Off Topic Remembrance Day Thread

Says it all ...............

 

I think it's a shame that we are talking about FIFA at all in the context of Remembrance. Just ignore the ****ers, it's not about them. Or football at all come to that.

The silence was very well recognised round my way yesterday at 11.00.

 

Over here, poppies wouldn't be widely worn for a few different reasons. The main reason would be the role the British Army played in certain atrocities during the troubles in Northern Ireland and their involvement in collusion with loyalist terrorists. The second reason would be that we didn't participate in the second world war. We did participate in the first world war as we were still part of the UK then and over 200,000 men from all over this island from both traditions fought together at the Battle of the Somme. Rememberance day yesterday saw the unveiling of four plaques in Glasnevin Cemetery to honour four Irishmen who died in the first world war. They were all awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery. Glasnevin cemetery is just down the road from me and is the most important cemetery in the country in that it is where the majority of Irish political leaders are buried including Michael Collins. If you are ever in Dublin, it is worth a visit. There is a very good museum there. Another reason why our dead from the first world war are probably not remembered so well is the fact that we had the 1916 rising in the middle of the war. That was closely followed by the war of independence and the civil war.

I think slowly but surely the people over here are starting to remember the thousands of Irishmen who died in ww1 even though very few people wear poppies.

 

Just been looking this up Fingy, seems like a minimum of 70,000 Irish citizens enlisted with the British forces in the Second World War (might be a lot more) and several hundred thousand men and women came to the UK for war work (primary driver economic). Of course some of these were already working in Britain and if they wanted to stay had to make themselves available for conscription. 5,000 died.

Given Irelands neutrality I can imagine that there are mixed feelings about recognition for these men. Perhaps we in the U.K. should recognise them more explicitly.

 

Love this song. It is a love song/rememberence song but it also talks about the futility of war. Hope the link works.

 

My Kilburn based Grandfather in WWI, before heading over to France to serve with the Royal Engineers for three years, my Father (born 1916, named Victor for victory) in WWII (3rd County of London Yeomanry - Sharpshooters) with Mum and Grandpa, and Dad with a classic "short back & sides" on leave at the beach with his parents.

My generation was fortunate to miss out on a war, but still had compulsory military cadet training as part of our school curriculum, and dressed in uniform every Friday.

 

Strange old world.
I wonder what Seb was thinking during the silence?
There's some sort of irony there - even more so in the context of Brexit.
Not only should we 'remember them' but we need to be reminded of the horrors of war as we see the resurgence of The Right in some significant parts of Europe.

 

Surely the minutes silence is to honour all those who have died in conflict irrespective of their nationality.

 

Yes, but it would be natural to think of your own first. It occurred to me more just because we have a German striker that we celebrate with his special song.

 

I agree with what you are saying, it must make foreign players of all nationalities that were on the "wrong" side feel uncomfortable.

 

Also in Normandy, alongside the Allied war cemeteries, are German cemeteries - I consider the following to be a fitting commentary on the theme of remembrance and reconciliation, without regard to which side soldiers fought on, victor or vanquished.

"Here is no glorification of war. The emphasis is more on reconciliation. A Peace Garden outside the cemetery is planted with 1,200 maple trees and offers a walk of quiet contemplation, even if directly next to a busy road. The contrast between the cemeteries at La Cambe and Colleville-sur-Mer couldn’t be bigger. Although both places are inherently sad, the American cemetery does leave visitors with a more positive spirit. The German cemetery is far more somber almost visualizing the futility of fighting and dying for an unjust and sick ideology."

Visit the Germany Military Cemetery at La Cambe in Normandy
May 21, 2016 by Henk Bekker in Calvados, France, Normandy

The Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof at La Cambe is the largest Second World War military cemetery in Normandy.

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The Cimetière Militaire Allemand / Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof at La Cambe is the final resting place of over 21,000 German soldiers who died during the Battle of Normandy in 1944. The German military cemetery has by far the largest number of war graves in the region – more than double the number of graves in the nearby Normandy American Military Cemetery. Admission is free with the cemetery open to visitors year round.

The Cimetière Militaire Allemand in La Cambe

The German Cemetery at La Cambe has the remains of 21,222 German soldiers who mostly died during the Battle of Normandy that followed the D-Day landing on June 6, 1944.

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La Cambe was originally a battlefield graveyard with German and American war dead buried in adjacent fields. Shortly after the war, the remains of the American soldiers were repatriated to the US (around two-thirds of families preferred this option) or to the Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer.

In 1948, La Cambe had around 8,000 German graves but in the following decade the remains of around 12,000 further German soldiers where moved here from 1,400 different locations in Normandy. At 7 ha, the German cemetery is only a tenth of the US site.

