-
7 -
astounding
- the noise level increased somewhat, but the signals simply boomed
in much louder than ever before. We therefore elaborated and modified
the change-over switch to accommodate the big aerial to receiver
or transmitter, and didn't return to a single wire, separate aerial
until years later.
In
June 1926 we bid Good-Bye to Lt. Taber and welcomed Lt. Cliff Underwood
as Officer In Charge. Sigmn. Glynn also left that month and was
replaced by Cpl. Harry Ewing. Although our records are somewhat
vague in this respect we believe that a Lt. Leppard arrived to take
over from Mr. Taber before "Undy" appeared on the scene,
but for reasons now unknown remained with us only about two or three
days. Ewing, however, arrived just in time to start meteorological
work. We took over this duty from a local resident who for years
had taken readings twice daily and handed them in at 8 a.m. and
4 p.m. to the G.T.S. for relay to Victoria, B.C. - but we, with
three men on the station as a reason, perhaps, had to take the readings
early enough to get the firs tone on the air by 4 a.m.
For
the next two years we carried on more or less smoothly and quietly
with little or no change to routine or equipment, other than perhaps
a new type of transmitter tube and a new Marconi receiver. But Dawson's
first plane in ten years came over from Fairbanks in the summer
of '26 to search for a missing man. It was a big event and attracted
hundreds of local residents who had never seen a plane before. next
year (1927) a group of Yukoners organized the first "Air Express
& Mail Service" between Whitehorse - Mayo - Dawson with
a Ryan monoplane "Queen of the Yukon", a sister ship of
Lindberg's famous "Spirit of St. Louis". The "Queen"
first arrived in Dawson on Nov. 11th 1927 and was feted and acclaimed
for days. The idea of Yukon's own air transportation system was
indeed a novelty in those days and was enthusiastically received
and proclaimed; but lack of any aids to flying, plus normal hazards
of weather and equipment, discouraged the enterprise and it was
soon abandoned.
In
August 1928 now QMS. Heath was posted to Ottawa, while Cec. may,
now CSM, replaced him. later that month Cpl. Ed. Parsonage relieved
Cpl. Armstrong; and Lt. Underwood also relinquished his Yukon command.
"Undy", by the way, was the last commissioned officer
to be in charge of the Dawson and Mayo stations.
The
records of the next five years are rather sketchy and incomplete.
As far as we can determine, personnel changes and replacements featured
this period; with Harry Ewing out for medical attention in March
1930, relieved by Cpl. Stan. Reid. Then in 1931 it looks like CSM.
May and Cpl. Parsonage headed outside while CSM. Armstrong returned
as Warrant Officer In Charge (WOIC), and S/Sgt. Harry Yelland came
in to relieve parsonage. In 1932 it appears that Yelland left to
take charge of the Mayo station, and Reid went outside while Sigmn.
"Red" Waddell and Sgt. "Newt" Plunkett reported
in to Dawson