relates an incident which took place at Rockcliffe during her 

training days. She was learning take-offs and landings with her ever faithful 

instructor, Norm Hoye. As usual, in the beginning, one is inclined to zig and 

zag a bit when learning take-offs and landings in a conventional geared 

aircraft. So it was with Bea. She had just greased the aircraft on - well 

maybe not greased it on, but she got it down all in one piece - and it darted 

to the right and then to the left and when she accelerated for take-off, KZV 

ro 11 ed over the edge of the runway before becomi ng a; rborne. Upon tu rn; ng 

final for landing, the tower informed her "Kilo Zulu Victor, you have sto1en a 

stri ng of our runway 1ights" . La and behold a stri ng of 1; ghts were dang 1i ng 

from the tail wheel - unknown to her or her instructor. Sounds like a very 

low aerial pick-up.

Night flying was scheduled for 1800 hours or darkness whichever occurred 

first. 

8 

Flour bombing from Luscombe CF-KZV 

(A &B Watson)

9 

1963 

Transfers of RCAF personnel created changes in the Board of Directors and 

staff as follows: 

President W/C Norman Hoye 

Directors A/V/M Annis 

G/G Holman 

W/C Avant 

W/C Gowan 

Chief Flying Instructor F/L Holden 

Instructors S/L Weinstein 

·Mr. Clive Martin 

F/L MacKay 

Safety Offi cer F/l Garburt 

Secretary Treasurer F/L Wickson 

Engineer Cpl. laishes 

F/L Holden left on a transfer in August to eventually fly CF-I04s (Star 

Fighters) in Europe. He was replaced by S/L Karel Weinstein as CFI, a 

position he was to hold off and on for many years. F/L Jock MacKay was 

selected for the position of Manager/Instructor. 

The hourly wage paid to Tony Laishes, part-time engineer, was $2 per 

hour. He was part-time so called, although he spent many hours working to 

keep two aircraft serviceable. His maximum monthly pay was not to exceed $25 

per month. The CF I and C1 ub manager were pa id $10 and $15 respectively in 

addition to their flight instructor pay of $3 per hour. This kind of money 

could hardly compensate them for all the time they spent on the job, but it 

did serve to keep the Club solvent. 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

RCFCA Award of Merit was g; ven to the Cl ub in recogniti on of its rap i d 

growth and successful year. Membership remained around the 40 mark and they 

flew 1036 hours during the year. Twelve students graduated as Private Pilots. 

1t appeared that the Cl ub wason its feet and was in the pas it; on to sta rt 

paying off its debt. 

Club house manager was Ted Dew who with Jack Garburt, Claude Rousseau and 

others renovated the building making it both comfortable and functional. When 

Ted Dew left, his job was taken over by Richard DeRossiers. 

S/L Karel Weinstein took over the Club Paper as editor. He also 

suggested the name "The Rockel iffe Fly Paper". rather an appropriate name; so 

much so that the Ottawa Citizen saw fit to comment on it. 


August saw the Club's first accident. One day a wire across the Gatineau 

River rose up and struck NMY during an authorized forced landing practice, 

resulting in a broken windshield. damage to the leading edge of one wing and 

to some extent the undercarriage. To make this story more incredible, the 

5tudent made a good 1and i ng. He then got au t of NMY, found the propeller

10 

intact and proceeded to swi ng the propeller; the engi ne bu rs t into 1He, he 

climbed into the aircraft and took off for Rockcliffe where he landed safely. 

It just goes to show ignorance is sometimes bliss. The incident started the 

rumour that the hydro lines in Quebec were the highest in North America, at 

least 1,000 feet above ground. 

Speak i ng of prope 11 ers, don It th ink pi lots were any sma rter then than 

now. For example: an inexperienced pilot attempted to hand prop or hand 

swing an Aeronca propeller. After the first attempt failed, he then, without 

due regard, started to place the propeller in a convenient position with the 

magneto switches on. Because he pulled the propeller just far enough for the 

impulse coupling to fire the magneto, the result was: 

(a) one broken arm, 

(b) a cancelled vacation, 

(c) medical expenses, 

(d) delay in the man's training, and 

(e) difficulty in tying up his shoe laces. 

A number of new students commenced training in the fall and as one put 

it, the gyrations of the aircraft on the runway during take-off and landing 

was something to behold. The jabbing of those little Aeronca heel brakes and 

rudder was enough to send the instructor bailing out. If that was not enough, 

it was even more interesting \'Ihen on skis as the aircraft frequently slid 

sideways on the hard packed snow. 

As all the instructors were part-time, much of the solo brief ings were 

via telephone. Thus supervision was by remote control to say the least; 

nevertheless no accidents occurred because of this unique procedure.

11 

Aeronca JUQ (c. Martin)

12 

1964 

1964 brought a few changes in the Board and Staff. which resulted in the 

following: 

President W/G Norman Hoye 

Directors A/V/M Annis 

A/C Holman 

WIC Avant 

Capt. G.E. Granger 

CF I S/L Karel Weinstein 

Instructor Manager F/L Jock MacKay 

Secretary Treasurer F/L W.R. Wickson 

Instructors Mr. Clive Martin 

Nr. J. Rymer 

F/L R.E. Tomchuck 

Mr. John f!.my 

F/L R.W. McIntosh 

Engineer Gpl. A.J. Laishes 

Ground School Instructors S/L Karel Weinstein 

Mr. Bev Boyd 

Cpl. A.J. Laishes 

Mr. E. Rodes 


A tota1 of 1522 hou rs were fl own in the three Aeroncas. Ten Air Cadets 

were trained in addition to 21 regular students, all of which graduated with 

Private Pilot licences. 

In July, new horizons opened to 10 Ottawa area Air Cadets: from 51 

(Optimist) Squadron came Steven Graham, Murray Jones, lyn Armstrong; from 211 

(Kiwanis) Squadron came Taylor Devlin, Douglas Cushman; and from 706 (laurier 

Optimist) Squadron came Pieter Moat and Peter Dawson. Out of tOlm cadets 

were: Mike Doyle, Davey Perrier, Paul Van leut. These Cadets were the first 

to be trained by Rockcliffe Flying Club 1961. 

For the Air Cadets, revelle came at 0545 hours, then breakfast in the 

airmen's mess on station Rockcliffe, then to the Club for flying in the 

morn i ng and ground schoo 1 in the afternoons. Thei r day ended at nigh t fa 11 

when they were bedded down in marquee tents on the airfield. 

When the RCAF moved its practice fl ight and 408(R) Squadron to Uplands 

Airport, things became quite tense as it could mean the Club might no longer 

be able to fly from Rockcliffe Airport. It also meant there would no longer 

be a tower and, most important. the loss of hangars for storage and 

maintenance. As it turned out, DND permitted the Club to continue and gave it 

authority to use UNICOM 122.8. However, the tower remained and continued to 

func t i on for a few months until th i ng s sett1ed down. The 1ack of runway 

lights gave use to flare pots for night flying. It was quite a job getting 

the lanterns lit, distributed and then gathered up on completion of night 

flying, so much so that only eight lanterns were used. 

Speaking of radios, the Aeroncas had a receiver which had to be baCK 

tuned to the aircraft transmitter. The procedure was known as whistle tuning.

13 

It was rather a wierd system wherein a frequency was selected on the 

t ransmi t ter. then one pres sed the mi croph one bu t ton an d turned the tun i ng 

handle of the receiver until the transmitter carrier wave was heard. One can 

i mag i ne a11 the squ-ea 1i ng that went on. It was no rrna 1 to hear repeated 

squea15 as students practiced back tun i ng. As a matter of fact, tun i ng the 

radios frequently blocked out tower and other aircraft transmissions to the 

point where they had to be repeated many times. 

Another problem was that in the future, there would be no snow clearing 

by the Air Force, thu s the respon 5 i bil ity rested with the Cl ub. Since it 

could not afford the expense of snow removal, it was decided to operate the 

Aeroncas on skis. Winter flying gave all aircraft a rough time as the snow 

was usually packed very hard and rough which kept Lou Ethier busy welding 

airframe clusters. 

Operating on skis was jolting to the occupants as well and a great amount 

of throttle was needed to turn the aircraft around. Lack of brakes proved 

very interesting when the aircraft had to be taxied up to the gas pumps for 

refueling. It seemed that there was always a slope right next to the pumps 

which caused for a quick exit from the cockpit to grab a wing, thus preventing 

the machine from sliding into the pumps. 

EVENTS 

The Club's first fly-in was held Saturday, June 20th. Weather was 

excellent. Buckingham and Gatineau gl iding clubs attended. In addition to 

the gl iders, there were two Ti ger Moths, two Aeroncas, a Super Cub I Joe 

Collin's homebuilt Jodel JI1, CF-RJC, and Al and Bea Watson's Luscombe. 

Nann Hoye was not only Pres i dent of the Cl ub. he was an instructor, 

engineer, and aircraft builder. He constructed one of the first Volmer 

Sportsman homebuilt aircraft in the area. It was an amphibian and although 

not complete at the time of the fly-in, he put it on display. Note the hangar 

in the background, and at the top of the picture the old RCAF control tower is 

visable.

14 

Volmer Sportsman WNH (N. Hoye) 

The Lu scombe was rep 1aced shortly thereafte r by a lovely wh ite and red 

Navion. This aircraft was the first civilian retractable aircraft to be based 

at Rockcliffe. an indication of things to come. 


One newly 1icenced pilot with 45 hours under his belt just had to 

demonstrate his acquired skill to a friend (Bob Cumming) by taking him for a 

ride in one of the Aeroncas. The aircraft was on skis which our budding pilot 

had never flown before. However, he was briefed by one of the instructors via 

telephone to the effect that you set up a normal approach and as you hear the 

heels of the skis touch the snow, ease back on the control stick. With that 

bri efi ng and fu 11 of confi dence, ou r pil at and fri end tax i ed out for ru n-up, 

but the Aeronca got stuck on a patch of bare concrete on the taxiway. How to 

sol ve the problem? Hi s friend had to get out of the aircraft and push and 

pull on the fuselage to help move it forward while the pilot was giving N('1Y 

generous amounts of throttle. Poor friend, he had to climb into the back seat 

while the aircraft was moving forward, as to have stopped would have meant 

getting stuck again. With more experience, this fledging pilot would have 

been able to avo i d ba re spots of concrete. No doubt many other pi lots can 

relate to this incident. 

There were cases where pre-flight inspections were not thorough, such as 

leaving the pitot cover on, thereby having the tower give a negative to the

15 

pilot's request for take-off clearance. However, can you beat this faux pas? 

"After a pre-flight inspection, during which it is presumed a peek was taken 

at the engine, the aircraft taxied out only to be halted by the tower as there 

was a stream of oi 1 fo 11 owi ng the a; rcra ft, One magneto had been removed 

which had not been detected on the pre-flight. No one will say whether the 

aircraft was taxied back to the ramp or the engine shut down. 

Air Force Day at RCAF station Rockcliffe saw a strange act. The show was 

proceeding rapidly with the public address system blaring out the final act of 

the Golden Hawks and the Goldie Locks, when suddently, the voice changed to a 

shout of "Get that man off the field". A man with a bottle in his hand was 

seen staggering - half running, half stumbling, out on to the airport to an 

aircraft, which was parked on old runway 22-04. Two policemen took off after 

him. He eluded them and c1imbed ; nto the cockp it. Before he could be 

restrained, the aircraft engine burst into life and the aircraft commenced to 

move. It zi gged and zag ged, bounc ed up and down the ru nway be i ng hot1y. 

pursued by the police. Finally, it lurched into the air, wobbling and 

bobbing. Suddenly the door fell off, only to be followed by an ai leron, By 

now, there was real pandemon; urn on the add res s system such as "my God, he'll 

kill himself", But naught! The aircraft made a brief wobbly circuit and 

1anded with a thump, The pilat got out and bri sk1Y wa 1ked ave r to the 

policemen who congratulated him. Only then did the spectators realize it was 

all a good show put on by one of the Club's instructors. 

Navion CF-KFD (A &B Watson)


17 

Aeronca CF-JUQ (Club photo) 

An aircraft flies by itself - at least it looked that way one December 

afternoon. During a ski checkout and subsequent circuits and bumps, a member 

from the Winnipeg Club had JKW's engine quit when he landed on his second solo 

circuit. He jumped out and hand swung the propeller without anyone in the 

cockpit. As usually happens in such cases, the engine burst into life and he 

could not get back into the cockpit. He hung on to the wing strut while the 

aircraft circled the airport. After a few circles of the field, he managed to 

rock the aircraft hard enough to tilt the wing down far enough that the wooden 

propeller dug into the snow which of course stopped the circling. One ski ran 

over the pil at I s foot and broke a bone ;nit. The total cos t for repa i r of 

JKW was $1,000, which the pilot paid, something others later when they bent 

the aircraft failed to do.

19 

1966 

Board of Directors and Staff who guided the Club in 1966 were: 

President G/C W.N. Hoye 

Directors Maj/Gen R.P. Rothchild 

A/C D.M. Holman 

W/C C.o. Noble 


F/L R.R. Davey 

S/L K. Weinstein 

Instructional Staff Mr. G. Thomas 

Other Instructional Staff remained the same as in 1965. 

Treasurer Sgt. V. Millette 

Secretary Mr. H. Williams 

Chief Engineer Mr. E. Sutton 

Assistant Engineer Mr. J. Wagner 

Later in the year, Lt/Col G.W. Bruce became President and S/L K. 

Weinstein became Vice President as well as Chief Flying Instructor. Mr. 

Malcolm Sutton also joined as a part-time instructor, not to be confused with 

Ernie Sutton, the Engineer. 


Flying hours for the year were 2689. Forty students enrolled for 

training and an average of three graduated each month. It was a good year in 

that flying increased and a total of 32 students graduated. Moreover, 

membership was climbing and stood at 120. 

