Growing Collection of Reference Material

Since 2007 I've read numerous books about the Bomber Command, British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), etc. as I continue my research on the former Pennfield Ridge Air Station. However among my most treasured possessions are those book written by (or about) former airmen who passed through "the Ridge". Below are two such books I recently acquired.

The first one, "Samuel Charles Stanley (The RAF Years)", was researched, compiled and written by Chis Stanley's son--in-law, E.F. Cox. "Eddie" had ten copies printed for Chis' family, including his six children, and I was very fortunate to obtain a copy.

The second book, "It's All Pensionable Time (25 Years in the Royal Canadian Air Force)", was a gift from the author himself, George Sweanor. As George remarked to me 10 October 2011: "From Pennfield Ridge I went on the fly Wellington and Halifaxes with 419 Squadron, marry an English girl who has now put up with me for 69 years, get shot down on my 17th operation to spend 800 days as a POW much of it in the North (Great Escape) Compound of Stalag Luft III which became my Alma Mater. After the war I remained in the RCAF with NORAD here in Colorado Springs my last transfer before reaching the then compulsory retirement age of 47 in 1966."



Inscription on inside cover: "To Christian with thanks for all your help." Edward F Cox 4-11-11

Excerpt from the book: "Chis' train got into Saint John Railway station around 6:00 am. on the 15th of January. He then took a forty mile bus journey and arrived at No.34 O.T.U. Pennfield Ridge for his three month operational training course. This included instruction and training of the numerous bombing techniques.

However, it soon transpired that the start of Chis' course was going to be delayed by a couple of weeks, and that he would be given some leave whilst preceding courses were completed. Chis was given RAF permission to visit New York (about eighteen hours away) and after some delay sorting out the neccessary paperwork (for customs), he finally got to New York. Chis eentually started his Pennfield Ridge course (No.30), on the 31st January 1944."


Inscription on inside cover: "To Christian Larsen with thanks for keeping alive the memory of all those who served at Pennfield Ridge." George Sweanor Dec. 2011

Excerpt from the book: "Our ANS training was a concentrated 4-week course on astronomical navigation, and I spent 36 hours in the air, mostly at night, navigating solely by celestial means. At first, my errors were immense - like 60 miles or more. Sticking one's head out of the Anson's top hatch into a bittery-cold March slip-stream was not conducive to the steady concentration required for accurate sextant work. Our freezing fingers turned dials to rotate a mirror to superimpose the image of a chosen star onto a bubble which we tried to manipulate into the centre of the view-piece in order to line up the sextant with the horizon. This air bubble would bounce about, subject to all the accelerations of a vibrating aircraft and a shivering navigator. The first week, astro navigation seemed an impossible dream, but slowly our accuracy increased. It was worrisome that errors of 20 miles persisted because we were beginning to realize that accounts of precision navigation and precision bombing had little validity. If we had to bomb Germany at night under adverse conditions of weather and enemy action, how would we ever find precise targets, let alone hit them?"

We will remember them!

Lost Airmen of Buchenwald

Lost Airmen of Buchenwald is a documentary that chronicles the little-known story of Allied airmen imprisoned at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in the waning months of World War II.

In the summer of 1944, 168 airmen from the US, England, Canada and other Allied countries were captured in Paris by the German Gestapo and sent to the infamous "Koncentration Lager Buchenwald" in Germany. Falsely accused of being "terrorists and saboteurs," the airmen faced a terrifying fight for survival and a race against time to escape their execution.

A controversial moment in history that their home countries tried to hush-up, Lost Airmen of Buchenwald tells this harrowing story through interviews with seven surviving members of the group, including their heroic commanding officer. The film follows them from their days hiding with the French Resistance to the darkest corners of the Holocaust, where they struggled to survive as Germany collapsed under the weight of the advancing Russian and Allied armies.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: The seven airmen interviewed for the documentary were: Joe Moser, E.C. Freeman, Ed Carter-Edwards, Chasten Bowen, James Stewart, Don Shearer and Phil Lamason.

A copy of the DVD was presented to Pennfield Parish Military Historical Society 30 November 2011 by F/L James A. Stewart, DFC, ONB, one of the seven airmen interviewed.

For more information: http://www.lostairmen.com/

Rayne Shultz 1922-2011: Canadian war ace shot down three German bombers in one night in 1943

G/C R.D. Shultz (1922-2011)

Flying Officer Rayne “Joe” Schultz began the night that would define his war at a poker game — winning money for a change.

It made him reluctant to climb into his de Havilland Mosquito to launch another night patrol over the North Sea. But the moon was full on Dec. 10, 1943, which usually meant the Luftwaffe would be active: German bombers liked to take advantage of the added visibility.

Within minutes of taking to the air, Schultz and his navigator, Vern Williams, were directed toward a stream of bombers. Schultz shot down the first he encountered, then quickly came upon another. He fired at close range, exploding the plane’s bomb load, the fallout from which almost took out Schultz’s plane.

Williams then identified a third bomber, and Schultz began a 12,000-foot, descending battle. His instrument panel and port engine were destroyed by German gunners, but Schultz pressed the attack. Williams would describe its final moments to a Canadian Press reporter days later: “Rayne’s last burst of ammunition, the last we had, ganged him into the sea, and we pulled up just in time to miss going in ourselves.”

Schultz had destroyed three Luftwaffe planes in less than 15 minutes, a feat that earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross. He would destroy eight German planes during his night-fighting career, and gain a Bar for his DFC. He ended the war as one of Canada’s top-rated aces.

Schultz, who served 37 years in the Royal Canadian Air Force and retired as a Group Captain, died on Remembrance Day from what his daughter called “systems failure.” He was 88.

“Flying was his life,” said Schultz’s longtime friend, Maj.-Gen. (Ret.) Wilson Leach, former surgeon general of the Canadian Forces.

Leach said Schultz was famously headstrong: “He wasn’t shy about coming forward: he expressed his views to anybody and everybody, regardless of rank.”

Rayne Dennis Schultz was born on Dec. 17, 1922, in Bashaw, Alberta. His father, Albert, a German immigrant, worked for the railroad.

Young Rayne, however, had eyes only for airplanes.

Schultz enlisted in the RCAF at 17. Encouraged to be a navigator, he insisted on becoming a pilot. He earned his wings in April, 1942 and was sent overseas one month later.

His wing commander decided to make him a bomber pilot, but Schultz balked: he wanted a fighter. Although taken aback at the junior officer’s temerity, the commander agreed and Schultz was assigned to 410 Cougar Squadron.

The night fighter squadron’s job was to comb the skies over the North Sea for German bombers and to intercept them before they could inflict more damage on Britain’s cities. On-board radar was then in its infancy so pilots had to find and identify the planes before engaging them.

Schultz would point to a mission in which he made a near-fatal mistake as his “most interesting” of the war.

On Feb. 14, 1944, Schultz and Williams spotted a German bomber streaking home in the night sky. Schultz pursued it and set it on fire with his guns. Then, at Williams’ request, he flew in for a better look so they could identify the bomber’s exact model.

“It was the stupidest thing I ever did in my life,” Schultz once told an interviewer. “The airplane was completely in flames, but the mid-upper gunner was still in his turret.”

The turret swung towards Schultz, who broke hard to his left. It was too late: 13-mm rounds ripped into his plane from wingtip to wingtip.

Several bullets punctured the cockpit, one between the pilot and navigator. The engines were so badly damaged that the men prepared to bail out, but a ground controller told them the sea was too rough for them to be retrieved.

So Schultz nursed the ailing plane back to England. The engine quit as he reduced power; he had no brakes when he crash landed. Although it would never fly again, the Mosquito — the Canadian-built planes were made largely from wood — somehow held together.

After the war, Schultz continued to fly with the RCAF. It was while stationed at CFB Trenton that he met his wife, Mary.

Mary Butler was justice of the peace in nearby Belleville when Schultz and another airman were hauled in front of her for having open liquor in their car. Schultz was so taken with the justice that he asked her out, and when she refused, he sought her out twice more to restate his case.

