Welcome to the first Bison Bits of the 90s. We at 429 Sqn wish everyone a very Happy New Year and hope the 90s go better than the 80s did.

All did not start out this year on a good note at 429 Sqn. The big disappointment was the cancellation of SF 591 which was supposed to go to the South Pacific on January 6th. With 591 cancelled it is really going to put a large dent in Col Armstrong’s usual 50 hours of flying time per month (and everybody was saying he was on the trip for a vacation). Everybody else on the crew appears to have recovered though. Darcy Granley was not back from his Christmas vacation in Edmonton more than two days before he hopped on a flight backfor three more days of “God’s Country”. LCol Hay and Chris Gallego recovered by heading off to Namibia on another UN mission.

We would like to welcome our newest pilot on squadron, Lt Bruce Campbell (just what Norm needs — a new Lt to pick on). 429 Sqn also extends congratulations to Bruce and his new wife, Veronique, on their wedding on December 30th. We hope your stay with 429 Sqn is longer than your stay in Winnipeg.

The CO’s secretary would like to know if anyone is interested in renting LCol Hay’s office as he hardly uses it anymore since he is either in Trenton at the new 429 Detachment or is flying Winnipeg.

Some squadron members werekind enough to point out that Daryl Smith’s two week vacation in Hawaii did him a lot of good. Now his whole face is brown and not just his nose (just kidding, Daryl}! Oh Yeah!, congratulations Daryl on getting the most Pilot hours at 429 Sqn (anyone surprised?)

Maj Don Thain, for the second year in a row, gladly volunteered to fly RRMC cadets down to Colorado Springs last week. And he also kindly arranged for the three days of skiing at Brekenridge. But he is still wondering how, after leaving his AMEX card with WO Emile Fournier and Sgt Norm Caron, there is an unexplained $350 extra charge. Happy Birthday Norm, and I hope the stitches heal quickly.

In closing, I must say that many people were surprised to see the two “Gonzos” arrive in Winnipeg after almost a decade of waiting and wondering if they really exist. Yet, it is probably still a long time before the “Herc” leaves Winnipeg!!

That’s it for this edition.