The first Tiger Moth of World War II fame was based at Rockel iffe and 

belonged to Mr. Bill Wilson. Both Bill and his son Dave learned to fly at the 

Ctftb. Unfortunately, the life of the Tiger Schmidt was short lived as it was 

involved in a spectacular spin crash at Blackburn Hamlet. The amazing thing 

was that the location where the plane came down was the only small open spot 

among trees in the area. That fact and that of deep snow served to save the 

lives of the occupants.

20 

Tiger Moth at Rockcliffe Flying Club 

(C. Martin)


21 

Tiger Moth; L-R Norm Muffi) 7?, Bill Wilson, Dave Wilson 

(C. Ma rtin) 

One of our instructors, having a lady with him as a student, in an 

Aeronca PZO, lost an engine on climb-out after take-off, probably because of 

carburetor icing (remember that carburetor icing thing? A sweet and edible 

substance covering carburetors) - anyway, he lost it (the engine) and ditched 

the aircraft in the middle of the Ottawa River. Fortunately, both the 

lady-student and the instructor were exce11ent swimmers and managed to reach 

the shore, a little wet but intact. 

At the time, there was an RCMP corporal as student. He, among his other 

talents (he had soloed at a total dual time of 3-1/4 hours) was a keen and 

experienced scuba diver. He suggested that he should dive in the fiver and 

check the aircraft; he did so and found the aircraft sitting on the bottom of 

the Ottawa river, upright and virtually undamaged. He then suggested that we 

should procure a motorboat; he would dive down a second time, secure a heavy 

rope to the prop shaft, climb into the cockpit and fly the aircraft in its 

present watery element from the bottom of the river to the surface. 

He did in fact get all this done, up to climbing into the cockpit 

(wearing his scuba gear, of course). After that, things came to a grinding 

halt. The motorboat couldn't budge the aircraft an inch, much less accelerate 

it to under-water take-off speed. For all we know, there is an Aeronca Chief 

at the bottom of the Ottawa River, going cheaply to the highest bidder. Maybe 

generations from now, divers will find it and people wi 11 marvel at the

22 

technology. the state-of-the-art, the ; ncredi b1e knowl edge possessed by an 

unknown. long-gone tribe which, perhaps, they will call the Ottawa-age 

birdmen. 

NMY on Skis (Club photo)

23 

1967 

In 1967, Board and staff personnel were: 

President It/Col G.W. Bruce 

Directors Maj/Gen R.P. Rothchild 

A/C D.W. Goss 

S/L E. MacInnis 


F/L S. Haverstock 

Chief Flying Instructor Mr. K. Weinstein 

Manager F/L J. MacKay 

Manager Designate 5/L C.R. Hallowell 

Secretary-Treasurer Sgt. V. Mi 11 ette 

Effective August 14th 1967, operating personnel were: 

President Lt. Col. Norm Rylance 

Chief Engineer Mr. Ernie Sutton 

Secretary Mr. Hugh Williams 

Treasurer Sgt. V. Mill ette 

Full-time Instructor Mr. Gordon Thomas 

Part-time instructors remained as in the previous year. 

FEES 

By April, rates for flying had increased to $13.00 dual and $10 solo. 

The Private Pilot Course of 35 hours cost increased from $360 to $429.50. 


There were 165 members and the C1 ub graduated 43 pri vate pi lots. That 

year a total of 2,868 hours were flown with three and sometimes four aircraft. 

This indicated fairly good utilization and certainly kept maintenance people 

busy. 


Student is lost on a dual instruction flight. That1s what happened one 

lovely spring morning when one of the illustrious instructors took off with a 

student in JUQ to practice forced approaches at ··Hull Air'· Airport. The keen 

young student actually landed rather than over-shooting, and a fine landing it 

was. However. the runway, bei ng dirt, was soft afte r spri ng ra ins and as 

such, prevented our gallant pilots from taking off. Not to be defeated, our 

instructor ordered the student out of the aircraft and then promptly took-off, 

returning to Rockcliffe. Imagine signing the authorization sheet that the 

student had not returned with the aircraft. Surely it's a case of the missing 

student - call the fuzz. This is obviously a true story and not one of your 

hangar stories.

26 

1968 

Board of Directors and staff were. in 1968, as follows: 

President Lt/Col. N. Rylance 

Vice President Mr. K. Weinstein 

Directors Maj/Gen. R.P. Rothchild 

Brig. Gen. D.W. Goss 

Col. J.T. West 



Chief Engineer Mr. E. Sutton 

Assistant Engineer Mr. J. Wagner 

Secretary Mr. H. Wi 11 i ams 

Treasurer Mr. V. Millette 

Full-Time Instructor Mr. G. Thomas 

Part-Time Instructor Roster As previously, but with the assistance of Mr. J. 

Wagner, who took on the duties as part-time 

instructor in addition to his services as an 

engineer. 


By the end of the yea r. there were 250 members. The Club was a1so 

awarded RCFCA's Merit Award in 1968. 3250 hours were flown and a total of 54 

Private Pilots graduated; they and members had four aircraft for their use. 

FUTURE PLANNING 

Along about this time period, feelings were being expressed that the Club 

should get out of the Aeroncas and into Cessna aircraft to keep up with the 

Jones es, the reby re fl ecti ng abetterimage to pros peet i ve membe rs . As a 

resu It. CF -XTA, a Cess na 150, was purchased. XlA proved to be a very good 

t ra i ni ng machine and rema i ned with the Cl ub until written off. Its demi se 

raised feelings of sadness in the hearts of many members. 


CF-NMY was due for another trip to hospital in that a member took her to 

Peterborough on Friday evening, June 14th. He was late departing Rockcliffe, 

hurried by his instructor; they both neglected to review NOTAMs and relevant 

material, thereby failing to notice that the airport was being worked on. 

Thus. when the pilot landed practically in the dark, he ran into a ditch dug 

for drainage tiles, which extended across the runway. That landing wipped off 

the landing gear. Poor old NMY slid on her tummy for a piece, but came to 

rest upright. Cost of that caper was some $3,000. Fortunately the pilot was 

not hurt. No doubt many pilots have had similar incidents of neglect. There 

is nothing sadder than the sight of a crippled aircraft sitting alone out in 

the mi ddl e of an airport, bent if not broken. No question but that the 

instructor must shoulder a greater portion of the blame for his decision to 

let the student depart under the circumstances.

27 

There is the story about Chief Instructor Karel Weinstein who did the job 

in his "spare" time whilst being a loyal and faithful civil servant. One day 

the Club received a letter from the Department of Transport in which it was 

pointed out that under existing regulations the CFI of an Approved Flying 

School had to be a full-time employee of the Club or school, not a part-time 

one. The Cl ub secreta ry at the time wrote back to DOT, say i ng in effect ··Of 

course, our CFI is a full-time employee of the Flying Club, admittedly he also 

has some sort of a job moonl ighting with the Department of Industry .. ,·· 

Nothing further appears to have been heard from the Department of Transport in 

reply. 

Aeronca NMY at Peterborough (Club photo)

28 

CF-XTA l Cessna 150 (Club photo)

29 

1969 

There were many changes with the resignation of Maj. Gen. R.P. Rothchild, 

Brig. Gen. 0.101. Goss and Col. J. T. West. The new Board and staff were: 

President Lt/Co1. Norm Rylance 

Di rectors Brig/Gen. A. Mendelson 

Col. C.5. Olson 

Honourary Life Member Mr. A. Dumas 

Directors Mr. G. E. Granger 

Mr. R. I. Hurst 

Mr. A. Watson 

Mr. L. Alarie 

Chief Flying Instructor Mr. Karel Weinstein 

Treasurer Mr. O. E1 igh 

Secretary Mr. Hugh Williams 

Instructors Same as in 1968. 

PERFORMANCE 

4302 hours were flown and the C1 ub graduated 48 Pri va te Pil ots. In 

addition, one Private Pilot upgraded to Commercial. the first to do so in the 

Club I s hi story. With th i s perfonnance, the C1 ub was awarded RCFCA I S Merit 

Award. The Club was gaining popularity to the extent that membership 

approached the 400 mark. 

SUlTTT1e r weekend fly; ng started at 0730 hou rs and woe if yo u we re 1ate 

since the entire schedule for the day would be thrown off as bookings were 

every hour on the ha If hou r. Both earl y morn i ng and even; n9 fl ights we re 

usua 11y extremely pleasant ca 1m air or 1i gh t wi nd s and the sound of the 

aircraft purring around the circuit was most delightful. 


In late October, the Club purchased a Cessna 172, CF-VBM from a Doctor in 

Pembroke. Thi s was quite a jump up from the tandum placed Aeroncas. Otto 

Csoka and Dick Hurst flew up to Pembroke in Otto1s Piper Colt. CF-NFT to pick 

up the aircraft. Arrangements for getting VBM were to have been made by the 

Doctor. He must have been very busy because when the aircraft was being made 

ready for flight, an irate Mr. MacDougall who operated Cranston Lake Air 

Services and on whose airport and in whose care VBM was, took an extremely dim 

view of their not seeking his permission. A little smooth talk with an 

explanation and he released VBM for the forty minute flight back to 

Rockc1iffe.

31 

convinced that we would never make it to Kingston, and so for the second time 

I asked the student 'are you sure you checked the fuel?' and he said 'Yes, Sir 

(them were the days when ; nstructors were trea ted with the respect they 

deserved) - yes, Sir, he said 'you told me to, and I did! I. I said 'and the 

fuel was right up to the top of the tank?' and he said 'Oh. no, they were 

half-full'. 

"I had asked him to check, and that's precisely what he had done. Nobody 

had asked him to fill the tank. and he hadn't. 

"Good th i ng the re was fuel ava i1 ab 1eat Smiths Fa 11 s, and good th i ng 

Smiths Falls wasn't far away. 

··See what I mean?"" 

Norm Hoye. the first President of the Club, returned briefly to 

Rockcliffe to ready his home build Volmer Sportsman for a transient flight to 

British Columb-ia. He spent some time in July giving CF-WNH a general 

inspection. This included stripping much of the engine, installing radios and 

re-installing brakes. 

His co-pilot was none other than his daughter Michele, then a 17 year 

old. This trip was the first long distance flight from Rockcliffe by a 

homebuilt aircraft. The trip was successfully completed and the aircraft 

quickly adapted to British Columbia waters.

32 

1970 

The Board of Directors and staff changes resulted in the following: 

President LtjCol. Norm Rylance 

Vice President Mr. K. Weinstein 


Directors Col. C.S. Olson 

Mr. G. E. Grainger 

Mr. L. Ala i re 

Mr. R. I. Hurst 

Mr. A. Watson 

Treasurer Mr. O. Eligh 

Secreta ry Mr. H. Williams 

Instructors Mr. Check Collison 

Mr. Meal Veal 

Mr. Andy Fraser (part-time) 

The military influence on the Board of Directors had noticeably 

diminished by 1970. The Club was gradually being governed and staffed by 

civilians, albeit some staff were serving or retired RCAF personnel. 

It was not until the end of October that the Cl ub had a fu ll-ti me l 

resident chief flying instructor in the person of Mr. Frank Augusta. Karel 

Weinstein had been CFI on a part-time basis following Ron Holdenls departure 

in August 196-3. It is ironical that as part-time CFI Karel spent more time in 

the position than any of the full-time eFIls. Karel could not accept a 

permanent CFI position as demanded by DOT, although they were glad to see him 

pi nch hit on many occas ions as was the Cl ub. Frank was also appo; nted as 

Designated Fl ight Test Examiner, which meant the Club could now fl ight test 

their own students for Private Pilot licences. 1970 also saw the departure of 

Mr. James Wagner who had been an engineer since 1965 and an instructor since 

1967. The former, a record as rarely do engineers remain that long. 


RCFCAls Merit Award was again given to the Club. 4900 hours were flown 

with four aircraft which included two Aeroncas, one Cessna 172 and one 

Citabria. The membership remained at 400 and 48 Private Pilots were produced 

along with one Commercial. 

Later in the year, the Club attempted to acquire an aircraft dealership 

for Champion aircraft. These machines had a fuselage and wings similar to an 

Aeronca but were powered by a two-eye 1e eng i ne swi ng i ng a short prope 11 er. 

Take-off RPM was approximately 5000 and cruise 3500. As it turned out, 

discretion prevailed. there was no dealership. 

Several Air Cadets were trained in 1970. Their number were included in 

the total Private Pilots trained. Perhaps these Cadets and their Instructors 

are known to the reader.

33 

Air Cadets and their Instructors (C. Collison) 

Cadet Instructors, L-R Check Collison, Mel Veal, Frank Augusta, Andy Fraser 

(C. Co 11 i son)


34 

The C1 ub wa s keen to upgrade, thus entered into a 1ea se with Mr. Da ve 

Oitchfield for a Citabria, CF-AKJ, which was pranged in February, The 

accident occured at dusk when the aircraft was about to be tied down for the 

night. One of the C1 ub members s poke to Frank Augus ta sayi ng "OK if I do a 

quick circuit before she is tied down?"' Unfortunately, it was a low, 

abreviated circuit. In the failing light t the pilot got too low and on his 

right turn back to the field. the aircraft flicked when he pulled on the pole 

to get around on final. Exuberance plus poor visibility and a yank on the 

pole at low level equals the inevitable. 

Poor AKJ suffered an earlier misfortune. It was put on floats which was 

fine, but one night when not securely tied, a big wind came up. You're way 

ahead, but you're correct. AKJ swung around and clobbered another ai rcraft. 

That put an end to the Club's float flying. The fact that the Club could not 

man a float base on a full-time basis meant there would be no further attempts 

to get into float flying. 

Citabria CF-AKJ - One Short Trip (Club photo) 

"Shml me the way to go home", a song title and no doubt a wish by a 

student who became lost on his solo cross country when he encountered poo'r 

weather. The gallant little Aeronca set out with student pilot who was 

valiantly trying to master flyi-ng and navigation at the same time. Somewhe(l; 

east of Kingston, we do not know where, he encountered fog and low cloud.

