Shawnigan Lake School - Yearbook (Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia Canada)

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine The windows are tight-shut and slimy-wet With a night ' s fcetor. There are two hours more; Two hours to dawn and Milan; two hours yet. (read Chicago) Opposite me two Germans sweat and snore. . . . Etc. mm-mm-mm-mm; on went the droning engine ' s hum. And yet by the end of the run we had established quite an affection for these trusty friends. As the sun crept up the effect was that of raising a stage curtain. A mar- vellous vista opened up before our eyes. Beneath was a soft cotton-wool blanket of cloud, around us the clear, cool, crystal air. Now and again one could catch a glimpse of the ground, 1 1,000 feet below. Then all of a sudden the first vein of the blood-red sun appeared above the horizon, the clouds were shot through and through with the gold and the red of its rays, and far away massive cloud-bergs (to coin a word) glistened with their snow-white faces. For one brief moment I caught sight of Lake Michigan, a molten lake of gold. Would that it had been possible to remain up there above the drabness of earth. But our spell of life in this new-found Cloud-Cuckoo-land was short, and with a nasty jolt came the realization that we were descending. Down, down, down she came, plunging into the fleecy clouds like a bather diving into water. Lower and lower still until she finally glided into the rain-soaked misty air- port of Chicago. There, all was dull, dreary and dismal. One almost felt like paraphrasing the elder Cato — fr Delanda est Chicago! 5:20 a.m. and away we went on the final hop. The run was cloudy and did not afford us many views. We passed over Fort Miami, over which the flags of France, England and the U.S.A. have successively flown; over Toledo and Lake Erie, and only came down in order to land at Cleveland. 7:30 a.m. Shortly after leaving Cleveland we were able to see the peculiar double-S- formation of the Allegheny mountains. The Airway leads over the Allegheny Escarpment which leads East and West across New York State, then southward along the southern shore of Lake Erie and then directly south across Ohio. Somewhere beneath us was Titusville, Pa., where oil was first drilled in 18 59. And so to New York, which was reached at 10 a.m. Three times we had put our watches forward an hour in crossing the continent, so that it was only a mere twenty hours before that we had left the Pacific Coast. Mirabile Dictu! It was strange indeed to wake up and find oneself in New York. For that was the sensation. And the only thing to remind me of the fact that I had flown the distance was the mm-mm-mm-mm-mm which was to remain in my ears for quite a while. So ended a most eventful experience. So far, so good. But a question comes to mind from all this, which con- tains no animosity towards our American hosts and friends. Why was it not possible to make this flight across Canada? Or perhaps it would be better to word the question thus: When will it be possible to make such a flight across Canada? This article is intended to arouse concern and dissatisfaction in the minds of a small, perhaps negligible, body of citizens at the backward state of Canadian aviation. And yet, whv? There is no lack of Canadian pilots and no dearth of courageous pioneers. In fact the opposite is the truth. Canadians make some of the best pilots. At the end of the war almost 50% of the R.A.F. pilots and personnel were Canadians. Nor is it due to lack of money, but rather — 24 —

