I am Bob Collins in Port Alberni BC. My father Albert (Bert) E Collins served on the Robert during the 1941 voyage to Hong Kong. My father has been dead for nearly 50 years but among his possesions I have a small note pad that he kept addresses in. On the back pages of that book there is a chronology of departure and arrival times.
It reads:

One of the stories I remember my father telling was being in Pearl Harbour and watching the full moon rise over Diamond Head. There was a full moon on Dec. 3, 1941.
I noticed thatr there was mention made on the Hong Kong 1941 page of your website that the Robert passed through Honolulu on Dec. 3. According to my Dad's notes they were there for 2 days until the 5th.

Hope this might be of some interest. Enjoyed all of the Robert info you have compiled.

Regards,
Bob Collins

A DAY WITHOUT LAUGHTER IS A DAY WASTED

A man was flying from Seattle to San Francisco. Unexpectedly, the plane was diverted to Sacramento along the way. The flight attendant explained that there would be a delay, and if the passengers wanted to get off the aircraft the plane would re-board in 50 minutes.

Everybody got off the plane except one lady who was blind. The man had noticed her as he walked by and could tell the lady was blind because her Seeing Eye dog lay quietly underneath the seats in front of her throughout the entire flight.

He could also tell she had flown this very flight before because the pilot approached her, and calling her by name, said, "Kathy, we are in Sacramento for almost an hour. Would you like to get off and stretch your legs?" The blind lady replied, "No thanks, but maybe my dog would like to stretch his legs."
Picture this:
All the people in the gate area came to a complete standstill when they looked up and saw the pilot walk off the plane with a Seeing Eye dog! The pilot was even wearing sunglasses. People scattered. They not only tried to change planes, but they were trying to change airlines!


TOWER COMMUNICATIONS
Tower: "Delta 351, you have traffic at 10 o'clock, 6 miles!"
Delta 351: "Give us another hint! We have digital watches!"

Tower: "TWA 2341, for noise abatement turn right 45 Degrees."
TWA 2341: "Center, we are at 35,000 feet. How much noise can we make up here?"
Tower: "Sir, have you ever heard the noise a 747 makes when it hits a 727?"

From an unknown aircraft waiting in a very long takeoff queue: "I'm f...ing bored!"
Ground Traffic Control: "Last aircraft transmitting, identify yourself immediately!"
Unknown aircraft: "I said I was f...ing bored, not f...ing stupid!"

O'Hare Approach Control to a 747: "United 329 heavy, your traffic is a Fokker, one o'clock, three miles, Eastbound."
United 329: "Approach, I've always wanted to say this..I've got the little Fokker in sight."

A student became lost during a solo cross-country flight. While attempting to locate the aircraft on radar, ATC asked, "What was your last known position?"
Student: "When I was number one for takeoff."

A DC-10 had come in a little hot and thus had an exceedingly long roll out after touching down.
San Jose Tower Noted:  "American 751, make a hard right turn at the end of the runway, if you are able. If you are not able, take the Guadeloupe
exit off Highway 101, make a right at the lights and return to the airport."

A Pan Am 727 flight, waiting for start clearance in Munich , overheard the following:
Lufthansa (in German): " Ground, what is our start clearance time?"
Ground (in English): "If you want an answer you must speak in English."
Luft hansa (in English): "I am a German, flying a German airplane, in Germany . Why must I speak English?"
Unknown voice from another plane (in a beautiful British accent): "Because you lost the bloody war!"

Tower: "Eastern 702, cleared for takeoff, contact Departure on frequency 124.7"
Eastern 702: "Tower, Eastern 702 switching to Departure. By the way,after we lifted off we saw some kind of dead animal on the far end of
the runway."
Tower: "Continental 635, cleared for takeoff behind Eastern 702, contact Departure on frequency 124.7. Did you copy that report from Eastern
702?"
BR Continental 635: "Continental 635, cleared for takeoff, roger; and yes, we copied Eastern.. we've already notified our caterers."