35 

Be i ng a good student, he remembered to rema i n VFR, so altered head i ng to 

sta rboa rd to avoi d the fog and cloud. Upon gett; ng closer to the fog and 

cloud, he altered further starboard. After several alterations, he managed to 

circumvent the weather. Thus clear he altered back port to regain track, but 

the land marks he expected to see did not appear; he was off his map. What to 

do? He searched for a highway which he thought would lead him to Kingston. 

It lead him alright, not to Kingston, but to Bancroft instead. There he 

refueled and returned safely to Rockcliffe where he received more training on 

alterations. This is a serious incident, but also humorous when one imagines 

the many and probably jerky alterations on the B-16 compass which was wildly 

swinging back and forth. 

AIRCRAFT 

The following pictures show typical winter days at Rockcliffe. Oh! At 

first glance at one of the pictures, you might think NMY was sitting with the 

engine running with no one in the cockpit. You are correct in one respect, 

but if you look more closely, you will note NMY is tied securely by ropes to 

both port and starboard tie down rings. It was much too cold in the winter to 

sit in an Aeronca while warming up the engine; you were fortunate if the oil 

temperature needle ever climbed beyond the bottom edge of the green arc. 

Warming Up the Engine (C. Collison)

36 

Refueling After a Morning Flight 

L-R: Frank Augusta, Phurn Ball, Joe Soerson, Barry Peterson 

(P. Ba 11 ) 

Rumour has the story about one lady student who on her solo cross-country 

was virtually home - at least had Carp airport in sight when, wishing to show 

her professional piloting and also wanting to look her best, she took time to 

powder her nose, ha vi ng ni ce1y t ri mmed the ai rcraft. Between powderi ng her 

nose and applying lipstick, the dear old aircraft ever so gently eased into a 

shallow, gentle turn to port. When the turn was stopped and appl ication of 

cosmetics completed, Carp airport was no where in sight - certainly not ahead 

as previously seen. In the end she landed at Arnprior and eventually returned 

safely to Rockcl iffe. The lesson is that the Club should install automatic 

pilots so lady pilots can take time out to beautify themselves whilst flying. 

Another fable which took place in the year of 1970 AD tells of a senior 

instructor taking off with a lady student when the engine failed. Not letting 

the student handle the emergency, he grabbed the controls and did a quick 180 

degree turn back to the field. The student was flabbergasted as she had been 

taught by the same instructor to never, never tu rn back to the fi e1dafter 

engine failure on take-off but to land straight ahead. Only slight deviations 

would be allowed to miss large obstructions. When she confronted her 

instructor with ··why did you turn back to the field rather than land straight 

aheadr, he rep1i ed ··we were headed for the ri ve r and I can I t swi m" . Gues s 

being able to swim will likely be another DOT qualification for a flying 

instructor!

37 

1971 

By November 1971, there were a number of changes and the fo 11 ow; ng was the 

slate of Board Members and Staff: 

President 

Lt/Col. Norm Rylance 

Vice President and 

Responsible for Engineering Karel Weinstein 

Manager 

Hugh Wi11 i ams 

Chief Flying Instructor Frank Augusta 

Full Time Instructors 

Mel Veal 

Check Collison 

Part Time Instructors Hank Hemming 

Andy Fraser 

Dick Hurst 

Terry Peters 

Ron Sierolowski 

Malcolm Sutton 

Bill Swanston 

Ron Gerow 

Chief Engineer 

Tony Laishes 

Part Time Engineers 

L. St. John 

D. Bond 

Full Time Engineer 

Burnie Cardinal 

Ground School Instructors Karel Weinstein 

Dick Hurst 

Check Collison 

Hugh Williams left the 

Insurance Commission. 


club at the end of 1971 to work for the Unemployment 

Club strength remained fairly constant at approximately 400. 

Nearly 5,000 hours were flown, 4856 to be exact, using two Cessna 1505, 

two Aeroncas, two AA5s and one Citab ri a. 52 students graduated as pri va te 

pilots and two other pilots made commercial. All this activity qualified the 

Club for the R.C.F.C.A.'s Merit Award. 

In March 1971, the Club was granted a Cl ass 7 Recreational Flying 

authority which allowed the Club to carry non-members on sight seeing flights. 

One very good use made of this authority was to carry whooping cough patients. 

These flights went up to 10,000 feet and remained there for 15 to 20 minutes 

before descending. Somehow, the less dense air reduced the tendency to cough. 

In any event, there were a number of such f1 i ghts and the customers were 

pleased, although it was never known if the flights cured the coughs. 

FLY FOR FUN 

These three birdmen, uh birdpersons. oh heck, pilots, all have something 

in common besides breathing; they all ran out of lift whilst flying and 

descended suddenly to earth and are now wearing casts and/or using canes.

38 

L-R: Jane Stobbe, Peterson. John Collins, John Bastien, 

Yvon Bedard (C. Colliscn) 

Keeping the injured company Mel Veal, ??, Jane Stobbe, John Collins, 

Marlene Patterson (C. Collison)

40 

Avro 504 (R • Hurst) 

Avro 504 at Rockcliffe Flying Club (R. Hurst)


41 

Barbecuing at Rockcliffe Flying Club (R. Hurst) 

Who said you could not take NMY on a long cross country? Ken Cavers and 

fri end wanted to go to the annua 1 EAA Sports Av iati on Convent i on at Ori 11 ia, 

Ontario, approximately 200 statute miles from Rockel iffe. A look at a map 

shows there is very little in the way of fuel stops for a direct flight. In 

addition, there was some question as to exactly how much fuel was useable. 

Ken was told that there was probably enough, so off they went. After landing, 

they saw a fellow running towards them. Immediately they wondered if they had 

committed a faux pas or something, only to find out the chap had a question to 

ask. He was out of breath from running, but managed to gasp "Are you from 

Rockel iffe, and is thi s NMY?··. On thei r sayi ng "Yes", he excitedly sa id .. I 

trained on this dear old ai rcraft". Thus we see how pi lots get attached to 

the aircraft in which they took their training. But to continue, when NMY was 

refuelled, it took 14 gallons to fill her 15 gallon tank. Seems as though the 

west wind was a mite stronger than anticipated. 

Dr. Doug Smith relates his student experiences. "You are pretty naive as 

a student pilot and the first solo cross country is an adventure at best ... 

in good weather. When I did mine, I got a good forecast, but the weather had 

been foggy in Ottawa first thing in the morning. About 10 am, the wind came 

along the river and blew off the fog. I took off about an hour later, down to 

Orl eans and then south to Ki ngston. About fi ve mi 1es south of Orl eans, the 

visibility was about a mile. Do I turn back or go ahead? Kingston was still 

CAVU but by now I wasn't sure of where I was. I couldn't find any geographic 

reference point. Finally, a town loomed out of the mist, but what town was 

it? Chesterville? Russell? Winchester? They all had a railway running

42 

through the town. Then I saw it, the sol ution to my dilemna. Ju st to the 

north centre of town a water tower was in view. No I don't remember how low 

one has to be to read the name on a water tower, but the name Winchester sure 

put me on the map and on the way to an otherwise uneventful flight. 

After relating the past incident, I shouldn't admit how easily I passed 

my pre-fl ight test. The day was a frigid QOF. At those temperatures. no 

instructor is going to complain about holding some power on a forced approach 

and the cross country was a joke. As you may remember, there was no heat in 

the back seat of the Aeronca and I could tell the instructor, a prolific 

smoker, was huddled around the heat of a cigarette. I'm sure I had only made 

about five minutes of the cross country leg when he tapped me on the shoulder 

and sa id, '·1 et I s get out of here, I'm freezi ng to death." Later, when they 

re-covered the plane, they found many cigarette butts under the back seat; all 

the identical brand to that my instructor smoked. 

We have all heard that if a ship is about to sink or is not seaworthy, 

ra ts wi 11 abandon it. The Cl ub has one better. Somehow a squ i rre1 got into 

one of the Aeroncas unbeknown to the instructor or his student. 

Everyth i ng was goi ng we 11 and proceeding according to plan until they 

became airborne. At this point, when the student pilot was concentrating on 

cl imbi ng at the correct atti tude, correct airspeed and watchi ng for other 

aircraft, all hell broke loose. A furry form streaked crazily around the 

cockpit a couple of times and just about the time both occupants were 

recover i ng from theirsurp ri se anct getti ng ready to ca tch the ani ma 1, th e 

squirrel squeezed out of the aircraft through an inspection hole in the bottom 

of the fuselage. It was not known whether it was a flying squirrel or not.

43 

1972 

There was a change in Presidents in 1972. Norm Rylance left for a stint 

overseas. Also, the Manager and CFI positions were vacated. The line-up was: 

President Maj. John Gauthier 

Directors No change 

Manager Mr. N.E. Carr/Mr. Patrick Brabazon 

Chief Flying Instructor Mr. Patrick Brabazon 

Instructional Staff Remained as in 1971 except for Mel Veal. 

Pat Brabazon replaced Frank Augusta as CFI and Flight Test Examiner. His 

approach to dress was to have all instructors in slacks, ties and jackets. It 

was a good idea as it lent a more professional air to the Club. However, Pat 

being the individual he was and the fact that he was Manager as well as CFI, 

lead him into conflict with the Board of Directors. Hence Pat's stay was not 

to be an extended period. 

In addition to Frank Augusta's departure for helicopter flying, Mel Veal 

also headed out to fly C45 (Beechcraft) in the Arctic for Bradley Air Service. 


Club membership remained around 400. Approximately 5,000 hours were 

flown and 49 students including Air Cadets graduated as Private Pilots. Six 

pilots qualified as Commercial Pilots. All in all, a great amount of flying 

had been done over the year. 

It was amazing that some of the Air Cadets were very casual about their 

being selected for flying training. In fact, one Cadet sponsored by private 

citizens in his home area stated that he really did not want to fly, but was 

persuaded to do so by his friends. Imagine being given a free course and not 

trying to succeed. 

SOCIAL 

Fall parties were in vogue and while the Club house at the time could not 

accommodate them, the hangar was put to good use. The floor cleaned, painted 

and waxed made it excellent for dancing. As usual. Chef Erniets contribution 

made the evenings complete.

44 

The party's well on the way! (Club photo) 

Guests; L-R Irene Bradshaw, Dick Hurst, Betty Hurst, 

Elizabeth Hurst, Pat Brabazon (R. Hurst)

FLY-A-THON 

45 

The first fly-a-thon was held on the 8th and 9th of September and must be 

classed as a success. Flying began Friday night at 2000 hours under less than 

idea1 cond itions, but the weather c1ea red eventually. Spot 1and i ng contests 

were held both nights and during the day. Excellence in the night spot 

landing was demonstrated by Gean Vogler and Bryan Ross. The day slot was won 

by Jim Rogers and Mike Curry. A fly-a-thon is held to determine the greatest 

number of hours which can be flown in a given 48-hour period. The score in 

this case was 41 hours - not too bad at all. 

Madeline Fielding and her crew provided the contestants with food during 

the night. In addition, people helped judge spot landings, one such stalwart 

who remained all throughout the night was Mel Veal. 

An excellent barbecue bash followed on Saturday at which trophies werE: 

handed out to spot landing winners. One of the prizes to lucky winners was a 

portion of a helicopter blade, while others received a flying manual. 

AIRCRAFT 

These were the days when 65-horse Aeroncas were stubborn and took a large 

amount of arm muscle and stamina by instructors to hand prop them. Of course, 

the activity warmed the instructors for cold flights - probably why the Club 

kept the 65-horse Aeroncas. 

Rigby Stamison Swings (Club photo)

SNOW CLEARING 

46 

PROP AGENDA 

When you give a prop a swing, 

Don't go gymnastics on the thing! 

Even if the switch is off, 

The engine still may give a cough. 

"Dead" motors have been known to ki ck, 

And slice an arm off mighty quick. 

Your head entangled in the works 

Will make the engine go in jerks, 

And aeroplanes do not fly better 

With "Swinger" in the carburetor. 

Author Unknown 

Preparing for winter (Club photo) 

Ever since the R.C.A.F. flying element moved from Rockcliffe, the Club 

had been plagued with snow clearing of 09-27 and taxiways. Although manyaircraft 

were on Skis, tricycle gear aircraft must have virtually snow-free 

surfaces from which to operate. Some thought was given to rolling the runway 

as is done ; n many Northern Ioca t ions; however, tempera tu re cha nges in th is 

pa rt of Onta ri a wou 1d not permit rolled ru nways to rema in f i rml y pac ked, 

Hence, a grader and whatever else available were pressed into service.

47 

The Big Snow (C. Collison) 

Rockcliffe in the Winter (Club photo)


48 

Pete St. Louis relates how he became involved with Rockcliffe Flying Club 

(1961) and ended up as CFI . 

.. I got to be an inst ruc tor purely by acc; dent (no pun intended). It Vias 

during the period that I spent a lot of time at the Club trying to keep John 

Williams' 30-year old Tigerschmidt in an airworthy state. Were it not for Lou 

Ethier, this would have been impossible, but Lou knew a lot about Tigers, as 

he did about most of the other machines on the airfield. Anyway, Mel Veal 

happened along one sunny afternoon when I was busy wash i n9 away the su rp 1us 

oil and sa i d someth i ng to the effect that s; nce I wa s around the place so 

much. I should think about becoming an instructor. I qUickly put the idea out 

of my mind when I thought back to WW2 and all those agonizing hours I spent in 

Ansons, Cranes and Ox boxes to say nothing of the back seat of the Yellow 

Peril. later I started to think about it a bit more and eventually persuaded 

myself that it wouldn't quite be the same and indeed there might be some 

satisfact; on i ntroduc i ng aspi r; n9 bi rdpersons to the mys teries of fl i ght. 

After all, there had to be some differences in the motivation; the people who 

joined flying clubs just wanted to fly and didn't really want to cause damage 

to persons and property. Later I found that this assumption was not 

necessarily valid. 

