June 2013: AS YOU WERE . . .

Bill Hillman Presents
F.L.A.S.H.
Forces: Land ~ Air ~ Sea ~ Home
A MONTHLY MILITARY TRIBUTE WEBZINE . . . SINCE 1999
AS YOU WERE . . .
www.hillmanweb.com/flash
Compiled by Bill Hillman
FLASH. . . Editor and Webmaster: Bill Hillman: hillmans@wcgwave.ca

June 2013 Edition
IN THE NEWS
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A tribute to the fallen
MEDIA ADVISORY
SOD TURNING FOR THE
RCAF WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL,
THE ONLY MEMORIAL OF ITS KIND IN CANADA. WHAT: Sod turning of the Memorial Project Committee of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum to create a permanent public tribute to all members of the Royal Canadian Air Force and all Canadians serving in any Commonwealth air force who lost their lives during World War II.
WHERE: BRANDON MUNICIPAL AIRPORT, COMMONWEALTH AIR TRAINING PLAN MUSEUM
WHEN: June 14th, 3:30pm
WHO: Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum Memorial Project Committee
DETAILS: In 2010, the Memorial Project Committee of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum began an ambitious project to create a permanent public tribute to all members of the Royal Canadian Air Force and all Canadians serving in any Commonwealth air force who lost their lives during World War II. The RCAF WWII Memorial, to be located on the grounds of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum at Brandon, Manitoba, will also pay tribute to Royal Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, and Royal New Zealand Air Force personnel who lost their lives in or near Canada during this period.
The RCAF WWII Memorial will be impressive in both size and scope — a black granite wall approximately 300 feet in length containing the names of over 19,000 fatalities, with a larger-than-life bronze statue representing the fallen. It will serve as lasting recognition of the ultimate sacrifice for the war effort.
The Memorial is estimated to cost in excess of one million dollars. With the support of individuals, organizations, businesses and governments, the Memorial will become a reality.
The public unveiling of the RCAF WWII Memorial is tentatively scheduled for August 2014, in conjunction with events to mark the 75th anniversary of the start of WWII.
The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum is Canada’s only museum dedicated solely to preserving the history of those who trained and fought for the British Commonwealth during WWII. The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum is proud to be one of the six Manitoba Signature Museums, a Manitoba Star Attraction and a National Historic Site.

For more information, please contact:
Stephen Hayter
Executive Director
Commonwealth Air training Plan Museum
(204) 727-2444
airmuseum@inetlink.ca
Archie Londry
Memorial Project Chair
Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum
(204) 717-1189

MORE AT:
www.airmuseum.ca/memorial

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Attached is a special edition of the
26/XII Museum Newsletter dedicated to Ross.
TRIBUTE TO ROSS NEALE

Air Museum and Dragoons Museum Webmaster
Receives Award from Brandon University

Presented at the May 31, 2013 Convocation

.MORE AT:
www.hillmanweb.com/book/media/12.html

Honouring D-Day. Never forget the sacrifice.
Two Canadian D-Day veterans share their stories
http://ow.ly/lMCYh

VIDEO GALLERY

Rare Colour Video of London 1922
www.wimp.com/rarelondon

In 2005, an 83 year-old World War II pilot
is surprised to see 16mm footage of his 1944 Spitfire crash for the first time.
SPITFIRE 944
was put on YouTube as part of the Sundance Film Festival Memorial Day observance
through from May 22 through June 5, 2013
(UPDATE, ShortsHD is allowing the film to stay on youtube for the moment:)
The Sundance portal is here: http://www.sundance.org/stories/artic

In 1942 numerous RAAF crews of Bomber Command
took part in the first of the ‘1000 Bomber’ raids on Nazi Germany.
Bomber Command suffered the highest casualty rates of any Allied service during the war,
more than 3,500 Australians alone would lose their lives on bomber operations.

June 6, 1944 became D-Day, on which a vast Allied military, air and naval force
landed in Normandy, beginning the liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe.
The ten-week battle that ensued led to the liberation of Paris,
the whole of France and most of Belgium by the end of September 1944 a
nd ended with Germany’s surrender in May 1945.

Japan's Secret WWII Weapon: Balloon Bombs
The Japanese harnessed air currents to create the first intercontinental weapons—balloons.

Balloon bombs launched from Japan were intended for the United States—many hit their mark.
More at National Geographic

Balloon bombs aimed to be the silent assassins of World War II. Hitching a ride on a jet stream, these weapons from Japan could float soundlessly across the Pacific Ocean to their marks in North America.

Still largely unknown, these armaments were a byproduct of an atmospheric experiment by the Axis power. In the 1940s, the Japanese were mapping out air currents by launching balloons attached with measuring instruments from the western side of Japan and picking them up on the eastern side.

The researchers noticed that a strong air current traveled across the Pacific at about 30,000 feet.

Using that knowledge, in 1944 the Japanese military made what many experts consider the first intercontinental weapon system: explosive devices attached to paper balloons that were buoyed across the ocean by a jet stream.

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F.L.A.S.H. As You Were . . . Tribute Webzines	Navigation Chart to the Hillman WWII Tributes www.hillmanweb.com/war	RCAF WWII MUSEUM www.hillmanweb.com/rcaf RCN HMCS PRINCE ROBERT www.hillmanweb.com/rcn	Short Bursts Ex-Air Gunners Association Magazines