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Membership

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History of the CAHS PEI Chapter

The Carl F. Burke, MBE Chapter of the CAHS was initiated at a meeting on 4 November 2000 when a group of interested people of the P.E.I. Heritage Aviation Society got together in the Eric Corbett Lounge, located in Hangar #1 at Slemon Park. The guest speaker was Don MacLure, and those in attendance included Roy Ramsay, Fred Burke, and Richard Whiteman.

As a result of the noted meeting, a public meeting was called for 28 April 2001. Twenty-one people attended this meeting, resulting in the formation of the PEI Chapter. Roy Ramsay was elected President, Elliott Brazil to the position of Vice/President, Glen Marsh as Treasurer, and Eric Laughton as Secretary. The Board of Directors was made up of Fred Burke, Eric Campbell, Scotty Campbell, Jim MacEachern, and the Honourable Archie Johnston. Notice of this, and a future meeting, were published in the 30 April 2001 Guardian newspaper. Sixteen people attended a meeting on 26 May 2001 in the Corbett Lounge. Lowell Huestis was added as a Director upon turning over $487.12
from the P.E.I. Heritage Aviation Society. The Hon. A. Johnston corresponded with Charlotte Burke with the result that a letter from her, dated 24 June 2001, approved the use of Carl F. Burke, MBE as the name of the Chapter.

A meeting on September 22 2001 approved the Chapter's meetings to be held the first Saturday of March, June, September, and December, alternating between Summerside and Charlottetown. Summerside meetings were to be held in the Corbett Lounge, and the Charlottetown meetings in the Flying Club meeting room. Eric Laughton arranged for the Summerside meetings to be held in the Air Force Association lounge, and when the flying club building was put up for sale, the Charlottetown meetings moved to the Boardroom in the Charlottetown Airport Terminal.

Al Dunphy was elected President on 1 June 2002. A number of executive changes occurred on 5 March 2005 Vern Inman becoming Treasurer, W. Anderson becoming Secretary, and Chet MacNeil taking on the duties of Bulletin Editor. At the March 2007 meeting, Sterling MacRae became President, and Syd Clay took on the Treasurer role. As of 6 June 2009, W. Anderson was President, Syd Clay was Treasurer, and Greg Gallant was Secretary. In June 2011, Errol Laughlin temporarily became Treasurer when Clay passed away. Greg Gallant was appointed to Treasurer when Errol passed away in 2012.

There have been a number of speakers at Chapter meetings, covering a wide variety of subjects from early aviation history on Prince Edward Island, through to military involvement and air traffic control. The Chapter has been involved in a number of projects, including the history of Upton Airport, Charlottetown and Summerside airports, Mount Pleasant airport (military use), and the radar site at Tignish. The Chapter was involved in the flight of Miss Veedol (a recreation of Errol Boyd's flight as far as Newfoundland), the centennial of flight on Prince Edward Island, an historic display mounted in the Charlottetown airport terminal commemorating Carl F. Burke, MBE, and the history of Maritime Central Airways. As early as 2004, the Chapter got involved in the Summerside "Gate Guardians" (Argus, Tracker, Voodoo aircraft on display), and one of the Chapter's members is now head of the group in charge of the Air Force Heritage Park that maintains the aircraft and surrounding area of walkways and commemorative stones.

At the 3 November 2012 meeting, it was decided that, due to lower attendance, the Chapter would only have two meetings per annum, one in Summerside and one in Charlottetown. These meetings will be the third Saturday of April and October to take advantage of better weather conditions and to avoid the probability of holidays.