“To her credit, she finally said, ‘yes,’” said Kathleen Boettger, the couple’s only daughter, who was born in 1950, two years after her parents married.

Kathleen grew up on airbases across Canada and around the world.

Schultz would fly every plane ever bought by the Canadian Forces, including the CF-101 Voodoo and CF-18. He piloted more than 40 airplanes in his career, which included many senior postings. Among other things, he was pilot representative on the Avro Arrow project and chief operations officer at RCAF Station Baden-Soellingen in Germany.

Schultz spent 10 years as the RCAF’s director of flight safety, and in 1978, he was awarded the prestigious Trans-Canada McKee Trophy for his work.

Lt.-Gen. (Ret.) Bill Carr, former leader of Air Command, said Schultz helped ensure that the Canadian Forces had one of the lowest accident rates in the world. “He knew airplanes and he knew aircrew,” Carr said. “He was a modest and incredible human being. He was a member of that breed that doesn’t much exist anymore."

Schultz was one of only 218 RCAF airmen to received a DFC and bar in the Second World War.

It was shortly after attending the funeral of his wartime navigator, Vern Williams, last year that Schultz fell and broke his leg. The injury triggered a decline from which he never recovered.

“He was a true officer and a gentleman,” said Boettger, a retired defence department policy analyst.

“He was a genuine person whom you could always rely on. He was a true inspiration."

F/O R.D. Schultz and F/O V.A. Williams

SOURCE: Ottawa Citizen (Ottawa, ON) - November 20, 2011.

TRANSCRIBER NOTES: G/C R.D. Shultz's navigator, F/O V.A. (Vern) Williams, was part of Air Observers Course No.29B at No.2 Air Navigation School, Pennfield Ridge.

A horse, hope and humanity

Remembering: Adopted mascot returned to N.B. with 8th Hussars Regiment

Two Members of the 8th Hussars Regiment with Princess
Louise after helping to rescue the wounded filly in Italy
during the Second World War.

SUSSEX - Princess Louise - the horse, not Queen Victoria's daughter - is buried beside a war memorial in a pretty little park outside the community centre in Hampton.

Rescued in 1944 from a battlefield in Italy by a battalion full of New Brunswick farm boys, Princess Louise was as sweet-tempered as a sugar cube and able to count out her age with her hoof. Adopted as a mascot by the 8th Hussars Regiment and named after the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria, she was secreted around Europe by soldiers as they fought the Germans, and smuggled into Canada following the Second World War.

Gordon and Mary Bickerton, who took
care of the Hussars' mascot horse Princess
Louise, stand in front of a mural on the side
of a building in Sussex.

"She loved the troops and the troops loved her," says Gordon Bickerton, 91, sitting at his kitchen table in Sussex, a rural town east of Saint John where an equestrian centre and sports park carries the horse's name, and a mural of her is painted on the side of a building just off its main thoroughfare. "She was very kind and easy to look after."

Assigned to take care of Princess Louise after she was brought to Sussex to be reunited with the 8th Princess Louise's Hussars, Bickerton drove her to military parades across the Maritimes, where she marched at the front and was saluted by soldiers.

"Sometimes, during the parades, she fell asleep," says Bickerton, who joined the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps in 1941 and in 1948 joined the Hussars as a tank and truck mechanic, a position he held for 25 years. "Eventually, I'd have to tug on her ear and say, 'Princess Louise, wake up!'?

On a day for remembering fallen soldiers, aged veterans will gather around the cenotaph in Hampton today and think of their comrades and, undoubtedly, Princess Louise. They have never forgotten the horse who brought a touch of humanity to the killing fields of Europe.

Amidst all that bloodshed and chaos and agony, she reminded them of New Brunswick's rolling countryside and the things they cherished back home.

"At the time, we were soldiers doing a difficult job and mostly thankful that we were still alive," Frank Gaunce, 99, says as he sits beside his hospital bed in Sussex, where he is recovering from a broken hip. A member of the 8th Hussars Regiment, he was on the battlefield on the sweltering night of Sept. 16, 1944, when Princess Louise was discovered, months old and crying with a belly wound and walking circles around her dead mother. "Having that horse around helped raise our morale."

A battle unit based in Sussex with ties to Canada's oldest cavalry regiment, the Hussars retrieved Princess Louise from the front lines with artillery above their heads. They then took her to a company medic, who treated her wounds, and after that they took turns changing her bandages to prevent infection.

As the war ground on, they concealed her in a truck in which they had built her a stall and took her everywhere they went, through Italy, France and Holland.

When they war ended, they placed her in a pasture in Holland and, against orders, arranged for her to be shipped to New York aboard a Dutch liner.

A few months later after crossing the ocean, Princess Louise was met by one of the Hussars in New York, and then placed aboard a train and taken to Saint John, where she arrived on March 27, 1946 and was greeted by a military honour guard, the city's mayor and thunderous cheers.

The following day, children were let out of school to watch as she was paraded through the streets of neighbouring Rothesay, and then was taken to the courthouse steps in Hampton where she was given a bale of hay, bag of oats and a shovel, and made a naturalized citizen of Canada, a free woman of Kings County and a full-fledged member of the local Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.

Her last pair of horseshoes are displayed at the Legion hall in Hampton, a short distance from where she lays at rest beside the cenotaph along with her daughter, Princess Louise II. Princess Louise was 29 when she died in 1973, and Princess Louise II, who assumed the role of the Hussars' mascot after her mother, died at age 27 in 1981.

Princess Louise and her daughter Princess Louise II, both of
whim served as mascots for the 8th Hussars Regiment are
buried together near the cenotaph in Hampton

A piece of history, the beloved filly was written about in a children's book by Ana Dearborn-Watts and chronicled by the Reader's Digest. A hit everywhere she went, in parades she was dressed in Hussars' regalia and, occasionally, she misbehaved.

Once, she ate a bouquet of flowers intended for the guest of honour at a ceremonial parade, another time she left a deposit at the legislature. Often, when she was supposed to be standing at attention, she was digging through the pockets of Bickerton's wife, Mary, searching for sugar cubes.

Always, she ate like a horse, favouring equine staples, as well as tobacco, whiskey and beer.`

"She ate just about anything," says Mary Bickerton, 85, who on Nov. 20 will celebrate her 68th wedding anniversary with Gordon. "The only thing she didn't eat was cheese."

On Princess Louise's 25th birthday, a party was thrown in Sussex, the home of the Hussars. The chef at a local military base baked her a cake out of oatmeal and cigarettes and layered it with icing and raw carrots.

Gordon Bickerton presented it to Princess Louise, who eyeballed it for a second.

"Then she drove her nose into the middle of it, nearly up to her eyes," he says. "She nearly knocked me down. She split the cake in two."

A native of England who moved to New Brunswick as a baby, Bickerton enlisted in the Second World War. He was in London, walking in Trafalgar Sqaure, when he and an Army buddy met Mary and a friend.

In no time the boys were chatting them up and the couples paired off. Later that night, they thought better of their choices, and switched - and now the Bickertons have been together seven decades, have three children, six grandchildren and six great-great grandkids.

A native of London, Mary moved to rural New Brunswick following the war, to Millstream, near Sussex.

"I knew there was no water in the house and I knew there was an outhouse way out back with catalogues that weren't there for reading, but hearing about it is one thing and living it is something else," she says.

Now, of course, that seems long ago, and it is. But they share a lifetime of memories, and a love for a horse that was rescued from a battlefield in Italy.

One time, while trying to apply for a military medal for Princess Louise, the Bickertons chased her around a field in Sussex trying to get her to step on an ink pad because the form required her signature.

"She looked at us like we were crazy," Mary says.

A former member of the Canadian Women's Army Corps, she helped her husband in the keeping of Princess Louise.

"The children used to call me 'the horse's mother'," she says. "They could have called me something worse."

SOURCE: The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal (Saint John, NB) - November 11, 2011.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: Princess Louise made numerous appearances at Camp Utopia during the 1950's.

