VE1BC Spud Roscoe


The 2011 Trip
Part 166 – High River – VE6PD – VE6FS – Nanton Museum – River Roadside Bar and Grill
Saturday, May 14th, 2011 Joan had been up for awhile but I finally crawled out at 7:15AM to a nice sunny cloudless day. Those in charge of the campground kept stating it would be full this weekend. There were a lot of empty sites for a place that was to be full. I walked over to the funeral home and got a photocopy of the record of Nigel's, VE1NPS, relatives that are resting in the cemetery here. The funeral home butts up to the campground. Nigel's father grew up here in High River and his mother is a war bride from England. He wanted a photograph of his grandmother's grave but she does not have a head stone. So I phoned Barb, Nigel's XYL and explained it to her. I doubt I could find the grave without help if I drove to the cemetery. Nigel was out to the Ham Radio Flea Market in Halifax at the time I phoned. I tried to contact Joe, VE6PD, on 7055 kilohertz at 10AM. Nothing heard so I phoned him via On Star. We tried 7055 but could just tell each other was on and that was it. So I went back to the truck and had a chat with Joe via On Star. When I came back into the trailer I heard Howard, VE6FS, call CQ so answered him. Come to find out Howard and Joe are old friends and Joe was still on frequency. They had quite a chat to the point they were snail mailing things to each other. They terminated their contact at 10:47AM. In the end I could hear both but both had faded to nothing a couple of times. I put a handfull of peanuts out on the picnic table with hopes of having a squirrel find them and entertain us.
	This is what came and ate the peanuts. He was quite nervous and would not pose for a decent photograph.
There are a lot of deer around. Joan and Jeff passed a herd of about twenty head while driving over last evening. They are mule deer, the ones with the big ears but they do not move when you drive by. They simply ignore one and all. Joan and I went to Jeff and Jodi's at 11:45AM. We then took the dually down to Claresholm. Jodi was looking for a car. We visited all three; Chevy, Ford and Chrysler dealers but found nothing that looked promising. From there we went to the Nanton Air Museum at Nanton just up from Claresholm. That was very interesting and is probably one of the best air museums in Canada.
	The Nanton Air Museum Front Entrance.
	Both sides of that wall list the names of those who served in Bomber Command of the Royal Canadian Air Force and lost their lives.
	This is the front of the hanger that is alongside the west side of highway number two that runs through Nanton.

	This is the radio display and the Woman's Division display. The BC 348 R Receiver had two frequencies hand printed on it that I am unable to copy in the photograph. These two frequencies are post war as near as I can tell. One was 8364 kilohertz and that was definitely post war.
The Royal Canadian Air Force used two frequencies in radiotelegraph during World War II. 6666 kilohertz during the day and 3333 kilohertz during the night. The WD's as the girls were known in the Woman's Division monitored three frequencies. Two would be 3333 kilohertz and 6666 kilohertz and I have never been able to identify the third frequency. The girls monitored one frequency on speaker, one in the right ear piece of their headset and the third in the left ear piece of their headset. They could switch these frequencies around so that just one was in both ear pieces and so on. The only reason I mention this is that if you do not agree with me, contact me and tell me why you disagree.

I am a “truck nut” as you have probably gathered. This is most of their collection of beautiful old trucks.
	This was a radio repair truck. She looks quite capable of meeting any need in most swamps. Why is there a white star? I always thought that indicated an American vehicle.
	And of course when dealing with military history involving transportation there has to be a Jeep and this is a beautiful 1944 model. One can see it is another with the white star.

