Info is always good...
Willow
On Sun, May 16, 2021 at 10:08 PM Bob Thomlinson <bthomlinson@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Not Penfield. Penhold is the town about 8 km south of the airport. The old
military barracks were sold to a developer and the new subdivision is
called Springbrook.
Cheers,
Bob
On May 16, 2021, at 10:00 PM, Willow Arune <walittleboots9@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
There was a rumour in Edmonton that one hydro building contained a
staircase leading to that kind of bunker. And the military training base -
was that not in penfield?
The Prince George BC runway was also extended, hoping to be a gas stop for
planes coming from China. In all my years there only one 747 and that huge
Russian commercial plane landed there. A short time ago, when the airport
was extended, the CN railyards had a large renovation, the highway south
was four laned for much of its way, and the city built a large industrial
park intended for warehousing. Prince Rupert port expansion too. The
port, like Vancouver, is land locked. The idea seemed to be that
containers could be unloaded in Rupert and go by existing rail lines to
Prince George and held there until needed. If we had inland duty free
Ports, as the US has, no duty would be paid the goods until they left for
Chicago. You can see this on a globe. Rupert is actually closer to
Chinesemanufacturing than any American West Coast port with good rail and
transportation connections to the US. Leo the concept had merit.
Willow
Willow
On Sun, May 16, 2021 at 9:36 PM Bob Thomlinson <bthomlinson@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Willow,
Another site that might have been of interest was the DiefenBunker on the
east side of Hwy 2A at the turn into the Red Deer airport. This was one of
several built across the country to house government if the Russians nuked
the capital of our home and native land. Kind of like the tunnels under
Dover Castle. It was built under a wheat field and the access was hidden
but still there when we moved to Central Alberta. Eventually they decided
it was a safety concern and filled it in and sold the land to the farmer.
The Red Deer airport has struggled to find its way but was a training
base for military pilots in the past. It has a very long runway and it able
to land planes a lot larger than you might expect. I owned part of a hanger
there for a while. The long runway and distance from a major city is
supposedly why they chose it for a DiefenBunker. As if the Russians
wouldn’t figure to look for places with good transportation and long
runways. No social media so a different time.
Cheers,
Bob
On May 16, 2021, at 8:16 PM, Willow Arune <walittleboots9@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Thanks Bob. I may head up there next week.
Willow
On Sun, May 16, 2021 at 8:05 PM Bob Thomlinson <bthomlinson@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Although they cut up the prototypes, there is a full scale Avro Aero
model indoors at the Reynolds-Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin. They are also
exhibiting some of the drawings. The model was created for a CBC movie but
not all of it is covered in aluminum. Only the parts needed for close ups.
The rest is painted wood. Still very impressive.
Cheers,
Bob
On May 16, 2021, at 5:27 PM, Willow Arune <walittleboots9@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I agree. Cancelation and especially cutting the prototypes was
vindictive. I almost articled in Kamloops with Fulton’s firm. Yes he was
a good man, better than Dief. I love your story of sneaking into the
convention BTW. And like him or not, dief had an excellent memory for
faces. I can’t recall. Did the SIU and the Captains and Mates Associatin
which got nasty and closed our ports happpen under Dief, Stanford, or
Pearson? I recall a thug from the US escaped from prison during the strike.
Willow
On Sun, May 16, 2021 at 4:58 PM akfarmilo2 <akfarmilo2@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Ah yes Diefenbaker....he who trashed the Avro Arrow and with it a large
part of Canada's airplane (and space) development and resources.
I interviewed Dief during the Conservative convention when he was
replaced by Bob Stanfield. My personal favorate Davey Fulton lost out.
I crashed the convention actually. They allowed observers in the grey
seats way up at the top of Maple Leaf Gardens. Earlier I had discovered
that if you went into the men's washroom on the North side there was a
service door that accessed a stairwell down to the gold seats at
rinkside. I had worn a suit and jacket and brought a notepad (paper
version of course). Most men had doffed their jackets as it was very hot,
and since most badges were on the jackets many men did not have a visible
badge. I joined a crowd of reporters trying to interview Dief as he walked
off the rink area through a narrow gate. By the time he exited I had
entered the rink area. I spent the afternoon interviewing all the leader
candidates and also Pierre Burton for the fictional newspaper the Yellow
Grass ( Sask) Agricultural Record. Had thirty pages of notes that
afternoon, tons of fun and a (somewhat dubious) little place in history.
YITBOS Jim
PS. Likely could not do that kind of thing today. 😆
Sent from my Samsung device over Bell's LTE network.
-------- Original message --------
From: Willow Arune <walittleboots9@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: 16-05-2021 15:02 (GMT-05:00)
To: dsp-ea-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Black
P.S. Finding a mint copy of LordBlack’s History of Canada was great. A
lucid and well written book that captivates rather than bores. Just
finished with Mackenzie King and onward to St. Laurent. Then Diefenbaker.
I first met him when I worked as a news photographer at CFRN Edmonton.
After his ouster, at the Edmonton airport. Some decades later he came to
Campbell River and actually recognized me when I asked him to sign his
three volume autobiography!
