Obituaries

Arthur C Clarke his work in Radar in WW 2 , he was the lead man in GCA/PAR
radar without which the Berlin Airlift would have failed, and the radar that guided millions of aircraft to safe landings prior to ILS


COLOMBO, Sri Lanka–Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died yesterday in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, an aide said. He was 90.

Clarke, who had battled post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and sometimes used a wheelchair, died after suffering breathing problems.

Co-author with Stanley Kubrick of Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Clarke was regarded as far more than a science fiction writer.

He was credited with the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality. Geosynchronous orbits, which keep satellites in a fixed position relative to the ground, are called Clarke orbits. And he joined broadcaster Walter Cronkite as commentator on the U.S. Apollo moon shots in the late 1960s.

Clarke's non-fiction volumes on space travel and his explorations of the Great Barrier Reef and Indian Ocean earned him respect in the world of science, and in 1976 he became an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

But it was his writing that shot him to his greatest fame and that gave him the greatest fulfillment.

"Sometimes I am asked how I would like to be remembered," Clarke said recently. "I have had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer and space promoter. Of all these I would like to be remembered as a writer."

From 1950, he began a prolific output of both fiction and non-fiction, sometimes publishing three books in a year. He published his bestselling 3001: The Final Odyssey when he was 79.

Some of his best-known books are Childhood's End, 1953; The City and The Stars, 1956; The Nine Billion Names of God, 1967; Rendezvous with Rama, 1973; Imperial Earth, 1975; and The Songs of Distant Earth, 1986.

When Clarke and Kubrick got together to develop a movie about space, they used as basic ideas several of Clarke's shorter pieces, including The Sentinel, written in 1948, and Encounter in the Dawn. As work progressed on the screenplay, Clarke also wrote a novel of the story. He followed it with 2010, 2061 and 3001: The Final Odyssey.

In 1989, two decades after the Apollo 11 moon landings, Clarke wrote: "2001 was written in an age which now lies beyond one of the great divides in human history; we are sundered from it forever by the moment when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out on to the Sea of Tranquility. Now history and fiction have become inexorably intertwined."

Clarke won the Nebula Award of the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979; the Hugo Award of the World Science Fiction Convention in 1974 and 1980, and in 1986 became Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He was awarded the CBE in 1989.

Born in Minehead, western England, on Dec. 16, 1917, the son of a farmer, he became addicted to science fiction after buying his first copies of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories at Woolworth's. He began writing for his school magazine in his teens.

Clarke went to work as a clerk in Her Majesty's Exchequer and Audit Department in London, where he joined the British Interplanetary Society and wrote his first short stories and scientific articles on space travel.

In the wartime Royal Air Force, he was put in charge of a new radar blind-landing system. But it was an RAF memo he wrote in 1945 about the future of communications that led him to fame. It was about the possibility of using satellites to revolutionize communications.

Clarke later sent it to a publication called Wireless World, which almost rejected it as too far-fetched.

Clarke married in 1953 and was divorced in 1964. He had no children.

Disabled by post-polio syndrome, the lingering effects of a disease that had paralyzed him for two months in 1959, Clarke rarely left his home in Sri Lanka. He moved there in 1956, lured by his interest in diving, which, he said, was as close as he could get to the weightless feeling of space.

"I'm perfectly operational underwater," he once said.

WOW! Can't believe I missed this! One of my favorite authors. Used to watch a sci-fi/fact show in the early '80s where he went over things like the Bermuda triangle and such. Gonna miss him.

On a personal note my aunt recently passed at age 86. lived a long wonderful life, was as energetic as anyone I've ever met. She never drove her car under 100 KPH, stopped driving about 5 years ago as couldn't see very well. Reason I'm including her here is she was in the dutch East Indies in 1942 as a nurse/midwife. She didn't talk alot about the time there but did say she saw some awful stuff and some amazing courage and people during the 3 years she spent in the Japense camps.

My condolances Bernhart

Same here Bernhart.

Sorry to hear of your loss...

