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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 2258.PDF
FLIGHT Canadair North Star aircraft of R.C.A.F. Air Transport Command are to be seen in all parts of the world. This example was photographed when at Hickman Field, Honolulu. The engines are Rolls-Royce Merlins. The destination of most men and supplies is Korea. Apparently this Canadian airman has no difficulty in communicating with natives of Hoengsong. Canadian servicemen look none the worse for their 10,000-m//e flight to Japan. (Below) This large and awkward load is the complete frame of a road-grader which was flown north from Churchill, Manitoba. THUNDERBIRDS Canada's No. 426 Transport Squadron has two Active Years PERHAPS because the Pacific Ocean is still considered remote to people living in Europe, little is heard of the tremendous Allied transport operations which help to carry men and supplies to Korea by both Northern and Southern Pacific routes. In the air transport world one of the repercussions was felt last year when the secondhand prices of many types of aircraft in Europe rose in an exceptional manner as operators were tempted to part with their Dakotas and Skymasters. They went to American companies needing such aircraft for their Pacific operations or to replace on domestic services other aircraft taken for such work. Canada has played an important part in trans-Pacific trans portation, and one of the most famous of R.C.A.F. squadrons, No. 426 Transport (Thunderbirds) of Air Transport Com mand, recently completed a second year of successful opera tions on the Korean air lift. The Thunderbirds, while making Canada's main contribution in the Pacific area, have also carried out many additional transport duties at the same time. For example, they are handling a growing commitment for air transport to and from Europe in support of R.C.A.F. fighter squadrons and the Canadian Army's 27th Infantry Brigade stationed in Germany. In November last year, four-engined North Stars of 426 Squadron flew Red Cross supplies to Italy for the relief of victims of the Po Valley floods. Two machines each carried 9,700 lb of supplies from Malton Air port on the route to Italy via Gander, the Azores and Gibraltar. The captains were F/L. R. J. Brown and F/L. Gordon Stuart. In springtime, in particular, but also on other occasions during the year, the squadron, working from Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island, has flown hundreds of tons of mail, food and equipment to Arctic weather stations. In April this year two North Stars co-operated with four C-54S of the U.S.A.F. in such supply operations to the isolated weather stations at Mould Bay on Prince Patrick Island, Isachsen on Ellef Ringnes Island, and to Alert and Eureka, both on Ellesmere. The Thunderbirds' overseas flights are not their only commitments, for they also take a large share of the internal transport work required by the R.C.A.F. in Canada. Operations started on the Korea air lift on July 27th, 1950, when three of the Thunderbirds North Stars took off from McChord Air Force Base, Tacoma, Washington for Haneda Airport, situated between Tokyo and Yokohama in Japan. The early flights were all made over the Northern route via
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