11 April, 2009
GILLAND PASSES AWAY!
Long time TBM pilot Frank Gilland passed away at his residence in Courtenay BC, on 27 December 2008. Benjamin Franklin Gilland was born in Centreville, New Brunswick on 17 December, 1922. His legendary toughness was evident as a school boy. A childhood classmate of his related a story to me about how young Frank would actually dare the teacher to strike his hands harder with the ruler when he was up for minor discipline. With the Second Wold War raging, Frank joined the RCAF where he trained on Fleet Finches and Harvards. He flew Hawker Typhoons on operations out of England. He was shot down and taken as a PoW at Rotterdam in 1943. After the war, he obtained his engineering degree from UNB and re-joined the air force. During the fifties, he was with a reserve Mustang Squadron at Winnipeg and later was on exchange with an RAF Squadron in England. During the sixties he became an air force acceptance pilot where he test flew Tudors and CF-104s. After retirement from the air force Frank flew for Canadair. He flew TBMs for FPL and Norfolk before retiring to the west coast to ply the waters for salmon. Frank is survived by his loving wife Tommy, daughter Kathy (Roy), sons John and Joe, and grandchildren Ben, Logan, Christopher and Jeremy. He was a colourful character who will be well remembered by all who knew him.
The First TBF/TBM Air Tanker?
Norm Ralston of Hillsboro Oregon, was kind enought to send me some really old and original photos of his Dad's converted TBF-1. In Norm's own words:"My father pioneered the use of TBMs here in the Northwest spraying for Spruce Budworms in the Oregon Forest. He resurrected N7922A from and Indianapolis junkyard and converted it over the next few months to put it to work in the very late 40s. It was a TBF-1 and he later converted it to the 3. He bought three others after that and had them all working spraying for Skyways Air service up in Vancouver Island in the eary 50s. He had a real soft spot in his heart for 22A even writing a short story about it. He had some excitement with it a couple of times but it was never damaged badly". Click here to see Norm's photos.
Click here to read of N7922A's fate. Please note that the photos show the plane equipped with a TBM-3 bull ring and cowl flap arrangement.
Ed sent along a few photos of the TBMs at Mirimichi City (Chatam-Newcastle in olden days) taken in late May, 2007. Click here to see them.
Here are some more new photos, taken by Sevogle Times photographer Ed, of a day at the airport with TBMs at Fredericton. Click here to see them.
To see photos from the 2005 fire season click here
Norfolk TBMs at Dunphy in 1979!
Jamie Dyer passed on a couple of 1979 photos of B-17 and B-18 at Dunphy. Click here to see the photo album.
THE McLEOD PAPERS
Records of most Maritime TBMs then some!
Barrie McLeod has offered his extensive compilation of information regarding most of the TBMs which served in New Brunswick.
Click here to see a list of preserved Avengers whether or not they served in the Maritimes.
Click here to see a list of Canadian Civil Avengers which served in the Maritimes.
Click here to see the MacLeod TBM Photographs .
NEW! Photos of the Forest Protection Limited Air Tanker Fleet of 2006! Click here.
Courtesy of Ed.
RARE 1970s NEW BRUNSWICK BUDWORM TBM PHOTOS !
Glenn McBride digitalised some of his father's photos from the early seventies and was kind enough to contact me to share some of them with viewers. His father, Merrill McBride, an aircraft mechanic and pilot, was a founding member of the Warplane Heritage in Hamilton and spent a few summers spraying out of Sevogle. He was killed in a crash (CF-ZTA) on July 21, 1974. Click here to see the photo album.
New Album! See TBM CF-ZYC Restored!
In 1975 Hicks and Lawrence Tanker 20, CF-ZYC piloted by Hans Koerfgen, crash landed off the runway at Juniper, New Brunswick where it lay for years. In 1996 the process of extracting it from the bush and transporting it to the Atlantic Canada Aviation Museum for restoration as a static display FPL machine began. Click here to see the photo album.
