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airspeed horsa with RCAF


brewerjerry

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Hi

    Curiosity again, just found out three airspeed horsa gliders were allocated to the RCAF,  TL334, TL349, TL401 

 

 as I dont have the Air Brit serial books for this serial range 

 

 I am wondering if they crossed the ' pond' to Canada ? 

 

 it might make an interesting model for me 

 

   cheers

     jerry 

Edited by brewerjerry
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Canadian Military Aircraft, Serials and Photographs 1920-1968, J.A. Griffen.

 

Airspeed Horsa mark II TL334, TL349, TL401 all listed as Taken on Strength 20 December 1948, Taken off Strength 25 July 1950, "Received from Canadian Army".

 

The RAF says they were built by Harris Lebus, contract card dates, 11, 11 and 14 June 1945 respectively.  No information on where they were June 1945 to December 1948.

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26 minutes ago, Geoffrey Sinclair said:

Canadian Military Aircraft, Serials and Photographs 1920-1968, J.A. Griffen.

 

Airspeed Horsa mark II TL334, TL349, TL401 all listed as Taken on Strength 20 December 1948, Taken off Strength 25 July 1950, "Received from Canadian Army".

 

The RAF says they were built by Harris Lebus, contract card dates, 11, 11 and 14 June 1945 respectively.  No information on where they were June 1945 to December 1948.

Hi

    Many thanks for the info, i didnt know they were with the Canadian army before Rcaf use 

   cheers

     jerry

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The inventory cards for the three do exist but finding photos of the airframes would be interesting - if ever pulled from their crates.  The Hadrian gliders were used, well most of them, and there are plenty of photos of them.

PM

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At least one was uncrated.  I think there is also a photo in one of the CANAV books.  

 

From IPMS Canada's RT 10-2 (1977!!)  @Carl V has been doing this quite a while.

 

Jim

 

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Edited by airjiml2
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Sorry, not sure why the image is so small.  If anyone wants a larger copy, please PM me with an email and I'll send it along.

 

Jim

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5 hours ago, airjiml2 said:

At least one was uncrated.  I think there is also a photo in one of the CANAV books.  

 

From IPMS Canada's RT 10-2 (1977!!)  @Carl V has been doing this quite a while.

 

Jim

Hi

    Thanks, at the end of the article, it mentions brewster bermudas

  which i never knew were used by the RCAF 

    cheers

      jerry 

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The RCAF had three Bermudas that were used for "special" testing (aka chemicals and gas) at Suffield, Alberta.  Attached are a photo from Facebook and the US Navy archives.

 

Jim

 

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1.            A small addition to the story of the RCAF’s Brewster Bermudas.

2.            Of the three RCAF Bermudas, only one, FF568, was attached to the Chemical Warfare Establishment at Suffield, Alberta.

3.            The other two, FF718 and FF732, went to 3 Training Command where one or both of them were converted to target tug configuration. While Bermuda target tugs already existed, the RCAF preferred to use its own equipment and technology.

4.            A slight RCAF file on the subject exists in the Archives. As I only gave it a cursory glance more than four decades ago, my recollection is not precisely high-res. However, there did exist on the file some detailed photos of the TT installation, though nothing bizarre. As far as I could tell and can recall, the aircraft appeared to be in all-over yellow, though this could not be confirmed due to the fragmentary nature of the photos.

5.            The conversion seemed to be reasonably successful and I do not believe that much more information existed on the file. However, I would guess that at this time, late 1943, additional target tugs were not a high priority with the RCAF. All three ended up as instructional airframes.

6.            In the highly unlikely event that anybody would like to follow up and revisit this at anytime in the near future, forget about it! Thanks to the current state of affairs, as far as on-site personal research is concerned, the Archives is closed up tighter than the proverbial.

Carl

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I have been schooled by the master again!  Thank you so much @Carl V for the further input.  You have intrigued me with the TT Bermudas, my friend.  Maybe something to search for next time I'm in Ottawa.

 

Jim

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To add some dates to Carl's Bermuda data.

 

FF568 Taken on Strength 6 January 1943, "at Suffield 1943" became instructional airframe A380 3 March 1944, Struck off Strength 9 November 1946

FF718 Taken on Strength 18 June 1943, "3 TC T&D Flt" became instructional airframe A381 3 March 1944, Struck off Strength 30 March 1946

FF732 Taken on Strength 18 June 1943, "3 TC T&D Flt" became instructional airframe A382 3 March 1944, Struck off Strength 9 May 1946

 

To add a little mystery, FF472 (Taken on RAF Charge 12 November 1942) has Canada in its delivery log entry and Air Arsenal North America says it crashed in Canada.

Edited by Geoffrey Sinclair
FF472
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