The German Cemetery at La Cambe

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A paved path leads from the entrance of the German cemetery to a tumulus topped by two statues and a large basalt lava cross. The mount is a mass grave for 89 German soldiers and a further 207 unidentifiable bodies. Visitors may scale the mound and survey the cemetery from above.

Around the tumulus, 49 rectangular grave fields have up to 400 graves each. The graves are mostly marked with flat grave markers bearing the names of two soldiers and occasional series of five small basalt lava crosses grouped together.

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The cemetery is certainly respectful and generally well maintained, despite the German War Graves Commission being a volunteering rather than a government organization. However, it is a somber place.

The feeling of melancholy is not relieved by the visitors’ information center. Here, the focus is not on the wider war and battles but rather on the suffering of individual soldiers of both sides and the suffering of civilians trapped in the conflicts.

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Here is no glorification of war. The emphasis is more on reconciliation. A Peace Garden outside the cemetery is planted with 1,200 maple trees and offers a walk of quiet contemplation, even if directly next to a busy road.

The contrast between the cemeteries at La Cambe and Colleville-sur-Mer couldn’t be bigger. Although both places are inherently sad, the American cemetery does leave visitors with a more positive spirit. The German cemetery is far more somber almost visualizing the futility of fighting and dying for an unjust and sick ideology.


La Cambe Visitors Information

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The German Cemetery (Kriegsgräberstätten) is located in La Cambe to the south of N13 highway (Caen / Bayeux) towards Cherbourg. Signposting is clear from La Cambe or GPS : 49°20’ 30.82″ N, 1°1’ 35.18”.

The cemetery is best reached by car. Public transportation is not available.

The German cemetery and information center is open daily from 8 am (9 am on weekends) to 5 pm (winter) or 7 pm (summer).

The Deutcher Soldatenfriedhof is around 7 km inland from Pointe du Hoc or a fast 25 km on the N7 highway from Bayeux.

The second largest military cemetery in Normandy is the German Ossuary at Huisnes-sur-Mer near Mont St Michel.

https://www.european-traveler.com/france/visit-germany-military-cemetery-la-cambe-normandy/

 

Well said.

 

Here's why l always will support those that have fallen and this is only reflecting British / Allied aircrew during WW2.
Below is a typical page of casualties from a given night / day of flying.
The second images reflects each year of the war, Heavy Conversion Units, Operational Training Units.
So many crews were killed before they even flew an active operation.

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Attached is the interesting story of a local university professor, Bryan Priestman, who despite being a pacifist and conscientious objector, still enlisted in the RCAF to use his physics navigational skills to help ferry new planes to the war theatre in Europe and the Middle East. It is most tragic that soon after his return home, he died on Remembrance Day 1945 drowning while attempting to save the life of a boy who had fallen off the railway bridge into the Saint John River while larking around. His gravesite is located close to where I live and I noted that on a number of past Remembrance Days, there was always a single red rose placed on his gravestone.

I'm sure that many people living here are not aware that Priestman Street is named after this brave gentleman.


Title : Bryan Priestman fonds
Dates : 1940-1945
Extent : 12.5 cm of textual records; 32 flight charts; 3 medals

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Biographical Sketch : Bryan Priestman, the only son of well known English artist Bertram Priestman*, received both his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Cambridge University, England. Coming to Canada shortly after the first World War, Priestman was a lecturer in Physics at the University of Saskatchewan before entering Graduate School at McGill University where he earned a PhD. In 1929, he was appointed Head of the Department of Physics at UNB, a position which he held for twelve years.

In 1940, Bryan Priestman enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and after spending some time with the First Army Cooperation Squadron and at Headquarters in London, he transferred to the Atlantic Ferry Command, later the Transport Command. Priestman was a navigator of outstanding ability, making many trans-Atlantic flights as well as flights to North Africa and the Middle East. He eventually rose to the rank of Squadron Leader.

After his discharge in September 1945, he returned to the position of Head of the Department of Physics at UNB. On November 11, 1945, Bryan Priestman died in an attempt to rescue a drowning boy from the St. John River.

* For biographical information on Bertram Priestman see The Artist (Rare Book Periodical) v.3, n.3. May 1932. See The Artist v.1, n.1-6, March-August 1933 for articles written by Bertram Priestman.

