Hand-Over Of Mentors
By DON MURCHIE
(Republished from the March 1955 issue of the Central Alberta Air News, RCAF Station Penhold)
Thursday, February 10, 1955, was a day for nostalgic celebration for R.C.A.F. Station Penhold. This was the day the handsome T34’s were to perform their final official flight at this airfield.
The departure of these trainers could not be sentimentally looked upon as the end of an era in the flying training field, but perhaps the beginning of one. The Air Force for some time has been considering various types of training aircraft to supercede the Harvard as a basic trainer, and the Beechcraft T34 was given to Penhold on an experimental basis. With the experiment completed, the personnel involved considered a formal tribute forthcoming. The instructors, students and technical personnel of No. 3 Squadron were formed up on the tarmac in front of eighteen of the aircraft. Wing Commander J. C. McCarty, Officer Commanding, No. 4 Flying Training School, was the parade commander. Group Captain M. P. Martyn, Commanding Officer, R.C.A.F. Station Penhold, took the salute and inspected the Squadron. Flight Lieutenant L. G. Shield presented the station commander with a Mentor propeller, suitably mounted and inscribed as a remembrance of the experiment. The Last Post was sounded and the flag lowered to half-mast. This was followed by Reveille and the raising of the flag. At this moment eighteen engines roared into life and the flying portion of the programme was about to commence. The aircraft were taxied in formation to the runway and were quickly airborne and soon out of sight. A short time later they returned in two perfect formations, a capital “E” followed by a capital “F” which are the letters designating the two Flights which carried out the experimental programme. The formations were broken off and reformed into three echelons of six planes each, and a precision “break” for a stream landing was impressively performed. The aircraft were taxied back to their original positions on the tarmac. The simultaneous stopping of eighteen propellers was the finale of a spectacular demonstration.
the ceremony.
