My late father was an aircraft pilot. He belonged to the Royal Canadian Air Force throughout much of his career (starting as Commanding Officer of CFB Greenwood in Nova Scotia) before becoming a military attaché to the Canadian Embassies in Washington DC, Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland. While it can undoubtedly be postulated that the diplomatic missions were considered perquisites within Canadian government circles,  I am equally certain my father never lost sight of the incredible rush of adrenaline, composition and docility associated with the management of such a massive machine as an airplane. I am guessing as well that in later life he translated that sudden thrill to the lift-off of a fine motor vehicle.

The airfield for RAF Station Greenwood was constructed between 1940 and 1942 with the first training units arriving as part of No. 36 Operational Training Unit (OTU) on March 9, 1942. Early training aircraft types included the Lockheed Hudson MK III, the Avro Anson, and the Westland Lysander, all from Britain’s Royal Air Force.

The Cold War was in its infancy during the late 1940s when Canada signed the North Atlantic Treaty with the western war-time Allies, becoming part of NATO. RCAF Station Greenwood was selected as Canada’s site for a maritime reconnaissance training unit for anti-submarine warfare, the No. 2 Maritime (M) Operational Training Unit, and the nation’s first operational squadron, 405 Squadron.

2 (M) OTU became operational on December 12, 1949, the same day that 405 Squadron reactivated, using modified Avro Lancaster bombers as maritime reconnaissance aircraft. Part of 2 (M) OTU became 404 Squadron, the base’s second operational maritime reconnaissance squadron on April 30, 1951, with the 2 (M) OTU continuing to train units at RCAF Station Greenwood.

Today CFB Greenwood remains Canada’s largest operational air force base on the Atlantic coast, based on numbers of aircraft and personnel. The following aircraft types are permanently stationed at the base:

• • CP-140 Aurora, anti-submarine warfare/long-range maritime patrol
  • CH-149 Cormorant, air-sea rescue
  • CC-130 Hercules, air-sea rescue, transport

Not everyone attaches redoubtable significance to driving an automobile. Some, like my late mother, had the pithy and dismissive trait of identifying cars by their colour. But my father and I appreciated more than the colour. As a young man, when I occasionally drove as passenger in a car he was driving, I could tell by the attention my father devoted to his driving – his mere delicate embrace of the steering wheel, his alertness to the purr of the engine – that he was very much absorbed by the mechanics of the instrument.

An aircraft is a vehicle or machine that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.

There is a great deal of ancillary fuss attached to the indulgence of driving a motor vehicle. A clean car is foremost among the adjuncts. My personal intrusion with automatic car washes is well known; and, I might painfully add with unaccustomed frankness and disclosure, in some circles it is mockingly proclaimed. Yes, it represents a daily ritual. Yet in my defence of this transparent obsession so willingly confessed I should however acknowledge – and at the same time remind you Dear Reader (if I may presume to enter further upon this now prickly matter) – that the automatic car wash is an entry-level standard only when it comes to detailing. I prefer to consider my option as summary and convenient. The apologetic and relieving notion of pragmatism springs to mind. Basically I have no intention whatsoever of regularly paying $200 or more for a complete detailing job; and, I most certainly haven’t any ambition to drag a garden hose about the car with a sponge and soapy wash bucket at my side. Indeed somewhat to my embarrassment I have caught myself dislodging the need for a complete cleansing by reasoning that I will have a new car by the time such entreaty becomes imperative. It is an abuse which I have sometimes succeeded to palliate by swiping a cotton fabric attached to a plastic handle across the dashboard and other critical features of the front interior. I found the cleaning article inside a Petro-Canada station, among a wall collection of dozens of other articles devoted to the astute car owner. They are disposable.