Services remember history, fallen

Column: Fourth of a four-part series of columns remembering those who served at Pennfield Ridge Air Station.

Since 2009, the Pennfield Parish Military Historical Society has been hosting the Pennfield Ridge War Memorial Service. The overall purpose of the service is to "Honour the seventy-eight (78) service personnel killed at these two Charlotte County bases; remember those who have since gone on to join their comrades in the sky and listen to the stories from those we still have with us."

To aid us in hosting these services, we have spent countless hours pouring through microfilms, acquiring aircraft accident reports, scouring old newspapers looking for news accounts, etc. Recording the numerous “prangs” however was just the first step and once completed we began the arduous task to seek out the families of those killed at the base.

This past July we hosted our third memorial service and held a banquet dinner at the St. George Legion to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Pennfield Ridge Air Station. Next year we will celebrate the 70th anniversary of A-30 Canadian Infantry Training Centre (Camp Utopia) and the 80th anniversary of the landing of Capt. James Mollison.

On 2 December 2010, as we continued our on-going research for locating families members and preparations for the pending memorial service, we received a phone call from Frank V Burnham from Sidmouth, England. We had previously contacted Frank’s cousin Michael Burnham who had visited here in September 2008. With the encouragement of his cousin Michael and with an invitation from our society to attend the upcoming memorial service, Frank made plans to make his first trip to Canada.

On Friday 22 July Frank flew into the Greater Moncton International Airport where a welcoming committee of four met him. Shortly before his arrival Everett McQuinn, a Second World War Veteran and a member of the Turnbull Chapter (CAHS), turned to me and asked me if I knew what Mr. Burnham looked like. I told him I did not and with the words still lingering in the air I said: “Here he comes now” which received a puzzled look from McQuinn. Although I did not know what he looked like, I had seen 2 photographs of his brother Hugh, and coming down the ramp was an older gentleman who bore a strong striking resemblance to Hugh.

Brenda Ferguson, Mayor George LeBlanc, Frank Burnham,
Christian Larsen & Everett McQuinn

Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc, who officially welcomed Mr. Burnham to the city, soon joined us and presented Mr. Burnham with a gift from Mayor and council. From the airport we ventured off to Elmwood Cemetery where Mr. Burnham knelt before the grave of his long-lost brother, whispered a final prayer and said farewell 68 years later. He also paid his final respects to P/O P.L. Edmond (RAAF) who is buried next to Hugh. The third crewmember, Sgt. J.E. Hogan, lies buried at St. Bernard’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, our last stop before leaving Moncton.

Frank Burnham visits the grave of his brother for the first time.

We then headed off to St. Andrews where he spent the weekend at a lovely bed and breakfast within the historic seaside resort community. F/L James A. (Jim) Stewart, DFC, ONB (Ret.) was gracious enough to provide Mr. Burnham a tour of the area on Saturday and brought him to the memorial service on Sunday.

Jim Stewart has been accommodating enough to lay the RAF wreath every year since we began hosting these services. Although never stationed at Pennfield Ridge. he did receive a portion of his training in Canada at No. 39 Flying Service Training School, Swift Current, SK in 1942. The closest he came to Pennfield Ridge, during the Second World War, was when the train he was aboard rolled through Moncton on the way to No.1 “Y” Depot in Halifax, NS.

At the conclusion of the banquet dinner, where both Frank and Jim were guest of honour, we took Frank on a brief tour of the base to see where Hugh spent some of his final days and then back to St. Andrews for the night.

The following day we returned Frank to Moncton so he could begin the journey back to England. Upon his return home Frank wrote, in part, “I did appreciate the memorial service and all that you are doing to keep alive the need to remember those who gave their lives in the doing of their duty to the security of our country.”

We look forward to the next memorial service and hopefully being joined by yet more family members. The memories of long ago are still very much present in all those who remember the base – Veterans, family members who have heard the stories or the older members of our community who were a part of the greatest generation.

The purpose of these columns is to awaken the general public interest and in addition, to bring forth more of the unrecorded history of this “Forgotten Base”.

The base had a major economic impact on the communities surrounding it from St. Stephen to Saint John and all points in between. However, 70 years later, there is nothing to suggest the significant role those blueberry fields played in the allies winning the war. Recording this history (still on-going) makes us realize that one should not be able to drive by this base without knowing its existence. Provincial Historic Designation is currently being sought so this location can be properly marked and perhaps a place created where people can read some of the stories and see photographs of what took place here. We need to remember all those who served and make sure the forgotten heroes, those who died in the preparation of war before their finest hour such as Sgt. H.J. (Hugh) Burnham, are honoured.

Per Ardua Ad Astra.

SOURCE: The Saint Croix Courier (St. Stephen, NB) - November 8, 2011.

Remembering Sgt. Hubert John Burnham

Column: Third of a four-part series of columns remembering those who served at Pennfield Ridge Air Station.

As mentioned in Tuesday's column, one of the 1943 crashes was that of Ventura AJ211 near Richibucto on 8 February 1943 claiming Sgt. Hubert John (Hugh) Burnham (RAAF) (Pilot) and two others.

Hugh was born 5 September 1923 in Worthing, Sussex, England to Albert George and Doris May Burnham. At the age of 15 he traveled to Australia under the Big Brother Movement that was organized by the Boy Scouts. The idea of the program was to provide young men an opportunity to start a new life in an exciting developing country. It was here that Hugh worked as a Farm and Station Hand at “Innesfail” in Gurley, NSW, Australia.

On 1 March 1941 Hugh submitted an “Application for Air Crew” but being only 17 years of age he was not accepted. With his ultimate goal of returning back to England he was not put off and 9 September 1941 he enrolled himself in the reserves. On 11 October 1941 he enlisted himself in the permanent forces of the Royal Australian Air Forces.

At once he was sent to No.2 Initial Training School in Lindfield to begin his training, and by December was to begin his pilot training. On 22 May 1942 he was attached to the Royal Canadian Air Force and embarked Melborne the following day aboard the Argentina to continue his training in Canada. He arrived in San Francisco harbour 20 June 1942.

Upon his arrival he began a journey across Canada, via train, with his first stop three days later at No.33 Service Flying Training School in Carberry, Manitoba. It was here, upon graduation, that he was awarded his Flying Badge and promoted to the rank of Sergeant 23 October 1942. He was then granted a 14-day leave and, upon completion of the leave, was to report to No.34 Operational Training Unit at Pennfield Ridge.

Hugh arrived at No.34 OTU 7 November 1943 to be part of Course No.6 (Pilots) that began 9 November 1943. The cold winter weather of the Maritimes was not kind to Hugh and he spent, in total, 11 days in the station hospital in December during two separate visits.

On 16 January 1943 Course No.6 was detached to No.34 OTU Detachment in Yarmouth, NS for their armament-training portion of the course. As the Station ORB recounts: “A shuttle service of aircraft was arranged, but the weather closed in at Yarmouth with the result that only two Ansons and one Ventura were able to land there, the remaining aircraft being recalled to Base.”

The Ventura that landed was Ventura AE926 containing five airmen from Course No.6 as passengers, one of them being Burnham. Upon landing the starboard undercarriage collapsed but none of those aboard where injured.

Two days short of returning back to Pennfield Ridge for graduation, Sgt. H.J. Burnham and crew of two climbed into Ventura AJ211 and took off from Yarmouth at 5:50am. on a cross-country navigation exercise.

From Yarmouth they flew to Bridgewater and then onto West Point, PEI where they turned West and began to head towards Blissville (near Fredericton). The last contact from the aircraft was received at 6:27am and what transpired over the next 48 minutes remains unknown. What is known is that at 7:15am. Ventura AJ211 crashed 4 miles from Richibucto, and exploded on impact killing the entire crew.

The crew were brought back to Moncton and laid to rest with full military honour at Elmwood Cemetery 11 February 1943. The mourning, bearer and firing parties were made up of airmen from No.31 RAF Depot and No.8 SFTS, both from Moncton.

There would be two crashes in 1944 that claimed, in total, four airmen and another two crashes in 1945 that claimed 8 airmen.