This is an air museum and there are plenty of old aircraft to keep one interested for hours. This Avro Lancaster Bomber was the one that started this museum twenty-five years ago this year.
	This is our son Jeff standing in front of a DeHavilland Tiger Moth. These were very popular back in the 1920's and 1930's and were built outside Toronto. Maybe assembled outside Toronto would be a better description. They were a British Aircraft.
	This is a Fleet Fawn. They were a Canadian product and the Fleet Canuck was a very popular small two seat aircraft after World War II. The Yukon Flying Service had two I believe for training back in the 1960's.
	This is a Beech 18 the British and British Commonwealth Air Forces called an Expeditor. This one was with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as CF-MPI from 1946 until 1973. The Canadian Department of Transport and the RCMP were two government organizations that used Beech 18 aircraft. There were also a number of Beech 18 aircraft in service with various private companies. I remember a number of them.
	I saw a Cessna AT17 at Falcon Field, Arizona, and mentioned to those at the museum that I felt it was called a Cessna Crane, although not absolutely certain I was correct. I was right, but it must have been a Canadian or British label. I remember one pilot stating that they were simply 2,000 aircraft parts flying in close formation when flying one.
	This is the T33 Silver Star on a pedestal outside the hangar on the north side. There is another jet on a pedestal outside the hangar on the south side that I failed to identify.
	This is the Rolls Royce Merlin Engine. They fail to mention that this engine also powered the Navy's Motor Torpedo Boats. HMC ML095 was fitted with these engines. For those who do not know naval terminology, that breaks down to Motor Launch 095. In other words, it was a B Class Fairmile Motor Launch. They had the letter Q as a prefix to their pendant number. This vessel had Q095 painted on both sides of her bow and on her stern. They were often called “Q Boats” and the Royal Canadian Navy had eighty of them during World War II. '95 is the only one I know that was fitted with Merlin Engines. Each Fairmile had two main engines for propulsion.
There were many other types of engines and aircraft at the museum. There was a Bristol Blenheim, Fairchild Cornell, North American Harvard, Canadair Tutor and they hope to have an Airspeed Oxford and an Anson on display in the future, to name a few. The museum is well worth a visit. We had a fantastic ham steak supper with Jeff and Jodi. We enjoyed email and internet while there. Jeff went back into the books to study for his course and we came back to the trailer. We arrived back at the trailer at 6:20PM. Still a nice sunny day but very windy. It does not bother we here among the trees that much. There were a few more campers in the campground when we arrived back. Joan and I walked over to the River Roadside Bar and Grill and joined Dick, Donna, Ramona, Robin and the others. One would have had to be there to believe it. How do they manage to make what they call live music so loud? No matter how loud it was there were those who wanted it louder. If the nuts that think they enjoy that do not have tinnitus, there is no reason why any of us should suffer from it. Joan and I had more than enough and walked home at 10:30PM and called it a day.

Click HERE to email Spud

The 2011 Trip

Part 166 – High River – VE6PD – VE6FS – Nanton Museum – River Roadside Bar and Grill

Saturday, May 14th, 2011

Joan had been up for awhile but I finally crawled out at 7:15AM to a nice sunny cloudless day. Those in charge of the campground kept stating it would be full this weekend. There were a lot of empty sites for a place that was to be full.

I walked over to the funeral home and got a photocopy of the record of Nigel's, VE1NPS, relatives that are resting in the cemetery here. The funeral home butts up to the campground. Nigel's father grew up here in High River and his mother is a war bride from England. He wanted a photograph of his grandmother's grave but she does not have a head stone. So I phoned Barb, Nigel's XYL and explained it to her. I doubt I could find the grave without help if I drove to the cemetery. Nigel was out to the Ham Radio Flea Market in Halifax at the time I phoned.

I tried to contact Joe, VE6PD, on 7055 kilohertz at 10AM. Nothing heard so I phoned him via On Star. We tried 7055 but could just tell each other was on and that was it. So I went back to the truck and had a chat with Joe via On Star. When I came back into the trailer I heard Howard, VE6FS, call CQ so answered him. Come to find out Howard and Joe are old friends and Joe was still on frequency. They had quite a chat to the point they were snail mailing things to each other. They terminated their contact at 10:47AM. In the end I could hear both but both had faded to nothing a couple of times.

I put a handfull of peanuts out on the picnic table with hopes of having a squirrel find them and entertain us.

This is what came and ate the peanuts. He was quite nervous and would not pose for a decent photograph.

There are a lot of deer around. Joan and Jeff passed a herd of about twenty head while driving over last evening. They are mule deer, the ones with the big ears but they do not move when you drive by. They simply ignore one and all.

Joan and I went to Jeff and Jodi's at 11:45AM. We then took the dually down to Claresholm. Jodi was looking for a car. We visited all three; Chevy, Ford and Chrysler dealers but found nothing that looked promising.

From there we went to the Nanton Air Museum at Nanton just up from Claresholm. That was very interesting and is probably one of the best air museums in Canada.

