Museum
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Bomber Command
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Aircrew Chronicles
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Aircrew Losses
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Nose Art
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BCATP
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Lancaster
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Media
Museum
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Bomber Command
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Aircrew Chronicles
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Aircrew Losses
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Nose Art
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BCATP
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Lancaster
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Media
Bomber Command Museum Archived Newsletters
On August 5, 2003, Lancaster FM-159 was rolled out of the museum hangar for the first time since May 1991. This was a trial run to determine the time needed to do this. It was a prelude to the "official" roll out on the evening of August 15 in preparation for the Society's annual summer event the next day. This year the entire event took place in the hangar, including the luncheon. |
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 while the Lanc was moved out of the hangar. |
 The John Deere tractor used to move the Lancaster in and out of the hangar. NLS Director Greg Morrison is driving the tractor on loan courtesy of Deer Country Equipment, Vulcan, AB. |
 A view of the Lanc with tractor attached to the tow-bar. This shows the reader how the Lanc looked from the rear as it was "pushed" out for the first time in 12 years. |
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On August 16, 2003 the museum hosted a commemoration of the legendary Dambusters Raid. A new and enhanced museum display was officially opened and our corresponding website pages had been upgraded as well. In particular, the event focused on the contributions of Canadians to this historic effort, given that 29 of the 133 aircrew were from Canada and fourteen of those did not return. The Lancaster had been rolled out on the newly paved tarmac to the east of the museum allowing the banquet to be held in the hangar. An audience of 500 filled the museum to capacity for the commemoration. The event was filmed by CBC Television as part of the popular, "On the Road Again" series, for viewing in early 2004. Special tribute was paid to Harlo "Terry" Taerum, who was born 70 km northeast of Nanton and went on to become W/C Guy Gibson's navigator in the lead aircraft. P/O Taerum was awarded the DFC for his role in the raid. Sadly he was killed during operations with No. 617 Squadron later that year. A commissioned painting by John Rutherford was unveiled by Rob Taerum, Terry's nephew, and our special guest, Fred Sutherland of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. Fred flew on the Dams Raid as the front gunner with F/L Knight in the aircraft that breached the Eder Dam. |
 plays the Dam Busters March on the flute in honour of her father. |
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Other Canadians involved in the raid were honoured as well, in particular F/Lt John W. Fraser who flew in the second aircraft to attack the Mohne Dam and parachuted just prior to his aircraft crashing. After evading the enemy for ten days he was captured and went on to play a role in the "Great Escape" from Stalag Luft III. Fraser's widow, Doris Fraser, presented the society with a beautiful, framed print of No. 50 Squadron from which her husband and several other Dams Raid participants were selected. Fraser's grandson, John Lowe, gave an emotional tribute to his grandfather and Fraser's daughter, Shere Lowe, paid an equally moving musical tribute by playing the "Dambusters March" on the flute. We were also honoured by the presence of other No. 617 Squadron veterans and family members of several other Canadian "Dambusters." Our guest speaker, Brig. General Gaston Cloutier, paid tribute to the Canadians of the Dams Raid and related their efforts to those of Canadians serving overseas today. Fly-pasts of a number of vintage World War II aircraft followed the commemoration, the British military being represented by a Gazelle helicopter. |
 by artist John Rutherford on lower left. |
 Former Dambuster, Fred Sutherland, from Rocky Mountain House, AB (L by the nose art), and Rob Taerum, with his wife Kathy, unveil the painting of the Lancaster in which Rob's uncle was the navigator. The painting depicts the Lanc approaching the Muhne dam. |
 speaks of his grandfather -his mother Shere flims him. |
 with four of his former crew and their wives. |
During the Second World War, Canadian military aircraft were frequently decorated with distinctive and sometimes risquˇ artwork. Albertan, Matthew Ferguson, practiced this craft during his service with RCAF from 1941 until 1945. He painted on at least four different types of aircraft, developed station and squadron badges, pioneered the placing of artwork on bomber jackets worn by aircrew, and even painted artwork on bombs. He was a most significant contributor to the history of the art form. On May 10, Matthew Ferguson's widow and his son John were two of the 24 members of the Ferguson family participating in a well-attended official opening of a display in the museum that focused on Nose art and honoured the man said to be, "The greatest of the Canadian Nose Art, Artists." Guest speakers included Tom Walton, the wartime artist who painted the original "Sugar's Blues" on a 424 Squadron Lancaster, and Clarence Simonsen, author of "RAF and RCAF Aircraft Nose Art in World War II." A summary of Matthew Ferguson's career including examples of his artwork may be viewed on this website.  Clarence Simonsen accepts a mini version of the nose art "Sugar's Blues" from the original WWII nose artist, Tom Walton, on May 10, 2003. The large version, painted by Clarence, was unveiled again, this time repaited in the colours of the original. Clarence's first version painted on the museum's Lancaster mock-up was reproduced from a black and white photo. When Clarence finally met Tom Walton, Tom informed him of the correct colours. |