Since January 2007 Pennfield Parish Military Historical Society (PPMHS) has been working hard to record the history of the Pennfield Ridge Air Station and A-30 Canadian Infantry Training Centre, CA (Camp Utopia). Our primary focus is honouring and remembering the 78 service personnel, along with the 7 civilians, killed at the Air Station and Camp Utopia.

On Tuesday: Services remember history, fallen

SOURCE: The Saint Croix Courier (St. Stephen, NB) - November 4, 2011.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The above noted story as originally written vs the shortened one that appeared in the newspaper.

A dangerous time

Column: Second of a four-part series of columns remembering those who served at Pennfield Ridge Air Station.

After No.2 ANS closed it became No.34 Operational Training Unit (OTU), an RAF base, on 1 June 1942 flying the Lockheed Vega-Ventura. The Ventura was a twin-engine medium bomber designed to train crews destined for a Medium Bomber Squadron overseas.

It was during the tenure of No.34 OTU that close to 81% of the fatalities took place, almost 62% of those occurring in 1943 alone, with 12 fatal crashes and 5 additional aircraft being listed as “missing”.

In 1997 F/L John Park (Ret.) of Bass Hill, Australia remarked: "Such 'prangs' were quite common with 'circuits and bumps' as this was the last stop before Europe and the real thing."

Ventura AE950 would disappear over the Bay of Fundy 23 July 1942 with a crew of two; Ventura AE932 would crash 4 miles NE of Caledonia, NS and Ventura AE868 would crash on the aerodrome at “the Ridge”.

In regards to the latter crash it was witnessed by many airmen and has been recounted numerous times in print, video and verbal narratives. Anyone who witnessed the horrific crash has never forgot it no matter how hard they have tried to eradicate its memories from the pages of their mind.

The devastation of 1943 began 23 January 1943 when Ventura AE872 crashed at Hills Mountain (near Waweig) and did not let up until 10 August 1943. During this period at least one aircraft a month would crash – January and February would see 2 whereas June would see 3. To close out the year, on 19 December 1943, the Angel of Death would claim four more airmen when Ventura FD697 struck the 30’ water level indicator atop an 80’ water tower in the marshalling yards at McAdam Junction.

It was one of these crashes in 1943 that would claim the life of Sgt. H.J. (Hugh) Burnham and his crew on a cold February morning.

One of the more tragic tales is the crash of Ventura FN973 10 August 1943. On that day, the crew of Ventura FN973 was detailed to fly a cross-country mission lasting approx. 3 hrs. At 1855 they completed their task and upon return, radioed the control tower asking for permission to bomb the Utopia Range. The aircraft never made it to the range and at 1900 hours it was spotted heading out to sea. The following day Ozra Newman and his son Lawrence, of Wilson’s Beach, and another fishing vessel from Grand Manan came upon wreckage from Ventura FN973 about two hundred yards north of White Horse Island. One of the objects recovered was a life raft partially filled with water. Tangled within the ropes was the body of the Navigator, P/O R.A. Ledingham (RCAF) who survived the initial crash and later succumbed to his injuries and exposure. The other three-crew members were never found and the cause of the crash remains “obscure”.

Sometime between 1943 and 1959 an airman from the base, who was at the crash site at Hills Mountain, wrote: “We kept losing aircraft after aircraft and no one knew the reason. So many people were killed that we had to have practically a permanent funeral party. All the fatalities were among the student crews and never with the instructors. Naturally morale was rather low. It wasn’t until about mid 1943 that we found the answer.”

The answer the airman was referring to came from the investigation into Ventura AE678 that “forced” landed near the Burns Road in Digdeguash 29 May 1943. The crash killed the Pilot and injured the WAG but the aircraft itself, although it struck a tree, did not burn and was not extensively damaged. Upon examination of the wreckage it was discovered the Stromberg carburetors were full of air.

The practice of switching over to a full tank was to switch the cocks to the tanks required, then put the booster pumps on. However if the booster pumps were switched on first then it would pump air from the nearly empty tank into the carburetor stopping the engine dead. To correct this problem the carburetors were installed with a bleed pipe back to the main tank. No more aircraft were lost in this way again.

Since January 2007 Pennfield Parish Military Historical Society (PPMHS) has been working hard to record the history of the Pennfield Ridge Air Station and A-30 Canadian Infantry Training Centre, CA (Camp Utopia). Our primary focus is honouring and remembering the 78 service personnel, along with the 7 civilians, killed at the Air Station and Camp Utopia.

On Friday: Remembering Sgt. Hubert John Burnham

SOURCE: The Saint Croix Courier (St. Stephen, NB) - November 1, 2011.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The above noted story as originally written vs the shortened one that appeared in the newspaper.

Would-be rescuers mark first station fatalities

Column: first of a four-part series of columns remembering those who served at Pennfield Ridge Air Station.

A lot of changes have occurred at the former Pennfield Ridge Air Station since it closed towards the end of 1945.

This column, along with the next three to follow, is intended to focus on the 170 accidents and/or mishaps (“prangs”) at the Pennfield Ridge Air Station and ultimately honour Sgt. Hubert John (Hugh) Burnham, RAAF (Pilot). Burnham, a 19 year old from Worthing, Sussex, England serving in the Royal Australian Air Force, was chosen to represent all those killed at Pennfield Ridge due to a recent visit by his younger brother Frank V Burnham this past July. Frank, now age 86, made the journey from his native England to Canada to say his final goodbye to his beloved Hugh 68 years later. Frank represents, for many of the Commonwealth airmen killed at “the Ridge”, what numerous families have not been able to do – bid farewell to those brave airmen lost so long ago.

The former base holds a special place in the hearts and minds of those who served there. For many airmen it would be the last place in Canada they would spend their time before being posted overseas. It was here friendships would be forged that would be life long, especially those who “crewed” up and later served together in battle squadrons overseas. We have discovered that once a Veteran begins to talk about Pennfield Ridge it is hard for him to share any other memories. Family members, the next generation, have often heard the stories about Pennfield Ridge or have come across the name when they begin their own research. This is why we have heard from 24 Veterans and over 120 family members since 2007, many of whom we still maintain fairly regular contact.

There were fourteen fatal crashes in various parts of New Brunswick (9), Nova Scotia (4) and Rhode Island (1) that account for the loss of 40 airmen. Another seven aircraft crashed into various bodies of water accounting for 21/22 airmen and 1 seaman (passenger) being listed as “missing”. Families struggling with the sudden loss of loved ones were further compounded with the waiting for additional word. Long after all the searches were abandoned and all hopes for a positive outcome were exhausted; “presumption” of death was finally issued. The remaining seven airmen died from natural causes.

The base officially opened 21 July 1941 as No.2 Air Navigation School (ANS), an RCAF base, operating the Avro Anson, the mainstay of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). Sixteen days after the base opened the first minor mishap transpired when an Anson “…overran the runway into a ditch”, and then nineteen days later the first fatal crash befell the base involving two aircraft and nine airmen.

The first aircraft, Anson 6649, was out on a night navigation exercise with a crew of five when it became lost near Liverpool, NS. Dropping flares and flooding the shore with a landing light, the crew was unable to find a suitable place to land. The pilot, F/O John Barneson, a native of San Francisco serving in the RCAF, climbed to 6,000 feet and ordered the crew to bail out around 3:30 a.m. The entire crew, save Sgt. J.H. McKay who fractured his arm when he struck the tail of the plane while bailing out, escaped unharmed.

Before the crew of Anson 6649 was reported safe, a search party from Pennfield Ridge was organized.

One of the searching aircraft was Anson 6644 with a crew of four, including the pilot F/L Walter Samuel “Leslie” Smallman (RAF) who had been residing in St. George with his wife Mollie and young son since July 1941. Spotting a bonfire around 7:00 a.m. Smallman put the aircraft into a steep diving turn toward the East and as it banked, possibly with the pilot’s vision being aggravated by glare from the rising sun, the port wing struck a tree and disintegrated killing the entire crew.

