Tales of An Old Aviator .... The Big Chill

[Duke Elegant]

Well it seems that I must be one of the luckiest guys alive. I really needed to finish the story I started about old JGQ , the derelect C117 Super DC3 and its final ferry flight.

For the last week I have drifted in and out of bouts of pain that the morphine fails to arrest completely but I promise I will finish the tale.

But I must share something with you all.

I am indeed the luckiest guy alive. As far as my health status goes , I now have a chip light. Yes , the big C is overtaking my innards but as it states in the checklist , you do not shut down the engine on account of a chip light and you proceed to destination while monitoring all other guages.

Today was a good day. A young pilot insisted he buy me a beer so off to the pub we go only to run into people that were concerned that they haven't seen me for a while.

Friends.... wow! ... what a resource. I am truly blessed. I am talking about all types of friends. Its is amazing. Some of the rougher/tougher blokes can show clear emotions , some touching me , some hugging and some glassy eyed. But all had the same message.

So over ambles my mate Teddy. I guess a whole bunch of my other mates from the past came up with a plan and Teddy was the messenger.

They want to have a pre-funeral pissup in a hall with a band and everything, some thinking this would be macabre and spooky but the general consensus was that I could handle it.

I sure can.

It seems that my friends want to say stuff now , not while I am in the box with my arms crossed and a blank look on my face.

It doesn't get any better than that , does it?

[scran]

Outstanding idea on their part Duke.


Have a great time there......they all obviously care a lot about you......and I'm sure everyone here wishes you all the best.....

On Ya Digga!!!!

[Duke Elegant]

I just thought I would take a peek at my thread thereby being the fifteen thousandth view.
Thank you all for making me feel good.

And thank you Danny.

[Pinky the pilot]

Duke; Thank you for sharing these stories with us all. I only wish that someday they would be published!
God bless you my friend!

You only live twice. Once when
you're born. Once when
you've looked death in the face.

[BOAC]

DE - here's to the next 15.000. Have one hell of a party! You have some great pals.

[E. MORSE]

IF YOU'RE GOING THROUGH HELL,

KEEP GOING.

I LIKE YOU A LOT DUKE.

[Duke Elegant]

It was tough to drag my arse off the couch given that my bowels are bound up tighter that a bull's arse in fly season but it was an offer that I couldn't refuse ... a call from my young friend Mark. He more or less insisted that he was coming up in his Yak to pick me up and fly to Arlington Washington for the airshow where it was promised that many of my friends would be there and there was lots of good flying to enjoy.

I had flown his Yak before and had carressed this lithe beauty into some smooth aeros and so I settled into the familiar back seat for the thirty minute trip that took me to the Mecca of aviation. You see people at their best at these events and even the customs clearance was both friendly and enjoyable.

We parked in the warbird section next to the Mustang , two Grumman Wildcats , T28's , T6 Texans , 2 L39 jets , Beech 18's , more Yaks, numerous ultralights , homebuilts and restored classics ... hundreds of motor homes , tents and thousands of people with some camped for a week or more.

We then made our way to Camp Sea Bee , a group of outlaw aviators and performers on the fringe. They are the true Rat Pack in the aviation world and yet were always visited by the top performers and aviators and even some aviation loving Transport Canada inspectors on their own time.

They had circled the wagons way off in the far corner but failed to be invisible to the lawmen whose visits bacame more frequent as the week rolled on. And sure enough , there were many of my friends at this den of iniquity where the overwhelming presence of His Immenseness , Jerry Janes , presided. The party was in full swing with a background of tumbling Sukhois and Yaks , snarling ballets of John Mazurecks T6 , Mustangs and all manner of antics but I was most impressed with the gasoline powered marguirita machine that produced two gallons a minute and I was soon to become one of it's victims. The mix of morphine and marguritas felled me like an ox after a brief period of laughs and tales of daring-do so I rested in one of the motor homes only to be awakened later by some bagpipe music that tempted me to rejoin the meelee..

The grandson of His Immenseness at the tender age of fifteen or so was the piper and his younger brother was playing the kettle drum with much flourish and were joined by a young sixteen year old princess with enormous talent. They played with such beauty and finesse that even the oft harrased neighbours couldn't resist to come and enjoy this pleasurable example of youth. I had a bad case of the shakes and couldn't stand up so I settled into a chair with the lovely Donna comforting me. Bud Granley , probably the best living airshow performer (he does a snap roll just after take off in a T6 that defies logic) wrapped my old bag of bones in his jacket as we enjoyed the pipes. I shook like an old radial engine with a bad mag and three plugs oiled up.

Bud wanders off to the pipers ... I sense something going on ...a quick glance at grandpa Jerry ... he is in on it too.

Bud speaks as the crowd hushes. He draws attention to our friends and fallen aviators and suggests we sould never forget them and I am touched.

But then .... " and to them we pay tribute , but also we should pay tribute to those amongst us who will soon pass on ... (a powerful pause) ...and this is now dedicated to Duke Elegant."

First one piper .... Amazing Grace ... the haunting , powerful wailing of the pipes..... and then the second piper kicks in.