Scope and Content : This fonds contains material related to Priestman's position as a navigator for the Royal Air Force Ferry Command. Note books, flight plans and navigation charts form the bulk of the fonds (see following pages for item level listing of RAF Ferry Command material). Also included are clippings about Priestman's death in November 1945, as well as four files relating to research carried out by Priestman on surface tension.
Access: Unrestricted

Remembrance Day Tragedy in Fredericton, 1945: A First-Person Narrative
Bryan Priestman -
A Biographical Sketch(313 K)
by Ted Jones
Fredericton, New Brunswick
The University of New Brunswick,
November 1970


In the late 1950s, when I first came to Fredericton, I was intrigued by the various street names, especially the one called PRIESTMAN, which is located on the South Side at the top of the hill and which is an extremely busy artery in the city today. It was easy to see that most of the street names emanated from members of royalty, political giants, and historical figures, but who was PRIESTMAN and why did this person have a street in his honour? A few inquiries gave me the basic facts of the story: a University of New Brunswick Physics Professor, Dr. Bryan Priestman, lost his life while attempting to save a small boy who had fallen into the St. John River. The date was 11 November 1945 and the eight-year-old child, Ronald Dempsey, also drowned.

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Bryan Priestman
from a 1930s' composite of the 17-member UNB faculty.
(Harvey Studios Collection, PANB, #P14/84)

However, I wanted to know more, but it was not until 1970, twenty-five years after the tragedy, that I started to "dig" for details. The Daily Gleaner was my first source, the UNB campus my second and, after a quarter of a century, I hoped that individuals who knew Priestman would still be around. I was fortunate; most of his acquaintances were still living and a number of them had remained in the area. By locating the police officers who were at the scene of the drowning, and by conducting interviews with former colleagues and students, I was able to piece together the Priestman biography on this side of the Atlantic.

Miraculously, I even found the other boy who was on the bridge that day. His name was Edward McLean and he was 36 in 1970, ironically, the owner and operator of the same Carleton Street Barber Shop which had been frequented by Dr. Priestman. On the afternoon we met, McLean kindly closed his business so we could visit the old railway bridge where the accident happened, an eerie experience for both of us as he vividly recalled the details. Having been only eleven years old at the time of the tragedy, McLean never knew who Bryan Priestman was until I made my unexpected visit to his shop.

For Priestman's youth in England, where he was born in London in 1897, I corresponded extensively with Barbara Priestman, the eldest of his four younger sisters (there were no brothers). The mother was still living, but the father, Bertram Priestman, an acclaimed British landscape artist, had died in 1951. As directed by his handwritten will, Bryan left several of his father's paintings to the UNB Library and close friends in Fredericton.

After attending a Quaker Boarding School, Bryan went on to Cambridge University, where he received a BA (with honours in Physics) in 1923. He then came to Canada to attend McGill University in Montreal, where he obtained two more degrees in Physics - an MSc in 1926 and his PhD in 1929. Before he finished the last, he had already come to Fredericton to be a one-man Physics Department at Memorial Hall. During the 1930s, there were only 17 professors on the faculty of UNB, one of them being Dr. Francis Toole, who shared an apartment with Priestman on the second floor in the west wing of the Old Arts Building. Putting in large quantities of apples and walnuts, eating them for breakfast, the two professors spent long hours talking about education, religion, and politics. When Dr. Toole married and went to live at 824 George Street, Dr. Priestman took rooms upstairs in the same building.

Early in 1940, renouncing the Quaker pacifism of his youth, but still being an enemy of "militarism," Bryan Priestman offered his services to His Majesty's Forces and joined the RCAF. "I'm not going to miss this one," he said, having spent World War One on the sidelines as a Conscientious Objector in the Friends' Ambulance Unit created for Quakers. By 1943, he had been promoted from Pilot Officer to Flight Lieutenant to Squadron Leader. The great enterprise of ferrying bombers from Canada to the war theatres was just under way when he saw in it an opportunity for more brilliant war service. By the time he was 48, he had navigated 35 bombers from Canada to the battle zones, setting a record in accurate performance which is probably unequalled in an Air Force or flying organization. According to the Departments of National Defence and Veterans Affairs, with whom I corresponded, Priestman was the navigation pioneer of the North Atlantic. He saved 24 of his flight plans and 32 of his flight charts and these were eventually placed in the UNB Library Archives.

This modest, yet brilliant, senior officer would dash into side streets to avoid being saluted. He refused to wear medal ribbons and badges and, when he was honourably retired, he would not wear his uniform to social functions. In the Fall of 1945, he arrived back on the UNB campus in Fredericton, ready to re-organize the Physics Department and to renew old acquaintances. Then came Remembrance Day, which I attempted to recreate for the opening scene of my Priestman biography, the descriptions having been drawn from all areas of my research:

Under clear blue skies of a Sunday afternoon, 11 November 1945, New Brunswick's capital city was reposed in a perfect autumn setting. Earlier in the day hundreds of citizens had gathered at the Cenotaph on lower Queen Street, opposite the "Green" that parallels the St. John River, to pay homage to men and women who had given their lives in two Great Wars. It had been the first peacetime Remembrance Day service held in Fredericton in seven years .