This was to be the only fatal crash at No.2 ANS which existed for just over 10 months and the final line of the Station ORB reflects the mood of the station that day: "A very 'blue' Monday."

Since January 2007 Pennfield Parish Military Historical Society (PPMHS) has been working hard to record the history of the Pennfield Ridge Air Station and A-30 Canadian Infantry Training Centre, CA (Camp Utopia). Our primary focus is honouring and remembering the 78 service personnel, along with the 7 civilians, killed at the Air Station and Camp Utopia.

On Tuesday: A dangerous time

SOURCE: The Saint Croix Courier (St. Stephen, NB) - October 25, 2011.

Reflections, Pennfield Ridge Air Station

A lot of changes have occurred at the former Pennfield Ridge Air Station since it closed towards the end of 1945. So much unwritten history is located on this hallow piece of ground and yet many of those unrecorded voices have been silenced by the cold hand of death. Priceless memories continually slip through the hourglass of time to be forever lost in the continuum of life. It's now a race against father time and he, as always, has the advantage on his side. Also, so many unfilled dreams of a brighter tomorrow ended before they really had a chance to begin. The youthful exuberance of the innocent and an uncertainty of a tomorrow often exacted a high toll on those who answered the call of duty.

Since January 2007 Pennfield Parish Military Historical Society (PPMHS) has been working hard to record the history of the Pennfield Ridge Air Station and A-30 Canadian Infantry Training Centre, CA (Camp Utopia). Our primary focus is honouring and remembering the 78 service personnel, along with the 7 civilians, killed at the Air Station and Camp Utopia.

Our column is intended to focus on Pennfield Ridge Air Station. The former base holds a special place in the hearts and minds of those who served there. For many airmen it would be the last place in Canada they would spend their time before being posted overseas. It was here friendships would be forged that would be life long, especially those who "crewed" up and later served together in battle squadrons overseas. We have discovered that once a Veteran begins to talk about Pennfield Ridge it is hard for him to share any other memories. Family members, the next generation, have often heard the stories about Pennfield Ridge or have come across the name when they begin their own research. This is why we have heard from 23 Veterans and over 120 family members since 2007, many of whom we still maintain fairly regular contact.

There were fourteen fatal crashes in various parts of New Brunswick (9), Nova Scotia (4) and Rhode Island (1) that account for the loss of 40 airmen. Another seven aircraft crashed into various bodies of water accounting for 21/22 airmen and 1 seaman (passenger) being listed as “missing”. Families struggling with the sudden loss of loved ones were further compounded with the waiting for additional word. Long after all the searches were abandoned and all hopes for a positive outcome were exhausted; “presumption” of death was finally issued. The remaining seven airmen died from natural causes.

One of the more tragic tales is the crash of Ventura FN973 10 August 1943. On that day, the crew of Ventura FN973 was detailed to fly a cross-country mission lasting approx. 3 hrs. At 1855 they completed their task and upon return, radioed the control tower asking for permission to bomb the Utopia Range. The aircraft never made it to the range and at 1900 hours it was spotted heading out to sea. The following day Ozra Newman and his son Lawrence, of Wilson’s Beach, and another fishing vessel from Grand Manan came upon wreckage from Ventura FN973 about two hundreds yards north of White Horse Island. One of the objects recovered was a life raft partially filled with water. Tangled within the ropes was the body of the Navigator, P/O R.A. Ledingham (RCAF) who survived the initial crash and later succumbed to his injuries and exposure. The other three-crew members were never found and the cause of the crash remains “obscure”.

A total of 27 members of the Royal Canadian Air Force, save one, were all returned to their native provinces for burial. The other airmen from Commonwealth Countries (9 Royal Air Force, 6 Royal Australian Air Force and 6 Royal New Zealand Air Force), were buried with full military honours near where they were killed or died. Family members were sometimes sent photographs from the military funerals and were always left with more questions than answers. Many of these questions have gone unanswered for 60 plus years now. We have discovered it is now the second generation who have picked up the torch and have begun the search for answers.

Sgt. R.F. (Ron) Brier’s younger sister June (along with her husband) and a niece (daughter of another sister) made the trip from New Zealand to Canada in June 2000. The niece later remarked, “It was a cold, miserable, foggy day and it was a very bleak isolated place but it was wonderful to BE THERE. and to walk were Ron had walked. We only stayed about 1/4 hour and felt that we could understand what the flying conditions would have been like.”

Helping to answer those long held unanswered questions is why we have spent countless hours pouring through microfilms, acquiring aircraft accident reports, scouring old newspapers looking for news accounts, etc. To date we have documented over 170 accidents and/or mishaps that occurred at the former Air Station.

The majority of these accidents and/or mishaps naturally relate to aircraft accidents. In addition to the 70 service personnel killed, another two airmen were “seriously” injured; fifteen airmen were “slightly” injured and another seven airmen bailed out of their respective aircrafts. A couple of the reports pertain to fires at the Quonset huts at the bombing range in Musquash and five relate to various car accidents involving, in total, 16 airmen (1 fatality) and 3 civilian fire fighters stationed at the base.

One these vehicle reports relates to Military Transport Vehicle enroute to Saint John to take volunteer blood donors to the hospital 19 February 1942. An icy road caused the wagon to skid into S.M.T. bus injuring 5 airmen. The regular Blood Donor Clinic in St. George, which some local residents may recall, did not begin until 7 February 1943. Dr. R.D. Smith and Dr. F.V. Maxwell ran the clinic with many local nurses, residents and Boy Scouts assisting in vacuous capacities.

Still many minor mishaps and/or “close” calls went unrecorded and only until Veterans and/or family members steps forward to share their stories, the total number shall remain unknown.

An RAAF airman, F/L Nevin (“The Fox”) Filby (Ret.), provides an example of an unrecorded mishap: “...what now I see as stupid bravado, I flew at a cliff, low level and delayed the pull-up. Dickie, my new WAG, was standing behind me and quite rightly dropped to the floor. The propellers kicked up stones from the cliff top and pitter-pattered against the fuselage. The propellers were nicked and were repaired, quietly, by our very co-operative ground staff and I missed out on being charged. The silliness of youth! The Venturas were slow to react, as I found out quite nervously.”

Filby’s Course No.12 at Pennfield Ridge would experience the loss of three aircraft (8 classmates killed and one seriously injured). For Filby himself it would be the personal loss of Sgt. A.E,E. (“Buck”) Rogers (RAAF). Both Filby and Rogers had trained together at No.15 SFTS, Claresholm, AB before coming to “the Ridge”. Also it would mean the loss of his first WAG, Sgt. L.A. (“Skinny”) Ellis (RAAF) who was seriously injured when the pilot of Ventura AE678 attempted a forced landing in a field near Didgeguash. Filby and his all-Australian crew would eventually fly over 50 Ops. with 98 Squadron.

An RCAF airman, P/O H.W. (“Scoot”) Muir (Ret.), offers personal insight into one of his two close calls at the base: "We were fortunate in being able to practice low-flying legally. I liked flying with F/L Owens as leader. He wasn't satisfied unless his prop-tips were picking up water or disturbing the tops of pine-trees. One afternoon we were over the bay, zero alt. when a flock of gulls decided to take off. I ended up returning to base with a gull in the oil rad. of the port engine, one in the radial engine itself and one hit the air-screen in front of me which got my attention. The engine started to run hot which made it necessary to return to base. All turned out well.”

The purpose of this column is to awaken the general public interest and in addition, to bring forth more of the unrecorded history of this “Forgotten Base”. The base had a major economic impact on the communities surrounding it from St. Stephen to Saint John and all points in between. However 70 years later, there is nothing to suggest the significant role those blueberry fields played in the allies winning the war. Recording this history (still on-going) makes us realize that one should not be able to drive by this base without knowing its existence. Provincial Historic Designation is currently being sought so this location can be properly marked and perhaps a place created where people can read some of the stories and see photographs of what took place here. We need to remember all those who served and make sure the forgotten heroes, those who died in the preparation of war before their finest hour, are honoured.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was submitted to our local newspaper for a possible column. However the editor rejected it saying: "I felt the column was a bit long – but we didn’t suggest targets. Otherwise, there was some interesting data there.

