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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-06-21, Page 1• Champion Road Machinery Ltd., officials are playing down a newspaper story published recently in the Toronto Star that suggested Arab retaliation to moving the Canadian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem could spell disaster for the firm. The story, published in Saturday's edition of the Star, was part of a feature article on the economic consequences of Prime Minister Joe Clark's proposal to move the embaAsy. The story dealt with problems Canadian business could encounter if Arabs carried out threats to boycott Canadian industry. Comments by several members of Champion management left the impression that if the firm's trade in Arab countries was lost over the issue Champion would be looking at mass layoffs. Iain Bain, corporate vice-president of in- dustrial relations at Champion, said Tuesday that is not true. Bain said that Champion sells very little in Arab countries claiming that if those countries refused to buy any more machines from Champion it would have no affect on the company operation. He said Champion had been trying to crack the Arab market and had been stepping up its promotion in that area of the world but th.e effort had not yet paid off in sales. He said -- Champion has had success in Middle East countries but not dealing with Arab nations. Mark Sully, a vice-president in sales at Champion, was quoted in the. Star story as saying three quarters of Champion's trade is export and a substantial portion of that trade is from the Middle East. Sully said Champion is wide open to Arab economic retalliation. Sully did not attempt to claim he was Misquoted by the Star but did say he could not understand how his comments permitted the Star reporters to draw the conclusions they did. He said the trade done by Champion in Arab countries was a portion of the Champion export business but not the majority. He added that Champioh was bidding on a tender for a $1.5 million package in the Middle East. "But going after it and having it are two different things," he pointed out. Sully said Champion sells its product in 70 von countries around the world explaining that any foreign market is worth going after. But he added that if Arab nations boycott Canadian industry the consequences to Champion would be that Arab nations are "another group of countries we can't do business with". Bain said Champion may have a small layoff in the near future but said that was not due tO an Arab boycott but a "traditionally slack -time of the year". He said a recent order for machines and parts prompted Champion to hire on 150 ad- ditional employees and since that order is nearly completed some of those may be layed off. He could not say how many employees would be sent home but did say the lay off would be "fairly minor". Fourth Class Constable Jay Edward Poulter is the newest 'member of the Goderich Police Force. He began his duties, here on Monday, June 11 and says he likes the town very much. Constable Poulter is from Scarborough and formerly served with -the O.P.P. and the Government Protective Service's Branch of the O.P.P. at Queen's Park. He replaces Constable Robert Dixon on the Goderich force. Constable Dixon left the force for training with the R.C.M.P. (Photo by Joanne Buchanan) • 132 YEAR -25 THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1979 35 CENTS PER COPY Miscalculation ends bomber lift BY CATH WOODEN Another 5,000 pounds needs to be shaved off the old Lancaster bomber before it can be airlifted out of Goderich airport. An attempt to lift the World War II plane by a Canadian Armed Forces helicopter was stymied last Friday because of a miscalculation in the plane's weight. Phil Nelson, director of acquisition and restoration for the Canadian Warplane Heritage Foundation, said the Lancaster was estimated to weigh 14,000 pounds with its wings and tail removed. According to helicopter. pilot, Ma;or Ed Booth, a more realistic figure is 25,000 pounds. "We had the engines at full torque, then the whole panel red -lighted. The most we can lift is 23,00Q,pounds, and we can fly with 20,000."0 The Canadian Armed Forces agreed to airlift the plane for the heritage foundation because the helicopter had never had the opportunity to lift anything of the Lancaster's size before. The manouver was a full military exercise, costing the taxpayer about $10,000. The helicopter, called the Chinook, is one of eight in Canada and is worth six and a half million dollars. I•t flew in for the manouver last Wednesday, but had transmission trouble and the lift was rescheduled for Friday. Plans for the airlift started two months ago. The heritage foundation acquired, the Lan- caster. from the Goderich Legion about a year and a half ,ago. The foundation•,hopes to com- pletely restore the Lancaster at Mount Hope, near Hamilton, at a'cost.of $100,000. . Before the attempted, lift, Nelson said they had "all the bases covered." The Chinook was going to lift the plane with a four point harness and test the weight and balance over the lake in . case the Lancaster had to be dropped. Major Booth planned to avoid.any poptatted areas on -the way to Hamilton and ar.,emergency landing was arranged at London airport. "Somebody' is going to get his ass kicked," fumed Nelson after the Chinook crew gave up the attempt. Responsible for preparing the Lancaster for the lift was Eric Grove, an ex- R.A.F. pilot. Grove is a member of the Red Caterpiller Club, an exclusive organization for pilots who were shot down in flames. Most of the heritage foundation's 200 members are ex -pilots. Although the foun- dation is privately funded, the people of Canada officialy own the plane. The foundation hopes to, restore- the Lan- caster in the colors of the 419 Moose Squadron, with the code VR -A.. It was in that plane that. Andrew Mynarski won a Victoria. Cross trying to save the life of his tailgunner while the plane was going down. The entire crew survived, ex\ept Mynarski. This Lancaster was built in 1945 and has never left Canada. It served with Search and Rescue in Torbay, Newfoundland until it was decommissioned in 1963. The Goderich Legion bought the plane for $200 in 1964, and it flew to Goderich airport from Dunville, Ontario under its own steam. Hopefully, the old Lancaster will fly out of Goderich under the Chinook after another 5,000 pounds is removed. If the helicopter cannot be rescheduled the Lancaster will be disassembled and trucked to Hamilton. Dredging tender close Tenders for the dredging of the channel leading to Goderich Harbor will be received by the Department of Public. Works, Tuesday: Huron -Bruce Conservative MP, Bob McKinley, said that a complete new dredging call for the channel leading to the Goderich Harbor were to have closed June 19 but was extended another, week because more, material was to be taken from the channel. • The dredging will include the channel from the piers up through to the opening in "the breakwall. The work is expected to begin shortly after the awarding of the tender next week. Up, Up and.,:.Back down This giant Chinook helicopter from the Canadian Armed Forces base in Ottawa was in Goderich Friday to attempt to airlift the old Lancaster bomber from Sky Harbor Airport to Mount Hope Airport in Hamilton. The aircraft is to be restored to flying condition by the Canadian Warplanes Heritage and put in a collection of warplanes the heritage owns. Here a hook is lowered from the hellopter to grab a harness rigged to the Lancaster to permit it to be lifted. (photo by Jeff Seddon) Hooked on and ready for lifting the helicopter hovers over the Lancaster securing the unusual load for lifting. The chopper is capable of lifting and maeuvering with 20,000 pounds of weight in the harness and the Lancaster was stripped down to weigh in at 14,000 pounds and make the airlift possible. The lift was treated as a special training exercise for the helicopter crew. (photo by Jeff Seddon) After several hours of work, calculating and rigging 'this is as high as the helicopter managed to lift the Lancaster. The warplane was supposed to weigh 14,000 pounds stripped `down but a to scalculation forced the airlift to be can- celled. The crew of the chopper said that according to their instruments the airplane has to weigh at least 25,000 pounds making it itnpossible to airlift it. if possible the lift will be rescheduled . (photo by Jeff Seddon)