One day the pilot of a Cherokee 180 was told by the tower to hold short of the active runway while a DC-8 landed. The DC-8 landed, rolled out, turned around, and taxied back past the Cherokee Some quick-witted comedian in the DC-8 crew got on the radio and said, "What a cute little plane. Did you make it all by yourself?"
The Cherokee pilot, not about to let the insult go by, came back with a real zinger: "I made it out of DC-8 parts. Another landing like yours and
I'll have enough parts for another one."

The German air controllers at Frankfurt Airport are renowned as a short-tempered lot. They not only expect one to know one's gate parking location, but how to get there without any assistance from them. So it was with some amusement that we (a Pan Am 747) listened to the following exchange between Frankfurt ground control and a British Airways 747, call sign Speedbird 206 .
Speedbird 206: " Frankfurt , Speedbird 206! clear of active runway."
Ground: "Speedbird 206. Taxi to gate Alpha One-Seven."
The BA 747 pulled onto the main taxiway and slowed to a stop.
Ground: "Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?"
Speedbird 206: "Stand by, Ground, I'm looking up our gate location now."
Ground (with quite arrogant impatience): "Speedbird 206, have you not been to Frankfurt before?"
Speedbird 206 (coolly): "Yes, twice in 1944, but it was dark, -- And I didn't land."

While taxiing at London 's Gatwick Airport , the crew of a US Air flight departing for Ft. Lauderdale made a wrong turn and came nose to nose with a United 727. An irate female ground controller lashed out at the US Air crew, screaming:
"US Air 2771, where the hell are you going? I told you to turn right onto Charlie taxiway! You turned right on Delta! Stop right there. I know it's
difficult for you to tell the difference between C and D, but get it right!"
Continuing her rage to the embarrassed crew, she was now shouting hysterically: "God! Now you've screwed everything up! It 'll take forever to
sort this out! You stay right there and don't move till I tell you to! You can expect progressive taxi instructions in about half an hour, and I want
you to go exactly where I tell you, when I tell you, and how I tell you! You got that, US Air 2771?"
"Yes, ma'am," the humbled crew responded.
Naturally, the ground control communications frequency fell terribly silent after the verbal bashing of US Air 2771. Nobody wanted to chance
engaging the irate ground controller in her current state of mind. Tension in every cockpit out around Gatwick was definitely running high. Just then
an unknown pilot broke the silence and keyed his microphone, asking: "Wasn't I married to you once?"

British Speed Trap
Two British traffic patrol officers from North Berwick were involved in an unusual incident while checking for speeding motorists on the A-1 Great North Road. One of the officers used a hand-held radar device to check the speed of a vehicle approaching over the crest of a hill, and was surprised when the speed was recorded at over 300 mph. Their radar suddenly stopped working and the officers were not able to reset it.

Just then a deafening roar over the treetops revealed that the radar had in fact latched on to a NATO Tornado fighter jet, which was engaged in a low-flying exercise over the Border district, approaching from the North Sea.

Back at police headquarters, the chief constable fired off a stiff complaint to the RAF Liaison office. Back came the reply in true laconic RAF style:

"Thank you for your message, which allows us to complete the file on this incident. You may be interested to know that the tactical computer in the Tornado had detected the presence of, and subsequently locked onto, your hostile radar equipment and automatically sent a jamming signal back to it.

"Furthermore, an air-to-ground missile aboard the fully-armed aircraft had also automatically locked onto your equipment.

"Fortunately, the pilot flying the Tornado recognized the situation for what it was, quickly responded to the missile systems alert status, and was able to override the automated defense system before the missile was launched and your hostile radar installation was destroyed. Good Day..."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


General
>>Schwarzkopf's,(also known as "Stormin' Norman")
>>statement  "Only God can forgive.
>>It is up to me to arrange the meeting"
>>
>>
>>Gen Hillier's statement has to do with War.