My cancer , the pain , the shakes ... all displaced by a joy hitherto unimagined..... hands on by bony , wasted shoulders ... Bud , Mark , Paul , Donna. And a glance at Big Jerry so proud of his grandkids ... this beauty awash in tears of joy.

And all I could say was "It seems like everything is OK."

[Duke Elegant]

Well it is official now.

The "pre funeral pissup" is 25th July at the Transwest Helicopter hangar in Chilliwack and starts early afternoon with a roast pig , BBQ salmon and a band later. So far there are 150 people and all aviators are welcome.

My family including grandchildren and daughter from Montreal will be here for the afternoon festivities.

I sure have wierd friends eh?
_________________

[lofty50]

Duke, I guess like many of your readers, I travel a lot and cannot keep up to speed on your story. I am in tears reading your last posts. I am so happy for you that you have so many friends, what more could any man wish than to have the love and friendship you have. God speed, and thank you for so many hours of enjoyment reading your stories of your life. I hope to meet such a man as you in the afterlife.

Lofty

[Skylark4]

Duke,
I have a job for you.
I had a word with my Guardian Angel and pointed out that I had this old friend I'd never heard about until a few days ago who was likely to be looking for a new post. He didn't say anything but I'm sure he understands. When you see him, thank him for all he's done for me so far. You are welcome in my cockpit anytime.

I forwarded the details of your Party to Butch Foster. I don't know if he'll get it though. He's a bit new on the internet and I think he may be flying 'his' B26 in BC at the moment.

Good luck in your new adventure.

Mike W

[Jet Dragon]

Duke

I don't know you but wish I did. I have thoroughly enjoyed the stories you have posted on this forum and thank you for that.

You are an incredibly brave man - and like others have felt very emotional on reading of your latest trials and tribulations.

Good luck - God speed and thankyou

JD

[Maxflyer]

Duke,

I have two sons. One is 12 going on 32! I notice how he is being influenced by aspects of our society that I find somewhat distasteful (I'm sure my parents felt the same). I am going to insist that he reads the whole thread from start to finish so as to get the feel for what is decent, funny and inspiring. All these traits are reflected by you and your anecdotes.

Thank you so much for your bravery and inspiration. Have a wonderful time at your bash and again, thank you.

[Duke Elegant]

The job in Peace River Alberta had gone quite smoothly considering I was a new Captain on the Casa 212 and the flat terrain of Alberta made it easy to master the art of EM survey flying which was very different from straight Magnetometer flying I had been doing up on James Bay (Attawapaskat) in a Caravan.

We waited for Eric , my co-captain who was also a brand new captain and we had attended the same course in Ottawa. Eric had had some trouble on the course , mainly due to his native toungue , French, but we all spent extra time helping him think in English for the standard operating procedures in a two crew enviroment. Some of us got together after hours in the cockpit of the Casa in the hangar and went through procedures over and over until he was more comfortable. He was a very pleasant chap and we saw the value in this small investment. We had heard that he was a very good pilot. I , too , asked help of a young first officer, Chris , in matters that I did not fully understand.

This next mission was daunting to say the least especially for two rookies. Two other captains had turned down the job because it was way up north above the Arctic Circle and was a tent camp on the barrens of Baffin Island. The engineer was a rookie too , a Greek immigrant called Stathi Popadoppagoppabobbopolis or something. He had been making arrangements to fly south and then the long way around by airlines in order to fly in comfort and arrive on Baffin on the HS748 charter which bore our spares and supplies. I vetoed this by assuming the role of benovelent dictator and informed Ottawa that he was to fly with us. That's the way it is, I informed him after phoning many layers over even his boss's head.... and besides ... I was a Duke.

We launched for Yellowknife , North West Territories where we needed a hangar for preventitive maintainence since we were bare-assed to the elements for the next few months. This was also the departure point for some very long legs over very barren territory with very few alternate airports.

So the Frenchman , the Greek and the Aussie took off on an adventure of a lifetime.
_________________

[Duke Elegant]

The Casa 212 is a chubby little speedster powered by two Dash 10 Garretts of a thousand horsepower each. Designed as a Spanish military troop carrier and cargo aeroplane it is ideal for the electro-magnetic survey role by virtue of its large interior that can accomodate small military vehicles easily loaded by a hydraulic ramp. By adding twin booms protruding from the nose and a large box section boom jutting from the tail, a six strand loop of heavy cables are strung around the whole aircraft (laid horizontally and steadied by arrows that resemble missiles) that pound a million or so millivolts of power into the ground. Once airborne , two "birds" that resemble cruise missiles are let out by their respective winches to trail behind and measure magnetic anomilies produced by ore bodies and oil and gas pockets. It has a surprisingly comfortable and well laid out cockpit that is a blessing when flying long missions close to the ground for hours on end. But no longer a speedster , it is more of a contraption with banks of electronics and AC/DC converters in back including an operators station.