Eight-year-old Ronald Dempsey and eleven-year-old Edward McLean from Barker's Point, a small village across the river from Fredericton, had hoped to be over in the city in time to see the Legion parade. To save time the boys took a popular short cut over the railway bridge that spans the Saint John River just below the Cenotaph. But they were too late; the parade had already made its way to Officer's Square for dismissal.

Dempsey and McLean, deciding to stay "over town" for awhile, began to wander up into the "jungle" (a wooded area between the Federal Building and the Lord Beaverbrook Hotel which has long since been cleared). It was a popular spot for the town derelicts, and the boys were excited over this new adventure, one that eventually led them to the discovery of an unopened quart bottle which was carefully wrapped in brown paper. After admiring their "find," they decided to take it home immediately and show it to their parents; and with McLean carrying the bottle they proceeded back toward the railway bridge - the short cut home.

It was just before four o'clock when the two boys reached the bridge, a time when there were several other people also present, not for a short cut but for a Sunday afternoon walk (gasoline was still rationed and few people were driving cars). However, no provision had been made for pedestrians in the construction of the bridge and regulations prohibited people from walking the railway ties. But this did not prevent one such hiking enthusiast who had walked the bridge many years before the war and who was now using it, having only returned to the city in early September.

Bryan Priestman had just left his lodgings at 824 George Street to stroll along the "Green" toward the bridge, his maroon R.C.A.F. beret pulled tightly over his slightly-curly, light-brown hair, a blue scarf tucked inside his well-worn blue jacket. He had not attended the morning ceremony at the Cenotaph but had, instead, planned his day around an afternoon hike to the Devon side of the river, almost forgetting that he must return for an early evening dinner invitation with friends at the apartment of Edith McLeod, 610 Queen Street (Miss McLeod was the Registrar at the University of New Brunswick).

It was good to be in the chill air, away from the reorganization of the Physics department on the U.N.B. campus. Just to concentrate on the panorama of Fall colors with the swiftness of the swollen river beneath him was invigorating. During the 30s he had skated on the river with his good friend Robert Cattley (Professor of Classics), and always "got a kick" out of trying his half-forgotten school Latin in Cattley's presence. Once, when they were putting on their skates for an hour of fun, a bevy of co-eds swirled past, skirts flying. Priestman, with a chuckle, turned and said, with an infectious grin spreading across his light-complexioned face: "Aliquot puellae!" (which may be misconstrued as either "Quite a few girls!" or "Some girls!" - the latter version of which the Latin will not stand).

When it was summer he would join friends at the boat club (near the Robert Burns monument on the "Green") and they would paddle canoes to "the islands" or branch off and go up the Nashwaak River. They would buy weiners, buns, and baked beans from a store which would take back what they did not use, as they never knew how many would come. There would be swimming, games, singing, perhaps poetry, and often discussions, ending with a drift home in the evening light, the canoes all in a row.

This same railway bridge had often been his route for runs and hikes on the Devon side. He and Cattley and Malcolm MacPherson (Professor of English, and now British Member of Parliament) generally chose railway tracks for their "jogging" because others, who did not seem to feel the need to keep fit by "jogging," were mildly amused at the two typical Englishmen and the Scot who actually liked getting out of breath. So during the 30s they often chose the tracks, where they could run without being jeered at. But the ties were a nuisance; they were so spaced that one could neither run nor walk on them evenly. For years he and Cattley had a standing joke about them; they were to write to both the CP and the CN and request them to space out the ties so that they could run at ease! However, for the present, his low black shoes were gradually getting used to that part of the trestle that extended from the rail toward the girders.

The heavy black leather boots which came up around Ronald Dempsey's ankles were also having trouble with the railway ties. To make his walking easier he placed his feet on top of the wooden guard rail or beam which was fastened to the ties with large, projecting bolts. McLean, although he did admire Dempsey's new position, was not as brave, so he stayed in the middle of the tracks, clutching the brown-wrapped bottle, walking a few feet ahead of his chum. They were sauntering along, looking behind them now and then, taking particular notice of the man in the maroon beret who was about halfway across the bridge. Finally, they reached the last pier on the Devon side.

Suddenly McLean was aware of an abrupt sinister silence and, turning around quickly, noticed that Dempsey had fallen through the opening between the wooden guard rail and the steel girder, and had dropped 30 feet to the river below. McLean, beginning to panic, hollered to Bryan Priestman: "Ronnie's fallen off the bridge!" The lean figure of the forty-eight-year-old Priestman moved quickly. Doffing his gloves, shoes, beret, scarf, and jacket, letting them fall on the flat part of the steel girder, and telling McLean to go for help, he dove, without hesitation, from the great height. Within seconds man and boy were one, Priestman's arm tightly around Dempsey's body. But then there was a slight struggle and they both disappeared into the icy water, never again to surface alive.

