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The Rotary Club of Oshawa
Issue # 11
Week of Dec 11, 2016
This Year is Our 75th Anniversary
Cadets of the Week
Poinsettias
A reminder that those of you who have ordered poinsettias from the Squadron, they will be available for pickup Monday evening at the Squadron Headquarters.
Please make sure you pick them up between the hours of 3:00 and 9:30 PM at the hall. Unfortunately if plants are not picked up tomorrow, we can’t guarantee the quality as no one is available to look after them.
Summer Training Forms!!
Tomorrow night is the last night to submit your summer training forms to Mr. Weigel. Please make sure you have made your selections based on what you are eligible to apply for.
A New RCAF J Model Hercules Visits Oshawa Airport
We received word that the 436 Squadron RCAF based out of Trenton would be bringing a Herc into to Oshawa on Saturday afternoon and
would we like to meet the crew and tour the aircraft. Although we had to make some quick arrangements it did happen.
The aircraft was actually sent here to pick up members of the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada which parade out of
Moss Park Armoury in downtown Toronto. The members of the regiment were going on to Mountainview later on in the afternoon
for a practice parachute jump.
It is interesting to note that Captain D. Ebisuzaki, one of our alumni, is now a Hercules pilot flying with 436 Squadron.
Here is the big bird as it rolls on to the tarmac in front of the terminal building
Our cadets who had a chance to tour the Herc and meet the crew.
Members of the Glassy Boot Society
|
WO 1 C.Abraham |
CPL C.Ye |
WO2 M.Singh |
WO2 A.Carson |
F/Sgt. F.Chandler |
|
F/Sgt T.Talhouk |
F/Sgt D.Lloyd |
F/Cpl C.Lloyd |
Cpl K.Espe |
Sgt S.Scalia |
|
Sgt. D. Buller |
F/Sgt B.Wardell |
F/Cpl E. Boyden |
||
151 Squadron Cadet Power Flying Program at The Oshawa Airport
After an extensive certification process, we are once again back full force into
a power flying familiarization program for our cadets. We now have four pilots that have been approved by the Canadian Forces to fly our
cadets in civilian aircraft. Two of these pilots were out at the airport on Saturday morning flying our cadets.
The cadets who attended went on a 45 minute flight up to Lake Simcoe then east and back to Oshawa.
A great opportunity for our cadets and one which we plan to continue in the weeks and months ahead.
The photos that follow show the cadets as they went through the pre-flight checks with their pilot.
We are going to try to use Signup Genius to track cadets who have signed up. Our hope is to get a bunch of flying done over the Christmas Break and on whatever weekends we can.
To Sign up Please go to –
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0849AAAC2BA3FD0-familiarization
This is a fantastic opportunity to get up in the air and experience the thrill of flight for a very low cost. We do ask each cadet for $10.00 per flight to help the Squadron offset the cost of this very expensive program.
151 Squadron’s Annual
Tri Service Cadet Dinner and Dance Lviv Hall
It has been a long standing tradition that our squadron each year hosts a Tri Service Cadet Dinner and Dance for all the cadets in Durham region.
The cost includes not only a formal dance for the cadets but a full multi course dinner served by the staff of our squadron.
This year there were 350 cadets and approximately 50 staff in attendance.
Hundreds of photos were taken and a large number of
them are posted on the Squadron’s Facebook page under the heading 151 Chadburn Squadron.
What follows are a cross section of the many photos that were taken during the evening.
Thoughts from the Elliptical
Phew, another Tri-Service dinner and dance is behind us. All of the hype seems to have paid off with another fantastic show. During the early planning stages it was brought to my attention that last year we got a bit too big and we should limit the numbers this year to something that was more manageable and left a bit more room on the floor for people to move around. It was a tough call, but we did limit the number of tickets to 350, that would mean with all of the support staff and chaperones from the other units that we would be feeding over 400 people. I also had to make the tough decision to raise the price of tickets to $25.00 each (hard to be the guy who has to change something that has been in place for over 20 years), but anyone who has gone grocery shopping lately will know that everything is more expensive than it used to be.
