"Mike Kanze" wrote:

Gord,

Thanks for the share. Sounds like the winter wx on P.E.I. is much nastier
than that afflicting the Puget Sound / Georgia Straits corner of the world.
Then, too, both Comox and Whidbey are in the lee of mountains that block
much of the really bad stuff, leaving both fields usually with nothing worse
than a duty 2K foot clag layer.

Well, it can get disagreeable at times for sure...the systems
spawn off the East coast of Fla then track up the East coast and
veer East out over the North Atlantic after giving us a little
love tap. Had a great winter last year, very little snow, can't
say the same for this one.

Unfortunately, our generation never got a regular exchange going with the
Comox folks. I suppose this was due to a lack of common community interest
(Comox - VP, Whidbey - VA & VAQ). Now that Whidbey is much more a VP base,
I wonder if this has changed.


Yes, hopefully, those exchanges can certainly be fun, and
educational too.

Is Comox still active, and if so, in what capacity?


Yes it is...407 Maritime Patrol sqn is still there, the same one
that you visited...been there since the mid fifties equipped with
Lancasters then, later with P2V-7 then Argus.

One thing's for sure - no more Argus.

Sadly true...it was by far the best aircraft ever made for the
Flight Engineer trade. Only aircraft that I know of where the
pilots never touch the throttles...engineer has full and
exclusive control of the engines and all the aircraft systems.

Makes for an ideal ASW platform. Pilots can keep their full
attention outside the a/c while the F/E looks after the
housekeeping duties
--

-Gord.
(use gordon in email)