Want Ads
NEW BRUNSWICK AVENGER HISTORY PROJECT
Chris Adam of Forest Protection Limited is undertaking a project on TBMs during the NB budworm spray period from the late 60s to the 80s, with official permission and encouragement from FPL management. At the very least this will be a compilation of images and text, i.e. a history of the period, concentrating on the Avengers.
"So far, I have many images of TBMs, which range between very good to unidentifiable. I have been trying to put them all into the proper context (owner, spray teams, dates, etc.), and I still need some images and knowledge to fill in the gaps that I am sure are there, especially in the period when the FPL leased the aircraft in the 60s and 70s. I have the FPL annual reports and will eventually be able to access the FPL files."
"I am looking for images and associated data of TBMs during the period above: digital if you have them or as slides, negs or prints if not. I am set up to scan anything at my desk, so if you want something of yours scanned or rescanned (which I did for the Merrill McBride collection), I would be happy to do it. Properly labelled images (subject, date, location) are best."
You can access the FPL site and see a timeline of FPL's history from 1951 to the present at http://www.forestprotectionlimited.com
Please contact Chris at cfsipm@nrcan.gc.ca.
CF-IMK Information Sought
Looking for photos or imformation on a/c #602 CF-IMK of Forest Protection Limited. This a/c is now getting restored in Deland, Florida. Any info, photos would be greatly appreciated. Commerative Air Force.
please contact them at dmleone@earthlink.net.
Parts Sought For Queensland TBM Restoration!
Stuart Lee of the Flying Fighters, a Queensland based aircraft restoration company, has informed me that they have acquired ex FPL Tanker 21 once flown by John "Ayatollah" Gomany. They intend to restore her to a Second World War Naval configuration. If anyone has any leads on parts or drawings of turrets, bombay doors, tail hooks and the like please contact him at stu.lee@bigpond.net.au. Click here to view the exciting Flying Fighters Website.
Help Wanted! U.S.S. Hornet Museum Needs Grumman TBM-3E Avenger Bomb Bay Doors or Blueprints.
"Hi.
The USS Hornet Museum in Alameda, Ca is in the final stages of restoring a Grumman TBM-3E Avenger.
Unfortunately, during the time it served in California as a fire bomber, the TBM bomb bay doors became separated from the airframe so we don't have any.
We are trying to locate someone was has a set, or knows where a set of doors can be found, or has some blueprints.Thanks!"
-Bob Fish,
Director,
USS Hornet Museum
robertbfish@earthlink.net
New! Rhys Reynolds was kind enough to take the time to pen this memory of the late Ray Green, a well remembered TBM pilot. Click here .
Randal McFarlane of Brisbane, Australia, shows off the only flyable TBM down under. Click here to see his remarkable photos.
For
your further information, on the topic, a lot of
the images have been linked to many interesting
things ranging from a first person account of a
TBM crash survivor, to a map of
Central New Brunswick, to more TBM pictures, to
just fun photos. There's quite a bit of stuff so
don't run away too quickly. Also, these pages are
regularly ammended as I develop this site.
Click
here to view an
exciting addition to my site.
The
adventures of the redoubtable Fenwick. Click
here.
New!
Flying the TBM, a pilot's impression. Click
here.
At
last, the mystery of Hogan's Goat examined in detail! Click
here.
JUST
ADDED! The 1970, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1988
Pilot Lists for the New Brunswick Spray Project.
Is your name on one? Click 1970, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1979,
1982,
1983,
1984,
1985,
1986,
1987 or
1988. More years to
come!
NEW! Where are they now? Click here to find out!
The list is certainly not complete so contributions are solicited.
An
account of a stricken TBM crashing to earth by
Billy O'Farrell. Click here.
Former TBM pilot and aeronautical adventurer, Ian White, has had several of his favourite Avenger photos put up on a separate "album" page. Click here to see them.
A tragic event at Boston Brook on the 6th of June, 1987 is told in some detail. Click here to read about Paul Garon's last ride.
See Raccoon Lead (aka Tanker 23) in this interesting photograph taken in June of 1982. Click here.
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Jolly souls on this page.
