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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1957-08-08, Page 8fl THE GODERICH SIGNAL -STA A" GODERICH BUSINESS COLLEGE CLASS o F 1956-57 v .p FLsRENCE WEAVER, Instructor NORMA PENTLAND, Dungannon BARBARA LARDER, Goderich MARILYN ORR, Goderich MARILYN MILLER, Clinton DONNA HARRISON, Goderich CAROLYN HARRIS LAUREL LODGE, Goderich RUTH ANDREWS, Goderich DONALDA HELESIC, Goderich MURRAY TAYLOR, Clinton RAYMOND COOK, Goderich TOMMY MORRIS, Goderich MARY ANDREW, Goderich T. ANNA MAE DRENNAN, Goderich MARILYN MARTIN, Clinton MYRTLE JOHNSTON, Goderich ELAINE BELL, Kilipen RUTH GLAZIER, Clinton HILDA HICKS, Goderich SHIRLEY HOY, Goderich w RUTH WESTBROOK, Goderich HELEN CAMPBELL, Glammis OItARLOtTE ANDERSON, Goderich RCAF Hero, Once At Sky Harbor, Dies In Car Cras A man who enlisted in the RCAF and took course 33 at Sky Harbor from July ti September, 1941, Chuck McDonald, emerged from ' many a close -mall in aerial combat during World War II only to die A a result of an automobile ac- cident hear Hamilton last week. Squadron Trader Charles Parkin- s©u 1VI'elionakl, DFC and two bars, D `112 Was in, his Buick Super near Hamilton When the car hit a tree and injured h mt co .badly 1 e died two hottra later. Whileat Sk,,i1. Harbor, he was a bit 'Worried b tttails„ a ;e, 3'4 at } the l7O�e was. J c. Zell Wu which tYm e that r�. e, ctl ld tla r lbe a� However„ p. q �V flith i ��� fil raccording n t e a�� � � Atli a Cho. S of� � at�, �1topkimon, ehk .5115 VICA a Sky Harbor the, and the report of him OW he eow,,elentious and, tho `ate h"�w, h �` c3t d abOvo the average." tie 'had a sister, Mary,' living in Goderich, sow Mrs. Mary Brothers, of Detroit. The family was originally from Stratford. A feature writer in the Globe and Mail, Scott Young, wrote an entire column on Chuck McDonald, last week vvlafcla real, in part, as follows: The first time I met Chuck Me- orald, whose funeral, is today (July 30), he was a sergeant pilot who had buat completed 32 oper- ationa in Lancaster bombers. This was February, 1943. He sat on a faotatdol in the living roots of a fiat I ohared in Laudon with so, ® other Canadian Press eorreypr�'atde><Lts, drank a little, talk- ed ed a little; be was deceptively i �i;�t 5u�roan,�1,�ky, mFdinun height, , with sandy hair and high eheelo bones. A week or two earlier there had been an RAF offer to take a cor- respondent along in a Lancaster c n a Berlin raid. In our office, when we drew for the asbignment, Louis Hunter was It. Turned out that Chuck McDonald was his pilot to Berlin. Turned out also that Chuck had to fly the bomber back to England on two engines, both on one warig. Now Chuck was on leave, and Louis had asked him around. Turned out also, looking back on it now, that the long haul back from Germany on that Saturday night in 1943, with the flak's deadly tion. The investigating officer bouquets bursting around the cripwrote in Chuck'sologbook. Above pled aircraft, was typical of Chuck averaag,e pilot. deco r ted the er..av honored,to , th He lot s ' e in and out of a o cif old' Me on , i ted feted air force. go war or ace, he c�oti�raaiasibY'aed, +promo , ars p� an w was a man life often shot at. many y saw him,a time I ways, t e the t 3 t in 1®4O. He had ,But e -•a 3® .uliv✓s X13 C worked on Bay street. He bad a couple of months, ago, be tapped He I;<ad IIY] a plication in those wowl-, "above average pilot," DIANINE FRITH, Goderich MARY ANN OVERHOLT, Goderich‘ THELMA GOOD, Goderich MARION DALES, Clinton for the RCAF, but th* didn't want him, much, because of the hernia and his age. So he joined • the. army, the Simcoe Foresters, had his hernia fixed, transferred to the RCAF, and by 1942 was a sergeant, the only Canadian in a Lancaster crew going out night after ,night in the mounting bomlbet offensive of that year, against Europe. On one of his first few opera- tions, he had his first crash. He liad just taken off wirbh a full bomb -load whep one engine cut out, and