Halifax 57 Rescue (Canada) discovers and returns rare WW2 Halifax Bomber parts to Canada

SPECIAL NEWS RELEASE

July 13, 2011, Ottawa, Ontario - The passion of a small but devoted group of Canadian World War II aviation enthusiasts is about to be recognized, when a special cargo container arrives in the port of Montreal on July 20, 2011.

On that day, the ‘Halifax 57 Rescue (Canada)’ group will reveal the components of two rare airframes they recovered from a MALTA scrapyard; and explain their intent to use these parts as foundation to restore two Handley Page Halifax bombers. They are doing this to honour the pivotal role of the Halifax with RCAF and RAF Bomber Command during World War II, and to recognize the Halifax as a most rare and special symbol of Canadian sacrifice in Bomber Command.

Of the 10,656 Canadian names on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall at the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, Alberta, over 7,000 flew on Halifaxes and made the ultimate sacrifice for Canada and the world on this unique aircraft.

Halifax 57 Rescue (Canada)’s dream of beginning the restoration a Halifax bomber for the Bomber Command Museum of Canada started in 2005 when a worldwide search for a Halifax bomber began. This quest really took flight in 2009, when project manager Karl Kjarsgaard discovered a treasure trove of Halifax-Hastings parts in an unused Maltese scrapyard. The extremely rare pieces consisted of 2 wing centre sections, 4 main landing gears, and 2 Bristol Hercules engines; enough key components for the foundations of two Halifax airframes. While the newly discovered parts were technically from a post-war Handley Page Hastings aircraft, the cores of the Hastings wings were built almost identical to the Halifax wings, so Halifax 57 Rescue (Canada) immediately began successful fundraising and subsequent recovery of these parts to Canada.

Now, after two years of hard work and fundraising, this significant find is finally en route by ship to Canada. Upon unloading, the parts will be transported to the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa where the next phases of the Halifax Project will begin.

A huge corporate contribution to the start of the Halifax rebuild has already become a reality with SPRUNG INSTANT STRUCTURES Ltd. providing new-build aluminum alloy Halifax main wing spars from Halifax factory blue-prints. This will mark the first time since World War Two that the main spars for the Halifax Bomber have been manufactured using modern technology, from original 1943 blueprints.

Together, the wing parts and landing gear, will become the centerpieces of two starter kits to restore two Halifax Bombers. One of these Halifax airframes is ultimately destined for the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, Alberta while the other will be offered to interested museums or warbird historical groups interested in acquiring a rare Halifax.

Currently, there are only 3 restored or intact Halifax bombers in the world out of the 6,100 built. One is at the National Air Force Museum of Canada in Trenton, Ontario, the second at the Royal Air Force Museum in London, England, and the third at the Yorkshire Air Museum in York, England.

Since the inception of Halifax 57 Rescue (Canada) this historic group has been dedicated to preserving the Handley Page Halifax bomber. The registered charity’s goal is to locate and recover lost Halifax Bombers or their components, and to bring them back home to Canada to be restored and displayed to the general public as a true symbol of excellence, honour, and sacrifice.

Halifax 57 Rescue (Canada) has the ultimate goal to locate and recover the only RCAF Halifax bomber known to have survived the war, which ditched and sank in deep waters off the coast of Ireland in 1945.

Canada and the RCAF used 1,230 Halifaxes during World War Two.

For more information about these projects and Halifax 57 Rescue (Canada) contact:
Karl Kjarsgaard, Project Manager
57rescuecanada@rogers.com
www.57rescuecanada.com

In Ottawa, Ontario:
Unit 31C-174 Colonnade Road
Ottawa, ON K2E 7J5
Phone: 613-863-1942 or 613-226-4884

In Nanton, Alberta:
PO Box 606
Nanton, AB T0L 1R0
Phone: 403-603-8592

Progress Report No. 38

As a new era in the adventures of Halifax 57 Rescue (Canada) begins, I ask you to look above at the young faces of the warriors standing in front of their sword of Freedom and their steed in combat, their beloved Halifax.

Their average age was only 22 years when they volunteered to fight in Bomber Command, some as young as 18. The chances of them surviving a combat tour was only 1 in 4, with over 70% of them being either killed-in-action, killed or injured in training, or the lucky ones - becoming prisoners of war!
The Bomber Command loss rate is the greatest military loss rate of all the Allied forces which fought in World War Two.

