HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1944-12-28, Page 2LINED UP FOR HOME
These lads, lined up at the leave d.apot in Italy, are scheduled for a 30 -day Christmas leave to
; Canada. They have been overseas si.f..e 1939. They are from front to rear: Pte. J. F. Savoie, Ottawa,
Pte. D. G. Peddle, Toronto, S/Sgt. Major G. L. Mahar, Kentville,N. S., Fus. R. Cote, Biggar,
Sask., Pte. Alan McGue, Wingharn, Ont., Sgt. R. G. Martin, Ft. McMurray, Alta., Tpr. T. A. Boston,
St. Catherines, Ont., Fus. G. A. Biggar, Niagara Falls, Ont„ Tpr, E. J. Wolfe, Doan, Ont.. BSM
W. T. Chilton;, Guelph, Ont., and CQMS T. S. Vick, Saskatoon, Sask.
MEDICS LEAD THE WAY
A medical corpsman holds the Red Cross flag aloft as he rides a
jogging jeep loaded with wounded Allied soldiers being brought
out of the fighting lines on the Duren sector of the Cologne front
in Germany.
KEEPING IN PRACTICE OVERSEAS
Hey, girls, don't worry—our boys overseas are keeping their one -
arm driving ability ship-shape, as indicated by the paratrooper,
above, holding hands with his "date" as they pedal their bikes
along a path in Nijmegen, Holland.
PACIFIC LEADER
Strengthening its naval power
in the Far East to lend a hand
to U. S. Fleets operating against
the Japs, Great Britain has named
Adml. Sir. Bruce A. Fraser, above,
as commander-in-chief of new
British Pacific Fleet.
ARMY BOXING WINNER
Signalman Isaac Thomas, Pittou.
Landing, N. S., a full blood Can-
adian Indian won the featherweight
title in the British 8th Army
boxing finals held recently in Italy.
Thomas is a member of the Royal
Canadian Corps of Signals, attached
to the 5th Canadian Armoured
Division.
FRONT LINE GUN CREW ... ITALY
C.....:dian machine gun crew in action near Ricionf in Italy. Behind this Vickers gun are Cpl. R. Hilly
Richmond, Ont., and Pte. A. D. Hiebert, Winnipeg.
BASES BUILT FOR FLYING FORTS PRESAGE ARCTIC FLIGHT ERA
Vapor trails of Flying Fortresses are familiar sights over targets in Europe today. Arctic bases from
which they crossed the Atlantic will be used by passenger planes en route to overseas capitals.
By PETER EDSON
Go half way up the Labrador
coast off Northeast Canada, then a
couple of hundred miles inland on
the hlamilton and Goose rivers, out
of the fogs and gales of the coast,
and you'll find one of the most inn-
portant stopping points on the air
ferry line for combat aircraft going
to Europe.
Until now, it has been under
the wraps of military secrecy. But
the part it has played in getting
the big bombers and the combat
ships to Europe can't be ignored,
and it may be an the post-war
aviation niap for keeps, even if it
is surrounded by hundreds of miles
of second growth timber and is no
place near a railroad.
The Canadians and British
pioneered the field with one
gravel runway, over three years
ago. When the United States got
into the war the Army Air Forces
enlarged it, put in big concrete
runways and parking strips for
hundreds of planes, hangars and
shops and a complete base, The
Canadians own the field, under
lease from Newfoundland, but it
is jointly operated for the dura-
ation by Royal Canadian and U. S.
Army Air Forces.
WEATHER IS LICKED
When newspaper correspond-
ents inspecting North Atlantic
bases of the Air Transport Com-
mand arrived at Goose Bay,
they found big wide concrete run-
ways more than a mile long,
flanked by snowdrifts four to six
feet deep. A few days before
there had been many hours of
continuous snowfall which had
put the drifts up to the eaves of
the one-story barracks. Goose
was closed down tight while the
snow fell and not a plane flew in
or out. Then rain fell on top of
the snow and 'froze leaving the
field covered with more than four
feet of snow -ice.
As soon as the precipitation let
up a fleet of snow -plows snow
shovels, scrapers bulldozers, drags,
scoops and other mechanized
snow removal apparatus went to
work to clear the runways. With-
in 72 hours Goose was agailt in
operation.
The fact that a major air base,
capable of handling more than
200 planes a day, could be put
back in operation after this short
perod of time shows how com-
pletely the Arctic winter Inas been
licked as a flying hazard. Planes
can fly in bright sunlight above
the winter overcast, even above
the storms, without too much
difficulty. They can even fly
through storms on instruments.
But what ties planes down are
storms on the ground. Even
farther south, C.J. S. airports are
froin time to time closed down
for periods of even longer than
72 hours by fog or blizzard or
freezing conditions.
BETTER BETS
Goose Bay and similarly locat-
ed far -north air bases with clear
dry weather between the storms
are frequently better flying bets,
with more good flyng weather
than bases in milder climates.
Sometimes they don't even bother
to remove the snow at these
northern bases. They merely roll
the snow, packng it into ice, and
land on the solid crust.
All this perfection of Arctic
flying weather is beautiful sin-
dicaton for the theories ad-
vanced years ago by Lt, Col. B.
R. I. "Fish" Hassell, Today as
commanding officer at Goose Bay,
he is merely seeing his early
dreams realized and getting a lot
of satisfactoin out of it.
Back in 1028 he proposed, that
the best way to get from the
middle of the United States to
Europe was to fly across the Arc-
tic, Everybody sad he was crazy
then because everybody knew
that Europe was east of the
United States and to fly north
was a Waste of time. Fish knew
better, He says he knew better
because as a boy in school his
geography teacher had always
used a globe, never a mercator's
projection which made the earth
look flat.
RAISE CHICKENS, PIGS
Colonel Hassell isn't predict-
ing what the future of Arctic fly,
ing will be, but he does indicate
that it is just beginning.
IIe is, incidentally, pioneering
in a couple of other lines at. Goose
Bay—raising pigs and ' chickens
in this far northern climate where
the only animals to survive are
fur bearing. Last year he had
some Plymouth Rock baby chicles
flown in, and half a dozen bred
sows. The pigs are fed on the
Goose Bay air base garbage,
They have a pure bred boar now;
and are trying to develop a strain
that will stand Arctic winters,
The chickens, kept indoors in
winter and fed vitamins, have
proved to be good layers.
Not far away the Canadian
army has . an agricultural experi-
ment station greenhouse which is
working on dry sand culture' for
tomatoes, celery, lettuce and the
long growing season vegetables
which can't ordinarily be grown
out -doors that far north:
If methods of food growing can
be worked out to nialke these far -
north bases self sustaining as to
food supplies another problem of
Arctic flying will have been
l
FUTURE CITIZENS LEARN ABOUT CANADA
Every care is taken of the comfort, health and welfare of
service personnel overseas and are in London; a Canadian
that the future citizens of Canada may have a place in which
viewed by Service authorities before their trip to their new
Clarke, O.B.E., director of the. bureau interviews the wife
Jackson, wife of Pte. E. Jackson, R.C.A.S.C., with their son
Toronto. Below is shown the interior of the spacious lounge at
about Canada.
British wivas who have remarried La....man
Wives' Bureau has been established, so
to meet and get acquainted and be inter-
Lorttes. In the top picture Lt. -Col D. A,
of a Canadian soldier. She is Mrs, E,
John. They will make their home in
theBureau, with wives reading, literature
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