The 1963 Penticton Air Show featured performances by the RCAF’s Red Knight and Golden Hawks. It was believed to be the first time in Canadian history that an Air show broadcast included conversations with the pilots during their performances. (Audio Credit: Al Miller)
What follows is an excerpt from page 84-85 of The Red Knight: Among the appearances [Bud Morin] made during that trip was a display at Penticton, B.C. on August 10. Morin is believed to have made Canadian air show history when he spoke live to spectators during his performance in Penticton.
The broadcast required a complicated hookup involving radio, telephone and Aeradio equipment. Aeradio stations provided navigational facilities, air to ground communication and weather information. DOT installed over one hundred of these stations from coast to coast in the 1930s. Manned by highly qualified radio operators, they were “on-the-air” 24/7. This technology allowed aircraft to navigate accurately between airports and provided constant radio contact with the ground. Al Miller participated in the broadcast. As he recalls: “The broadcast was put together with Ralph Robinson the radio station manager, Jack Mervin of the Okanagan Telephone Company, who made the necessary telephone wire connections and me as officer-in-charge of the Penticton Aeradio station. The pick-up receiver was remotely located on Campbell Mountain just outside Penticton and the Aeradio operators at the airport monitored the Ultra High Frequency (UHF).
“There is a little story behind the creation of being able to make this broadcast. The broadcast station manager was a good friend and we got discussing the possibility of a broadcast. It had already been arranged that the ground commentator for the Red Knight would be broadcast over the local station. Ralph Robinson said he would check it out with the telephone company and I agreed to ask the DOT regional office for permission. The day before the display I received a message back refusing permission. [However], that evening the Red Knight and a group of other Air Force people came out to the airport. We stood around discussing the next day’s show. One person in the group was apparently a very high-ranking officer. He had gold braid almost up to his elbow. I explained what we had hoped to do but had been refused by DOT. I also mentioned that this might be the first time this kind of broadcast had ever been done in Canada. He said he thought it sounded like a great idea and he would see what he could do. Next morning I received a wire saying ‘Permission Granted.’ From there on everything went perfectly.”
Sadly, Bud Morin was killed less than two weeks later when he crashed while performing at RCAF Station Gimli’s Air Force Day on August 21, 1963.