And for the past 66 years your families and nation have enjoyed Freedom because of their sacrifice and effort in Bomber Command. For over 4 years (from 1941-1944), the only force able to strike back against the Nazis in Germany and withstand their drive to conquer our free world were these young airmen, the finest of our fathers’ generation.

As the Bomber Command Memorial in London,UK is being built, with dedication ceremonies planned in May of 2012, we ask you to think of the great sacrifice of the 55,000 aircrew of Bomber Command killed-in action (of which over 10,000 are Canadians).

We also ask you to come to visit us this season at the home of the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, Alberta with our national “Memorial Wall” where the 10,000+ Canadians of Bomber Command are given final tribute for their efforts and sacrifice in preserving our Freedom and our way of life.

See www.bombercommandmuseum.ca for all the exciting events we have planned for 2011. Our next event is on June 4 during “Planes, Trains, and Elevators” celebrations.

Meanwhile, Halifax 57 Rescue (Canada) will continue to search the globe to find that special aircraft, the Halifax, which symbolizes the greatest effort of our Canadian airmen in Bomber Command and bring her home to our Lancaster in Nanton.

While our ultimate prize is RCAF Halifax LW170 from the deep, we will not turn our search away from our other projects to bring a Halifax to the Bomber Command Museum of Canada. Read on below as the exciting stories of Halifax treasures being reclaimed so that tribute may be paid to these young warriors of Bomber Command.

When we have both the Hallie and the Lanc together in Nanton then we will truly be able to tell the complete and great story of those young aircrews of Bomber Command who gave everything they had to protect us and keep us free.

Press on regardless…

On to Business - These are the Hali-facts:
 Big things are happening on all fronts for Halifax 57 Rescue over the next 4 weeks.

The all important Halifax/Hastings shipment of parts is in the final stages of preparation for shipment by container to the port of Montreal. See below some of the gear doors and trailing-edge wing sections which were laboriously removed from the wing sections so that all sections would fit in the shipping container.

Many hours of hard work was done by our friends Mario, Justin, and George to get the wing sections to fit in the container, with just 4 inches to spare!
Thousands of dollars have gone into the preparation for these parts to come to Canada.

 

As your Project Manager I will be over seeing final container loading and we hope this will be completed by June 10 with the parts arriving in Montreal 4 to 6 weeks later. The cost to ship the container will be ($12,500!) 

This will be the largest expense this year in order to get our treasure home. BUT this is not all we must pay for and the items I wish to tell you about now are critical to BEGINNING our Halifax Project when the parts reach our shores.

I am very pleased to announce that Halifax 57 Rescue (Canada) and SPRUNG Instant Structures Ltd. in Alberta, world leaders in building aluminum-beam buildings, have reached an agreement to manufacture brand new Halifax main spar cap beams. The crucial replacement of those main spars is required as the originals were cut by torches when our wing sections were placed in the scrapyard in the 1960’s. This must surely be the first time that the main spars of a British heavy bomber will be new-built from scratch. Our thanks to Sprung Structures and the Sprung family, under the blessing and direction of Sprung V.P. Jim Avery. Special thanks to Luke Pollio for all his work with the Halifax wing spar blueprints and arranging for the manufacture of these precious main spar components for the start of our Halifax center-section rebuild.

As most of you know we were able to save (2) Hasting/Halifax center-sections including 2 sets of main landing gears for these wings = 4 main landing gears. In anticipation of some progressive museum in the world wishing to start their own Halifax project we will be ordering 2 sets of main spars for these 2 wings! We will use one set of spars and rebuild our own center-section and will save the other set for the time when another museum or collector would see the light and importance of beginning their own Halifax. Where are you, my French or Australian Halifax brothers??


The cost to Halifax 57 Rescue (Canada) to cover the alloy materials and tooling for the mains spar caps is just under $9,000. and we do NOT have the final funds (based on present rate of donations/contributions to the end of May 2011) for the acquiring of these rare main spar caps.  We do have faith that those who read this report will come through for us with financial support we urgently need.  Please read on for the bigger picture, before you ask yourself what you could do to help us financially.


Further to this, thanks to the National Air Force Museum of Canada and Director Chris Colton in Trenton, we have received the loan of a Halifax propeller blade mold that they used to replicate composite material prop blades for their Halifax NA337. These blades are so rare that this is the only economical and logical replacement for Halifax blades for the Hercules-engined MK III and MK VII Halifax.

