A Secret Visit from Princess Juliana

an active enthusiastic company which included most of the male members of the CFCY staff. Before the war had ended about ninety men had gone through its ranks into the regular service. As young announcers and operators left the station to go to war, new staff had to be quickly trained. Throughout the war we got the news first hand, of course, and its impact was both terrifying and joyous, as we learned of the reversals and triumphs.

In the spring of 1941, Charlottetown and Summerside became the sites of two of the Commonwealth Air Training bases. Because their own air fields were overcrowded and in constant danger of attack, the British Air Force sent thousands of men to train in Canada. RAF No. 31, General Reconnaissance School was established four miles from Charlottetown on the Brackley Point Road. Summerside trained pilots; Charlottetown trained navigators, observers and gunners.

The men were from all parts of the Commonwealth, most of them, so far from home, were very young—even as young as seventeen. The Islanders, with many of their own young men off in the forces, did their best to make the airmen welcome by taking them to their homes. Dad would pick up young airmen and bring them home to dinner, or take them fishing. My husband Bob and I, after three years at CBA, were by then back at CFCY. We had just had a baby daughter, Brenda, and

Vivian MacPhail

During war years, girls took on duties as studio operators. The old control rooms were complicated aflairs compared to the new, all—computer controlled studios. Wanda MacMillan could “make things fly” in the control room. Later, she was lOined by Ethel Kelly and Vivian MacPhail. Doris Hillion was

in charge of radio continuity.

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