What I think I’d like to see is something along the lines of three or four entries in advance of Nov. 11, which I think would be a timely lead-in to Remembrance Day. The article you submitted earlier could become two columns if the idea of one column to highlight one past veteran were considered."

Personally speaking I think you lose many of the personnel anecdotes that breath life into the piece by focusing on just one Veteran. While it is true that each accident ultimately produced the same result, the tragic and sudden lost of a family member, they also have their own unique testimony and most, if not all, have stories wrapped up within stories. Also I feel that you, in the final edit, cut out the humanity by limiting the scope and focus to just one Veteran and ultimately highlighting that particular crash verses the others.

Walking The Ridge with Donald C.F. Moors

Christian Larsen and Veteran Donald Moors
Pennfield Ridge Air Station, 14 September 2011

Veteran Donald C.F. (Don) Moors of Nova Scotia heard a news report about the 1942 Connors murder approximately four months ago. This sparked his interest because he had been stationed at RCAF Station, Yarmouth, NS (about 2 hrs. away as the crow flies) during this time period. However he never heard any details of the crime until recently which is surprising since it received national coverage at the time.

Sgt. T.R.R. Hutchings, the accused murder, had been stationed at No.34 Operational Training Unit, Yarmouth, NS between April and May 1942. Then No.34 OTU moved to Pennfield Ridge in June 1942 and Hutchinson came here. A few months after the murder No.34 OTU, due to a shortage of buildings at "the Ridge", would establish No.34 OTU Detachment, Yarmouth between August 1942 and June 1943.

Not long after hearing the documentary, Moors contacted his son Don here in New Brunswick to see if he might be able to find additional for him. Don began by searching the internet for any information and this is when he stumbled onto my website. He then began printing off any material he thought might be of interest to his father and then would send the material, via snail mail, to his father.

The material, as with anyone who reads it, left Moors with many more questions and he then asked his son if it would be possible to travel to Pennfield Ridge. He wanted to see the base, or what remained of it, for several reasons. With the connection between No.34 OTU, Pennfield and RCAF Station, Yarmouth Moors knew a couple airmen who passed through here. More importantly he also wanted to learn more about the Connors murder and share his memories and reflections from long ago.

Moors identified, in some respects, with the accused murder since in 1942 both were Sergeants and both were married with young children, Hutchings with a young daughter back in England and Moors with twin daughters and a son who would be born shortly after Hutchinson met his maker.

So after a few phone calls and numerous e-mails a date of 14 September at 10:30 am. was set for the tour. The weather was questionable with a ground fog and cool dampness in the air but luckily no rain. However the weather was almost ideal as many of the airmen at the base would experience just such conditions.

I meet with Mr. Moors and his son Don at the Pennfield Ridge Irving. From there we traveled out to the base and began our tour. We chatted for awhile and looked over photographs that detailed the storied history of the former base. We then walked out to the one remaining structure still visible from the highway, the 25 Yd. Range.

Time may have slowed his step but memories of long ago, firmly pressed between the pages of his mind, remain ever present and very clear. We stopped near the 25 Yd. Range and took a couple photographs before heading out onto the runways. We drove around on all three of the runways which are still in remarkable condition all these years later.

After leaving the base we headed into Blacks Harbour for a small tour. It was here in the harbour that several airmen were attending a dance at the local community centre that fateful night in June 1942. Before leaving the village we drove down Deadman's Harbour Road close to the spot where Bernice Connors was eventually discovered after failing to return home from the dance the previous night.

Next stop was Comeau's Resturant for Fish'n'Chips (and a side order of scallops that father and son always share). Good food and pleasant conversation quickly pass the morning into mid-day. After recharging the batteries and discovering sunshine as we stepped outside, we head off to the St. George Rural Cemetery where 10 airmen from the base are buried.

Christian Larsen, Veteran Donald C.F. Moors and Don Moors
St. George Rural Cemetery, 14 September 2011

We spent time at the Cemetery talking about some of the crashes at the base and Moors shared his memories of the Venturas along with other aircraft that were at RCAF Station, Yarmouth. We were joined at the cemetery by my wife Sheri who presented Mr. Moors with a postcard of her painting "In Training at Pennfield Ridge".

Last stop on the tour was a trip to St. Andrews. Here we stopped at the St. Andrews Rural Cemetery to visit the unmarked grave of Hutchings. Then we stopped at the St. Andrews Courthouse where the trial was held and concluded the day by visiting the Old Goal, now home to the Charlotte County Archives. Longtime St. Andrews resident Kate Akagi was on-duty and provided us with a tour of Hutchinson cell, additional information on his time at the Old Goal and showed us a photograph of Hutchinson with jailer George Goodeill.

Pennfield Parish Military Historical Society Membership

Interested in becoming a non-voting member of PPMHS? Only requirement is as follows: 1) Veteran who served at Pennfield Ridge Air Station or A-30 Canadian Infantry Training Centre (Camp Utopia) or 2) Family member of a Veteran who served at one of these two bases.

Membership is currently free of charge but donations are always appreciated to assist us in continuing forward the annual "Pennfield Ridge War Memorial Services", military research, etc. PPMHS is a registered charity.

Send an e-mail to G Christian Larsen at pennfieldparish@yahoo.com for membership.

Donations are currently being accepted for "Pennfield Ridge War Memorial Project".

Airfield Kindles Memories

They came from across the continent, and across the seas to see a place that will forever have a role in their lives.

In the early 1940's, Pennfield Ridge was home to a bustling air force base, over the weekend a number of veterans and family members returned to the base for a weekend of remembering.

Maureen Bearpark made her first trip to Canada to see where her father Frank Ablett spent two years working as an accounting clerk between 1942 and 1944.

Ablett was with the RAF and had been stationed in Pennfield from Hull, England.

On Saturday evening she paused to look into a stand of alders at the place where the administrative building once stood.

Bearpark was accompanied on her journey from Withernsea, England by her husband Terry, and daughter Janet to see this spot that her father talked so much about.

The family brought a number of photos of Ablett, and Janet brought her grandfather's engagement ring, which she wore to the memorial service on Sunday.

Ablett always told his wife, Lilly, that when he retired he was going to take her to Canada. Sadly they never made the trip.

"Because of ill health they never made it, and now I have lost them both," said Bearpark.

The family spent time touring the area and seeking to meet some of the people that her father may have met.

Among those people were Doris Noddin and Lydia Hanselpacker who danced with the young RAF pilot in training.

For Peter Manning, the trip to Pennfield was coming home.

Manning's father, George Edward (Jim) Manning came from England to train at the base and met Randi Silvertsen from Blacks Harbour.

The Silvertsen family had come from Norway to work at Connors Bros. On April 8, 1944 Silvertsen and Manning were married at St. Mark's church rectory in St. George.

This was not Manning's first trip to the airfield. He had flown out of Pennfield with his father as pilot.

"It was my beginning here," said Manning.

Two years ago he returned to the area to bury his mother.

Manning made the trip with his daughter Charlotte, who was in Charlotte County for her first time.

After her husband died in England, Randi came to live with her son and his family in B.C. so Charlotte grew up listening to stories from her grandmother.

"My Norwegian grandma was a very big part of my life," said Charlotte.

Charlotte related that her grandmother always talked fondly of the area and her early life in Blacks Harbour.

John Charters has personal memories of the airbase.

It was here in 1945 that he was on a Ventura bomber that crashed on the highway by the airfield. Although all three crew walked away, the plane was a total loss.`

The next day Charters found the plane on the base where it had been taken. He climbed up on the wing, and removed a section of one of the Plexiglas windows.

From that, he fashioned a heart approximately seven centimetres high. He mailed the heart to his girlfriend, Barbara, back in Quebec, to remember him by.