··50 I found myself in the back seat of an Aeronca do i ng twelve hou rs of 

dua 1 so I could teach the MOT way. Some will be surpri sed to know tha t the 

MOT way is not the only way. In fact, those chaps at the R.C.A.F. 's Central 

Flying School who by their own admission invented the art, would strenuously 

disagree with some of the MOT's assertions. But I stray from the subject; 

suffice to say that after 60 years of circuits and bumps there would be 

general agreement on something as elementary as yaw. 

··There were a bunch of older instructor types at the Club on weekends who 

didn't seem too keen on giving instructor dual. 1 surmised that it was a lot 

more fun to take up some pretty little aspiring aviatrix than to listen to 

some other old guy babbling away about the intricacies of slow flight. After 

some pleading and cajoling, I managed to talk the stalwarts Brabazon, 

Sierolowski, Stam;son, Hemming and Weinstein into the boring business long 

enough to get my requisite hours. 

··My fl ight test was conducted by a MOT Inspector by the name of Syd 

Cowley. Syd had 7,000 hours in the back of Aeroncas so I knew right off the 

bat that anything I had to say would be entirely superfluous if not 

ridiculous. I also knew that instructors like to talk, not listen. So by 

cleverly manipulating my questions, I got a very sound lesson on attitudes and 

movements plus an instructor category. There is nothing particularly new in 

this manoeuvre, it"was an accepted practice in dealing with Central Flying 

School's Visiting Flight during the war and I am sure it probably works tiS 

well today. 

·'There followed a sabbatical year which enjoyed immensely. Pat 

Brabazon was CFI and gave me freedom to fly as much or as little as I pleased. 

I settled into a routine where I worked at the Club two or three days a week. 

That way I was always assured of a four-day weekend. 

··In the fall of 172, the Club had on strength the C172 VBM, Citabria DDP, 

Aeroncas JWZ, JUG, NMY and C150s XTA and MBF. Vince Nicholds had a sort of 

personal vendetta going with JWZ. He was convinced that the beastly machine

49 

was trying to do him in because when ever he practiced stalls, it would flip 

him upside down. None of the other Aeroncas in the stable would be so unkind. 

just JWZ. So he diligently persevered; no nasty little Aeronca was going to 

frighten Vince. I wonder if he was relieved when it finally pranged? 

·'The following surrmer the regular instructor staff was enlarged by the 

addition of Pete Hodgins (now one of those affluent Air Canada pilots). Pete 

had been tricycle trained and needed a check out on a tail dragger. There was 

no way he was going to be allowed to do all his instructing in Cessna 

comfort.) We chose an ideal day; flying was washed out with the cloud sitting 

about 50 feet above the ground. Undeterred, we lined up on 27 in DDP, poured 

on the coal and as soon as we got airborne, chopped the throttle. floated for 

a bit and landed. We were able to repeat this procedure from one end to the 

other and in no time. Pete mastered the dragging tailwhee1. As for crosswind 

technique. he had to learn that for himself. 

·'In August. Brabazon proudly flew in GDR, the first of two American 

Aviation AA5 Travelers spelling the demise of our trusty Aeroncas. By the end 

of the year, we were tra i ni ng on Cessna sand AA5s exc 1usi ve1y. Sometime 

during the fall. poor old DDP came to a sorry end in a field in Southwestern 

Ontario, the victim of a stall-spin accident precipitated by a beat up. JWZ 

met a similar fate at Buckingham, where the back seat passenger was tragically 

killed. The AA5 had modest acceptance by new student pilots but was popular 

with licensed pilots. especially for away trips. The machines unfortunately 

had some rather undesirable characteristics, similar to the F84 and the 

Liberator. which as we all know relied on the curvature of the earth to become 

airborne. The AA5 would fly at relatively high angles of attack, but only in 

ground effect, much to the consternation of more than a few pilots . 

.. Pat Brabazon got homes i ck in September '73 and went home to Vi ctori a. I 

1earned 1ater that he had gone back to school aspi ri ng to teach history 

eventually. Perhaps it was the Rockcliffe experience that changed his career 

pa th! Who knows? Before he 1eft, however, he talked me into taking on the 

CFI job at least on a temporary basis. I wasn't too keen on this because I 

had become accustomed to part-timing and it agreed with my life style and my 

g01f game. But we all have to make sacrifices so r consented, wrote the exams 

and upgraded to Class II. Suddenly my two-to-three day week became full time. 

In fact, I was even requi red on occasion to do tests on the weekends; the 

euphoria of my comfortable little job evaporated. 

""By spring of 174 I was ready to rejoin the workers who made the big 

bucks for little effort and eventually found a niche with Dick Hurst and Check 

Collison in an obscure corner of the bureaucracy. 

""It was all good fun in retrospect, now that the crises have dissolved 

with time. But I can still feel the warm sun on the veranda as we watched the 

Aeroncas buzzing around the circuit on a glorious spring afternoon. And the 

910w of pleasure on the face of the fi rs t solo. Ala s, I a1so remember the 

drifts of snow knee deep around the tie-downs and the Cessnas sitting 

awkwardly on their tails, noses pointed skywards with the weight of freezing 

ra in enca sing them. Then Vi nce and Otto got th is monst ros ity of a grader 

going to magically solve the snow clearing problem. Pat said he could drive 

it, and drive it he did until it caught fire and he was barely able to bail 

out before singeing the family jewels. I can still see 01 1 Lou humped over 

like an Eskimo pulling his home made engine heater on its toboggan out to some 

reca1citrant Aeronca and the i ndu 1gent look when he spun the prop and the

50 

eng i ne caught and settled into a steady i d1e. Yes J there were some happy 

days •.•• ,. 

Dan McDermott had an interesting story to tell about a return flight from 

Toronto to Ottawa which caused him a few more grey hairs. "1 was returning 

from Toronto on Saturday of the Easter weekend with my family in Cessna 

CF-RIR, a 172. Near Oshawa I encountered poor weather so returned to Oshawa 

from where my family could catch a bus for Ottawa as it looked as though we 

might be delayed for some time. 

"After cons i derab1e di scussi on with the Flyi ng Cl ub CF I, readi ng weather 

reports and listening to weather broadcasts, it appeared that the weather was 

i mprov i n9, so I took off. Everyth i n9 was in the green but along about 

Stirling VOR, I found myself getting into cloud and haze. I peered outside 

trying to see the ground when I experienced Vertigo. At that point everything 

was whirling in my vision. Fortunately I was at 6,000 feet because when my 

eyes finally focused properly, I looked straight down through the side window 

and saw trees coming up at me; they were getting larger and larger. I was in 

a s pi ra1 and the airspeed was at the red 1i ne. I reduced power I stomped on 

the rudder and heaved back on the control COlumn; with that I came out of the 

spiral but was still in a whiteout haze . 

.. Rea 1i zing that I needed help, I ca 11 ed Mayday, Mayday, Mayday on 121. 5. 

I was told that the clouds were topping at 11 ,000 feet and to cl imb up. 

Fortunately I had taken a few hours of instrument time with Pete St. Louis who 

at the time impressed upon me to trust the instruments and not my senses. 

Real good advice, which I put into practice and commenced cl imbing full 

throttle, five hundred feet on the VSI, with wings level and not turning. 

Eventually I popped out into the bri ght sunsh i ne - what a re1ief! I then 

asked for a steer to Watertown or Syracuse which were open. 

·'In the meantime, an Allegheny Airline's Convair pilot heard my 

conversation and offered assistance. He climbed up through the clouds and 

formated on me at about one half mile distance. He asked me my airspeed; that 

is what was my cruise speed, to which I replied 110 mph. In order to stay 

with me he di rti ed up - fl aps out, gea r down - everyth i ng was hangi ng that 

cou 1d be hung. By th is time, I was becomi ng concerned about fuel although I 

had topped up at Oshawa. However, with All eghany, we broke cloud ; nto a 

slight haze right over Syracuse airport. r landed and he circled and landed 

as well right after me. 

"In clearing Customs, I was asked how long do you plan on being in the 

States? To him a very obvious question; to me it was rather humorous and I 

replied no longer than to clear Customs and refuel. Fortunately I had a gas 

credit card with me. By the time I had finished with Customs, the Allegheny 

flight had departed so I was unable to thank the pilot personally, but did 

express my gratitude by letter. 

"I filed a flight plan upon being briefed that the weather was improving. 

However, it started to close in just north of Brockville so I did a 180 0 turn 

and left RIR at Brockville. This trip was a hairy lesson and I attribute my 

being alive to those few hours of instrument time I had taken at the Club with 

Pete St. Louis and his sage advice."

51 

1973 

By 1973, military rank ceased to be used although there were some 

military personnel on the Board and as instructors. Board and staff members 

were as fo 11 ows: 

President Mr. J. Hutchinson 

Vice President Mr. K. 'Weinstein 

Second Vice President Mrs. M. Fielding 

Directors Mr. R. Stamison 

Mr. O. Csoka 

Mr. N. Holmes 

Secretary of Board Mrs. K. Ditchfield 

Secretary Treasurer Miss Gean Vogler 

Chief Flying Instructor Mr. P. St. Louis 

Instructors Same as 1972 plus Mr. P. Hodgins 

Pat Brabazon left in September for a job in his native province, B.C. He 

was succeeded by Mr. Peter St. Louis. In addition to leaving the eFI 

position, he was replaced by Gean Vogler as Secretary. Another departure was 

Mr. Check Colli son; he jo; ned the Air Transport Connnittee as an ins pector. 

Mr. Ron Sierolowski also discontinued his instruction with the Club. He 

served as the instrument instructor, since he possessed considerable 

instrument flying experience being an ex-RCAF transport pilot. 

Mr. Ron Baldwin and Mr. Fred McQuaig both joined as part-time 

ins tructors. As was the case wi th pa rt-time i nst ructo rs becau se of thei r 

prime employment, instructors frequently joined and departed. A gallant 

instructor from south of the border was Bob 'West. 


Club membership hovered around the 300 mark. With that number of members 

and fi ve ai rcraft, the Cl ub fl ew 4,922 hou rs. 56 'students graduated as 

private pilots and eight pilots obtained their connnercial 1icenses. By the 

end of the year, all Aeroncas had disappeared, much to the chagrin of the many 

who believed that tail dragging aircraft produce better pilots. Aircraft 

inventory in 1973 cons i sted of th ree C-1505 and two AA5s Grumman Ameri can 

Travellers. 

AIRCRAFT 

At one time or another, the Club flew these Aeroncas: JKW, MNY. JUQ, JWZ 

VMU, WHF, all tandem seating, and PZO and FNJ which were Aeronca Chiefs with 

side-by-side seating. 

The Club also said goodbye to the ownership of Cessna 172 CF-VBM. She 

was purchased by Dr. Douglas Smith and his partner Mrs. Mary McMillan. 

However, VBM remained based at Rockcliffe. It was nice to see her still 

flying at Rockcliffe.

HEMMING RALLY 

52 

The last of Old Faithfuls (Club photo) 

The second Major H.E. Hemming rally was held in November for which there 

were 24 entries in twelve flights. Karel Weinstein and George Neiman were 

first place winners. Second place went to Dick Hurst and George Locmelis. 

Third spot went to Ron Baldwin and Or. Abdel Sayed.


53 

Rally Briefing (Club photo) 

Vince Nieholds relates his experience with Aeronca aircraft. ""I was 

scheduled to fly with Pete St. louis and in the usual manner. I preceeded Pete 

to do the walk around on Aeronea CF-JUQ. In this tandem aircraft. the control 

stick was in the centre of the fuselage and came up between the pilot's legs. 

Pete got into the rear seat, or at least nearly so, when 1 proceeded to check 

the flying controls to ensure the ailerons and elevators were working 

properly. I did not notice that Pete had not settled down into the rear seat. 

As I pulled back on the stick, I heard a gasp of air and a retort 'J... C... , 

don't pull back that stick so bloody hard!' followed by a few moans and 

groans. T had struck Pete where it hurts the most. However, I learned a 

lesson about tail draggers. much to Pete's chagrin. 

"On one other oecas ion. I was schedu 1ed to do upper-a i r work such as 

stalls, incipient spins, steep turns. etc. The aircraft I was booked on was 

Aeronca CF-JWZ. After a couple of circuits, T attempted steep turns and a 

stall, each of which went well. On the next manoeuvre T decided to try an 

incipient spin, but when the machine was pulled up to do the stall and apply 

rudder, it fl ipped over and went into a full spin. T remember saying as it 

corckscrewed toward the ground 'Well. this is it, what did J do wrong?' J had 

not been given full spin training at this point so needless to say I was 

mighty scared. By the grace of God, I got out of the spin although T am not 

sure what I did. I made a bee-line for base. On arrival, T questioned the 

eFT who in turn spoke to the Manager, who stated that this particular aircraft 

had a knack of pulling this stunt if conditions were right, such as a fairly 

strong wind blowing on the opposite side of the aircraft to the direction of 

spin. I was also told that had I left it alone, it would come out of the spin

54 

on its own. I am mighty skeptical as I had only 1,000 feet to go before 

ground level.·· 

About this time in the life of the Club, a stray, scruffy barn-yard cat 

took over the club, literally. He was grey and tan with black stripes and had 

one extra toe on each front paw. We called the cat "Charl ie Brown"", to which 

he would surely answer by rubbing against your leg or jumping into your arms. 

For a few years, Charlie Brown was a stalker and hunter of some great 

repute. He fed himself and frequently, when hunting was very successful, the 

carcass of a mouse or bird adorned the club house and had to be gathered and 

thrown out before its presence was smelled. As the mice disappeared and the 

birds grew more cautious, it became necessary to supplement Charlie Brown's 

diet with cat food. Eventually, cat food became the byword and Charlie Brown 

put on weight as a result. It was the duty instructor's job to feed Charlie 

Brown in the morning before flying could begin. He, the instructor, also had 

the task of seeing that there was water for Charl ie Brown at night before 

locking up. 

One day we discovered that Charlie Brown was a she and not a he. Believe 

it or not, but that cat disappeared shortly thereafter; embarrassed that her 

cover had been spooked. 