Well, with a few hiccups along the way and some differing opinions on the way things should be done, Friday rolled around and as always, the Squadron staff came through. Actually, Thursday rolled around and the staff went in to high gear preparing the Lviv Hall, getting as much canteen and non-perishable food in position so that Friday would be just a little less hectic. I really dislike missing any portion of this event, but my work kept me away on Thursday and also on Friday morning, so the lion’s share of the hard stuff was done before I got involved.
I got the task of picking up ice cream for dessert and like most things we do, we go large. It might not be that big a deal in July, but I guess 55 Litres of ice cream when there are snow flurries outside raises some eyebrows.
I know roast beef isn’t every body’s dream food, but when I walked in to the kitchen on Friday afternoon and smelled over 150 pounds of beef cooking, it sure smelled like something close to what I imagine the kitchen in heaven smells like. I would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Flanagan (former Warrant Officer Flanagan-Dellipizzi’s grandparents) for all of their help with the food preparation. Mr. Flanagan has been a chef his entire adult life and it sure showed on Friday.
I could go on and on about this, and the effort of the staff certainly deserves it, from the guys that dug in so hard to help keep the dishes and cooking trays clean and ready to everyone who put on a smile and served the cadets and visiting staff with great efficiency, we had our normal great service from Mr. Dellipizzi and his team in the canteen and I can’t count the number of trips that Captain Chandler made back and forth to the hall putting supplies away as we finished with them. In past years I have actually tried to count up the number of ‘man’ hours this huge undertaking involves, I won’t do that this year. Just know that the effort of this group of volunteers to put this event on for the cadets of Durham Region is certainly a high point when I think of the things that happen under ‘my watch’ as CO.
I would like to say a special thank you to Second Lieutenant Di Loreto who agreed to head this event up at our staff meeting last spring. It takes the entire staff to make it work, but there is always that one person who has to deal with every little detail that if ignored can certainly ruin a very nice night. Emails and phone calls to all of the visiting units, making sure tickets were sold and accounted for properly, planning timings and serving sizes and the list goes on and on. BZ on a job very well done.
One more thing I would like to mention about the dance. I certainly do appreciate our cadets and their behaviour more every time I see them in a setting like this. From the “gentlemanly and ladylike” things I see to the proper manners and simple pleases and thank you’ s, it certainly makes me feel like our guys are paying attention to not only the cadet portion of their training, but also taking in the less obvious things that the staff encourage, (the proper wearing of the uniform and following dress regulations sure helps too) you guys certainly do make me feel like you are the best!
Looking through the list of Glassy Boot members, I am kind of disappointed with the low numbers, I see the number of cadets who come out week after week to shine their boots on Wednesday nights and can’t help but think that we should have many more people being recognized for their effort. Make sure you visit the SWO if you think your name should be on the list.
As we approach the end of the first part of the training year, we aren’t really ready to shut down. We will be roller skating in a couple of weeks, we will also be collecting non-perishable food items to donate to one of the local food banks that night. We hope to continue with the flying program through the break and get as many of our cadets up in the air as possible. We are also ramping up for the second half of the year which promises to be extremely busy as we plan our 75th anniversary celebrations at the end of the training year.
That’s all for now.
Stay Safe and Have a Great Week
Major Bliss
Our 75th Anniversary Photo
A Summer Camp Many Years Ago
This photo from our archives may appear to just be any group of cadets having some fun, true, but in this case it is where and when.
This photo showing Grant Stonehouse, Bob Rankine and Ed Stonebridge hamming it up was taken out side 151 Squadron’s tent
at RCAF Station Aylmer in the summer of 1953. Grant (on top) went on to become a flight instructor and later he became a
professional pilot flying aircraft such as Cansos around the world. Today Grant has retired but he is on our mailing list for this email.
So Grant if you catch this photo please send us a note about your adventures and we will put it in a future newsletter.
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151 Chadburn Squadron
Royal Canadian Air Cadets
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