In 1947, the couple married and over the years they continued on with life. They had a son and two daughters. Along came four grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

A few years ago he found the heart, and had it set into a gold frame and hung from a gold chain. Barbara wore the pendant to the dinner on Sunday.

Dave Poissant came to the event from Mississauga, Ont. Poissant serves as the chair of the second Tactical Air Force Medium Bombers Association. He was at the memorial because his father Cyrille (Cy) Poissant trained at the base.

"I was here last year for the ceremony, and this year I am laying a wreath," said Poissant.

Poissant has always had a fascination with all things military because of his father's service.

Another visitor from away was Frank Burnham.

Burnham flew into Moncton from England and went in search of his brother's grave.

Pilot Sgt. Hubert Burnham was one of the three Royal Australian Air Force airmen who were killed when the Ventura bomber they were in went down near Richibucto on Feb. 8, 1943.

Frank was met at the airport by the mayor of Moncton and was taken to the Elmwood Cemetery where his brother was buried alongside wireless air gunner Sgt. John E. Hogan. Navigator Sgt. Phillip Llewellyn Edmond was buried at St. Bernard's Roman Catholic Cemetery - also in Moncton.

Frank is a quiet soft spoken man who said he was touched by the kindness shown to him as he visited the area.

As he looked out over the assembled crowd of veterans, and those who felt an attachment to them, at a dinner held Sunday there was a hint of mischief in his voice.

"I wonder how many tall tales are being told right now?", he mused.

And at every table there were stories being told.

SOURCE: The Saint Croix Courier (St. Stephen, NB) - July 26, 2011.

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July 23rd, 2011: "Walking The Ridge"

July 24th, 2011: Conclusion of "Pennfield Ridge War Memorial Service"

Brother says farewell to long-lost airman

Pilot Sgt. Hubert Burnham was one of two RAAF and one RNZAF airmen killed in a plane crash near Richibucto on Feb. 8, 1943.

Frank Burnham visits the grave of his brother for the first time yesterday at Elmwood Cemetery.

Frank Burnham knelt before the grave of his long-lost brother last night, whispering a final prayer and saying farewell 68 years after a plane crash near Moncton that killed his brother and two other members, a Royal Australian Air Force airmen and a Royal New Zealand Air Force airmen.

"I feel mixed feelings," Frank Burnham, 86, said after a private visit to his brother's grave in Moncton's Elmwood Cemetery last night. "There is a sense that I could weep. But there's another sense that I feel very proud that he gave his life like so many others. You see the stupidity of war and can't understand how politicians can talk and talk and say we're going to settle it."

Frank's brother, Pilot Sgt. Hubert Burnham, was only 19 years old when he died. He was the pilot of a Ventura bomber flying on a training mission on the morning of Feb. 8, 1943. They were flying out of Yarmouth, N.S., when the plane went down in an explosive crash in a boggy area approximately four miles northeast of Richibucto.

Also killed were navigator Sgt. Philip Llewellyn Edmond, 27, of Adamstown, New South Wales, Australia; and wireless air gunner Sgt. John E. Hogan, 22, of Ruatoria, Gisborne, New Zealand. Burnham and Hogan were buried at Moncton's Elmwood Cemetery. Edmond was buried at St. Bernard's Roman Catholic Cemetery on Pleasant Street.

Frank said his family lived in Sussex, England, and his big brother decided for some reason that he wanted to go to Australia to work on a sheep farm. He hadn't been there very long when war broke out. And as soon as he was old enough, Hubert went to Sydney and signed up with the RAAF. He had completed his pilot training in Australia and came to Canada for advanced bomber training. He was only a few days shy of graduation when he was killed in the crash.

Frank says he was 17 in 1943, working as an air raid patrolman, and vividly remembers the night the knock came on the door with the delivery of the bad news. He was in bed, his father went to the door and then upstairs. Then he heard his mother scream in anguish.

But in Sussex, England in 1943, the news of war was all around. England had been pounded by air raids and ships were being sunk by submarines.

"The neighbours were getting similar news from the army, the navy, the air force, so it was all around us," he said.

"War is a different kettle of fish. As civilians, you are just as vulnerable as a soldier or a sailor and you have to accept it, put up with it. Everyone was under pressure."

Frank says he thought about his brother for a long time and felt he should make a trip to Canada to say goodbye. But it wasn't until his cousin Michael came to Moncton, saw the grave and urged him to make the trip that he relented. He was met at the Greater Moncton Airport last night by Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc and G. Christian Larsen, president of the Pennfield Parish Military Historical Society. Hubert Burnham was actually stationed with the Pennfield Ridge Air Station, but was detached to No.34 Detachment in Yarmouth shortly before his fateful flight.

This weekend, Frank Burnham will be the guest of honour at a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Pennfield Ridge Air Station near Saint John.

Larsen says the ceremony will honour the 70 airmen and six civilians killed at the base during training operations during the Second World War.

Moncton was also home to training bases of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan, and at least 11 fatal crashes occurred around the Moncton region.

SOURCE: Times & Transcript (Moncton, NB) - July 23rd, 2011.

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Brenda Ferguson, Mayor George LeBlanc, Frank Burnham, Christian Larsen & Everett McQuinn

Living history: a wartime training air crash draws visitor

We often talk about people coming to Moncton to go shopping, take in a hockey game or a concert, but how often do people come here from the other side of the world to solve a historical mystery and perhaps find some closure to a family tragedy nearly 70 years after the fact?

Next month, an elderly gentleman from England is coming to Moncton to visit the grave of his long-lost brother, who was killed in a plane crash in 1943.

It's the kind of story you'd expect to see on one of those History Channel documentaries, where people from Canada make a pilgrimage to England or France or Germany to find the graves of their relatives lost in wartime, so it seems a bit strange that someone would come to Moncton.

But some war casualties occurred far away from the actual battlefields and sometimes interesting historical mysteries are right under our noses.

I first stumbled across the story of Pilot Sgt. Hubert John Burnham; Navigator Sgt. Philip Llewellyn Edmond, 27, of Adamstown, New South Wales, Australia; and Wireless Air Gunner, Sgt. John Edward Hogan, 22, of Ruatoria, East Coast Region, New Zealand a few years ago.

As it happened, I was getting my car serviced at Can-Am Chrysler on Morton Avenue and had couple of hours to kill, so I found myself wandering around the nearby Elmwood Cemetery.

Why wander through a cemetery? Well, I've always found it a bit fascinating to look at the names and the dates. Historians and genealogists will tell you these sombre places are gold mines of information.

In the midst of the cemetery, under a maple leaf flag fluttering in the breeze, were a couple of graves with the R.A.A.F. (Royal Australian Air Force) insignia. I figured they must have been casualties of the British Commonwealth Air Training Program, during which thousands of pilots and other air crew recruits from around the world came to Moncton for training during the early years of the Second World War.

It struck me as terribly sad that these young men from Australia would come all the way around the world to a little place like New Brunswick, only to be killed in a training crash far away from any of the actual theatres of operation. They weren't the only ones. As pilots and aircrew trained in New Brunswick and other bases across Canada, there were many accidents and crashes. Researchers tell me there could still be a few wrecked planes in the woods and waters around New Brunswick.

With only the names and the date of Feb. 8, 1943, I started doing a bit of research on these young fellows. As it turned out, they were actually attached to No.34 Operational Training Unit in Pennfield Ridge near Saint John when they crashed a Lockheed Ventura bomber aircraft that cold morning in 1943. Sgt. Hubert John Burnham was only 19, far away from home, at the controls of a big bomber aircraft flying through the freezing cold and snow of a New Brunswick winter morning.

Mr. Burnham, the pilot, was born in Worthing, England, on Sept. 5, 1923. He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in Sydney on Oct. 11, 1941, a month after his 18th birthday. With him in the Ventura were Navigator Sgt. Philip Llewellyn Edmond, 27, of Adamstown, New South Wales, Australia; and Wireless Air Gunner, Sgt. John E. Hogan, 22, of Ruatoria, East Coast Region, New Zealand.