Charlie Brown - Note Five Toes 

(G. Hemming )

AIRCRAFT 

56 

By June, action was being taken to release one AA5 and replace it with a 

Cessna 172. The AA5s were beginning to cost more maintenance-wise, mainly 

because of thei r performance whi ch low time pi lots appa rent1y we re hav i ng 

great difficulty in coping with. The fact that they were not to be put into a 

spin in that recovery was impossible seemed to make many pilots reluctant to 

fly them. There was one case which demonstrates the fact that more care must 

be pa id to the hand 1i ng of these a; rcraft. One pilot loaded up with four 

people and proceeded to demonstrate how quickly the aircraft could get 

airborne. Fu 11 th rott1e wa s app 1i ed then ri ght bac k on the control col urnn. 

Needless to say the poor little aircraft got into the air and as long as it 

remained in ground effect no problem. However, the pilot wanted to c1 imb 

out - the aircraft stalled and needed new tail feathers. 

Both AA5s were put up for bid later. They sold for approximately 

two-thirds of their purchase price. One AA5 CF-GDR went to St. Lazare, P.Q. 

while CF-FHA went to Edmonton's satellite airport Villeneuve, Alberta. 

Hobbs meters were installed in all aircraft by the end of 1974. These 

1ittle fellows certainly saved a great deal of argument especially when a 

pilot reported a very short flight and it was found the aircraft had been away 

for considerable time. It is understandable that when engrossed in flying. 

time fl ies by quickly and unnoticed. Perhaps there was more than one pilot 

who does not wear a watch when flying like one of the Air Cadets who did his 

entire solo cross country without a watch. Wonder what sort of debriefing he 

got from the duty instructor; probably his ears are still ringing. 

COURSES 

Mr. John Cowan gave a series of lectures on aircraft handling and such 

related subjects. Since John has owned a number of aircraft he possessed an 

exce 11 ent background and experi ence wh i ch he was able to pass on to good 

numbers of members. 

A survival course was held from 1900 hours February 28 until 1900 hours 

Ma rch 2nd. The fa 11 owi ng C1 ub members attended: Li nda Nolan, Bob BellI Bob 

Burkill. Jacques Cheba;l. Doug Smith. L. Sankey and T. Tytuls. 

EVENTS 

The Club participated in the Easter Seal Flight by sending Gean Vogler 

with one of the AA5s. Approximately ten flights were flown by Gean which made 

a good contribution and was sincerely appreciated by the Committee. 

The Club acquired a fellow aviation companion by the name of STOL. 

Inaugural day was July 23rd. There was some apprehension on the part of both 

partners. but STOl and the Club got along very well. Students had a tower to 

work wi th and ga i ned much ex per; ence on the use of rad iota the cred it of 

patient controllers. Mr. Albertie. the Airport Manager was most cooperative 

and was greatly missed when he left two years later. Any flight to North Bay 

usually passed on the Club's best regards to him. 

Members night was Saturday night during July and August. Attendance 

averaged 20-30 each evening. Head of the socia 1 committee at the time wa s 

Kathy Ditchfield; she and her gang kept Saturday nights going strong.

57 

June 21st saw another Club's fly in, and successful it was. 

October 19 the Club had its first Octoberfest. The hangar again welcomed 

many. This event was well reported by the Club newspaper with Bob Burkill as 

Editor in Chief. 

AA5 - CFGOR - Bob Birkill &Lydia Little 

(L. Little)

Octoberfest: 

L-R Bev Boyd, Kelly Poulin, ?, L-R Doug Smith, Bob Burkill 

Dan McDermott 

(Club photos) 

58


59 

Another flyaway saw Doug Smith and company go to the Skylodge in Maine. 

The main feature of Skylodge is that it sits on top of a hill virtually made 

of b1ueberri es. A11 they did that weekend wa s pi ck and crawl th rough those 

fields. 

little did the customs officers at Sherbrooke realize what a bonanza 

would fall from the sky that Sunday afternoon because we didn't realize that 

it was ill ega 1 to import fru it into Canada without a hea lth in spec t ion. We 

convinced our more than official customs officer that a few quarts of 

blueberries for his personal testing would satisfy even the most scrupulous 

health inspection. Our flight proceeded with most of the valued cargo. 

Speaking of importing food ta Rackliffe, remember the lobster express and 

the Beech 18 that used to fly back from the Maritimes full of fresh lobster? 

Later Ernie Schnieder did the lobster run with his Bonanza aircraft. I 

remember having ordered, along with many others, fresh lobster from Ernie. He 

flew down on Friday afternoon and loaded the Bonanza up on Saturday morning 

for the return run. A slight delay at Sherbrooke had slowed him down on the 

return to the point where a race developed between Ernie and a fast 

approaching front with its CBs and C8+. About 20 of us· were impatiently 

waiting at the club for Ernies' return. He called in near Pendelton at which 

time we could see 1ightning to the west. At the time of his call from 

Orleans, the wind was rising and the first large drops of rain appeared. By 

the time he landed, the rain was driving down the west end of the runway in 

sheets. I'm not sure whether Ernie was more afraid of the weather or having a 

plane full of lobster rotting on his hands while sitting on the tarmac at some 

other airport waiting out the approaching storm. Somehow the lobster flights 

declined shortly afterwards. 

Vi nce Ni cho1ds had a very exc iti ng experi ence with Bob West in CF -GOR, 

one of the AA5s (Gruman American Trainers). They were to conduct, amongst 

other exerc ises, forced approaches. ··He asked me to c1i mb and 1evelout at 

3000 feet and head east. A few moments later, the engine sputtered and died. 

I was told to carry out the forced landing procedure which I did. When we got 

down to 1500 feet the eng; ne re-sta rted and that rea 11 y made me fee 1 much 

better. I asked what happened and was informed that he had shut off the fuel 

and showed me where the shut-off valve was located. I asked Bob to show me 

the procedures so I would know how and of course be mentally more prepared for 

the sudden qu i etnes s. He did bu t unfortuna tely when he turned the fuel 

selector back on the valve did not open. Needless to say there was more 

excitement than previously. In other words the pucker factor was quite high. 

Nevertheless, I immediately turned for base with aircraft trimmed for the best 

glide angle. We just managed to squeeze over the fence each of us holding cur 

breath and managed a good dead stick landing. 

·'By thi s time, the CFI and others came runni n9 out to the runway and 

announced that we had cut a couple of aircraft off which were doing circuits. 

Poor Bob had to face that music as they explained the vagaries of the fuel 

system, emphatically stating that the fuel control must not be turned off in 

the air. Evidentally the control can flip over as it did and not turn the 

fuel back on when demanded. 

Gean Hemmi ng re 1ates a memorableinc i dent she experi enced when 

instructing at the Club it might al so be called '·Instructor hazards of fl ight

60 

training". On this particular flight, she had a very adaptable student to 

whom she was giving instruction in Citabria C-GNES. The student had 

progressed to the point where circuits were the order of the day, preparatory 

to first solo. The student had been reminded that once on the ground hold the 

stick right back in order to keep the tail firmly down. On this particular 

occasion, GNES had barely contacted the ground when wham! the stick was 

brought smartly and sWiftly back. Unfortunately, GNES was not fully stalled, 

hence she leaped back into the air in a very nose-high attitude. Gean saw or 

perhaps sensed one wing beginning to drop when she immediately slammed the 

stick forward and poured on power, all of which saved the day and the 

aircraft. The suddenness of the incident not only caused large quantities of 

adrenaline to flow, but also causes it to live vividly in her memory. The 

student went solo shortly thereafter, got his license and went on to fly the 

"big ones". 

AA5 FHA Being Forced into the Air 

(G. Hemming)

62 

Wings Dinner; Top, L-R Kelly Poulin, Karel Weinstein, Judy Oyen, Hank 

Hemming. 

Bottom, L-R Gean Hemming, Madeline Fielding, Rigby Stamison, Shirley 

Weinstein 

(F. McKendry)

63 

Fly-A-Way to St. Catharines took place on May 16 and 17. 

Barbecues started on the 28th of June and were warmly received, 

attendance averaged 30 to 40 members and guests. 

As the year wound down a Christmas Party was held on December 13th. 

In 1975, the cost for private pilot licence was $1100.00 not too bad when 

compared to 1985 prices. However, it should be noted that the course was not 

as detailed in 1975 as compared to later years. 

The Hemming Rally was won by Mr. Andy Wilson beating out 11 other 

contestants. 

The Club got back into a bit of tail dragging by leasing a Citabria from 

Vogair. It was an interesting aircraft to fly and also gave students and 

renter pilots a chance to do mild aerobatics. The Citabria had one advantage 

over the Aeronca in that it had an intercom wh i ch with tandem sea t i ng is a 

must. No doubt many instructors on the Aeroncas were very hoarse from 

shouting instructions to students in the front seat. One other interesting 

feature different from the Aeronca was the landing gear which if you did not 

land properly, gave the pilot a good heathy bounce. 


GDR left mid year and it should not go without tell ing of a 1ittle 

incident which took place on a rental trip to Sault St-Marie. Dick Hurst had 

a business trip to make with one of his fellow inspectors, a Mr. 8ill Kane. 

Since there was plenty of room in the aircraft and Kelly Poulin's h{lme was in 

the Sault, she came along as passenger. The flight was uneventful until south 

of Sudbury when the cockpit filled with an acrid burning odor and smoke \'Ias 

quite visible. The smoke woke Kelly up who had to this point been asleep in 

the rear seat. GREAT! Nothi ng shakes a pi lot 1ike havi ng a fi re on board. 

In any event, once all radios were turned off, the smoke and smell gradually 

disappeared. The transmitter was still functioning so the tower could be 

contacted for landing. 

The CUlprit was a coil in the receiver speaker which had to be replaced 

by Air Dale Aviation. On taking off to return to Rockcliffe the replacement 

speaker created a 1arge amount of dev iation as the speaker was 1oca ted 

directly under the fishbowl compass 816. Deviation was arrived at by 

comparing compass heading with a VOR radial. 

Stan Bradshaw recalled his Commercial flight test quite vividly. "I was 

number two to another RocKcliffe pilot who brought MBF over for his test. The 

; nspect i n9 DOT offi cer grounded it becau se of poor rad i os. I then rented a 

Cessna 172 from Cross Canada Flights for the test rather than have it 

sc rubbed, although I had not flown a C172 for over six months. The tost 

progressed quite well to the point where we had advised the tower of our 

return for 1and i ng when suddenly the rad i a went mi gh ty qu iet. The i nspecto r 

turned to me and said "what now sunshine'·, to which I replied we are going to 

land just keep the tower advised of our positions as it may be that only the 

receiver is out. On landing r skipped a bit because of a cross wind. My 

inspector said "r am afraid that I can't pass you on that landing", 1 

suggested that if he was agreeable 1 would meet him tomorrow morning with a 

C150. The following morning with a C150 I came over under special VFR. The 

inspector got permission to fly circuits so off we went. He selected the most 

outwind runway he cou1d possibly get and for a half an hour I did some real

65 

and elimbed above the approach i ng sta1ks of corn at the end of the runway. 

Had it not been a cool day in September, that tale may have ended another 

way. 

A flying club pastime (Club photo) 

Another first for the Club took place in May when Mrs. Gean Hemming and 

Mrs. Felicity McKendry participated in the All Women's Interntional Air Race 

(AWIAR). They flew Club aircraft C-172 C-FHKZ, and the aim of the game was to 

see how much they could better their handicap of 125 mph (108.6 kts). The 

story is best told in their own words. But before letting them tell their 

story. here they are with husbands, Al and Hank.

66 

Al &Felicity McKendry, Gean &Hank Hemming 

(F. McKendry) 

"Rackcliffe's C-FHKl was the aircraft we were able to acquire and afford. 

So we put it in the hest race mode possible ... fresh inspection, propeller 

5 -m-o-o-t-h, vacuumed ins ide, washed and waxed th ree coa ts .. , be 11 y too! 

Slippery smooth adds 3 to 5 mph. Whereupon, with minimum baggage, we departed 

Rocke 1i ffe for Hamil ton ta make the impound deadl i ne of 17: 00 EDT nonday I /-lay 

19, 1975. Enroute we checked maximum performance ... realizing we should burn 

66 pounds of fuel per hour monitoring the temperature and prp.')'}ure 

readings. 

"The aircraft was impounded in HamiHon with a static run-up, compression 

ratio check, propeller measurements. etc. checked to assure that the aircraft 

was a stock model. These inspections were carried out on Tuesday. Wednesday 

morn; ng wa s devoted to the camp 1ete rou te prefl i ght and 'tlea the r br i ef i ng s. 

Then we had free time to socialize, rest or plan our "legs" considering 

altitude, fuel etc. 

"Thursday, May 22nd commenced wi th the fl y away breakas t and the f i riu 1 

weather briefing. Race aircraft No.1 was scheduled for takeoff at 09:00 hrs. 

EDT. Being No. 49, we had about dn hour to wait. We then elected tu heve 60 

pounds fuel drained to have a minimum weight on board ... every pound heips Or' 

hinders. 

Finally, we were flagged into position dnd our official race til

"May 22 Hamilton to South Bend Indiana 

T.O. 14:32:00Z Over 17:09:54 157.90 min for 341.94 st miles 

South Bend to Evansville, Indiana 

T.O. 19:04:20Z Over 21 :03:00Z 118.67 min 261.18 

May 23 Evansville. Indiana to Huntsville, Alba. 

T.O. l2:50:00Z Over 14:35:00Z 105.00 min 237.80 

Huntsville, Alba. to Thomasville, Ga. 

T.O. 17:34:00Z Over 20:01:32 147.53 min 307.89 

Thomasville, Ga. to Jacksonville. Fla. 

T.O. 21:54:13Z Over 23:03:00 68.78 min 133.59 

Jacksonville, Fla. to Titusville, Fl a. 

T.O. 23.03:00 Over 00:12:24 69.40 min 146.50 

67 

667.28 min 1,428.90 

"So our distance. divided by our time x 60 = 128.483 mph. 