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things.  The ugliest is a person who thinks nothing is worth fighting and dying for and lets others, better and braver, protect him"
 
 

Subject: Prince Robert
I found your info on this ship via internet.  I am currently doing up some photo albums from my father and mother who are both now deceased.  My dad served in the Canadian Navy from 1941 to 1966.    He has numerous photos of the navy ships, however not all of them have captions as to which one that they are.  He has this one picture of the Prince Robert dated 1942 “tied up at the dockyard Jetty” Jan 42.  “forward on main fleet, gun removed.”  My dad was also a Chief Petty Officer, sorry don’t recall the number.  We are very proud of our father, who spoke very little of his work that he did.  I too regret that while he was alive, that I didn’t ask more questions about his work that he did over the years.    His old photos have always been interesting to poke around and look at but now I am finding it quite fascinating as I am putting these albums together.
Cheers from one navy brat to another
Jill Leuenberger
Subject: HMCS Prince Robert
Was just looking over some of the Robert history. I served two sessions aboard in the South and North Pacific.
My Website is
www.tnws.com/VE3BF
73  Alf MacDonald
Subject: HMCS Prince Robert
I just found your website on the HMCS Prince Robert. My father served aboard that ship as an AB in the 40's, I think in 1944 or 45. I'm talking to him on the IM I'm as I write this. Trying to get him to talk about his time on the ship. He doesn’t talk about it much. Like you I have a lot of questions but few answers. My dad is 80 now and his memory isn't all that great. He forged his birth certificate to get into the war. He has told me he was on board when they took POW’s back from Hong Kong. He does remember that his captain at the time was Creary, who went on to be an Admiral. He remembers Creary as a good Captain who took the time to visit with the men.

Thank you for all the effort you went through to make that web site. I’m looking it over as I write this and speak to him. A part of him I don’t think I’ll ever know really. Bits and pieces … If I find out anything more substantial I will pass it on. My dads name is Dennis D. Shaw and he was part of the RCNVR. I'm proud of him. I wish I knew more.
G. Shaw

Subject: Weser Relic
Hope things are well with you.  I just received a call from Pat Patterson of the Vancouver Island Military Musuem  here in Nanaimo regarding the 6.35mm automatic pistol that my Dad got off the Weser.  Because it was becoming a hassle under our new gun laws to continue to possess a prohibited weapon, I donated it and a quantity of documents to the Museum.  They are now in the process of developing a new gun display in which they want to include this hand gun and the story of the taking of the Weser.  They will be using my old newspaper reports and excerpts from my Dad's diary amongst other available documentation.

The reason I'm contacting you is because Pat would like to use a good photo of the Prince Robert and perhaps the Weser in the display and you have many good ones.  Sooooo, my question is, would you be willing, or permitted under copyright law, to allow the V.I.M.M. to have a copy of one of your photos?
If not, can you tell us where one could be obtained?  Any help at all would be appreciated.
Here's V.I.M.M.'s URL
http://nanaimo.ark.com/~vimm/

While I'm at it, thanks for keeping Dad's stuff up on the your website.  I occasionally hear from people who've been surfing your site and correspond once or twice a year with Sandy Sellers.
Kind regards,
Bob Anderson
Nanaimo, BC 

Subject: Photo of the Blackburn Shark
I was very interested in the photo of the Blackburn Shark in your Oct 2001 "Short Bursts" online newsletter.  (http://www.airmuseum.ca/mag/exag0110.html)

I believe that the pilot in the photo is my Uncle Gerald McKenna. His flight log indicates that he flew Shark # 523 (indicated on the tail of the aircraft) on Sept  26th and 27th, 1942 with F/S Hankinson and F/S Moyles as shown in the photo. Gerald also flew with Sgt. Cousins (the photographer is Tommy Cousins) on 3 flights in March 1942. I've attached a scan of the relevant page of his flight log.

Gerald was killed in a crash in a Canso in Iceland on Dec. 19th, 1944. Do you have any more information about the photo?
regards,
Stefan McKenna


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


HMCS Prince David Wikipedia Entry