As this is the most special year of the 100th Anniversary of the ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE we have done, so far, a couple of opening events on April 1 to celebrate this milestone.

The big event will be on MAY 3 and 4 when we officially celebrate a CENTURY of the RCAF with a most special night run – Friday May 3 – of our Lancaster and then a special program and engine runs all day on Sat. May 4 with many honoured guests from the RCAF and families of RCAF combat bomber crews.

 

In the weeks before April 1, the Halifax and Bristol Hercules restoration engine team were working hard to have our No. 2 Hercules ready on our airshow run-trailer. Imagine an engine this size, in storage for over 60 years in a non-arid LEEDS UK shop, and how we – in a shop on the flatlands of Alberta – ”blessed Bristol” for months as we persevered to bring her back to life.

We had to, over many days, replace the injection-carb twice, change the fuel pump, re-time the magnetos twice, re-plumb the oil return piping system, re-route the fuel lines, and build a new engine instrument panel for engine runs.

All this in anticipation of the big day of April 1 to run our No. 2 Hercules engine as a tribute on that special day and get ready for the entire summer event season at BCMC and airshows.

 

WHY THE HERCULES ??
BECAUSE my historically minded friends, the RCAF flew thousands of combat trips with the Hercules powered Wellingtons, hundreds of combat trips with Hercules powered Lancaster Mk. II bombers, and TENS of thousands of combat trips in the Hercules powered Mk. III and Mk. VII Halifaxes.
The excellent battle record of RCAF 6 Group, with 71 per cent of all RCAF bomber combat on Halifaxes, was won on the performance of the HERCULES engine. This engine is THE KEY to the RCAF success in contributing to the victory by Bomber Command in WW2.
Without this Hercules engine, I would not be able to tell you this today — the backbone of the RCAF bombers was this engine.
Special mention must be given to Hugh Gilchrist our master Hercules mechanic, who had 3 Uncles in the RCAF in WW2 – 2 in Bomber Command, who was with me when we – for the first time in months had this great trouble-free run of No. 2 Hercules on April 1, 2024. All thanks to Hugh’s diligence in the shop during the last winter months. Hugh was the Yoda, I was the Bristol student.
BTW, the wind on April 1 was very strong and the camera microphone was overloaded by this.
But the 5 minute Hercules engine VIDEO is our beginning tribute – but not last – to the RCAF and all the aircrew and ground crew who sacrificed in WW2 – this engine was THE part and parcel of the FINEST HOUR of the RCAF.
100 octane converted to 100 decibels – a fair trade!
We hope to hear from you with your support and donations as we save our RCAF and Halifax history, standby for even more reports soon.
WE LEAVE NO HALIFAX BEHIND
Regards, KK