Edwin Irvine (currently living on Gibson Street) and Everett Mitchell (now deceased), approaching the bridge from the Devon side, were the first to notice that anything was wrong. They saw the two boys coming toward them, heard a splash, and then saw one running past, crying out something unintelligible. The two men then hurried farther out onto the bridge to investigate but could see nobody in the water. Soon a soldier arrived, having learned of the accident from McLean and then having phoned the police. When a police car came on the scene Bryan Priestman's clothing was searched for identification, but the only thing to be found in the pockets of his jacket was a light blue cigarette case.

Early the following morning thin slivers of ice broke away from the river's shoreline as the grappling parties, made up of City and Royal Canadian Mounted Police and local residents, continued operations from the Sunday afternoon before. It was at this time also that Dr. Bryan Priestman was noticed missing from his place of residence and from his desk on the U.N.B. Campus. His friends had not been surprised when he did not appear for dinner the evening before; to leave social invitations unfulfilled or to show up late was not unusual for him. His tendency to undertake each thing very thoroughly, be it mental or physical activity, sometimes made him neglect various other things.

At dusk regular grappling activities ended for the second day because of darkness. But the boy's step-father, Joseph Murray, and three other friends from Barker's Point, Junior Dunbar (still residing in the village), Jack Howland, and George McIntyre, continued; at 8:30 o'clock one of the hooks of their grappling irons caught the boy's clothing, lifting the pair to the black surface of the water just about nine feet from the Devon shore (in front of the Irving oil tanks, not far below the spot where the accident had occurred). Caught, perhaps, on the mangled metal of the old railway bridge that gave way in the 1936 freshet, they were carried no farther.

Police Inspector William Hughes said later: "It was the most tragic sight I have ever seen, the two bodies clasped together". (According to one observer, there was a faint smile on the face of Dr. Priestman). The same sentiments were also expressed by a young policeman, Constable C.M. Barchard (now Deputy Chief), who kept vigil over the bodies after they were brought ashore, waiting for Coroner Charles Mackay, M.D. Ronald Dempsey's arms were tightly clasped around the Professor's neck; Bryan Priestman had his arms around the boy's body. Dempsey was missing one boot and the other was untied, suggesting that Priestman had probably endeavoured to remove the boots to enable him to rescue the boy with more ease. There was another noticeable feature: one of the boy's knees was thrust into the man's groin.

Dr. Priestman's body was taken to Memorial Hall where it lay in state until the funeral. At Forest Hill Cemetery, his grave is marked with a small, unpretentious stone which reads: "Greater love hath no man than this." Ronald Dempsey was buried on the North Side of Fredericton in Sunny Bank Cemetery.

At the close of 1945, a commemorative plaque was placed in Memorial Hall by the UNB Veterans' Club but moved later to the Memorial Student Centre, now the Alumni Building. On 24 October 1946, the UNB Journal of the Air delivered a Bryan Priestman Memorial Broadcast over Radio Station CFNB. Among those taking part were Dr. Francis Toole (fellow-professor), Squadron-Leader W. Munro (fellow-airman), and students Robert Lawrence, Douglas Rouse, and Dalton Camp. The fifteen-minute recording is now located in the UNB Library Archives. During the War, when he was flying from Halifax to England, Priestman always set his flight direction by the "carrier wave" of CFNB, a frequency of 550,000 kilocycles, a "home" signal for him until the antenna would pick up another wave.

Also in 1946, Bryan Priestman was posthumously awarded two medals: from the Royal Canadian Humane Association, a gold medal, rarely given, except when the deed of bravery has cost the hero's life; from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, a bronze medal, accompanied by a financial grant. In 1952, Lord Beaverbrook delivered the medals to Bryan's mother in England. In 1977, three surviving sisters (Ursula, Erica, and Monica) returned the medals to Fredericton to be permanently housed at UNB.

During the early 1950s, the York-Sunbury Historical Society brought forth the idea of having a street named in Bryan Priestman's honour, minute books and the daily press indicating that the Society never gave up on this particular memorial idea until it was finally realized in 1956. To this date, it is the only street in the City of Fredericton which bears the name of a local hero.