To all who've gone before, . I always get a little misty-eyed when I read about a vet passing away...this thread has got me all tied up.

Tadeusz Wieslaw "Ted" Kotz, (1913- 2008 ) D.F.C., V.M., K.W., Colonel, W.C., 303 Squadron Leader Polish Division R.A.F., Ace and Hero of the Battle of Britain Passed away peacefully on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at Sunset Manor Nursing Home, Collingwood, in his 95th year.

TO

War Ace passes away
Bert Houle dies at 94
Posted By Rosalind Raby

Midnorth Monitor - Ontario, CA

He is now flying other, more peaceful, skies. A World War Two Ace who called Massey home has passed away at 94. Flying Officer and Group Captain Albert 'Shorty' Ulrich Houle Jr. of Massey was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and many other accolades for his war-time fighting pilot skills during the Second World War.


He flew with Nos. 213, 145 and 417 Squadrons, and his score of enemy aircraft was 11 destroyed, one probable and seven others damaged. Houle and his Spitfire became a legend during and after the war. He was the most successful of the many Canadian pilots who flew with the squadron during the war. Like thousands of other men and women, he had not planned to be a hero, the war made him so.

Born in Massey on March 24, 1914, he attended public and high school there before graduating from the University of Toronto with a Bsc (science) in 1936. He won the Canadian intercollegiate wrestling championship in 1936.

Houle was the second son of Albert W. Houle Sr. of Massey. Before enlistment he was an electrical engineer with the International Nickel Company of Canada. For two years after graduation, he was a demonstrator of electrical engineering at the university. Houle enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force at North Bay in September, 1940, received his wings at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and went overseas in May, 1941.

In September, 1941, along with five other Canadian pilots, he joined 213 Squadron at Nicosia, Cyprus. After a short period of tie as a test pilot with a maintenance unit in the Canal Zone, he remained with the squadron until 1942. During this time, he destroyed three enemy aircraft, damaged three others, had one probable and one shared. The Spitfire Ace was awarded the DFC on November 27, 1942.

According to CP Press files, the official citation covering the award is as follows: "One evening in October, 1942, Flying Officer Houle was flying with his squadron on patrol over El Alamein when a formation of enemy dive-bombers was sighted. The enemy aircraft jettisoned their bombs and flew west in an attempt to avoid the combat. With great tenacity and determination Flying Officer Houle pursued them far over the enemies' lines and in the rapidly failing light engaged and destroyed at least two of the hostile bombers,

"This officer is a skilful pilot who has always displayed exceptionally cool courage in action. His fine example has been a great inspiration to all personnel in his unit."

This commanding officer served throughout the Sicilian and Italian campaigns. An excellent leader and skilful pilot, he has always evinced a fine fighting spirit, determination and courage.

Bert Houle (centre) was presented with this special commemorative painting of himself and his Spitfire upon his retirement in 1967. The City of Windsor also features a full scale replica of his plane in Jackson Park, which was unveiled in 2005.

According to the Public Record Office Air 2/9624 Report dated February 4, 1944, Houle flew 815 hours, 338 sorties (400 operational hours, of which 240 had been flown since previous award). He was the Commanding officer for No.417 Canadian Squadron since November 21, 1943. Previous to this appointment he commanded a flight in the same squadron, and fought throughout the Sicilian campaign and the Italian invasion.

On February 7, 1944, the Air Officer Commanding the Desert Air Force at the time, added his remarks. "Squadron Leader Houle is a very gallant fighter pilot and has done magnificent work, particularly since he took over command of No.417 Squadron. I strongly recommend him for the award of a Bar to his Distinguished Flying Cross."

In another article written by Kenneth C. Cragg, Houle believed the Germans had the upper hand for a while.

"From an airman's view — and he had a lot of it leading the City of Windsor Spitfire Squadron over the Anzio Beachhead — Sqdn. Ldr. Albert Houle believes the limited success of Allied arms there was due to the speed with which the Germans moved supporting divisions into the threatened section.

