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PUFA NEWSLETTER
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May 21, 2003
Fred Glasbergen, President
Daryl Hegyi, Vice-President
Sandra Clark, Treasurer
Debbie Major, Secretary
Mail to: Pacific Ultralight Flying Association
102-16071 82 Avenue
Surrey, B.C. V3S 2L6
PUFA Newsletter published by Glenn Ursel
PUFA Website Version edited by Walter Klatt
From The President
by Fred Glasbergen
The membership of our association is spreading out to cover more of the area like our name implies. We now have other flying schools’ operators from Duncan and Campbell River who have joined our association and are encouraging their students to join also. In light of this we should consider having some of our meetings at other locations so that our new members can attend.
The PUFA flyin at Hansen field on Cortes Island on May 18th was a huge success. A total of 14 airplanes made the journey from King George, Powell River, Duncan, Courtenay and Campbell River. The lunch the Hansens put on was just fabulous with fresh homemade bread and various cakes.
It was also good to see many ultralight pilots attended the Rust Seminar sponsored by the BC Floatplane Association. The speakers were Jerry Binema from Transport, Kevin Psutka from COPA, Jack Schoefield former editor from BC Aviator and John Lovelace from Wings over Canada. MLA Rich Coleman was also there for lunch and in his speech stated he was there to help with the BCFA effort to gain more access to BC parks.
At our next meeting we are going to try something a little different
by having the meeting at Glen Valley, preceded by a pot luck, and having
it on Saturday, May 31st. If anyone wants to stay overnight, there
is lots of room for camping.
Editorial Note
by Glenn Ursel
On the Queen Victoria birthday holiday last Monday, May 19th, Bob Christen organized a flyin to the Rowena airstrip by the Harrison River and Highway 9. The gaggle of planes that showed up included those of Bob Christen, Ken Hicks, Guy Shaddock, Julius Szalontai, fRed Baron, Jeff Rochon, Gordon Denham and me. Gordon and I arrived last and were given a ride up to the restaurant in a golf course people carrier. All enjoyed the lunch, scenery and visiting.
This past month of April has been a very historic kind of month since we first had the US and British coalition forces attacking Iraq ostensibly to deal with alleged concealed weapons of mass destruction, then citing the past atrocities of the evil dictator that America originally supported during the Iraqi war with Iran over Shiite fundamentalism. We’re still not sure what the real reason was but the jury is out on this one whether the volatile mixture of Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite peoples will be able to form a government stable enough that may eventually justify the bombing mayhem used to put down the Saddam Hussein regime.
As if this was not enough to get April, 2003 into the history books, we then had the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) apparently originating in the Guangdong province of China, then spreading to Hong Kong and other parts of Asia, then via daily unchecked planeloads of travellers to Vancouver and Toronto. While UBC medical researchers have recently determined the genome sequencing of the corona virus responsible for SARS, a vaccine to prevent the disease may be a long way off.
Another virus hazard we are shortly to face is the West Nile Virus that is expected to hit the local area in May when the mosquitoes start breeding. Experts tell us that 20% of people bitten with infected mosquitoes will only experience mild flu like symptoms but 1% may come down with meningitis, encephalitis or acute flaccid paralysis.
If you venture to Vancouver Island, you might also run into a deadly tropical fungus, cryptococcus neoformans, that occurs in tree bark, dirt and water from Victoria to Courtenay but was originally discovered in rotting trees at Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park near Parksville. While authorities are not sure how it came to the Island, the fungus is well established in other parts of the world and has adapted to the ecosystem on the Island.
The latest possible threat to our welfare is the discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, in a single cow in Alberta which apparently came from Saskatchewan. Authorities have quarantined the two herds and are now trying to figure out if the disease was imported or home grown by the illegal feeding of animal byproducts to the cattle. As you know, BSE causes Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease which is the human form of mad cow disease. It kills brain cells and creates gaps in tissue to give the brain a sponge-like appearance, eventually leaving its victims paralysed and mute.