George Rosskopf, structures engineer on the Trenton rebuild of Halifax NA337, is now our Engineering Director for Halifax 57 Rescue. Utilizing his skills from working in a fiberglass boat factory before becoming an aircraft engineer, George is already making blades for our Halifax Project as you receive this report. These blades will be on display later this summer at the Bomber Command Museum of Canada.

The cost to replicate these 12 prop blades for our Halifax Project will be in the order of $4800. including all materials.  We do need more funds to complete the prop blades project and do the important acquisitions at the same time.  But you must read on to get the big picture.

As your Project Manager, I will leave no stone unturned to find every and all artifacts and parts for the Halifax. I have just returned from a whirlwind tour of the UK where I have been able to locate airframe, wing, and engine parts we definitely need to further our rebuild plans into the future. The items that we have located “do not exist” anymore but because we have the nose for these items they have been found! When I release some of the photos of Hali stuff found, your eyes will bug out (but not in this report). So with our new sources of parts and our new allies in the art of scrounging we promise great progress. For every piece we find for the Halifax there is a cost and if you wish me, on your behalf, to gather these goodies and get them to Canada then help from you must be forthcoming SOON.

So great demands are being asked of you, our friends and supporters, for you see the big picture and you understand that we have a momentum which should not be shut down by financial bottle-necks, as we approach mid-year of one of the most exciting years since we began our Halifax quest some 6 years ago. I ask no less of you that I demand of myself, for I wake up every morning and ask what can I do to make this Halifax Project become everything we want it to be!

These, my friends, are YOUR tools for OUR success.
1) Donate funds to Halifax 57 Rescue (Canada) via the post – see our 2 addresses available at the end of this report

2) Try our NEW PAYPAL internet payment method for all who have purchased
or contributed online (via your PAYPAL account) to our worthy and honourable charity. Go to our website www.57rescuecanada.com and see the golden “DONATE” button which immediately donates these funds to our cause from anywhere in the world (if you have a PAYPAL account!)

3) Donate your unused stocks, bonds, and securities to our Halifax 57 Rescue -
Royal Bank Discount Brokerage account and receive a “full market value” tax receipt credit for the donation of these securities. You will not have to pay income tax on the profit portion side of this transfer and donation. You receive full tax deductible credit for said donation. It is a win-win for all concerned.

4) Purchase a beautiful limited-edition signed print of our Halifax LW170
“INVINCIBLE ITEM” for ($165.00 including postage) or an unsigned print for ($60.00 including postage). This has to be one of the best prints of a combat Halifax that has ever been produced. We still have half of the 500 signed prints available to all you Halifax fans. See www.57rescuecanada.com for all print info.

And if you think in all of this great excitement about our parts and beginnings of a Halifax rebuild in Canada we have forgotten about our ultimate prize, RCAF Halifax LW170 in the Irish deep – the rarest combat bomber in Canadian aviation history, think again!

I have been in contact with a company these past 4 weeks who have deep sea sonar contracts this summer near the Halifax LW170, with the highest technology available which can find LW170 for us. We await word on approval for them to help us find our LW170 and we hope to have more good news on this in the coming weeks.

Remember, we now have the start and foundation of not just one but actually 2 new Halifax projects for Canada and we have found many good parts to build up our project as well as a very good opportunity for locating our ultimate treasure, LW170, in the deep.

We are actively searching for more corporate sponsors like our good friends and allies of Sprung Instant Structures Ltd., Canadian Pacific Railway, and Mullen Trucking. These progressive companies are truly interested in saving our history and heritage. We thank them for their cooperation and support.

And now it is your turn to do the same for Halifax 57 Rescue. Help us now.
Help us again. Help us for the first time.

You have been told of several ways to contribute. We would love to hear from you in this regard.

This aircraft, the Halifax, and this project are truly unique. I keenly hope you can see the historic potential and significance. This project has become the ultimate adventure and tribute to the huge contribution and sacrifice of our Allied aircrew of Bomber Command.


As you look below at another fine photo of our young warriors with their “Sword of Freedom” I hope that you will agree we must not fail them in this tribute, as they did not fail us when they flew to Victory and Freedom some 60 years ago.

And remember,

WE LEAVE NO HALIFAX BEHIND