The Nanton Air Museum Front Entrance.

Both sides of that wall list the names of those who served in Bomber Command of the Royal Canadian Air Force and lost their lives.

This is the front of the hanger that is alongside the west side of highway number two that runs through Nanton.

This is the radio display and the Woman's Division display. The BC 348 R Receiver had two frequencies hand printed on it that I am unable to copy in the photograph. These two frequencies are post war as near as I can tell. One was 8364 kilohertz and that was definitely post war.

The Royal Canadian Air Force used two frequencies in radiotelegraph during World War II. 6666 kilohertz during the day and 3333 kilohertz during the night. The WD's as the girls were known in the Woman's Division monitored three frequencies. Two would be 3333 kilohertz and 6666 kilohertz and I have never been able to identify the third frequency. The girls monitored one frequency on speaker, one in the right ear piece of their headset and the third in the left ear piece of their headset. They could switch these frequencies around so that just one was in both ear pieces and so on. The only reason I mention this is that if you do not agree with me, contact me and tell me why you disagree.

I am a “truck nut” as you have probably gathered. This is most of their collection of beautiful old trucks.

This was a radio repair truck. She looks quite capable of meeting any need in most swamps. Why is there a white star? I always thought that indicated an American vehicle.

And of course when dealing with military history involving transportation there has to be a Jeep and this is a beautiful 1944 model. One can see it is another with the white star.

This is an air museum and there are plenty of old aircraft to keep one interested for hours. This Avro Lancaster Bomber was the one that started this museum twenty-five years ago this year.

This is our son Jeff standing in front of a DeHavilland Tiger Moth. These were very popular back in the 1920's and 1930's and were built outside Toronto. Maybe assembled outside Toronto would be a better description. They were a British Aircraft.

This is a Fleet Fawn. They were a Canadian product and the Fleet Canuck was a very popular small two seat aircraft after World War II. The Yukon Flying Service had two I believe for training back in the 1960's.

This is a Beech 18 the British and British Commonwealth Air Forces called an Expeditor. This one was with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as CF-MPI from 1946 until 1973. The Canadian Department of Transport and the RCMP were two government organizations that used Beech 18 aircraft. There were also a number of Beech 18 aircraft in service with various private companies. I remember a number of them.

I saw a Cessna AT17 at Falcon Field, Arizona, and mentioned to those at the museum that I felt it was called a Cessna Crane, although not absolutely certain I was correct. I was right, but it must have been a Canadian or British label. I remember one pilot stating that they were simply 2,000 aircraft parts flying in close formation when flying one.

This is the T33 Silver Star on a pedestal outside the hangar on the north side. There is another jet on a pedestal outside the hangar on the south side that I failed to identify.

This is the Rolls Royce Merlin Engine. They fail to mention that this engine also powered the Navy's Motor Torpedo Boats. HMC ML095 was fitted with these engines. For those who do not know naval terminology, that breaks down to Motor Launch 095. In other words, it was a B Class Fairmile Motor Launch. They had the letter Q as a prefix to their pendant number. This vessel had Q095 painted on both sides of her bow and on her stern. They were often called “Q Boats” and the Royal Canadian Navy had eighty of them during World War II. '95 is the only one I know that was fitted with Merlin Engines. Each Fairmile had two main engines for propulsion.

There were many other types of engines and aircraft at the museum. There was a Bristol Blenheim, Fairchild Cornell, North American Harvard, Canadair Tutor and they hope to have an Airspeed Oxford and an Anson on display in the future, to name a few. The museum is well worth a visit.

We had a fantastic ham steak supper with Jeff and Jodi. We enjoyed email and internet while there. Jeff went back into the books to study for his course and we came back to the trailer. We arrived back at the trailer at 6:20PM. Still a nice sunny day but very windy. It does not bother we here among the trees that much. There were a few more campers in the campground when we arrived back.

Joan and I walked over to the River Roadside Bar and Grill and joined Dick, Donna, Ramona, Robin and the others. One would have had to be there to believe it. How do they manage to make what they call live music so loud? No matter how loud it was there were those who wanted it louder. If the nuts that think they enjoy that do not have tinnitus, there is no reason why any of us should suffer from it. Joan and I had more than enough and walked home at 10:30PM and called it a day.

Click HERE to email Spud