The University of New Brunswick also desired to establish a memorial, something that would respect his wishes but would not be an elaborate monument. Thus, "The Bryan Priestman Memorial Lectureship" was set up, the first lectureship at the University. Since the academic year 1951-52, outstanding authorities in one or other of the natural or social sciences have been brought to the campus, the annual visitor spending several days and delivering three formal addresses known as "The Bryan Priestman Memorial Lectures." At the 1970 lecture, 1000 copies of my Priestman biography went on sale for a nominal fee, all proceeds going to The Lectureship Fund.

Remembrance Day, 1995, marks the 50th anniversary of the Priestman-Dempsey tragedy and the 25th anniversary of the publication of Bryan Priestman by the University of New Brunswick. Fortunately, the 1000 copies have all been sold; unfortunately, there has been no reprint (so far). But this year the UNB Library Archives will continue with its tradition of a small Priestman Exhibit throughout the month of November. Memorabilia from the UNB Physics Department and from my own personal collection will be made available for this particular display.

I still think about Bryan Priestman whenever I walk or drive along the busy street that bears his name, appreciating the fact that the York-Sunbury Historical Society persisted in their efforts to commemorate a local hero. Perhaps Francis Reginald Scott, Rhodes Scholar and Canadian Poet and Priestman's close friend during their McGill years, said it best when he wrote an elegy in 1954 which is highlighted with poetic licence and unique metaphor and which makes us aware that the Englishman/Canadian who adopted Fredericton for his home lived and died by his creed, his faith, and his upbringing:

For Bryan Priestman

The child fell, turning slowly with arms
outstretched like a doll,
One shrill cry dying under the arches,
And floated away, her time briefer than foam.

Nothing was changed on the summer day.
The birds sang,
The busy insects followed their fixed affairs.
Only a Professor of Chemistry, alone on the bridge,
Suddenly awoke from his reverie,
into the intense moment,
Saw all the elements of his life compounded for testing
And plunged with searching hands
into his last experiment.

This was a formula he had carried from childhood,
That can work but once in the life of a man.
His were the labels of an old laboratory,
And the long glass tubes of the river.

-F. R. Scott

from Canadian Anthology, eds. C.F. Klinck & R.E. Watters (Toronto: W.J. Gage Ltd.,1955)

https://www.lib.unb.ca/archives/finding/priestma.html

Listing of RAF Ferry Command Material:
Royal Canadian Air Force Note Book (2)
June 1940- [Training Notes]
July 1940-August 1940 [Training Notes]
RCAF T 123 Note Book for Air Observers
Signal Procedures, etc. [Training Notes]
Notes - General Method for Construction of Curves Constant Bearing
and miscellaneous sheets.
Transport Command Officers' Pro-Forma, etc. (3p.)

Flight Plans:
F.P. 1 Goose Bay to Reykjavik May 15, 1943
Delivery Sqn. 45 Gp. Type C47 No. F.D. 867

F.P. 2 Reykjavik to Prestwick May 16, 1943
- - - -
F.P. 3 Gander to Reykjavik June 4, 1943
Delivery Sqn. RAFTC Type B-24-D No. BZ.778

F.P. 4 Reykjavik to Prestwick June 5, 1943
Delivery Sqn. RAFTC Type B-24-D No. BZ.778

F.P. 5 Goose Bay to Prestwick June 21, 1943
- - Type LB30 No. AL593

F.P. 6 Prestwick to Goose Bay June 26, 1943
R.F.S. Sqn. RAFTC Type LB30 No. AL593
Preliminary Test Flight, 1907-1919 airborne 0:12

F.P. 7 Gander to Prestwick June 30. 1943
- - - No. AL593

F.P. 8 Prestwick to Gander July 10. 1943
- - - No. AL590
First attempt airborne 1903 duration 19 min.

F.P. 9 (Planned) Lyneham to Gib[ralter] August 8, 1943
(Performed) Base to Port Lyautey [Morocco]
- - - No. AL593

F.P. 10 Pt. Lyautey [Morocco] to Castel
Benito [Libya] August 9, 194[3]
- - - No.AL593

F.P. 11 Castel Benito [Libya] to Rasel
Ma [Ras el Ma, Morocco] August 10, 1943
- - - No. AL593

F.P. 12 Rasel Ma [Ras el Ma, Morocco]
to Prestwick August 10, 1943
- - - No. AL593

F.P. 13 (Planned) Gander to Prestwick August 31, 1943
(Performed) Base to Mildenhall
- - Type B24D No. BZ9[or G] 06

F.P. 14 B'da to Largs [Bermuda to
Largs, Scotland] November 24, 1943
Delivery - Type PBY No. JX279

F.P. 15 Gander to Prestwick December 24, 1943
Delivery Sqn. RAFTC Type C47 No. FL596
[attachment] Dorval to Sydney December 22, 1943
Sqn. Dakota III A/C No. FL596