 as reproduced by Clarence Simonsen on a scrapped Lancaster wing panel. The Lncaster with this original nose are carried out over 100 operations during WWII and survived. Each bomb on the painting represents an operation. The original artist is not known.  Clarence Simonsen and Mrs. Ferguson standing with his reproduction of Matthew Ferguson's "ell Cat" nose art, painted on the NLS Lancaster cabin mockup in the background. |
Thanks to the efforts of volunteer, Bill Hauck, with assistance from other Tuesday night volunteers, the Lancaster cabin section mock-up is now open to visitors in the museum. During the last week of October, Bill could be found working feverishly to ready the Lanc Mock-Up assembly for unveiling at the November 1, 2003 Volunteers Appreciation Night. Another volunteer, "Bud" Lavallee of Nanton, has re-upholstered the arm rests for the Lanc seat in the Mock-up. While additional components will be added to this "hands-on" display in the future, visitors can now sit in a real Lanc pilot's seat. There they can imagine what it might have been like to be in control of a WWII state of the art heavy bomber. Special THANKS go to Bill Hauck and his helpers for getting this "hands on" project to a stage where it can be safely accessed by visitors.
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 on the rear portion of the Lanc cabin mock-up. |
The Society co-related with Joan and Tony Scheiwiller, owners of "Ultimate Trains," and the local antique car collector group to organize a weekend of "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles." Ultimate Trains who sell garden railroad supplies, have the largest demo garden railroad display in Canada. With some 18 trains running during the summer it is certainly well worth a visit. The automobile portion of this event was contributed by local and out-of-town antique car collectors. There were some 30 vintage cars and trucks on hand for weekend event. The museum, which was the "aeroplane" part of this event had a draw for a ride in a vintage Stearman, an open cockpit airplane. The winner was Jim Isaak, Calgary, Alberta. Stearman owner, Alex Bahlsen, of the AJ Flying Ranch airport near Nanton, donated the ride. The event was well attended by an estimated 1000 visitors during the two days. Plans are to make this an annual event. |
 at the museum for the June 14/15 event. |
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 for a performance pass over the runway. |
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 with P/O Eric Smith's medals and memorabilia from Elsa Hohn, for display in the museum. |
 as presently displayed in the museum. It will be placed in a more suitable place in the near future, with particulars about P/O Smith's wartime history. |
Air Canada Captain, Karl Kjarsgaard, a long time friend of our Society, attended the August 16, Dambusters event. At a get-together with NLS directors after the event was over, he presented a special Halifax print to the museum. This print is signed by Sir Arthur Harris, Group Capt. Leonard Cheshire VC, and others. This print will be framed and added to the Halifax display in the next while. THANKS go out to Karl for adding this special print to our collection and for his continuing support of NLS. |
 accepts the Halifax print from Karl Kjarsgaard. |
 in front of the museum while the T-33 stands guard. |
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Andy Catton, of Reading England, travelled to Nanton to deliver a compass that had originally been installed in a wartime Lancaster. This compass was rescued by one of the crew, when the Lancaster crashed on British soil after a bombing raid. The crew member, in his rush to leave the burning bomber, damaged the compass slightly. Later when he presented it to officials in charge he was reprimanded and told it was of no further use and he may as well keep it. The crew member kept the compass and took it home after hostilities ended. Years later, thanks to the efforts of aircraft enthusiast Andy Catton, it was presented to the NLS museum and will be placed on display along with its interesting history. |
 from a wartime Lancaster to Curator Bob Evans for display in the museum. |
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The bronze statue below is a miniature of a Prisoner of War (POW) monument, donated to our museum by World War II, POW, Winston Parker, of Okotoks, AB. Winston is a long time supporter of our museum and has added many items to our displays in the past. The Society extends a very special THANKS to Winston Parker for this unique addition to the museum, which will be added to the POW display. The full size memorial, at the RAF Museum in Grahame Park Way, Colindale, England, was erected by the RAF ex-Prisoner of War (POW) Association and dedicated to POW's from the British, Allied and Commonwealth air forces. It was unveiled on May 15, 2003, by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The statue, depicts a prisoner trudging through snow, pulling a sled with his few belongings, after being forced by German guards to leave one of the prison camps in the face of the advancing Russian troops in 1945. The long march in -20 degree temperatures, took place through what was then Czechoslovakia to just south of Berlin, where they were finally freed by Allied forces. Hundreds perished enroute from hunger, disease, and the brutality of the Nazi guards. They were strafed several times by Allied fighter planes, who mistook them for retreating German soldiers. The full story of this this tragic event of WWII cannot be told in the confines of this newsletter. However, monuments such as the one depicted here serve as a reminder that we not must allow such tragedies to happen again. |