What does this have to do with ultralighting? Well, not much I guess but it is interesting (to me) to record the context of the big picture that we ultralighters find ourselves immersed in. For this newsletter, we have a humorous story by Fred Baron which details his difficulties with adjusting to the reality of becoming a senior citizen. We also have a story of World War I flying aces which seems appropriate in light of the recent war in the Middle East in addition to the fact that it was 85 years ago on April 21st that the Red Baron was shot down in France.
Canada’s Worst Air Disaster occurred earlier today when a Cessna 152, a small two-seater (i.e. real) plane, crashed into a cemetery early this morning in central Newfoundland.
Newfie search and rescue workers have recovered 826 bodies so far and expect that number to climb as digging continues into the evening.
Gander NLFD (CP)*
*This alleged news article was faxed to me by the fRed Baron recently.
We may be over the hill but not under it. Well, here we are: there is snow on the mountain and very little fire in the furnace. The kick of the can is winding down, not that we are on the way out. But, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I happen to have been born at the end of the depression and now I get my pension. I don’t know how anybody can live on an old age pension, so save your money. My haircut was $10 but I kept seeing the sign at my favourite barber shop, Adib’s Cut in White Rock, listing “Pensioners - $9”. So, when I reached the start of my golden years and needed a haircut, off I went to receive the benefit of my pensioned off state. When I was trimmed to a picture of elegance, I stepped up to the cash register and handed my barber the $9. For my senior cut, I was told that the price was now $10! I said I was a senior but was promptly advised that the price of haircuts had gone up to $10 for seniors and $11 for regular cuts.
Well now, how can you figure that? I wait all that time to get a senior’s discount and my first senior’s haircut and they raise the price!! I thought it was a joke so there you go, you can’t count on anything. The situation now as I write, April 3rd, is that the powers that be, in their wisdom, have cut the benefits to seniors in the medical system. If you are not a senior, save your money but, if you have to go into an old age home, you will have to pay for it out of your savings to the tune of $3,000 minimum or more. If you have no money, the government pays so, when you’re saving for your old age, put it into coffee cans and bury them in your back yard. Draw a map where you hide the cans because, if you get Alzheimer’s, you will forget where you hid them.
This old age business is a tough row to hoe! Stay young as long as you can. Keep pumping that iron and do your power walks. At what age are you old? If you are a baseball, football or hockey player, you are too old at 40. How about 65? I guess, if you’re 80, you are ancient and, at 90, you might be classified as a fossil. Living in White Rock, BC, we are in the seniors’ capital of Canada. The statistics indicate that there are more seniors living in this small city than anywhere else in the country. There is a traffic cop to direct the steady stream of electric wheelchairs. There was a head on collision of 4 wheelchairs on the main drag at which 3 ambulances attended. Apparently one of the wheelchairs had an illegal chip in the computer that raised the top speed to a 40 mph range at which time the throttle stuck and all hell broke loose! The wheelchair ‘driver’ was charged with dangerous driving and given a breathalyser test. It was found that he had taken a double dose of Geratol and had his wheelchair confiscated. He was subsequently sentenced to a nursing home. Poor guy, he is doing life with no chance of parole!
Living in this area with all the senior car drivers can be challenging. You have to be on your guard at all times. When you are a senior, you tend to change your eating habits. You tend to eat a lot of roughage - lots of bran muffins, bran cereal, prune juice, prunes on your cereal and porridge. Sometimes the gas in the bowels is a problem, so make sure you get a dog. Have you noticed that a lot of old people have dogs? The reason for this is that, when you do a toot and the odour is a little toe curling, you can blame it on man’s best friend, poor old Snoopy.
I’m a fairly new senior so, when I went to ride the BC Ferries for free on Saturday, I was told I had to come back on weekdays. I’m getting to learn a few things. For instance, they have a senior’s coffee at McDonald’s. The bank has a discount if you put your money in the bank but, if you do that, the government will tax it so try to remember where the cans are in the back yard. Look at your map. I put 7 cans in the yard but the dog was watching me digging in the yard and hiding those cans. Old Snoopy thought it was a game and dug up a couple of those cans and re-buried them. Now I will need to borrow a metal detector to find them.