Handicap 125.000 

Score = + 3.483 

"Fi rst place went to a C-182 wi th a +21. 636. Last place wa s a PA-28-180 

with a -38.233. Although we had a reasonable ground speed, C-172s didnt rate 

that well in this race. PA-28s and -305 rated very well taking 8 of the first 

14 places. We realized that we were not burning anywhere near 66 pounds per 

hour; therefore the engine was running' somewhat lean, even with full rich 

mixture. Consequently, we were unable to maintain full throttle because of 

the temperature and pressure readings. 

"BUT THE REAL STORY IS: All the aircraft were to be over the finish line 

by noon on Ma"Y24th. It had been our intention to overnight May 23rd at 

Thomasville and with an early start have an easy trip to Jacksonville 

Titusville in 2+17 hrs. However, a resident of the area cautioned us that 

with the hot, humid conditions prevailing on the evening of May 23rd, it was 

possible that Thomasville could be fogged in until after 10:00 am, making us 

late for a 12:00 arrival deadline. Gean and I decided to depart as quickly as 

possible ... as we rolled on to the runway, I recall commenting, "if the 

forecast winds are valid, we'll just make it to Titusville before official 

sunset at 8:12 local time." 

"As you can see, our official time on the flyover arrival was 00:12:24Z 

or 8:12:24 local! 

"As we were beelining for the flyover, Gean queried "What's that light?"" 

Sure enough. it was the rotating beacon on the tower signall ing official 

sunset. Hence, we eros sed the f; n; sh 1i ne 24 seconds 1ate and thus were 

disqualified after flying over 1400 miles. 

"What decision would you have made reovernighting at Thomasville? I did 

ask Judy Wagner, flying a Bonanza, who remained overnight at Thomasville and 

sti 11 made the 12: 00 noon dead 1i ne. "How wa s the morn i ng fog?" There wa s a 

certain chagrin on my part when she replied, "No problem". 

"But then look at the exciting finish we would have missed. A great time 

ne'er the less including the trip home,"

EVENTS 

69 

Tower servi ces ceased on Apr; 1 30th, whi ch meant the Club went back to 

using UNICOM. Having a tower for the Club's exclusive use with Air Transit 

was sheer luxury. It gave the students plenty of practice using the Radio and 

yet there were not the usual take-off delays associ ated wi th Aerodromes 

qualified for tower service by virtue of the volume of traffic. Following the 

departure of Air Transit, and after some negotiations, the aerodrome was 

leased to the Club. It was to remain non-public, only to be used by the Club. 

Prior permission was needed by others and such information was published in 

the VFR supplement. 

An Air Rally was held on Saturday, May 15th. It had a very large 

attendance. Two of the tower operators manned the temporary control station. 

The ra lly was won by Dan McDermott and Bob Langeu in; Fe 1; city McKendry and 

Barbara Collins secured second slot. Third position was won by Bob Burkill 

and Lydia little. The reason Bob and others gave for not being first was the 

fact that the water tower to be identified had been moved. 

Air Rally Attendance (Club Photo)

70 

Air Rally Control Station (Club Photo) 

Aerial View of Air Rally (S. Bradshaw)

72 

Preparation of the Barbecue pit (Club photo) 

Chef Inspection (J. Sterling)

A costume Hallowe'en 

very spooky affair. 

else - yum-yum good. 

73 

Hungry Club Members (J. Sterl ing) 

Party was held on October 30th, which 

Not only was it a good bash. but the 

\'Jho is who? (J. Ste r 1i ng ) 

turned out to be a 

food was something

74 

Who is the Princess? (J. Sterling) 

Whata Sheik (-J. Sterling)


75 

Lydia Little tells a story about her practising simulated forced 

landings. "During my training, I disliked practising forced landings and 

happened to mention it to one of the instructors. We had a long discussion 

about the manoeuvre. He said that I should practise them until I felt 

comfortable doing them, and with that statement, he suggested that we go out 

and do a few. We headed for the practice area, only he had me fly into the 

Gatineau Hills, where the choice of fields was limited. Whatever open space 

there was seemed fi lled with trees or shrubs. My instructor demonstra ted a 

forced approach, cautioning about not getting too low and to be certain to use 

carb heat. With all this sage advice in mind, I flew around until I found 

what looked to be reasonable open space and had a go. but it turned out to be 

a rather poor approach and he helped me execute an overshoot for another try. 

We flew back around for another approach and proceeded to come in. with me 

following on the controls. The aircraft was steadily descending lower and 

lower, and I looked at the instructor who seemed quite content to look out 

totally unconcerned. Aha! I said to myself, he's going to go right down and 

touch the whee 1s on the grass. At about fifty feet AGL. he sa i d, "Don r t you 

think you are getting pretty low?", to which I replied, "'We 11 , you're doing 

the flying:' He made no reply, but gave full throttle and put the aircraft 

into a climb, remarking that he thought I was flying, to which I replied that 

I thought he was. We carried out a few more successful approaches and 

returned to Rockcliffe. The bottom line to all this is there is one 

instructor and one Private Pilot who will always remember to use the phrase "1 

have control" or "you have control" in future situations. The good side of 

all this is that I lost all apprehension to the manoeuvre of a simulated 

forced landing.

AIRCRAFT 

77 

Spri ng of the year brought a variety of ai rcraft out of storage and on 

line, as seen in the pictures: 

Typical Line-up of Aircraft (J. Sterling)

78 

John Cowan's Beautiful Harvard CF-HWX 

(J. Ster 1i ng ) 

The last Tiger Moth to reside at Rockcliffe 

(J. Sterling)

79 

John Cowan1s Volmer Sportsman 

(Jane Sterling) 

John Cowan sold his Volmer Sportsman to a pilot who was most keen to try 

it out on water. ·-The pi 1at was getti ng a 1ittl e air time one day on hi s 

newly acquired amphibian. Came time to land, so down went the gear. The only 

problem was he proceeded to land on the Ottawa River. Well, our Good Lord was 

able to walk on the sea of Galilee. but the Volmer could not taxi on water 

with wheels. Net result was the fuselage fined with water. After the wind 

screen was broken by one hard head following rapid deceleration, the water 

poured in over his head. Fortunately, he was close to the pier and shallow 

water. The Sportsman settl ed gracefully with on ly the engi ne above wa ter. 

Following many hours of labour, the aircraft did live to fly again.

80 

1978 

The 1978 slate of Board members was as follows:: 

President Mr. D. McDermott 

Di rectors Mrs. B. Co 11 ins 

Mr. O. Csoka 

Mr. K. MacKenzie 

Mr. E. Schneider 

Mr. J. Howard 

Mr. W. Harrod 

Mr. W. Van Sickle 

Past President Mrs. M. Fielding 

Staff As in 1977 

The presence of 1ady Club membe rs on the Boa rd ha d by now bee orne a 

fami 1i ar sight. There was no doubt but that they contri bu ted immeasu rab1y to 

the Club's success. 

What with prices going up, membership fees took a jump to $40 for flying 

members. Along with this came an increase to $180 per year for tie-down. 


Membersh i P averaged 300. 6 t 377 hours were fl own dud ng the yea r with 

seven aircraft. 29 students graduated as Private Pilots and two pilots became 

Comercially licenced. 

SIGNIFICANT EVENT 

A very significant event occurred in November. Mr. Nels Craig, at the 

age of 73 t qualified for his Private Pilot's Licence. This was not a record 

for the Guiness Book of Records as a Mr. Theodore Julius Ceasar of New Zealand 

obtained his licence at the age of 74 in 1974. When Nels first approached the 

Club and asked one of the instructors if he thought that he could be taught to 

fly, the reply was "Sure, we taught an old man who was 60 years old to fly". 

"60", Nels repl ied, "he is just a junior - I am 71". Apart from hi s interest 

in flying, Nels wanted to dispell the myth that senior citizens are only 

capab1e of stagnat i ng somewhere in bi ngo ha 11 s. Ne 1s summed up a11 pi lots ( 

feelings when he said ')ou get a tremendous sense of accomplishment in being 

up there alone and being able to handle all kinds of situations. In addition, 

you get real pleasure too, on beautiful days when you can see for miles." 

Nels used mental Dead Reckoning to calculate his ETA's. A fact one 

instructor soon found out when on a Navigation exercise, he asked Nels for an 

ETA. As Nels failed to pick up his computer, the instructor was about to make 

a snide remark when Nels gave him an ETA figure. It was checked by the 

instructor on his computer and was, much to his amazement, found to be 

correct. However, Nels being the gentleman he was, explained how he arrived 

at the ETA figure and needless to day, his instructor was humbled. 

While his mental calculations were good t his landings of Cessna 172s were 

equally well done. As Nels often remarked, it took him some time to catch on, 

but when he did, it stuck.

82 

Nels Craig Graduates as a Pivate Pilot 

(F. McKendry) 

Early summer days were great for sitting watching aircraft in the circuit 

come and go. Each landing and take-off critically analysed by the lawn chair 

generals. However, the beauty of the Club house chairs would not be as bright 

and shiny had it not been for some hard working members.

SOCIAL EVENTS 

83 

Fruits of their labour (L. Little) 

The craving for a lobster feed got the better of the membership and so a 

lobster bash was held out at the old barbecue pit. This feed was also a 

farewell gesture to one hard-working and loyal club member, Lydia Little. She 

was going to Cornwall to be a member of the Department of Transport's training 

schoo 1 staff.

85 

Outdoor Lobster Cooking (L. Little) 

Maintenance Engineers (G. Hemming)


86 

The fighting aircraft is a story about an aircraft which attacked another 

aircraft. The fighting aircraft was being started by the owner pilot without 

the aircraft being tied down, nor was there anyone in the cockpit, in spite of 

the fact tha t it had to be hand propped. It was a Cherokee wh ieh, with its 

low wi ng, made ita diffi eu It mach i ne to duck under the wi n9 to reach the 

cockp it. In any event, the eng i ne started with a roar and fortuna tely the 

pilot was able to get out of its way. but not into the cockpit. The aircraft 

loomed across the taxiway into a Cessna 172. The Cherokee's propeller chewed 

into the Cessna wing, and in so doing sounded like a woodpecker hammering on 

the hangar roof. It was only when the main spar was struck that the 

Cherokee's engine stalled. The Cessna 172 wing looked as though it had been 

chewed with a saw - mighty ragged and sad in appearance. 

The GUilty One (v. Nicholds)

87 

The Result (V. Nicholds) 

There was a great excitement when the replica of Charles Lindberg's Ryan 

aircraft visited the Club. It was in 1927 that Lingberg flew the Atlantic 

solo from New York to Paris. France. One look at the repl iea would pretty 

well knock any such idea from the minds of today's pilots what \\lith no 

automatic pilot and 33 hours of flight time. 

A Visitor from the Past &Lou Ethier 

(L. Little)

88 

1979 

The Board of Directors and staff changed sl ightly in 1979. The major 

turn over was that two of the ladies. Barbara Call ins and Suzanne Frogley 

resigned. This left: 

President Mr. O. McDermott 

First Vice President Mr. K. MacKenzie 

Second Vice President Mr. M. Ste-Marie 

Oi rector Mr. J. Cowan 

Mr. S. Ironstone 

Mr. W. Harrod 

Past President Mrs. M. Fielding 

Secretary Treasurer Mr. W. Van Sickle 

Accountant Mr. D. Thorn 

Office Manager Mr. A. C1au tie r 

General Manager/CFI Mr. A. Jausserain 

Mrs. Suzanne Frog 1ey. the Board Member in cha rge of comnun i ca t ions, 

resigned as she had been offered a position as an instructor with the Ottawa 

Flying Club. Suzanne commenced her flying at Rockcliffe Club in the winter of 

1975. As a matter of fact. she probably vividly recalls crawling into the 

cockpit dressed in parka and ski pants and even then practically peri shed 

after an houris flying circuits that winter time. 

There were a number of rapid changes in incumbents of the CFI position 

and Chief Engineer. for example: Mr. Robert Richard replaced Mr. Jausserain, 

but he left shortly thereafter to join O.O.T. Mr. J. Cook followed as CFI on 

the fi rs t of November. At the same time. Monty Pacey became Ch ief Eng i neer 

following Mr. Dan Kane's departure. 

When a11 the changes instaff had ta ken place, the fa 11 owi ng wa s the 

ros ter: 

CFI Mr. Jack Cook 

Instructors - Full Time Mr. Pierre Lemay 

Mr. Chuck Brown 

Mr. Bi 11 Cody 

Instructors - Part Time Mr. Michel Fortin 

Mrs. Felicity McKendry 

Mr. Andy Fra ser 

Mr. Ken Chatfield 

Mr. Larry Cundy 

Mr. Wally Fi rth 

Mr. Dan McDermott 

Mr. Terry Peters 

Chief Engineer Mr. Monty Pacey 

Assistant Engineers Mr. Rick Plunkett 

Oi spatcher Mr. Dan Morin 

Mr. Pat McDermott 

Miss Bep Mattern 

Mr. Luc Cecire 

Even the radio frequency was changed from 121.0 to 123.5. There were 

also changes in the rates charged for flying:

MEMBERSHIPS 

90 

Sustaining members of the Club are responsible for ensuring that there is 

continuity in the Club Management and that the Club meets the needs/desires of 

the maj ority of the members. To ach ieve th is the Boa rd of Di rec tors, who 

guide the operation, are selected from and by sustaining membership. However, 

the general membership get an opportunity to exchange views with the Board at 

the Annual General Meeting. 

General Meeting (Club photo)

93 

1980 

1980 saw a smaller Board of Directors as follows: 

President Mr. Dan McDermott 

Vice President Mr. Marcel Ste-Marie 

Second Vice President Mr. Ken MacKenzie 

Oi rectors Mr. Rolf Schliewen 

Mr. Stan Ironstone 

Mr. Bill Van Sickle 

Mr. Otto Csoka 

Staff changes were also ;n the works in the maintenance section: 

Chief Engineer Mr. Monty Pacey 

Assistants Mr. Rick Plunkett 

Mr. Rich MacLe 11 an 

Mr. John Cameron 

Chief Flying Instructor Mr. Jack Cook 

Full Time Instructors remained as in 1979 as did the Part Time Instructors. 


