Brothers in arms

Dad spent 1609 days in the RCAF, virtually all in No. 6 Repair Depot, Trenton following training in Winnipeg and St. Thomas. Living and working in close quarters, he made life-long friends with many other airframe mechanics. 

Their weapons: screwdrivers and wrenches; their machines of war: lathes and press brakes. But they did their part in a key sector of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. These men didn't see active combat, but were a band of brothers all the same.

Early photo of No. 6 Repair Depot
[Source: Karkut, E.T. (Ed.). (1990). The History of 6RD and the Aerospace Maintenance Development Unit. Trenton, ON: AMDU.]
       

   

Barracks ...
   

and more barracks

No. 6 Repair Depot: "You bend 'em, we mend 'em"

Workshops at No. 6 Repair Depot, Trenton.
Dad's RCAF experience was invaluable training for his career at MacDonald Bros. Aircraft. 
          

   

Wartime Winnipeg also had an RCAF Repair Depot (#8), due west of MacDonald Bros. Aircraft.
I wonder if Dad wished he had been posted to #8, much closer to home (and to sweetheart Hazel Stevens).

It is easy to imagine Dad working hard, but also enjoying the camaraderie of his RCAF chums, who were good substitutes for real brothers. He remained a loyal friend with a few of these buddies his entire life (or their entire lives—he outlived them).

V for Victory. Dad in his summer uniform, with a trio from St. Thomas, at the Royal York Hotel, Toronto.
   

Outside the Royal York Hotel
   

We recognize a few names, including Art Elliott, Orville Neal and Charlie "Bud" Lamb.

Charlie and Dad cheat a little by standing on the stoop, but Orville (at left) still towers over the gang.
   

It's hard for mechanics to keep their tennis whites white.
   

The Trenton boys welcome the RCAF Women's Division, 1944.
   

Dad, Orville, and Charlie in their Maid of the Mist gear, Niagara Falls

A change from mechanics' overalls 
   

Dad and Orville, back in uniform
   

Dad bought his Norton motorcycle from Orville in 1943. The $60 Orville earned from its sale went towards a lovely diamond engagement ring for his sweetheart, Cay.

Dad was best man at Orville's wedding, November 20, 1943.
    

Orville and bride Catherine "Cay" (nee Laing)
      

Orville and Cay enjoyed 68 years of marriage and had two sons, Robert and David. Orville passed away on June 28, 2010 at the Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, in his 90th year. After five wartime years with the RCAF, Orville learned the electrical trade and started Neal Electric in Oakville. Cay passed away seven years later in her 96th year. Dad corresponded with Orville and Cay until their deaths.

   

Dad with a fellow LAC from Pilot Mound, Earl Preston, at St. Thomas, Ontario
   

And with Earl, back in Winnipeg.

Dad with Wallace Ballantyne, another LAC from St. Thomas
   

Dad's wartime buddies returned to their various provinces after their service, but Dad stayed in touch with a number of them. Art Elliott was a good friend from Saskatchewan. Charlie Lamb was a fellow Winnipegger. 

Charlie Lamb, escaping No. 6 Repair Depot to earn a few bucks picking apples.
   

It's a different kind of harvest for this Pilot Mound boy.
      

Charlie Lamb and his fiancée Carolyn Andrews were attendants at the wedding of Murray Fraser and Hazel Stevens, July 9, 1949.

Time marches on, and Charlie and Carolyn are no longer with us. In his own later years, Dad sent Carolyn photos of Charlie picking apples, but received no reply.

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