Canada moves to 2% GDP end of FY25/26 - PMMC

[Colin Parkinson]

Mate, I'm so old that my first flight in the military (also first flight ever) was on a Yukon cross country shuttle. Add in Cosmos and the 707 shuttle. Had a short flight in a DC-3 out of Winnipeg once - an engine quit just after takeoff so quick turn around to land. Buffalos and Hercs. Once in a Tracker and once in the backseat of an F-5 on my FAC course. For helicopters the Kiowa, Huey and Voyageurs - a lot in the latter two.

Lot of air time for a mud gunner.

Edit - I actually have to correct that. My first and second flights ever were as a reservist in the back of a Herc. The Yukon was my first flight in the RegF and therefore my third flight.

Did the "Milk Runs" on the 707's several times to go to Shilo, Germany and Nova Scotia. RCAF box lunches were to die for and put modern airline food to shame. Watching the guys bound for detention in Edmonton, get less and less cocky as we got closer and white faced as they got off on their final stop. Finding a loaded pistol in the washroom of the AMU that some young officer with briefcase handcuffed to his wrist had forgotten was fun.

 

[MacNav63]

Did the "Milk Runs" on the 707's several times to go to Shilo, Germany and Nova Scotia. RCAF box lunches were to die for and put modern airline food to shame. Watching the guys bound for detention in Edmonton, get less and less cocky as we got closer and white faced as they got off on their final stop. Finding a loaded pistol in the washroom of the AMU that some young officer with briefcase handcuffed to his wrist had forgotten was fun.

Conversely, the eastbound flights would often arrive in Ottawa full of recruits on their way to Greenwood.

Flew from Lahr to Cyprus on vacation a couple of times as well.

Those 707s did yeoman's work.

 

[YZT580]

I can't say that I've heard that nickname before - were those the Labradors - the Navy version of the Voyageur?


I can't say that I've experienced much in the way of scheduling issues during my days. The service was Spartan but pretty decent. Priority 5 flying was always a bit of a risk especially for us army guys. Living in Shilo or Petawawa it was always a bit of a risk if you got bumped. Catching an alternate civilian flight was dreadfully expensive in those days. Airfares would make your eyes water. (Long distance telephone as well) I usually drove home for the Christmas and summer holidays - Once over the Lakehead in winter and thereafter through Chicago and Detroit.

I really can't complain about the RCAF in those days. They were pretty accommodating. When I was in Kingston for my command and staff course the Nav school in Winnipeg flew a Herc down to us to take all the western folks from Manitoba and Alberta home and back for the Thanksgiving weekend. Their box lunches were always better too.

Albatross Grumman HU-16. Last amphibious aircraft operated by Canada if you don't count the Otters on floats. We disposed of them around 1970 if I recall correctly. They were based in Trenton, Victoria that I know for sure.

 

[DBNSG]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I seem to recall the Priority 5 was also very egalitarian since it was based on time in rather than rank.

The RCAF did very well by my Dad over the years, right from the start of his post war career. He spent the summer of 1950 at Longue Pointe in COTC, but was due back in Calgary to get married at the end of August. Unfortunately there was a massive rail strike. Made it though thanks to the RCAF flying him out of St. Hubert. When he was first posted to Winnipeg and we were stuck in Ottawa for most of the first year trying to sell out house, he managed many a weekend home flying the back of, I believe, Expeditors.

A friend of mine's Dad was flying an Expediter over to Summerside from Shearwater one day and they had to turn back for "an at home emergency". When he rushed in the door his wife was stranded on a kitchen chair avoiding a mouse. Don't know what he told the mess .

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Noah is out with his latest weekly "This Week in Defence" subtitled "Special Army Rumor Edition." The first rumour is that the Leopard Extension Program is dead and that Canada is going for a new tank with IOC around 2033 and costing approximately $10 Billion CAD.

The second one was that for the MEDCAV Program the three leading contenders are the South Korean AS21 Redback, Germany's KF41 Lynx, and Sweden's CV-90 with the Redback and CV-90 top contenders.

Lots of other stuff in the newsletter, but those were the two that caught my eye. Full report can be found here:

This Week in Defence (Special Army Rumor Edition) (12/08/25): New Tanks, LUV Increase, ALAV numbers, MEDCAV options?, C9 apparently too

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