ww2 glider training vancouver island canada

[brewerjerry]

Hi

   A long shot  

 

  i just found out there was ww2 glider training base at nanaimo vancouver island, canada.

   so i am trying to find info on a future build, of a glider and tug 

 

 but i cant find any info anywhere

 

   anyone suggest any links or books ?

    cheers

       jerry

Edited January 18, 2018 by brewerjerry

[Ratch]

Might be worth a try here

https://www.airfieldresearchgroup.org.uk/forum/main-forum

[brewerjerry]

Hi

   Thanks for the suggestion

 

i am getting somewhere  

 

just found it was called cassidy airport in ww2 and 6  OTU 

 

  rcaf had 22 airspeed hotspurs and 32 waco hadrians 

 

  but dont know if they all or any went to 6 OTU 

 

and seems like c-47 tugs 

 

as not sure if a beechcraft expiditor could tow a hotspur/hadrian ? 

 

   cheers

    jerry

Edited January 18, 2018 by brewerjerry

[Aeronut]

The Canadians towed their Hotspurs using Spitfires as the plan was to use the gliders to carry spares and ground crew over to Normandy on D day. The trials (and training) took place in the UK, I doubt if any Hotspur made it across the pond.

[brewerjerry]

Hi

   Thanks so no hotspurs

 

  but thats ok as i found a couple of hadrian serials allocated to them

  so

just need find some dakota IV T

& expeditor 3 T serials next  

    cheers

       jerry

[tonyot]

Here is a RCAF Hadrian which was converted with engines;

This may be the same aircraft,...or a similar one at least,...in the USA;

 

This aircraft,... Hadrian Mk.I, named `Voo Doo' flew from Dorval, Quebec to Scotland towed behind a Dakota; 

 

These training photos were taken of Hadrian`s while based in Canada;

 

I`ll keep digging but hopefully our Canadian friends can turn up some more,

Cheers

        Tony

 

[Patrick Martin]

22 hours ago, brewerjerry said:

Hi

   Thanks for the suggestion

 

i am getting somewhere  

 

just found it was called cassidy airport in ww2 and 6  OTU 

 

  rcaf had 22 airspeed hotspurs and 32 waco hadrians 

 

  but dont know if they all or any went to 6 OTU 

 

and seems like c-47 tugs 

 

as not sure if a beechcraft expiditor could tow a hotspur/hadrian ? 

 

   cheers

    jerry

I have inventory cards for 3 Horsa, 22 Hotspur and 34 Hadrian.  Most were never unpacked and most just show disposal.

PM

[Finn]

Here are RCAF ORBs:

 

http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_135766

 

unfortunately search doesn't work so you'll have to do your own searching.

 

Jari

[Simon]

25 minutes ago, Finn said:

Here are RCAF ORBs:

 

http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_135766

 

unfortunately search doesn't work so you'll have to do your own searching.

 

Jari

Index for the files is here:

 

http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?19464-Index-to-RCAF-on-line-microfilms

 

See post #3 - 6 OTU is on roll C-12361 (start at the end and work backwards), and continues from the beginning of roll C-12362. Note that it was based at Comox on these ORB files.

 

Simon

[brewerjerry]

Hi All

     

Many thanks for all the info

     cheers

       jerry

[Finn]

23 hours ago, Simon said:

Index for the files is here:

 

http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?19464-Index-to-RCAF-on-line-microfilms

 

See post #3 - 6 OTU is on roll C-12361 (start at the end and work backwards), and continues from the beginning of roll C-12362. Note that it was based at Comox on these ORB files.

 

Simon

 

Thanks for that, when i first found the link i searched on my own, but found what is was looking for. Thanks again.

 

Jari

[brewerjerry]

Hi All,

        Thanks all again for the info it has given me a few links 

         The 6 OTU diary is an interesting read

        

         Turns out the hotspurs did come to Canada, and some went on to the USN

 

  one example from

http://www.rwrwalker.ca/

 

HH553	General Aircraft	Harris Lebus, UK	Hotspur	Mk. II
	G.A.L.48
	first date: 14 October 1942 - Taken on strength
	Delivered to stored reserve at Toronto, probably with No. 1 Training Command.  To US on 19 June 1943.
	last date: 3 November 1945 - Struck off

[Aeronut]

It's nice to stand corrected. I knew that Horsa and Hamilcar's made it across the pond to be tested by the US but the fact that they even bothered to ship the Hotspur is a surprise.