So far this senior’s life has its good side and bad side. I find that when I try to read something that the lighting in the house is not as good as it used to be. I need reading glasses. It’s not that my eyesight is failing. It’s the lighting that is not as good as it once was. That’s one thing. The aches and pains are creeping in. All those old wrestling injuries come back to haunt you. I used to get a haircut for a quarter when I was a kid. Now it’s $10 for a senior! I used to go to the movies for 15 cents. Now it’s 10 for us seniors. I knew at one time the name of all the movie stars like Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, etc. the name of all the singers like Hank Williams, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, etc. Now I can’t even pronounce the rap stars like Vanilla Ice, M.C. Moo, etc. What the hell is that? I call it crap, not rap! Do you think Andy Williams will make a comeback?
The whole world has changed. I can remember living in Vancouver and going downtown on the street car to the movies. There was the Plaza Theatre, the Paradise Theatre, The Dominion Theatre, etc. Even the drive-ins are all gone except for the Hillcrest. The Lougheed and the Delta Drive-Ins have memories... Well, at least the Orpheum Theatre is still there! I’m going to go downtown and see a movie there. Oh, oh! A friend just told me that they don’t have movies there anymore. I think he is mistaken. After all he is old and his memory is not as good as it used to be. It seems now that it’s harder to remember people’s names and dates. Oh well one good benefit is, if you watch a movie, you can see it again in a couple of weeks! It might seem familiar but you watch it again like you have never seen it before. On my pill list, I presently take Vitamin B12, C, E and multiple vitamins. Just in case these aren’t enough, I also take melatonin for memory benefits but it doesn’t seem to work... I’m a walking miracle; at least I’m walking... Hardly!
These days I often hang around with my fellow grey haired, geratol bunch. When the stories are about the good old days, I’m so old I can hardly remember any. But with SARS, West Nile Virus and the controversy over America attacking Iraq, we still find plenty to talk about.
Well I got to go. I have to look for my wallet. I can’t remember where I put it. I put it beside my car keys. So, if I find my car keys, I will find my wallet. Then I can go look for my car. Maybe I will stay home and have a nap, then have a prune cocktail and watch Lassie Come Home with that German Shepherd dog in it.
See ya! Tell me your name if I forget it will you?
fRed Baron
At the request of Josef Kietaibl, an impromptu meeting was held at the Java Hut on April 21st, 2003 to honour the most famous aviator of all time, Manfred von Richthofen, the bloody Red Baron! It was 85 years ago that Richthofen was shot down. Of course it is always a point of contention who brought him to his sad end. Billy Bishop (sic), a Canadian, claimed to have shot the Baron down but the shot may also have come from an Australian machine gun on the ground. But, at our meeting attended by Jeff Rochon, Rick Dunn, Julius Szalontai, Josef Kietaibl, Al Trautman, Glenn Ursel and myself, we all came to the conclusion that Snoopy shot him down. Josef brought black arm bands and flowers in remembrance of the great aviator. We all had a few words to say and a moment of silence was held. One bad note mentioned was that the previous day, April 20th, was Hitler’s birthday...
fRed Baron
Editor’s Note: While Billy Bishop, flying a Nieuport in mid-1917, did engage the Red Baron in an air battle and shot several bullets into the Red Baron’s red-painted Albatross, his gun jammed and the German ace flew masterfully twisting and turning to get away. By the autumn of 1917, Bishop was the most famous of all Allied aces having been credited with 47 kills at that point and eventually with 72 kills by the end of the war. This exchange was one of the few recorded duels between the great aces of the war. Since the Red Baron was shot down 85 years ago and, for most of us the details of World War I air battles are sketchy at best, I thought you might be interested in the following biographical details of the Red Baron’s life as gleaned from the Internet.
