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Back in 1945, the
Allies captured and liberated Stalag 13, which as we know was the camp for
Allied aircrews that were shot down over Germany. Most of the
"freed" prisoners of war had nothing to do while waiting for the rides
home and they roamed the streets, airfields and bombed out factories etc. An
ex-Halifax crew from Millarville, Alberta. stumbled into the Arado factory and
found some plans which he kept.
The said gentleman, name not to be mentioned
for security reasons (as he is still alive today....let's call him BM), returned
to a small hamlet in Southern Alberta. Times were tough and he remained a
farmer. He hired and befriended some "liberated" German POW interned
in Alberta, who were new immigrants in Alberta. BM bought a few surplus
aircraft from the Crown for about $50.00 each (Cheaper than buying a tank of
gas), he had a bunch of airplanes that littered around his farm. It was in the
fall season that he and a few of his German buddies found an interest in the
plans that he brought back and started building this strange machine out of the
surplus
aluminum and parts in secret. They hoped to make a commuter plane out of
it so they could fly to Germany one day without stopping for gas.
The machine had to be hidden, they did not
want any suspicion that they were going to do anything dangerous, as most people
thought/think model builders are nuts, so they had it hidden in a bush in the
farm. It was the idea of one of an ex-Panzer officer that came up with the
"Ambush Scheme" which blended very well in the bushes.
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The project was finished in 1951 the same year the Korean conflict started. The
Canadian Government, with information from the CIA found out about the project.
It was the only machine at that time, could fly faster, with a longer range and
could carried bigger load than the B-29 including atomic bombs.
BM received an order in October 1951 to
"loan" the machine to AETE in ColdLake. It was during OctoberFest that
they decided to paint stripes on the aircraft to disguise the jet engines, which
for "unknown" reason did not go on straight. BM also decided to paint
a hornet on the tail after he got string on the behind by a hornet while he was
behind the bush (after too many beers).
AETE did a few tests including a return
flight to Moscow, which they dropped some dead cows from Alberta, chicken from
BC and some old shoes from Ottawa, (one shoe was later used in UN!) and decided
it was the best thing that they had as a AA (ALBERTA AVENGER) to Moscow in case
the Ruskies attack Canada/USA, which never happened. The bomber was given the
Code UBH. But Canada was never credited with the "first" Jet bomber
due to pressure from our big brother and the mother country.
The bomber was returned to BM, which he kept it in the farm. He moved to Calgary
and started a hobby shop later with the initial UBH! However he and his buddies
flew the bomber occasionally.
The bomber was never declassified as there
was a fight over whose idea it was with the "False Gun Turrent" on the
underside of the bomber which is the same idea as the "false canopy"
on CF-18; not to mention some logos that they applied without written consent
from you know what department.
There were reports in those days about
unidentified round or triangular flying objects in Canada. We know now from
a government source that the round objects are the Avro Avrocar (?) prototype
which they stated never got that high, but the triangular shape is still
unknown.
The Alberta Bomber cannot be found now and
some of the members moved to the east and were part of the Arrow project which
also ended up in the hush-file.
The Alberta Bomber will remains the
"Great Old Mysterious Bomber"
Uncle Rick
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