1980 saw a stabilization of flying hours levelling out at 4773 using 

seven aircraft. 24 students graduated as private pilots and five commercial 

pilots also graduated. Seven pilots received their instructor ratings which 

was the largest group to qualify in a single year. 

Club strength dropped to a figure of 180. This meant a realignment of 

staff duties and the need for better Public Relations came home with a bang. 

Volunteer non-flying dispatching had reached the point were it became 

indispensible t especially since it ensured that there would always be someone 

to handle the payments for flying. It relieved the flying instructors of the 

task of issuing bills and handling money. It also meant that the students 

were then responsible for taking of the hobbs metre readings, which in turn 

left the instructors free to concentrate on their prime function.

94 

Part of the Instructor class: 

L-R Boutrus Abdelnour, Jack Cook, CFI, Randy Jarvis, Louis Theriault 

(J. Cook) 

SOCIAL EVENTS 

Jennifer's Kitchen was very active this year in addition to barbecues. 

Social activities started with a dinner in January. By fa 11 there was a 

scrumptious spaghetti dinner. This was the first of its kind in the Club's 

social history.

IN MEMORY 

95 

Preparation of Spaghetti in Jennifer's Kitchen 

(J. Sterling) 

Nels Craig's Critical Eye (J. Sterling) 

Lou Ethier died in May. His departure was the leaving of one of the 

Club's real characters. It is impossible to record all the help and advice 

Lou gave to many, many Club members. There was very little that Lou did not

96 

know about repalrlng and rebuilding of fabric covered aircraft. His 

contribution to the maintenance and operation of the Club's snow clearing 

equi pment was immense. Lou Ethi er was the fi rst person to purchase ali fe 

membership and also the first active member to depart from the Club's midst. 


Can you beat this for an ego trip? One of the Nigerian students took off 

on the day the Snow Birds were putting on a show at the International Airport. 

This student, wishing to duly impress his former instructors at Bonavair, flew 

over to the Ottawa airport without permission from any of the Rockel iffe 

Instructors. He calmly proceeded to do touch and goes on runway 22 in front 

of Bonavair. The controllers frantically ordered him out of the zone, but he 

would not leave immediately. although he eventually did. Jaek Cook. then CFl, 

contacted the tower and they let the incident pass by saying there was a 

language problem.

99 

Social events such as dinner and dance at the Club every month, 

anniversary dinner, spot landing contests, safety movies along with Saturday 

barbecues, a fly-in and wings dinner in October all indicated that the Club 

was beginning to look like a Club rather than a training school. Indeed this 

change was most gratifying to many who felt such a change had been needed for 

a long time. 

On Saturday, October 3rd, the Rockel Hfe Flyi ng Cl ub hosted its fi rst 

ever "free" party!! The news editor had this to say about it: "As you can 

see from the headline, the party was terrific. Eve and Cliff Bell and John 

Lapansee were responsible for all the wonderful food and punch, with generous 

help from all of Eve's family. 

"For those of you who missed this wonderful occasion, please let me tell 

you about it. When you entered the Flying Club, you were offered a choice of 

punches - dry or sweet. As if that wa sn 't enough, in the Ground Schoolroom 

there was such a selection of hot and cold foods such as you haven't seen in 

ages. A few of the goodies included sausage rolls, tiny meat pies. delicious 

sandwi ches of all kinds. I cou 1d go on forever, a11 made in the Be 11 kitchen 

by Chef Eve! 

"In attendance were approximately 100 people, all of whom thoroughly 

enjoyed themselves. A generous THANKS FOLKS goes out to all of those who 

worked so hard from all the members and the Board of Directors."" 


The story of what happened, or perhaps who and how, to WQH has yet to be 

told. 

Thought I Had it Made! (J. Sterling)

101 

GATT Trainer (R. Hurst) 

Claude became Chief Engineer. Suppose he wanted to be near the Air 

Museum's North Star aircraft he flew in as engineer whilst in the military. 

He told an interesting story about one time when they were out in the Middle 

East and he had to change an engine by himself. The only help he had was from 

some of the Army men who, as he stated, knew nothing about aircraft engines 

although they had knowledge of engines such as in their trucks. However, they 

he1ped Claude change the eng i ne under very pri ma t i ve cond itions and the 

aircraft flew home to Trenton safely. 


One of the Club's members, Jane Sterling, decided that Aerobatics had a 

certain appeal and so she dove(?) into it. In her own words, it all began in 

earnest in May of 1982 when ··In Nay, a friend took me for my first ride in a 

Pitts! Off we went, me in an open cockpit, complete with protective glasses, 

a leather helmet, and a ski jacket (it was only 1JOC on the ground). All r 

was missing was the white scarf! Once up there) the PIC asked if I would like 

to try flying it. My usual self-confidence abounding, I thought ··Who, mer, 

but I actually said through the intercom ··Sure". Wi th such a fantastic 

chance, a)1 I did were three or four terrible steep turns. The pilot had to 

ye 11 at me over the intercom no 1ess than three times to .. Keep the **!! &&** 

ball in the centre!". Flying a Pitts is certainly nothing 1ike flying a 

C-150.

103 

roll it, and hope for the best.·' The Chief Judge later asked me what I did 

instead of the snap roll! I have a third place trophy from that contest. 

Yes, just two months after my first lesson, I was competing, and I came in 

third {out of three)!!!

104 

1983 

1983 saw a fairly substantial number of persons on the Board and Staff as 

foll ows: 

President 

Mr. Otto Csoka 

Vice President 

Mr. Don Buchan 

Secretary Treasurer 

Mr. Marcel Ste-Marie 

Directors 

Mr. Andre Sabourin 

Mr. Rolf Schliewen 

Offi ce Manager Miss Lucie Quinn 

CFI and DFTE 

Mr. Randy Jarvis 

Instructors 

Mrs. Felicity McKendry 

Mr. Glen Patterson 

Miss Kathy Fraser 

Mr. Rejean Mayer 

Mr. Boutros Abdelnour 

Mrs. Beverly Harvey-Essery 

Chief Engineer Mr. Claude Lalande 

Dispatchers Mr. Mike McGrath 

Mr. Tom Chatfield 

Mr. Ian Dainey 

Mr. Allan Purchase 

Mr. Eric Tousignant 

Lucie, Manager and Social Convenor, won the "Best Manager Award" at the 

RCFCA convention held at Kitchener-Waterloo. 

Following Randy Jarvis ' departure, Mrs. Felicity McKendry became interim 

CFI awaiting Glen Patterson who made the rank later in the year. 

Robert Horne, who came from the Brampton Flyi ng Cl ub replaced Cl aude 

lalande. In September, Mr. Bill Braun became Assistant Engineer. Mr. Robert 

Horne contributed some very useful hints on maintenance items on private 

aircraft, in line with revisions to the servicing code that owners can do on 

their own. 


3500 hours were flown with four aircraft and 30 students graduated as 

Pri vate Pi lots. There we re 360 pa i d up members wh i ch represented a 9radu a1 

growth. Out of this number, 95 members had their aircraft tied down at the 

Club. A hard look was taken at fees in general due to rising costs, The 

results were as follows:

Flying Membership $50 

Flying Rates: 

105 

Ai rcraft Dual Solo 

C-152 $61 $44 

C-I72 $64 $46 

Tie down fees were $260. 

EVENTS 

Many of the Club members took advantage of a delightful June fly-away to 

Oshawa where they were shown around the Club and Museum. 

July 23rd was air rally day. Andy Wilson and Tom Chatfield burnt the 

midnight oil and came up with excellent air rally plans which included not 

on 1y routes. t; mes etc. but those tri cky pi ctures of objects wh i ch in the 

vision of some pilots were not enroute. In any event, Bob Kabierski and Louis 

were the wi nners of the Major HelTlTli n9 Trophy. Bambi n9 accuracy was ab 1y 

demonstrated by winners Paul Marcil and Kathy Dey. 

The Club1s annual Wings Dinner was held at the Chima Inn with 

approximately 100 in attendance. Private Pilot Graduates of September 1982 to 

July 1983 were: John Graham. Brian Delaney. Bruce Mulley. Pat Young, Tom 

Fleming, Tony Nash, Rod Yoemans, leonard Curling, David (Rufus) McColl, Kathy 

Dey, Richard Cournoyer, Ed Kryzyanowski, Patrick Blakshee, Al Wood. Bernard 

Stepien. Yvon Emond, Randy LaCrois, Janet Higgs, Jean Mondoux, Roland loreng, 

Greg Aldworth, David Watson, Doug Heeney, Graham Ross, Herb Tabber, Ian 

Darnley, Steve McFarlane. 

Spook Night was well celebrated with Tom Bryant and his wife dressed as a 

pumpkin. They took the prize. an aeroplane bank. 

Sometimes things we view as routine under certain circumstances can mean 

a great dea 1 to someone el se. For example, one day in November a former 

member and pilot of the Club. Mr. Frank Cianfaglione, was given a ride in one 

of the C152s. Nothing particularly unusual. routine you might say. except in 

this case Frank was slowly dying from cancer. 

No one knew except Frank that this was his very last flight. Being so, 

he remembe red eve ry second of events and fond 1y reca 11 ed t hem to his fami 1y 

and friends. Ironically. his last flight was through the Club that gave him 

his familiarization flight 15 years earlier.

108 

Club House and Lecture BUilding (R. Hurst) 

RFC Hangar (R. Hurst)

SOCIAL EVENTS 

109 

In addition to summer barbecues, the year ended with an excellent 

Christmas party. Rufus McColl was the convenor who, with help from many, 

provided a wine and cheese party in a nicely decorated Club house. 

Wine &Cheese. L to R; Steven Forgorasi, Charles 

Doug Heeney, Easton Bourque 

Danard, Terry Peters, 

(T. Peters) 

Chit Chat; l-R, Doug Heeney, Xavier Schnelli. Hugh McCaw, Leon Gratton 

and wife, Bep Mattern 

(T. Peters)

J10 

Decorations; L-R, Kathy Dey. Otto Csoka, Andy Wilson 

(T. Peters) 

The Business End of the Club House; L-R, Rufus McColl, Andy Wilson, 

Bruce Nally, Sharon Bow, Tom Chatfield 

(T. Peters)

111 

L. R. Sharon Bow, Tom Chatfield. (T. Peters) 

More Bubbl y - no flyi ng. (T. Peters)

114 

Permanent Staff ; n r,lay (S. Bow) 

Back Row, L-R: Bill Braun, Andrew George 

Front Row, L-R: Sharon Bow, Felicity McKendry, Kathy Fraser, Bep Mattern, 

Corey Stephen. 

ACCOf4PL ISHMENTS 

The Cl ub flew 4,469 hours primari ly with four aircraft. 34 students 

graduated as Private Pilots. There were two Commercial Licensees, two 

instrument endorsements, two Instructor endorsements, ten qualified for night 

flying, and two multi-engine endorsements. Kathy Fraser qua'ified for her 

Class II Instructor Rating while Felicity was made a DFTE. These results were 

encouraging as was the membership which totalled 340. 

The Governor-General Shield winner was Etienne Roger; his average was 

well over 80%. He received a plaque and $100 from RCFCA. 

EVENTS 

On February 25, the Club held its annual Wings Dinner to honour those 

members who in 1984 qualified for their Private Pilot Licences, Night 

Endorsements or Commercial Pilot Licences. The dinner was held at the Chima 

Inn and Rufus McColl handled the Master of Ceremonies slot with great aplomb 

in addition to being formally dressed for the occasion. Rufus had the 

pleasure of introducing the guest speaker in the person of Bjarni Tryggvason, 

one of the Canadian astronauts. Bjarni gave a most interesting talk along

with showing slides and a film on astronaut training. The visual included 

some of the activities of Marc Garneau on board the Discovery. Bjarni allowed 

as how Club aircraft were mighty slow in comparison to the sh.uttle but he 

emphasized that a budding astronaut had to start somewhere and private pilot 

training ;s as good a place as any. 

1984 Cl ub graduates with Private Pil at Li cences were the fall owi ng: 

Steve Baerg, Harvey Ba 11 ard, Ri cha rd Ba rnett. Ph il i P Bradl ey. Bob Bu 11 en I 

James Batten. Robert Campbell, Hugh Carry, Vince Charron. Achilles Drouin, 

Alan Cheyne. Marc Ethier, Gaetan Forget. Richard Gietz. Don Hislop. Robert 

Hochhalter, Cary Honeywell, Alvin Hughes, David Huston. Daniel Irvin. Jack 

Korwin, Vianney Michaud, Benoit Montreuilt. Edward O'Meara. Louis PatenaUde, 

Jerry Regan, Etienne Roger, Guy Rollin. Georges St. Amour, Claudine Stepien, 

Wolfgang Weichert. Mike Westley, John Williams. 

Four of these pilots also qualified as candidates for the 

Governor-Genera1 Sh i e1d by ha vi n9 an average better than 80% on thei r fl ight 

test and written examinations. 

Night flying endorsements were bestowed on Jeff Carroll. David Copeland, 

Richard Cournoyer. Cary Honeywell. Daniel Irvin, George McKenzie, and Marcus 

Titti ger. 

Commercial licences were given to Paul Fortier and Bruce Mulley. 

Not only were all these pilots recognized. but so was Felicity McKendry 

who qual Hied for a Class One Instructor Rating and Instrument Instructor 

Endorsement. Luberty (Bep) Mattern also qualified for her Class One 

Instructor Rating. It was gratifying to see that even those pilots who were 

very well qualified still displayed the initiative to go on and seek top 

instructor ratings. 

The Social Conmittee comprised of Kathy Dey, Bruce Nal1y, Andy Wilson. 

Rufu s Mceo 11, Vern Bough and Sharon Bow were respons i b1e for the excellent 

dinner and programme. For the remainder of the year, the Committee consisted 

of Kathy Dey, Bruce Nally and Sharon Bow. 

