151 Squadron Annual Mess Dinner
Lviv Ukrainian Hall
Sunday, March 7

Our Guest Speaker and former Squadron Cadet

Dr. Richard Gimblett

Research Fellow with the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies at Dalhousie University; and Adjunct Professor of History at Queen's University in Kingston.

Do not forget to get your ticket for the Squadron’s Mess Dinner at tomorrow evenings training parade or email C/I Lauren Bliss at RSVP151@live.ca

Unfortunately the cadet program for an air cadet comes to an end once the cadet reaches the ripe old age of 19. This past Monday another cadet F/Sgt Cory Bliss reached that milestone and graduated from the cadet program. However the story does not end there as on Tuesday afternoon he was sworn in to the Canadian Forces (Navy) by his father Capt. Dale Bliss, one of the squadron's officers. The swearing in ceremony was carried out at the local Canadian Forces Recruiting unit and a large contingent of family and squadron staff attended. As you can see in the photo there were also a good number of his fellow cadets who came out to wish him well as he begins a career with the Canadian Forces.

Last Thursday the annual fund raising game between the Durham Regional Police Service and the Oldtimers Hockey team took place at the General Motors Centre here in Oshawa. Needless to say Durham Region’s finest did not manage to defeat the Oldtimers. However, it was a fun filled evening interspersed with the Police Band, precision skaters and of course the pee wee hockey players who had a chance to try their puck handling skills on the old timers.

Our band played a concert before the game and then they helped to pump up the crowd with some short bursts of popular music at appropriate moments during the game. As you can see they also played O Canada to open the evening’s festivities.

SHOOTING FEDERATION OF CANADA & THE CANADIAN SHOOTING SPORTS ASSOCIATION

2010 CANADIAN AIRGUN GRAND PRIX

Doubletree International Plaza Hotel in Toronto

Canadian Shooting Sports Association 28th Annual Canadian Airgun Grand Prix was held in Toronto on the February 19, 20 and 21. The Competition is the largest international airgun competition in North America. This year apparently for the first time cadets were allowed to parrticipate and of the 32 cadets in the competition F/Sgt Trepanier placed fourth overall. The cadets used their standard cadet air rifles in the competition but as you can see they also had a chance to check out some of the very expensive rifles that were used by the professionals in the actual Grand Prix shoot.

Honorable Members

Squadron Cadets

Remembering the Buffalo 9 may seem a strange title for this weeks Aviation photo. However the Buffalo aircraft pictured above is the type of transport aircraft that was flown by the Canadian Air Force in the Middle East when working with the United Nations. This particular aircraft is actually a memorial to nine service members who were killed over Syria on August the 9th, 1974 when aircraft # 461 was shot down by three Sam 6 missiles and crashed in the desert with the loss of all those on board. This particular air craft now at the museum in Hamilton was acquired by Canadian Warplane Heritage and rebuilt in the colors of the United Nations #461.

The Syrian missile attack represented the single greatest loss of life in a single event by Canadian peacekeepers. It was for this reason that the Canadian Association of Veterans in United Nations Peacekeeping (CAVUNP) representing military and civilian peacekeepers persuaded the government of Canada to set aside August 9th, as National Peacekeeper's Day.

This incident has a personal connection to our Squadron as few at 151 today know that that C/V Bob McMurtry one of the Squadron's staff could have been on this flight. Bob was serving in the air force at this time but instead of going out on this flight he chose to stay in Egypt to pack his gear for an up coming move.

This is a fascinating story and the details of the incident were quietly suppressed for many years. If you would like to read the whole story not only of the incident but how the aircraft was rebuilt go to:

 

14 Gold Medals
An Olympic World Record for Canada