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine in April, 1847, and under the leadership of Brigham Young reached the shores of the Salt Lake in July after extreme hardships. There is a monument in the city to some sea-gulls who in these early days rid their crops of a certain pest that was destroying them. We reached the airport at 6:10 p.m., and after the air-conditioned coolness of the plane it was an odd sensation stepping out into an oven-heat of 100° F. in the shade. After watching the connecting plane come in from Oakland, California, we took on a full complement of passengers for the East. On leaving Salt Lake we had to cross the Wasatch range of mountains, giving us the strange feeling of running into a brick wall. However, we cleared the top somehow, by a few inches. Soon after, we ran into a rain storm and we had the satisfaction of seeing, most of us for the first time, a complete circular rainbow. Apparently the bottom half is only visible from great heights. It was just about here also that the stewardess had difficulty with the thermos-flasks owing to the altitude. Letters and post-cards which I wrote at this stage were posted for me free gratis and for nothing. Darkness soon came on, giving us a good excuse for conversation with our fellow-passengers. At 9 p.m. we arrived at Cheyenne, where the airport is 6,200 feet above sea level. From Cheyenne to Omaha, reached at 1:0 5 a.m., is the country of the Great Plains. Here one can obtain a rough idea of the organisation required for the operation of an air-route. The plane is equipped with radio telephone transmitting and receiving apparatus to enable pilots to talk with operators at ground stations located at every airport where a stop is scheduled. In addition to voice communication, there is the U. S. Department of Commerce directive radio beacon service. As they fly along the airway, the pilots hear a continuous radio hum in their earphones. If they veer slightly off course, this signal changes to warn them of deviation. There are intermediate landing fields located every 30 to 50 miles for emergency. There are 24-inch 2,000,000-candle-power revolving beacons situated every 10 to 20 miles. Moreover, the pilots constantly receive the latest weather reports from special airway reporting stations. We could see the ground lights all along our course, where it was clear. It was not long before we had an excellent example of the working of the system. Just after leaving Omaha, our pilots received a message to the effect that we were heading into a thunderstorm centred over Des Moines and that the airport there was closed. We could ourselves see the lightning. Suddenly the plane nosed up to the left in a steep bank and headed back for Omaha. Once more we saw the criss-cross lights on the ground of the airport, and after leaving some Des Moines passengers to catch a later plane, we headed again for Chicago. (We were thirteen on board when we had run into the storm! ) Now we climbed and climbed to 1 1,000 feet in the amazingly rapid time of 1 1 min- utes and flew well above the storm, keeping that altitude all through the sleepless night. At about 3:30 a.m. the first glimmerings of early-rising, rosy-fingered Dawn appeared. I was reminded of Rupert Brooke ' s poem Dawn. Opposite me two Germans sweat and snore (read engines) Through sullen swirling gloom we jolt and roar. We have been here for ever-, even yet A dim watch tells two hours, two aeons, more. — 23 —

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine to a happy-go-lucky attitude (excellent in its way) which thinks that it will all turn out all right in the end. Canada must develop her aviation for three reasons; the first is her internal development, the second is her overseas trade, the third her own security in time of war. Fortunately something is being done to achieve the first and third con- siderations. A series of landing grounds are being prepared after the American model about thirty miles apart from Halifax to Vancouver. These are to be ready for use quite soon, and should be equally useful for either commercial or military purposes. It must be remembered that the effectiveness of all kinds of aerial transport operations depends as much upon ground organization as upon the efficiency of the aircraft in use. But surely more could be done to use the aeroplane for opening up the vast northern regions. And is it too fantastic to say that most of the flying from eastern Europe and Western Asia to this continent will be done by way of the Polar regions and Canada ' s northern islands? And what of Canada ' s external air-connections? Every day the press con- tains reports of America ' s great attempt to span the Pacific by air (only lately we have seen the China Clipper make that dream a reality) , Britain ' s extension of her air lines to Hong-Kong, Germany ' s route to South America. But not a word of Canada, a nation more vitally interested in the problems of transporta- tion than the majority of others. And yet the gateway to this continent is by Canada. Montreal is nearer London and Chicago than is New York. The great circle between London and Chicago runs through Montreal. A Japanese, Chinese or a Russian aviator would fly to San Francisco nine times out of ten by way of Canada. To this must be added considerations inherent in the words of the trade mission sent by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce to the Orient in 1930, Japan, China and Hong-Kong constitute Canada ' s richest potential market. Moreover the conquest of the air has completely changed the question of the security of Canada. She need no longer hide behind the Monroe Doctrine or the British Navy. And as her southern boundary is probably the most secure in the world, she need only defend her coasts. A few aircraft carriers at Esquimalt and Halifax would render her independent of other powers for protection. At the moment her principal training centre is on the North shore of Lake Ontario, at Trenton, but it is 1000 miles from the East Coast and 2000 miles from the West. And who knows that the cause of world peace in the next hundred years may not lie in the air forces of the British Dominions, as it did in the navy of Great Britain between 1815-1914. Is Canada ready to join in this responsibility? Wake up, Canada! SUNSET THE golden sun is slowly setting behind low hills to the west, tinting a few feathery clouds, which are lazily drifting through the evening air, a glorious pink. There is no sound in the foliaged look-out on the cliff top, where I am standing, save a gentle rustling of leaves moved by a light breeze. A few hundred feet below white waves are forever lapping on the broad — 25 —