They were flying a cross-country training run with other bombers out of No.34 Operational Training Unit Detachment at Yarmouth, NS that morning. At approximately 7:15 a.m., men fishing smelt along the Richibucto River looked on in horror as the Ventura bomber came out of the sky at a high rate of speed and then crashed into a boggy area approximately four miles northeast of Richibucto, just a quarter mile from the shoreline.

The plane exploded into a huge ball of flame, lighting up the pre-dawn sky. An RCMP search party found the plane within half an hour. It was destroyed. The crew had been thrown clear and killed instantly.

A crash investigation was launched from Moncton and the three young men were laid to rest far away from home - Mr. Burnham and Mr. Edmond were buried in the Elmwood Cemetery in Moncton, Mr. Hogan was buried in St. Bernard's Roman Catholic Cemetery on Pleasant Street - killed in a training crash before they graduated and could be posted to a squadron overseas.

Subsequent investigations indicated that some better weather-proofing of the Ventura bombers was needed when they were used in extreme cold and snowy conditions.

I first wrote about the crash in November of 2007 as a Remembrance Day feature. Since then, I've been in contact with G. Christian Larsen, president of the Pennfield Parish Military Historical Society, who has shared more information about the crash and others associated with the Pennfield Ridge training base during the war.

I've also been in contact with another historical researcher who has tried to find the exact site of the 1943 crash, but apparently the ground is so boggy that it is nearly impossible to walk through. Some photos exist of the site at the time, and there are also some stories of local people from Richibucto going there to carry away parts of the plane before the air force recovery team arrived.

Mr. Larsen now informs me that his group will host a memorial service on Sunday, July 24 at the Pennfield Ridge War Memorial. The day will mark the 70th anniversary of the Pennfield Ridge Air Station. Their guest of honour will be Mr. Burnham, who has decided to travel to Canada to visit the grave of his big brother, who never came home from the war.

Mr. Burnham is scheduled to arrive at the Greater Moncton International Airport on July 22, visit the cemetery and then proceed to Pennfield Ridge.

This is just one example of Moncton's multi-layered history and how researchers are always looking for information to solve the puzzles that are right under our noses - and that after all these years, families will go to great lengths to touch the past.

SOURCE: Times & Transcript (Moncton, NB) - June 21, 2011.

Memorial service upcoming

PENNFIELD – The Pennfield Parish Military Historical Society will host a memorial service in July to remember all those who served and/or worked at two major military bases in the area during the Second World War - the Pennfield Ridge Air Station and A-30 Canadian Infantry Training Center (Camp Utopia). At the conclusion of the memorial service a banquet dinner will be held to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the former Pennfield Ridge Air Station which officially opened 21 July 1941.

The service is being dedicated to those Veterans we've lost since last year's service, namely namely Ken Harrison (RCAF), Russ Hunter (RCAF), Dr. Lionel E. (Hank) Hastings (RCAF), Rev. Father Richard P.A. Sims (RCAF), Ivan H Wright (RNZAF) and to all the others who have put their lives on the line to keep our country free, and to all the others who have put their lives on the line to keep our country free.

Please join with us in honouring the seventy-seven (77) service personnel and six (6) civilians killed at these two Charlotte County bases; remember those who have since gone on to join their comrades in the sky and listen to the stories from those we still have with us.

The memorial service will take place Sunday, July 24th at the Provincial Park, Pennfield Ridge (across Route 1 from the Pennfield Ridge Post Office) at 2 pm. The banquet dinner will follow at The Royal Canadian Legion (Branch #40), St. George afterwards from 3:00 until 5 p.m. In case of inclement weather, the entire service will be moved to The Royal Canadian Legion (Branch #40), St. George.

Past and current members of the military have been invited to attend the ceremony as well as representatives from the local, provincial and federal governments. Also family members of those killed at these two Charlotte County bases have been invited to attend the service as well.

Tickets for the banquet dinner are $20.00 per person with ticket sales being limited to 150. Tickets are available until July 1st so any interested in attending is asked to please call (506) 456-3494 to purchase tickets.

SOURCE: The Saint Croix Courier (St. Stephen, NB) - June 7, 2011.

"In Training Pennfield Ridge" Painting

The below painting was donated to "Pennfield Parish Military Historical Society" in 2009 to raise funds for "Pennfield Ridge War Memorial Service".

Original Piece of Art Work by Sheri L. (Burhoe) Larsen measuring 11" x 14" (Oil and Acrylic on canvas).

Tickets are $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00 with all proceeds going to "Pennfield Ridge War Memorial Service". The winning ticket will be drawn at this year's memorial service.

For more information please see:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nbpennfi/penn8b1PPMHS_ArtRaffle.htm

P/O Harold Otho Male (1919-1942)

Sgt. H.O. Male (GB657604) was part of Course No.1 (Pilots) at No.34 Operational Training Unit, Pennfield Ridge, NB. Upon graduation from this course 11 September 1942 Sgt. H.O. Male was “screened and retained at this Unit [No.34 O.T.U.] to fill staff vacancies.”

On 19 November 1942 Male was granted a commission rank which did not appear in "The London Gazette” until 19 January 1945.

On 20 November 1942, while employed as a staff pilot at No.34 OTU Detachment in Yarmouth, he was killed when his aircraft (Ventura AE932) crashed 4 miles N.E. of Caledonia, Queens, Co., NS. He was buried with full military honours 23 November 1942 at Mountain View Cemetery in Yarmouth, NS.

In December 2008 Sheri & I headed off to Nova Scotia in an attempt to photograph the various military markers for Pennfield Ridge training casualties scattered throughout the province. On 14 December 2008 we visited Mountain View Cemetery where Male and three other airmen from No.34 OTU are laid to rest. Male's military marker, as we discovered, reflects his old rank "Sgt. Pilot" and his non-commissioned service number.

On 14 March 2011 I sent a letter to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Ottawa, along the supporting documentation to see if this marker could be replaced. Yesterday Sheri received a call from a representative of the CWGC saying that the marker would be replaced this coming summer.

The phone call was followed up by an e-mail on 15 April 2011 saying: "Thank you for bringing to our attention the discrepancy between the information listed in the CWGC database and that inscribed on the headstone of Pilot Officer Harold O. MALE. As I mentioned to your wife, we will arrange to have the existing headstone replaced this year with a new one. The enclosed sketch depicts the layout of the new headstone. Thank you again for your interest in this matter."

Mountain View Cemetery - Yarmouth, NS (14 December 2008)

Relatives of veteran planning to visit next year

Frank Robert Ablett

PENNFIELD - Relatives of a man from Yorkshire, England who served at the Pennfield Ridge Air Station during the Second World War are planning a visit to the area and hoping to find someone who might remember him.

Christian Larsen, who continues to do research on the former air base, said he has been contacted by Terry Bearpark, a photo-journalist and sub-editor from the U.K., whose father-in-law Leading Aircraftman Frank Robert Ablett worked in the accounts section at the base from September 1942 until around June 1944.

Bearpark and his wife Maureen are planning to visit the area, possibly this year, to see where Ablett was stationed. They also hope to find the house where he lodged and possibly some members of that family.

If anyone remembers Ablett, they are asked to contact Larsen at 456-3494 or by e-mail at pennfieldparish@yahoo.com.

The annual Pennfield Ridge was memorial service is planned for July 24, 2011, said Larsen, with a banquet to follow. This will tie in with the 70th anniversary of the base opening (21 July 1941) and he is hoping the couple will be able to visit the area during this period.

Larsen has also provided Bearpark with information about Gordon Henderson of Leeds, England, who visited this area a couple of years ago to find out more information about his great uncle Stan Collins who also served in the accounts section at the same time as Ablett. Collins, who recently celebrated his 97th birthday, is the oldest known living airmen from the base and is living in a seniors' home in Newcastle.

In 1939 Pennfield Ridge had a population of around 188 people and by 1943 it had risen to more then 5,000. The area was not able to cope with such a large influx of people and as a result people from St. Andrews to Saint John took airmen in.

SOURCE: The Saint Croix Courier (St. Stephen, NB) - January 4, 2010.