F.P. 16 Gander to Prestwick March 22, 1944
- - - -
F.P. 17 B'da to Lagens [Bermuda
to Lagens, Azores] April 13, 1944
- - Type Lib B24 No. EW146

F.P. 18 I Rabat [Morocco] to Castel
Benito [Libya] April 15, 1944
- - - -
II Castel Benito to
Cairo W[est] April 16, 1944

F.P. 19 E.C. to Gander July 21, 1944
- - - No. 0.2824

F.P. 20 Gander to Reykjavik July 24, 1944
- - - -
F.P. 21 Gander to Rabat [Morocco] August 13, 1944
- - Type B24J No. KH112

F.P. 22 (Planned) Rabat [Morocco] to
Cairo W[est] August 15, 1944
(Performed) Base to Cairo
(Kilo 40)
Delivery - Type B24J No. KH112

F.P. 23 Cairo (Kilo 40) to Karachi [India] August 17, 1944
- - Type B24J No. KH112
[Interesting remarks on back of Flight Plan]

F.P. 24 Dorval to Gander September 2, 1944
- - Type B24J No. KH133

Flight Plans attached to Chart (In-Flight Chart notes: F.K.
227 Gander - Prestwick Oct 14/15 1942): [see Ch. 24]

Dorval to Kingston - Ottawa = Dorval 4/11/42
Aircraft Boston 231 -

Gander to Prestwick Oct 14/15 [1942]
Aircraft F.K.227 G./S. 199.K.

Flight Plans attached to Chart (In-Flight Chart notes: AL590
Oct 1/2 1942 G/C Powell): [see Ch.23]
Prestwick to Reykjavik Oct 1 [1942]

Aircraft AL590 G/S 159k
Goose to Montreal Oct 2 [1942]

Aircraft AL590 G/S 196k
Reykjavik to Goose Bay (via BW1) Oct 2 [ ]

Aircraft AL590 G/S 142k
Dorval to Gander Oct 13 [ ]

Aircraft FK227 -

Charts:

Ch.1 U.S. Army Air Forces. Special Air Navigation Chart
Newfoundland to Northwest Africa, N2500-E200/3500 x 8300W
(restricted)
Mercator projection true scale 1:5,000,000 along latitude
45N
Washington: US Army, Army Map Service, 1943

Ch.2 U.S. Army Air Forces. Special Air Navigation Chart [colour]
Newfoundland to Northwest Africa, N2500-E200/3500 x 8300W
(restricted)
Mercator projection true scale 1:5,000,000 along latitude
45N
Washington: US Army, Army Map Service, 1943

Ch.3 U.S. Army Air Forces. Long Range Air Navigation Chart
Arabia. N2000-E2700/2000 x 3600 (restricted) 2ed.
Mercator projection true scale 1:3,000,000 along latitude
30N
Washington: US Army, Army Map Service, 1944
-verso-
Long Range Air Navigation Chart
Arabia: Bahrein, Rhodes, and Cyprus Island
[maps and profiles]

Ch.4 U.S. Army Air Forces. Long Range Air Navigation Chart
Mediterranean. N2000-W900/2000 x 3600E (restricted)
Mercator projection true scale 1:3,000,000 along latitude
30N
Washington: US Army, Army Map Service, 1944
-verso-
Long Range Air Navigation Chart
Mediterranean: Island of Malta and Crete

Ch.5 R.A.F. Transport Command.North Atlantic Plotting Chart
[misc. notes in margin]
Dorval, Quebec: No. 45 (Atlantic Transport) Group, August
1943

Ch.6 R.A.F. Transport Command.North Atlantic Plotting Chart
Dorval, Quebec: No. 45 (Atlantic Transport) Group, August
1943

Ch. 7 Gnomonic Chart for facilitating Great Circle Sailing
North Atlantic.
London: Admiralty, 12 January 1914 (repro. Canadian
Hydrographic Service, May 15, 1941)

Ch.8 Gnomonic Chart for facilitating Great Circle Sailing
North Atlantic.
London: Admiralty, 12 January 1914 (repro. Canadian
Hydrographic Service, May 15, 1941, reprint July 1941)

Ch.9 Mercator Plotting Chart
North Atlantic
[Notes: AM 258 1942 Aug 5-6, in pencil]

Ch.10 North Atlantic Plotting Sheet
[Notes: May 15 Goose Bay only serviceable runway: -No 1.
NE-SW (gravelled) Range not calibrated, in pencil]

Ch.11 Mercator Plotting Chart
North Atlantic
[Notes: Liberator AL504 Prestwick-Dorval (via Gander) night of June 14-15 1942,
in blue pencil]
[Notes: Zone 12 Cloud tops 21 000 ft., in pencil]
[Notes, verso: Atlantic Chart used 1942 June 14-15
(AL504), in blue pencil]

Ch.12 Navigator's 'In-Flight' Chart
[Notes: Az & Alt plotted for 1942 Nov 13, in pencil]
[Notes: It is sufficient that the posn. of observ be
within 100' (or so) of the plotted A.P.]