Manfred von Richthofen was born on May 2, 1892 in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw Poland). He died on April 21, 1918, age 25, in the skies over Vaux sur Somme, France. The Germans called him Der rote Kampfflieger (The Red Battle-Flyer), the French called him le petit rouge and he is known in the English speaking world as the Red Baron. In a time of wooden and fabric aircraft, when twenty air victories insured a pilot legendary status and the coveted Pour Le Mérite (the famous "Blue Max"), Richthofen had eighty victories and is regarded to this day as the ace of aces.
Manfred von Richthofen was born the son of Major Albrecht von Richthofen, a Prussian nobleman, and his wife, Kunigunde. (The name Richthofen means "court of judgement" and was bestowed by the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I.) Manfred was the eldest of three sons (the eldest child was his sister, Ilse). He was enrolled at age 11 at the military school at Wahlstatt and then attended the Royal Military Academy at Lichterfelde. Manfred was a far better athlete than he was a scholar and applied his horseback riding skills to become a cavalry officer. He was commissioned in April, 1911 in the 1st Regiment of Uhlans Kaiser Alexander III. He was promoted to Leutnant (English, Lieutenant) in 1912.
Unfortunately, twentieth century warfare had little use for mounted cavalry. The invention of the machine gun had led to the need for combat operations to be carried out from the relative safety of trenches dug into the countryside. When war broke out in August, 1914, Richthofen looked to the air service for a new challenge. He initially joined the Fliegertruppe (air service) in 1915 as an observer because the training course was shorter and would get him to combat faster. After meeting Oswald Boelcke, who would remain his hero and idol, Manfred was committed to becoming a pilot. After only 24 hours of flight training from his friend, Oberleutnant Georg Zeumer, he made his first solo flight on October 10, 1915. (He crashed his plane attempting to land.)
In 1915, while still flying with an instructor, Manfred shot down his first plane, a French fighter. By November 23rd, 1916, he had shot down 15 planes. By September 1st, 1917, the Red Baron had 60 victories to his credit. On April 21, 1918, Richthofen, flying a red-painted Fokker DR.1 triplane, followed the Sopwith Camel of Wilfred May, a Canadian, far into British territory. The end of the war was only months off by this time and the Germain air command faced both ever-improving British airplanes and their own dwindling numbers. The thrill of the hunt was all but gone for Baron von Richthofen as most of his peers had already been killed and his own wounds agonized him. Though the German air doctrine he himself wrote stated that "one should never obstinately stay with an opponent which, through bad shooting or skillful turning, he has been unable to shoot down while the battle lasts until it is far on the other side", he chased his Canadian quarry far deeper into enemy territory and far lower to the ground than his own doctrine permitted. May later said that it was only his erratic, untrained piloting which saved him. The Red Baron followed the erratic path of the novice pilot until a single bullet, shot from behind him, passed diagonally through his chest. The shot is commonly believed to have come from Australian gunners on the ground but might have also come from the guns of Canadian flier Arthur "Roy" Brown, also flying a Sopwith Camel, who was coming to May's aid. Manfred von Richthofen crashed into a field alongside the road from Corbie to Bray. His body was recovered by British forces and he was buried with full military honors.
Manfred's brother, Lothar (also a Pour le Mérite recipient) was himself recovering from being shot down when his older brother was killed in combat. He returned to Jagdgeschwader 1 and carried on the Richthofen tradition of fearlessness in combat in a blood-red fighter. Lothar was shot down again on August 13th, 1918 and forced into retirement with 40 kills. Manfred's eventual successor was Hermann Göring* who chose to paint his aircraft all-white, ending the reign of the blood-red German fighters.
Originally published on the Internet at: http://www.briggsenterprises.com/bluemax
*HISTORICAL NOTE: By the mid 1930's, WW1 flying ace Hermann Göring was an influential close friend of Hitler. As well as having created the Hermann Göring Panzer Division in his own name, Göring is also accredited with having created Germany's Luftwaffe, the hated Gestapo and also introduced the concentration camp to deal with the Jewish ‘problem’. Convicted of war crimes in 1946, he escaped the hangman's noose by committing suicide.
Originally published on the Internet at:
http://members.lycos.co.uk/worldwartwogroup/newpage10.html