If you search for Vintage Wings Canada. There is an article about the Spitfire  Squadrons use of the Hotspur written by one of the veterans who flew them.

[brewerjerry]

Hi

   We all learn, that the great thing about BM

  I presume the spitfire towing was done in UK

  cheers

     jerry

[OneEighthBit]

Just adding some extra info from my own research over the years.

 

John Sproule who was based at No.2 Glider Training School at Weston-on-the-Green, UK was asked to be the Chief Flying Instructor at the proposed new Canadian glider school in mid-1942. 22 Hotspur Mk.II's where shipped to Canada from a batch of 600 made by Harris Lebus and arrived in Toronto and stored.

 

Serials were HH418, HH419, HH421, HH425, HH427, HH521, HH551-553, HH557-HH562, HH564, H579, HH580, HH646, HH647, HH654 & HH667.

 

John decided the Hotspurs needed to be modified to suit the local environment. As the local de Haviland works had some capacity while changing from Anson to Mosquito production, he got them to make he changes to his specifications. 20 were modified and 2 were held back for spares.

 

After the modifications were made a few test flights were done behind a Lysander, John was told that the Canadian GTS was abandoned and that the 22 gliders were to be scrapped as there was no capacity to ship them back to the UK. However the US Navy heard about them and asked if the 20 Hotspurs and John could be transferred to the Navy Yard at Phllidephia under the command of reknowned gliding expert, Commander Ralph S. Barnaby.

 

Barnaby was heading up Project George which was experiementing with using television guided gliders packed with explosives as flying bombs to be used again U-Boat pens and other highly defended targets. The XLRN-1 was currently under development and they wanted the Hotspurs as expendable airframes for testing and experiemental work to support the development of the "Glomb". Most of the towing was done behind a PBY Catalina. Project George were also issued with a single Horsa Mk.I from the UK (poss. DP725)

 

I actually have a picture of one of the Canadian Hotspurs in flight with a USN pilot at the controls somewhere. It's nothing special and has just the standard RAF markings and camoflauge. It wasn't modified in anyway apart from some internal strengthening of the spars.

 

And a small humble-brag - I've got one of the original Hotspur AP Manuals that were shipped with the gliders to Toronto dated 4/5/1942.

 

 

[Aeronut]

Jed, you have me intrigued now. The one structural weakness I knew about on the Hotspur was with the tailplane which resulted in the noticeable difference between the Mk II and Mk III, the externally strut braced tailplane.

 

 

[brewerjerry]

14 hours ago, OneEighthBit said:

 

 

Hi

   Thanks for posting, interesting how they ended up

   jerry

[OneEighthBit]

12 hours ago, Aeronut said:

Jed, you have me intrigued now. The one structural weakness I knew about on the Hotspur was with the tailplane which resulted in the noticeable difference between the Mk II and Mk III, the externally strut braced tailplane.

 

 

Yeah the tailplane strut and the enlarged canopy is probably the most well know of the Mk.II -> MkIIT/III motifications the rest were mostly internal or equipment based.

 

Those who know the regiments history are probably aware that John Sproule was a well known competition pilot before the war and designed and built a number of gliders himself and worked at Slingsby. When he was enlisted to work at at No.1 GTS Thame everything was still very "experiemental" so he devised and implemented a lot of the modifications to the Hotspur which G.A.L and Slingsby formally ratified into the production design.

 

It was John who discovered the weak tailplane spars and petitioned for them to be fixed but it wasn't until they started falling off that someone did something about it. He also figured out why the hoods kept falling off (screws too short in the hinges) and devised the longer centre skid because the original castering one kept snapping off during ground handling.

 

The modifications he made in Canada were another of John's own designs and tackled the weak tailplane spar. The service modification of adding the tailbrace hadn't arrived yet so his solution was to get deHaviland to scarf a block of wood into the tailplane spar to thicken it and reduce the abrupt changes in cross section which were the primary source of the weakness in the original design. Had he done this in the UK I'm pretty sure it would have become a factory mod and we wouldn't have seen the tailstruts in the MkIIT/III.