Ch.13 Navigator's 'In-Flight' Chart
[Notes: Azimuths plotted for Nov 25, in pencil]
[Notes: from day postpone time of shot 20 sec.
to day Az. remains const. Alt. decreases 11'
in pencil]

Ch.14 Navigator's 'In-Flight' Chart
[Notes: Gander
have North Sector A
Torbay
others: North Sector N
Nwp 323~ ?? what range, in pencil]
Ch.15 Navigator's 'In-Flight' Chart
[Notes: Ranges Gander
have North Sector A
Torbay
others " " " N
in pencil]

Ch.16 Mercator Plotting Chart
North American Eastern Seaboard

Ch.17 Mercator Plotting Chart
North America Eastern Seaboard [portion]

Ch.18 [Half-map showing Great Britain, Ireland, France, North
Africa, Spain]
32ed., June 1930, No. 956

Ch.19 Navigational Star Chart (with hand-drawn star chart)

Ch.20 Star Chart
Star Recognition Chart
Zenithal Equidistant Projection

Ch.21 North Atlantic Plotting Sheet
[Note: attached are a number of calculation sheets
relating to Constant Bearing Curves]

Ch.22 [Chart]
[Atlantic]
[Notes: blue on white; broadcasting stations marked]

Ch.23 Navigator's 'In-Flight' Chart, flight plan attached
[Notes: chart in 2 pieces; AL590 Oct 1/2 1942
(G/C Powell), in pencil]

Ch.24 Navigator's 'In-Flight' Chart, flight plan attached
[Notes: F.K.227 Gander-Prestwick Oct 14/15 1942, in
pencil]
[Notes: weather comments]
[Notes, verso: Gander-Prestwick Oct 14/15 1942, in
pencil]

Ch.25 Navigator's 'In-Flight' Chart, have flight plan in
collection
[Notes: Capt Bowen BZ778 June 4/5 1943, in pencil]

Ch.26 Navigator's 'In-Flight' Chart, have flight plan in
collection
[Notes: Capt Ruggles DC3, in pencil]
[Notes: BZ906 Aug 31 1943, in red pencil]

Ch.27 Navigator's 'In-Flight' Chart, have flight plan in
collection
[Notes: 1943 June 26/27
1943 June 21/22

Ch.28 Navigator's 'In-Flight' Chart
Jamaica-Borinquen-Trinidad-Georgetown
[Note: part of Ferry Command's Southern Route]

Ch.29 Navigator's 'In-Flight' Chart
Trinidad-Belem-Natal
[Note: Beacons: Belem
Sao Luiz
Fortaleza
Natal
in blue pencil]
[Note: part of Ferry Command's Southern Route]

Ch.30 Navigator's 'In-Flight' Chart
Natal-Bathurst-Ascension-Kano
[Note: part of Ferry Command's Southern Route]
R.A.F.F.C., Dec. 15, 1942

Ch.31 Mercator ... [partial chart]
[Note: shows eastern US, part of Ferry Command's Southern
Route]

Ch.32 [Chart]
Tampa-Nassau-Puerto Rico
[Note: part of Ferry Command's Southern Route]

ON LOAN FROM FACULTY OF SCIENCE (JAN. 3, 1996):
Medals - Carnegie Hero Fund (replica of original)
- Carnegie Hero Fund with inscription
- Royal Canadian Humane Association (replica of original)
with copy of citation
Pamphlets - Carnegie Hero Fund Commission - Seventy-five years.
1904-1979.
- Carnegie Hero Fund Commission - Annual Report 1980.
- Farmer, T.W.D. - History of the Royal Canadian Humane
Association. 1976.

https://www.lib.unb.ca/archives/finding/priestman.html

 

Just heard on the local (Midlands) news about the efforts the good citizens of Coleshill, Warwickshire, are going to to remember the 140 men of the (small) town who died in The First World War. Each one of them is getting an individual memorial ceremony on the anniversary of the day they died. Today was the turn of a chap who was a founder member of the town's brass band in 1907. The band is still going and will be playing this evening in his honour.

Outstanding and inspiring.

 

I just Googled Coleshill about that and also found out its the Viagra capital of the UK and also its the worst place to live in the UK.

 

It's not my favourite place but it's a long, long way from being the worst in the UK. Chelmsey Wood just down the road is much, much worse.