he didn't have enough altitude to get back to the field or manoeuvre in any way. ,There was a field in front of him. It had a steam -roller on one side, some high poles (El the other, high tension wires ovefhead. He brought the big bomber In. It ground -looped and was totally wrecked, laut no one was hurt. There was an air fflance investi'ga- 't in his logbook, and said, "That ' was the biggest thrill I ever got in the air force." That crash was 20 operations or so before I met him. Incidentally, as I said, the night Louis Hunter flew with Chuck was a Saturday'. Some people forget now the temper of those days. So he dame back from Berlin an two engines and one wing on a Saturday? So he went out again on the Sunday and the engine performed well and he dropped bombs on Berlin. About then he became a flight sergeant, and was awarded a DFM. The citation called him "an in- spiration to his squadron." In Match of 1943 he was commission- ed ed a pilot officer. an April, he got his first DFC.. It was for a raid on Spezia, Italy. "Om the outward flight," his citaw. tion read, "and while still a con- siderable distance from the target, the fuel system in this, aircraft developed a fault, causing es - sive petrol consumption, Although I he was aware that if he conflated n. to Spezia he might run Ohort of the return flight, Pilot fuel duringg I the �o Offieer McDonald flew on. target and made a suece:aftul at- taek. Displaying exceptionally skill - hernia. p ful airmanship, he flew the aircraft crew reached, the shore." back to this country. This officer Chuck MoDonald was that, pilot. displayed outstand:nog determina- tion and devotion to duty." iland Committee W'ha�t the citation didn't say was how Chuck saved the gas he need- ed to getback to England. Ile did it by twisting and turning along Alpine valleys, and thus not using the fuel he Would have needed for the big lift over the peaks. That Was April 4, 1943. Sixteen days later Srteltin was the target. It was' a hot trip. Chuck's Lan- caster, F for Freddie, was among those which failed to return. Six days later the London Daily Herald carried a brief dispatch told how It from Stockholm. Lancaseer bomber Six nights he. fore "had flown iOO miles across the Saltie Sea like a blazing beacon." . "Five fires were burn.rng on one wing," the story said. "Despite danger that the burning wing would fall off, the crew refused to abandon the aircraft because one ,man was injured and could 'lot managed ed to The rl e , not jurap. p . ' 4 in the lis `i tatt keep the 1DraPn'.rn , aircraft ''air until it readied the Swedish coast. Then it crashlanded in the Water near the coast and all the fraa Thanks Supporters At a meeting of the new Gede- rieh Girls' Trumpet Band commit- tee, a vote of thanks was gtven to all persons ---committee and band members --,who supported the band in the past: They were.. invited to lend their assistance agaabn in re- organizing the band. The new committee of custod- ians was set up recently on advice of Town Council. The committee is charged' with looking after the equipment of the band,` tVhieh' is not functioning this summer, and with the task of reorganizing the 'band in the fall. It was announced at the meeting that &'he books have boon audited. 7 ue l; andW Craven, J. E. II kin C u naembeig of the new committee, were delegated to piekup equip. menet which has not been turned in yet. In Canada in the period 1945- 1956 supplementary labor income —which consists of employers' con- tributions ontributions to pensicn and welfare plans, unemployment insurance and workmen's cornpensation---increas- ed from $156 million to $497 mil- lion. NOW IS THE TIME to install—Aluminum Doors, Win- dows, and the new roil -up typo awnings. Re -roof or repair your present y� b roof. Remodel your kitchen; to specifications. Custom , car ports also designed foryour home. All work and materiel is under guarantee with skilled labor. Free estimates.. Phone or contact BRKE E Ij 175 BR4C KBO K ST. 25&20&31