Mosquito Bytes
The official eNewsletter of the CALGARY MOSQUITO SOCIETY
Retain, Restore, Honour and Educate

Welcome to Volume 18 (January 17, 2010)

GUEST SPEAKER FEB. 17. We are very pleased to announce that at next month's meeting we will have Patrick Anderson, a wartime Mosquito navigator with 410 Squadron, as our guest speaker. From October 1944 through to the end of the war in Europe, Patrick chalked up 23 combat missions on Mosquito nightfighters while based in France and Holland.

We're thinking of building an informal pot-luck/fundraiser around it. Interested?

Click for a larger map.

SPEAKING OF MEETINGS, Our regular schedule is to meet at 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at the Phoenix Foundation, #1, 2821 - 3 Ave. N.E. The next two are on January 20 and February 17.

WHERE ARE WE AT? With still no Request for Proposals having been issued by the City we have submitted a written request to the Chair of the Community and Protective Services Committee, Alderman Ric McIver, to find out who, when and what is going on. Clearly there will be no decision by the City in March.

NOW THAT IS A BIG MOSQUITO! Airfix has finally released its 1/24th scale plastic model kit of the Mosquito. How big is that? Wingspan is over 27 inches, or 70 cm! Check with Scott McTavish at Invader Hobbies, 403-274-3711 to see if theirs are sold yet. In the meantime you watch a computer sim of building the kit at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIiieWvcRK0

CONSERVATION OF OUR FIRST ARTIFACT is underway thanks to board member Peter Cromer who has undertaken to contact the Canadian Conservation Institute in Ottawa to insure that the "F for Freddie" flare cartridge, donated by Bob Ayers, is properly handled and preserved. Peter has produced some excellent quality, extremely detailed photos and spent many hours researching best practices for its conservation.

POSTERS IN THE OFFING. Within the next few weeks we should have small run of posters available thanks to efforts by Scott McTavish and his contacts. It will be an enlarged version of the full page ad which appeared with the Freddie story in the October issue of Britain at War. Check with us at the February meeting.

AN INTERESTING INVITATION arrived a couple of weeks ago for our organization to present a paper in the Netherlands this October at the 10th International Symposium on Wood and Furniture Conservation. As we are not yet 'hands on' in the "RESTORE" part of our goals, we had to decline the offer. Nonetheless, it is rewarding to see that our interests and efforts are being noticed and appreciated. Next year perhaps? Thank you to Ian Frazer, Conservator of the Leeds Museum and Galleries for the invitation. We did refer him to the de Havilland Heritage Center.

FINALLY, A BIG THANK YOU to the students of Ecole St. Cecilia and especially teacher Alison McDonald. I mentioned in last month's Bytes having spoken to their Grade 6 class about the Freddie story and our involvement in civil politics. Since then I received copies of some of the letters which the students wrote to Alderman McIver, Mayor Bronconnier, Alderman Fox-Melway, urging the city to RETAIN the Mosquito. Their letters are very touching, powerful, articulate, sincere and original. Thank you to Alison, J. Sebastian, Emily, Marissa, Taylor, Kasha, Michael, Kasandra, Jade, Roxolana, Kelly, Paige, Cassandra, Mathieu, Keegan, Stephanie, Chloe, Melia, Zach and Justin. Your words, sincerity and efforts had me in tears and I very grateful. I'll bring some of their letters and read excerpts at this week's meeting.

Thanks to all. Patience and persistence at this point.

Richard de Boer
President, CMS
403-235-1350