GOING HOME

Sep 14

There's an old saying in Western culture that states, “You can't go home again.” This somewhat unhappy chestnut can be traced to an excerpt from Thomas Wolfe's novel of the same name The title comes from the denouement of the story in which the main character, a writer, who realizes that: "You can't go back home to your family, back home to your childhood ... back home to a young man's dreams of glory and of fame ... back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time – back home to the escapes of Time and Memory."

The phrase “you can’t go home again” entered the common lexicon of our culture to mean that, once you have left your rural home town or provincial backwater city for a sophisticated metropolis, you can’t return to the narrow confines of your previous way of life and, more generally, attempts to relive youthful memories will always fail. It has been suggested that the phrase is sometimes spoken to mean that you can’t return to your place of origin without being deemed a failure.

Well, we are here to tell you that it is indeed possible to go home, to be seen as an inspiration, to be covered in glory and to fly the skies of your youth. Last month, Vintage Wings President Rob Fleck, working the western tour with the Vintage Wings of Canada P-51 Mustang, flew into 4 Wing Cold Lake, Alberta to attend the Cadet Summer Training Centre as well as the Change-of-Command ceremony for the commander of the RCAF's Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment. He was met there by another Vintage Wings of Canada legend, LCol (Ret'd) Dan Dempsey, flying the Discovery Air Hawk One Sabre. While Fleck flew in from Calgary in the south, Dempsey was coming in from the North where he had been performing at the Northern Skies Air Show in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

Back in May, Dempsey approached the 4 Wing Commander, Col Patrick Laroche, with an offer to drop into the historic RCAF base for the Cadet Summer Training Camp. This offer was met with an enthusiastic response and some 400 cadets had the opportunity to visit the Discovery Air Hawk One and the P-51 Mustang on July 17th and 18th. Cadets also benefited from a motivational briefing on Canada's space program by astronaut Maj Jeremy Hansen and another on the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan by Rob Fleck.

A change of command parade at the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment on the day of departure presented a unique opportunity for a rare four-plane photo session featuring the P-51 and Hawk One along with an AETE CF-18 and two CT-114 Tutors. The 15 minute photo flight was briefed by senior test pilot Maj Reagh Sherwood after special authorization was received for the two groups to do a flypast for the change of command from BGen Kowal to Col Leblanc.

With Rob Fleck leading the formation while holding for the flypasts, some exceptionally rare photographs were captured by AETE photographer Cpl Arthur Ark flying in the right seat of the Tutor chase aircraft. Recalls Dan Dempsey:

"The opportunity to fly in formation with four legendary RCAF aircraft types that collectively have served in the RCAF/Canadian Forces for almost 100 years was a rare privilege. We are indebted to AETE for having helped make it happen. The outstanding quality and uniqueness of the photographs speak for themselves."

For Rob Fleck, a former CF-104 and CF-18 pilot who trained at Cold Lake and the world famous Primrose Lake Air Weapons Range, flying back home to his old haunts in the Mustang was cathartic–an emotional return which gave him perspective on his own history and accomplishments. The pride he felt leading a formation of four aircraft types that he had flown during his career overhead Cold Lake was palpable.

It was a triumphant return for the two Vintage Wings pilots who were there to impart the knowledge, the joy and the commitment they both feel to a new generation of airmen and airwomen... the leaders of tomorrow. Yes, indeed, you can go home again.