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Heading up the four man Anson restoration team are Rob Pedersen and Harry Volk with Charles and Hugh Logie assisting. Over the summer months many more restored fittings and fuselage formers have been added to the growing number of items that are waiting to be mounted on the airframe. As winter and cooler temperatures are now in the offing, fitting the formers, etc., to the fuselage frame will likely have to wait until spring and warmer weather. Meanwhile other smaller items are being restored. The Anson Mk. II cabin front wind screen seen in the photo with this article, was dropped off at the museum by someone who didn't leave their name. While we have a number of such pieces, this one had the best details yet of how the Plexiglas was held in place. Gordon Neu, a semi-retired heavy duty mechanic and NLS volunteer from High River, AB, is overhauling a Jacobs L6MB engine. This engine will be complete and runnable and ready to install on the Anson MK. II by next spring. Rob Petersen and Harry Volk, spent a couple of October afternoons removing the remains of wood formers from the derelict Anson's in the storage yard. These remnants will be used as patterns along with the drawings on hand. And so goes the restoration of "Annie." |
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Local member and volunteer, Walter Montgomery, built a cabinet to house a computer that is part of the Dambusters display. The computer continually runs a power-point program, portraying the WWII activities of F/Lt. Terry Taerum and F/Lt. John Fraser. Both Taerum and Fraser were Lancaster crew members on the historic raid on the Ruhr dams in 1943. Our grateful THANKS to Walter Montgomery for another useful addition to the museum. |
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In early August, a CBC filming crew spent nearly a day in the museum, filming for the program, "On The Road Again." The host of this CBC television show is Wayne Rostad. One of our more well known visitors, Wayne is also an Hon. Col. of a Trenton, Ontario, based Hercules squadron, so has something in common with our Society and its museum. During the filming Clarence painted a replica of the nose art titled, "Lets Have Another." The original art work had been painted on the WWII Lancaster bomber, serial number LM-550, code AS-B (B for Beer), which is one of the few bombers that completed over 100 operations and survived the war. The final filming for this episode saw the CBC crew attend the Society's main event on August 16, where the completed nose art was unveiled. This CBC Nose Art episode is expected to air sometime in the new year but the actual date has not been announced. More publicity for our museum! |
 getting set up to film Clarence Simonsen The partially completed nose art can be seen in the background. |
 inspect the nose art "Ell Cat" painted on the Lanc cabin section mock-up. |
 being unveiled at the Society's August event. While this nose art didn't fit in with the event's theme of the Dams Raid 60th anniversary, it did add colour to the day. |
In the photo below, President Dan Fox (L) accepts a Tiger Moth model from NLS member Tony Ball of Cochrane, Alberta. This 1/7 scale model depicts Tiger Moth #4227 which was on strength at #15 EFTS in Regina, Saskatchewan during 1940-41. The model is now displayed along with a "real" restored Moth fuselage, on loan to the museum by the new owner Colin Markle, of Claresholm, AB. This fuselage was previously owned and meticulously restored by Ron Jackson, long-time NLS member from Calgary, AB. Tony Ball's model shows clearly what a complete aircraft, with wings in place, would look like. The Society extends a grateful THANKS to Tony Ball for adding to the museum's Tiger Moth display. |
 from NLS member Tony Ball. |
WWII AIR GUNNER AND POW Below is long-time NLS member, Al Hymers with his wife Lorna, of Bruderheim, AB, who visited the museum in July. Al, is a former WWII air gunner, who flew in Lancasters. I had the privilege of touring Al and Lorna through the museum and listening to Al's story of his Lancaster being shot down, his escape from the rear turret, his attempt to evade subsequent capture, imprisonment, and of his being part of the ćLong Marchä (see page 17 regarding a monument to the march.) I am hoping that Al will record this experience for future generations to hear how one man survived such a traumatic ordeal! Al and Lorna -if you read this, please make this happen! |
 and is wife Lorna. |
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The museum continues to learn more about our Lancaster's travels during its RCAF history. This summer we were visited by Dave Mick whose father Paul flew our aircraft with No. 407 Squadron in Comox. Through Dave's efforts we have added numerous flights to our records. Shorty Hazelton visted the museum this summer as well. He was a flight engineer based at Green wood, Nova Scotia. Shorty has contributed information about some of FM159's travels during its time on the east coast, including a trip to Bermuda. |
 pose with Cornell 14424. |
 inspected the unrestored Cornell. |