So with the birds winched up against the ramp door , loaded with spares , personal gear, tool boxes and survival gear we droned off to Yellowknife at a blistering 140 knots. We are to meet our Polish operator Jerzy on site and the time in Yellowknife is spent on maintainence and visits with many friends flying Buffalo Joe's DC4's , C46 Curtis Commandos and DC3's. Yellowknife is a Mecca of bush aviation and Buffalo Joe immeditaely offered me a job as DC4 captain but Fugro Airborne Surveys had stuck with me during my first battle with cancer and my loyalty to them was resolute. This loyalty today is paying off many times over.

The company had rewarded us with a large stash of beer and whiskey for the job well done in Peace River and this would be very welcome in a tent camp for sure.

Flight planning for the next leg was complicated by the summer Arctic sea fog that blanketed the northern route via Gjoa Haven and Cambridge Bay so we had no choice but to take the Baker Lake and Hall Beach route that involved nearly four hour legs with very distant alternates so a window of opportunity was sought where there were no headwinds.

We droned high above the barrens that became devoid of trees but replaced by rugged eskers that looked as if they had been scratched into the Canadian shield by the almighty when he was in an angry mood ... they all ran in the same directiion and offered little solace in the event of an emergency landing. The famous Baker Lake cariboo migration herds were too far North for our viewing and we were instead rewarded by the nothingness of Baker Lake where we landed with bare reserves for refuelling. The leg to Hall Beach , an Eskimo villiage on the shores of the still iced up Artic Ocean was mostly in or above cloud. Icing was our enemy as ice would quickly form on the loop causing it to hump thereby giving a ten minute warning prior to plummeting to earth with the glide angle of a greased crowbar. This villiage seemed friendly enough and relatively clean but we elected to push on to Dewer Lakes on Baffin Island which was a Dew Line radar site and our home for the coming months.
Very rugged , rocky mountains loomed on all points of the compass.

Upon arrival we noticed the automatic radar site high up on the hill , a well prepared gravel runway and our teeny camp on the banks of a frozen river. We hadn't seen a tree since Yellowknife. Some cariboo wandered the strip but soon dispersed with the shrieking whine of the Garrets and we parked on the cleared ramp in a cloud of dust. Two all terrain vehicles greeted us , one driven by the data processor and the other by Jerzy , the operator, and these were our only means of transportaion which was OK since there was nowhere to go anyway.

With gear piled high we made our way to the camp over rocks , all the same size , all the wrong size ... even walking was a chore over these devil's marbles.

Enroute , Dave the data processor told me with some foreboding that I won't believe the BHP Australia female geophysicist that was on site. He chuckled and grinned and shook his head often.

The Arctic wind with no warning ambushed us and with the dusk approaching , a shiver enveloped me as we approached camp.

And then I saw her.

[LowNSlow]

Duke I've read (and re-read) your posts with huge enjoyment. Very inspirational and cautionary stuff.

I would love to be able to come to the pissup on the 25th but I'm stuck the other side of the world. I'll raise a glass of vodka or two to you at the time though

Good luck and bon voyage

[Bush Driver]

Duke,

It was wonderful to see you the other day, and thanks for introducing me to the Chilliwack pie-excellent stuff.

Just in case I didn't say it effectively last monday, I wanted you to know the tremendous inspiration you have been to me, not only in the flying arena, but in life aswell. Your advice to me has been registered, and the path you suggested for the next few months will be taken.

I've learned a great deal from you in these last few years, lessons that will not be forgotten, but the greatest thing that I can say is, that I have been indeed fortunate to have received your friendship. Thank You!

[Sawmill Broad]

Update for Duke Elegant

Seems I have been upgraded from Sawmill Broad to:
Secretary to the Duke!

He tells me I should be honoured.

I am.

For everyone's information, he had taken a turn for the worse and has been in hospital since Friday evening (July16) in considerable pain. Our medical system sucks but perseverence prevails and the good news is that his CT today showed that there is a surgery that can be done to eleviate this. This will happen tomorrow evening so everyone out there should send positive energy his way.

The great 'piss-up'(celebration of his life) will go on this Sunday at the airport in Chilliwack and he will be there either on gurney or else!
That's what he says and I believe it!

He asked me to post this for note for him.

[brockenspectre]

{{{HUGZZZZ}}} dear Duke Elegant hope the op is useful and that you are sufficiently well recovered to imbibe one or several on Sunday!! It would have been fun to be with y'all on 25th (to put faces to names and your face to all the stories!) but instead I will raise a glass of something bubbly to you!!

luv brockie (avid reader of the thread!)

[John James]

Thanks for sharing Duke. .
Here's a poem I wrote in Sept 2000 inspired by the Book of John:


WARM HEART

The people before us
Leave their presence
About us
In the minds of those
Who know us
We see again
Our past.


jj

God Bless

[Sawmill Broad]

Update on the Duke

Hi Everyone,

Just got the word - the surgery was successful but he will be critical for the next 5 days. He is doing well!
The doc did say he would be at the soiree on Sunday so here's hoping...

Because if he isn't, I fear a very crowded hospital room on that day!

I know he will love to hear from you so if you have any comments I will be taking them to the hosp. for him.

Thanks for the good wishes! I will keep you posted.