"Sqdn. Ldr. Houle and FLt. LT. George (Buzz) Beurling, Verdun Quebec, were two of 200 Royal Canadian Air Force officers and men repatriated for leave, to become instructors or ground crew who will train for air crew. Houle said, in as succinct comment as has ever come out of Italy, except what has been printed in the Eighth Army News, of the Anzio situation: "They never believed they could move in so many so fast."

He estimated the enemy moved in 12 divisions in 24 hours. By this time, Houle was considered something of an authority in assessing a position. "He had a lot of experience in helping to chase the Hun up into Europe, from the time as a pilot he fought at Solum and kept on fighting all the way to Tripoli.

"In certain tangible ways ,he has left his imprint on the Middle East, not the least of them, by shooting down 11, getting a probable and damaging seven other enemy aircraft. He has a lot of other aircraft to his credit that he destroyed on the ground, but his record lumps them with a trail of wrecked motor transport and troop carrying trucks, which he knocked off during Rommel's retreat from the gates of Alexandria.

"The R.C.A.F. modestly knocks down Houle as one of its most outstanding fighters. It is not surprising, therefore, that the stocky, black-haired 1936 Canadian intercollegiate wrestling champion in his own weight, has built up a personal tradition. For example, he shot down two Jerries in 15 seconds.

"That little feat he dismisses as just one of those things. As he tells it, he "squirted" at one, and he went down underneath him, and as No. One fell away, there was another Jerry."

He recalled the Rommel drive toward Cairo and remembered the final stand at El Alamein, when the British ordered everything that could fly to concentrate on frontline bombing and strafing operations, "Those were the days when an old model Hurricane was our first line fighter and when other types long since out of service made up our strength," he said, "Those were also the days when we had orders not to waste ammunition and to make every shot count."

He told of the assembly of out-dated planes, of how they were loaded down with bombs, and of how they flew continuously over the Germans and Italians until they were stopped in their tracks.

"When that time came we had exactly 250 bombs left," Houle recalled. Houle said that he bad noticed varying changes in German tactics during the last year. "In the early days we were outnumbered and we used to have to fight our way out of some pretty tough spots," he said. "But gradually as our power increased and German morale and pilot material seemed to fall away we used to spend our time chasing them.

He said that lately the German strategy seemed to be to nurture dwindling strength. Pilots apparently had orders not to mix it with Allied airmen because they couldn't afford losses.

He said the only time that the Germans concentrated air support over their armies was when the ground forces needed support, such as during the Battle of Ortona.

"They swarmed at us in fairly large numbers," he recalled. "But we soon had the edge on them, and finally chased them out of the sky. Either our equipment had vastly improved or their pilots were becoming worse,"

Houle said similar German strategy was employed at the Anzio Beachhead, where his squadron recently had been employed.

"However, they seem to be using more experienced pilots in this area, and they are trying to make a fight of it and giving us some pretty tough battles," he said. "However, our planes are better than theirs, and it's only a question of time before we knock them out."

Upon his return home, Houle was met at the disembarkation port by his mother, who made her first flight to be there. A hero's welcome awaited him at home, with a parade and accolades for their wartime hero.

Following the war, he married Margaret Irvine, who he had met on a blind date, on June 19, 1945. The couple had two children, Donna and Craig. Houle went on to get his aeronautics degree and eventually rose to the rank of Deputy Commander of the NORAD Sector (Sault Ste. Marie) and Commanding officer of the Control Experimental Proving Ground, testing various new planes, in Uplands, Ottawa.

His wife passed away on June 5, 2007. He passed away June 1 of this year. In an unusual move, the Canadian Forces will allow both their ashes to be buried in Beechwood Military Cemetery in Ottawa. Usually spouses are not given the right to do so, but due to his contributions to the Canadian military, the honour is being given for the first time.

The two will be interned with full military honours on Friday, June 27 in Ottawa, which will also include a flyover of one of the few remaining Spitfires overhead, a fitting acknowledgement of one of Canada's heroes.

Amazing!

TO