115

116 

New Private Pilots (F. McKendry) 

Back Row, L-R: R. Gietz, Ed O'Meara, Ethienne Roger, Marcus Tittiger, 

Mike Westley 

Front Row, L-R: J. Korwin, Louis Patenaude. Monique Patenaude, David Huston

117 

Wings Dinner, Chima Inn (R. Hurst) 

An enterpr; sing fi rst for the Club took place Apri 1 13th when a Fl ea 

Market was operated. It was one cold windy day but in spite of the weather, 

it grossed over $1,800 and netted approx i rna tely $1,600. Ka thy Dey and her 

gang of volunteers did an outstanding job. Articles covered everything from 

books, bicycles, tools, etc. to one of the Club's original gas pumps. The 

nos ta19i c effect caused Hugh Wi 11 i ams to ta ke pos session. He sa id he had 

pumped many gallons through it and so thought that it had a heritage value.

118 

Flea Market (R. Hurs t) 

Flea Market - L-R Pat Young, Bob Bullen, Bruce Nally, Kathey Dey 

(R. Hurst)

Flea Market: L-R Lynne Cowalchuk, Jane Sterling, Terry Amo 

(R. Hurst) 

Normal1y a flying club is devoted ta the activity of flying but not so 

with Rackcliffe. A number of the club stalwarts decided there had to be 

another dimension to club activities. Hence, in June, eleven members went 

'l',hite water rafting. They put in at Beachberg on the Ottawa River. It was 

exciting, no one was lost, but it seemed to take a bracer at the end ta calm 

everyone down.

121 

Tornado, June 3rd (S. Bow) 

Rockcliffe Flying Club was the host club for the Royal Canadian Flying 

Club Association convention in September. Delegates were given a tour of the 

Museum by Bob Bradford, the museum curator, after which there was a wine and 

cheese at the Club. This was followed by an excellent roast beef dinner and 

an evening of dancing and socializing held in the Social Centre on the 

Canadian Forces Base Ottawa North, formerly Royal Canadian Air Force Station 

Rockcliffe. Delegates and 46 club members fil1ed the centre to a comfort 

capacity, leaving sufficient room for dancing. 

The delegates were spared another exhausting round of formalities such as 

head-table speeches and introductions. This air of informality permeated the 

entire evening and made it the success that it really was. In other words, it 

was a good bash spearheaded by Bernice and Barry Garner.

Mirldle Row 

122 

RCFCA Dinner and Dance 

Bar Row (R. Hurst)

FAUX PAS ANO FABLES 

123 

RCFCA Oinner and Dance - Tripping the Light Fantastic 

(R. Hurst) 

Jim Butler relates his fond memories of Rockcliffe Flying Club with 

considerable,feeling and covers a number of years. 

The inventor of the pilot's log book deserves unremitting praise for his 

foresight in creating, in one fell swoop, a multi-faceted diary, a useful 

legal document, a book of personal flying history, and a boundless source of 

nostalgia. looking back through my own log book brings back many fond 

memori es of the instructors who r he 1ped to know the true mea ni ng of sheer 

terror; but who, in sp ite of the odds and the i r own better judgement, were 

determined to teach me how to aim an airplane with a reasonable chance of 

missing most of the surrounding environment most of the time. r am deeply 

indebted to all of those individuals -- albeit some more than others -- and 

owe each one a debt of unfathomable gratitude. Bless each and everyone of 

them, wherever they are and whatever they are doing. May they live forever. 

Some of the names evoke more vivid memories than others. Jock MacKay was 

my first instructor for powered airplanes (I had done some gliding 

previously). Steven Esplen sent me solo. r bel ieve he gave up instructing 

shortly thereafter and left Ottawa. And who could forget Karel Weinstein's 

patient and sometimes somewhat less than patient! remarks of 

encouragement and exhorta t ion. Ka re1's command of the Eng 1ish 1anguage is 

nothing short of monumental and mind-bogglingl He could come up with the most

126 

this time while I was on downwind. Several more circuits were totally 

uneventful; but when I was parking the airplane, Bob came over and asked if I 

had seen the three jets. ""Yes", I replied, "three times; and the first time 

they flew beneath me while I was on crosswind"". Bob said he had phoned 

Up 1ands and told them to tell the jets that they were goi ng ri g,ht th:ough our 

circuit. Of course, the pilots were unaware that we were dOlng nght hand 

circuits over the river. It turned out that the exercise was to get photos of 

the F5 flying past Parliament Hill to celebrate the RCAFls acceptance of it as 

Canada1s new jet fighter. 

I believe it was in 165 that we built the hangar (the new clubhouse was 

added later). The construction took place under the very capable tutelage of 

Jock MacKay and Jim Wri ght and i nvo 1ved a number of the i nst ructors and 

licensed members and most of the students. I still remember the night it 

started to rain while several of us were nailing the aluminum roofing panels 

in place. They quickly became very slippery. Jim wisely suggested we get 

back down to Terra Firma. No sooner had he said so than I started to slide. 

I tried unsuccessfully to dig fingers, elbows, knees, and toes into the 

siding. I was feeling quite helpless, desperate and utterly terrified when, 

quite inexplicably, I came to a stop just before the edge. So much for the 

immutable laws of physics which relate to the coefficient of sliding friction. 

But back to the log book. Entries from here on evoke little in the way 

of memories until the club bought Citabria DDP and leased Citabria CMN in 169; 

and Karel Weinstein and Frank Augusta introduced me to aerobatics. I have a 

perfectly good excuse for getting into aerobatics. I never could fly straight 

and 1eve1, so it seemed to offer the perfect alternati ve. Ka re 1 9a ve me my 

first taste of aerobatics, but we only had a couple of flights together, the 

latter of which was prematurely terminated when we heard a loug crack while 

pulling out of a loop. (It turned out to be caused by the right wing fillet 

fairing pulling loose at the trailing edge.) Frank and I had many 

indescribably exciting flights together. When Frank gave up instructing, Hank 

Hemmi ng came along and he and I had many wonderfu 1 fl ights together. Itwas 

indeed a privilege to fly with these superb instructors. 

Aside from the combination of abject terror and indescribably thri 11 , 

there doesn1t seem to be much to tell about the aerobatics excursion. While 

practicing the various manoeuvres solo, I managed to scare myself quite 

thoroughly more times than I would care to mention. Suffice it to say that, 

despite the warnings of instructors, I managed to encounter a tail-slide and 

an inverted spi n and even snap-roll ed my way a1most into a fl ock of Canada 

geese. Aerobatic wings were clipped when DoP was prematurely and somewhat 

ignominiously removed from service on the Labour Day weekend of 173. (I 

remember because I broke my left arm on that weekend - albeit in a separate 

accident and due to running, not flying.) We were without an aerobatic mount 

until Hank and Gean Hemming bought Citabria GNES and made it available in 175. 

Jay Hunt moved to Ottawa the following year and immediately organized a local 

chapter (Chapter 5) of Aerobatics Canada, introducing competition aerobatics 

to the capital and vi ce versa. He, Larry Ba 1dwi n, Dave Sa ker and Don Maher 

tried to teach me the finer points of this sport and I became involved in a 

casual way - mostly as an assistant judge. 

When GNES left Rockcliffe in 179 we were again without an aerobatic 

mount. Jack Cook, another superb instructor, was subjected to the demanding

127 

cha 11 enge of teach i ng me to fl y a Cessna 172 by keepi ng the po i nted end 

forward and the dirty side down. He did so with characteristic stoic 

resolution and remarkable tenacity. 

In 181 George Millar gave Aerobatics Canada Chapter 5 a very great boost. 

He bought a Decathlon and made it available to the Chapter, basing it at 

Rocke 1Hfe. Jn fact, although J know Geo rge wou 1d never admi t this, I 1m 

convi nced he bought the Decathlon rna i nly so that the chapter wou 1d have 

something to fly. To corroborate this, we have the fact that he loses money 

on the dea 1 and the fact that he 1ets me fly it even though - horror of 

horrors - I bent it badly when perfonning unauthorized and unintentional 

aerobatics during a cross-wind landing (which is largely why he loses money on 

the deal - his insurance rates increased by 50%). To say that George ;s a 

gem, while stating the obvious, is a gross understatement. 

The Decathlon became my new first-love and provided the opportunity to 

compete in several aerobatic contests. Valiantly defending last place in the 

bottom category (Sportsman) and more recently Intermedi ate Category, 1 was 

ab 1e to prov ide comi c re1ief for the judges. (I borrowed that phrase from 

Dick Frost, another competitor.) 

After naming all those famous instructors in the foregoing, it seems only 

fitting to pay tribute to all those other fine instructors with whom I flew 

briefly for various check rides, etc. So here is the list: A.R. Lee, Whelan, 

Malcom Sutton, Terry Peters, Ron Gerow, Rigby Stamison, Pete St. Louis, Gean 

Hemming, Check Collison, Ken Chatfield, and Andy Fraser. And I would like to 

add two more who were not Rockcliffe instructors, but with whom I am proud to 

say I had aerobatic flights: Patrick Watson and Gerry Younger. 

I would be less than honest if J didnlt admit that the names of the 

airplanes bring back memories at least as fond as the names of the 

instructors. First, of course, are the beloved Aeronca Champions, NMY. JKW, 

JUQ, WHF, and JWZ. Then there were the Ae ronca Ch iefs, PZO l FNJ, and VMU. 

Next came the Cessna 150s, XTA and MBF. Then the wonderful Champion 

Citabr;as, CMN and DDP. This was followed by the Grumman-American Traveller, 

GDR, Bellanca Citabria GNES, Cessna 172s GDNL and GXKY, Gerry Youngerls 

magnificant Pitts S2A Special, GQSI, and then, of course, the orange princess, 

Bellanca Decathlon GQNZ. 

Ah yes, what wonderful, beautiful memories.

Appendix A 

Air Transport Board License No. A.r.B. 742/55(C) 

Air Transport Board License No. A.T.B. 1222/61 (C) 

Letters Patent Incorporating Rockcliffe Flying Club (1961) 

Lease Agreement between Terrence David Peters and Rockcliffe Flying Club 

(1961) 

Assistance Agreement between Her Majesty the Queen and Rockcliffe Flying Club 

(1961) 

Club's First News letter.

2 

SPECIAL CONDITIONS 

4.. The Licensee may provide Flying Training an·j flying for 

recreational purposes to such persons as are, from time 

to time, bona fide members in accordance with the provisions 

of its letters patent of incorporation. Flying 

for recreational purposes may include the furnishing of 

aircraft with, or without pilot, for use by a member or 

members, provided that the use by any member involves no 

operation for hire or reward. 

5. The Licensee may provide flying training to air cadets 

and others, pursuant to contracts entered into between 

the Royal Canadian Flying Clubs Association and the 

Department of National Defence. 

6. The Licensee may provide one introductory instructional 

flight of not more than one hour's duration to each 

prospective flying member of the Club in an aircraft 

equipped for dual instruction, and piloted by a qualified 

Club Instructor. 

7. With the exception of the serVices specifically 

authorized herein the Licensee is expressly prohibited 

from transporting persons and/or goods for hire or 

reward or providing any other form of commercial air 

serVice.

TIDS AGREEMENT made this 2nd 

day of A. D. 1962 

BETWEEN: ROCKCLIli'FE li'LYJll"G CLUB (1961) 

An Operator licensed by the Air Transport Baard and r epres ented her ein 

by its President and Secretary duly authorized in that behalf, her eina£ter called 

lithe Club" • 

lithe School" 

AND 

OF THE FIR ST PAR T 

HER MAJESTY, THE QUEEN, represented herein by the Honoura.ble the 

Minister of Transport, hereinafter called lithe Minister ll 

OF THE SECOND PART 

WHEREAS the Minister deems it desirable to render assistance for flying 

training in order to increase the safety of civil .flying, to ensure a continued Bupply 

CJf pilots for both civil and military purpolllell and to assist all flying clubs and 

schools to provide a higber standard of flying instruction. 

WHEREAS th'e Club or School is a member club or affiliate school of the 

Royal Canadian Flying Club. Association or Air Industries and Transport 

A••ociation of Canada or .uch other a.sociation as may be ,-pproved by the Minister; 

a central organization for such clubs or IIchoolII , is the holder of an Ai.::- Transport 

Board, Licence and an Op'e1'ating Certificate for £lying training issued by the 

Department of TraDJIport and 

WHEREAS the said Operating Certificate bas been endorsed lIDepiLrtment of 

TraJUlport- Approved Caurs e of Privato Pilot Flying Training II. 

NOW, THEREFORE, TI-ITS AGREEMENT WITNESSETH tha.t in consideration 

of the premises the parties hereto covenant and agree the one with the other as 

follows: 

(1) The Club or School hereby covenants and agrees to fulfil. observe 

and perform all of those several conditions contained and set forth in the Standard 

Conditions attached hereto and f01'ming part of this Agreement, which an the part 

of any Club or School to Which the said Standard Conditions apply are required to 

be fulfilhd, observed and performed. 

(Zl The Parties hereto hereby agree that iJl the application of the said 

Standa.1'd Conditions of this Agreem.ent the said Standard Conditions shall be so 

conBtrued a. if they are incorporated herein and formed pa.rt hereof. 

(3) The Club or Schaal hereby COVODADtll and agrees that any enjoyment 

by it or by &ny member thereof of any of the privileges iranted by the said Standard 

COIUUtionI s.b&ll be in accordance with the term.a·thereof. 

(4) The Club ot' School hereby covenant. 'and agrees that as a condition 

precedent to the iswe to it by the Minister of the Payment of any grants all lIet forth 

in the Standard ConditiODJI, it will furnish proH that it is a member in good 9ta.nding 

of the Royal Canadian Flying Clubs Aasociation or Air InduBtriea and Transport 

Asaociation of Canada or such ather aSSociation as may be approved by the Minister I 

a. defined in the said Standard Conditiona. 

• ••• II Z

Rockcliffe Ramblings - Rockcliffe Flying Club

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