Originally posted: Aug. 17, 2025

Hi Everybody, I am reporting to you from Ol’ Blighty where I have just arrived to continue recon and acquisition of more Halifax parts for our rebuild in Canada for the Bomber Command Museum of Canada. I knew that Air Canada was going to strike but I just had to get out of town just before that, as this trip was just too important to cancel, with new found parts and deals to be made in the UK.  Airline strikes happen all the time but Halifaxes do not grow on trees, so I chose this trail to follow. BIG NEWS, the 20 foot container arrived from the UK and was delivered to the Arnprior, Ontario Halifax Rebuildshop yesterday, with over 7 tons of Halifax parts for the restoration. Included is the NEW #4 engine for our Halifax, a QEC firewall forward – entire Hercules 216 engine – which will soon be sent to BCMC in Nanton, Alberta to be readied for running in the 2026 season.

See #4 Hercules below, before launch to Canada, a beauty thanks to the RAF Museum Team and Dr. Harry Raffal for the donation of these precious engines for our restoration.

So while the guys at the Rebuildshop in Arnprior unload the container, like kids at Christmas, this author is stuck in the UK with his hire van headed out to the sheds and warehouses on hill and dale that may house what we need to finish our Halifax.  In fact, my first stop yesterday was to visit Hugo Loudon’s collection at Henley-on-Thames, where he had a complete propeller hub for a Halifax, with a possible ‘spider’ inside, the core piece for building up our No. 4 prop for No. 4 engine. See what a spider looks like below, then see what Hugo is donating with the spider still inside ( some de-assembly required). We hope the spider inside is ok and will wait until my lads in the UK can do the de-assemble. If you do not have a good Halifax spider you cannot build up your Halifax propeller for running on a Hercules engine shaft !

 

So that is all I could squeeze out of England down south, so tomorrow headed north to Peterborough and East Kirkby and dusty warehouses to find-deal-acquire more Halifax items that ”dont exist any more”, all for you Halifax fans. WHY, because thousands of lads flew the Halifax to Allied victory and have not received their due credit — you know if ”they”, the new generations, cannot see a Halifax – they will NOT remember it ! So I am here, with my team, to sabotage their memory banks so that, when they see a real Halifax towering over them, they will be forced to stop and say ”wait, wait, you mean there was more than one bomber helped win WW2 ?? ” Dont forget we now have at least 26 videos on Youtube called ”The Halifax 57 Rescue Show”  and here below, for your viewing pleasure is all we have done so far:

halifax 57 rescue show playlist – YouTube

More of these are on their way, every week or so,  so stay tuned! BTW, our Hercules No. 3 engine is getting famous and we were invited to the annual Canmore Car Show to run our pet monster for them, they really liked it – see our display at the show.

Did you know we are actively look for more Halifax bombers underwater to recover in the months and years ahead? We have found 2 so far. Did you know we must build a new 25,000 sq. ft. hangar at BCMC to house the Halifax and Lanc together once we start assembling our Halifax in Nanton? Cost 7.5 mill. See the Project below:

Home For The Heavies Museum Expansion Project – Bomber Command Museum of Canada

Did you think Karl and Team are only content when we find a propeller hub and we are not thinking of the big picture for a proper Halifax tribute for our Bomber Boys. So we go in good faith knowing THIS is the right thing to do and we are hoping our efforts will be rewarded with a major contribution in the days ahead. We are in for the long ”Halifax haul” and we must have resolute hope and faith for the future of our Project. I hope, my stalwarts, that you feel the same Right now I am spending money left right and center on your behalf and our accounts are getting moderately low after so much dealing and shipping activity. I believe I will have much more parts and deals to talk about, with you, in the near future – within the next week.  So if you will keep us strong and donate to keep our Halifax momentum going, you will not be disappointed in what we find and bring home to you.

For now, this is your Pilgrim from Halifax, headed out on a Treasure Trail, doing what we must do to pay tribute — and Remember :

WE LEAVE NO HALIFAX BEHIND