Flight path to Western

Hessel's life has been full of remarkable loops, all returning to his roots in London and its schools, specifically South Secondary and the University of Western Ontario.

Hessel has the compact, wiry frame and direct manner of a jet jockey and/or career jock, which is exactly what he was and, to a considerable degree, still is. Former RCAF fighter pilot flying the
CF-86 Sabre and CF-104 Starfighter back in the 1950s and '60s. Football player at Western and career physical education teacher in the London high school system. Wears Western purple and probably bleeds air force blue.

"Ah, the Sabre. Last of the sports cars," he says. "Then the 104 came along. It could fly at twice the speed of sound. It had such tiny wings, they called it the widow-maker."

Hessel's mind may be traveling back 50 years, but on this day his body is wearing the purple tee-shirt of the W Club, the ever-growing (now about 5,000) association of former male athletes - "those who played on any team in any sport at Western" - that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to establish and support sports-related programs on campus.

Hessel belongs to the generally forgotten generation of kids born 1930-45 that falls between the veterans of the Second World War and the baby boomers. Born during the Great Depression, his outlook and attitudes have been shaped by vivid recollections of childhood during the world war and coming of age during the Cold War.

"When I was a kid during the war, I collected all the aircraft-recognition cards that came in the Sweet Caps (Sweet Caporal cigarettes) and I remember the Ansons (twin-engine training aircraft) droning over the city and dropping tin cans or whatever to simulate air raids." By the time Hessel was finishing high school, "some of the Grade 12 guys I played football with were signing up in the RCAF reserve. One was Pete Giles who was later an elementary school teacher, flying instructor at Centralia and retired as a colonel."

Hessel was in his second-last year at Western when Giles finally talked him into signing up.

"My high school sweetheart, Libby Riley, said 'You can join up as long as we get married.' I did and we did."

Meanwhile, Hessel was playing football (centre and middle linebacker) with the Colts, the B team for the varsity Mustangs, working his way to a BA in physical education. When he graduated in 1958, his first leap was into the arms of the air force.

He remembers a psychological test that reflected the stark reality of the Cold War.

"One question was: 'If you were flying a CF-100 and used up all your ammunition to shoot down two of three Russian bombers, would you ram the third?' The answer was 'of course' - a bomber carried weapons that could kill tens of thousands."

After training, Hessel arrived at the Canadian base in Sweibrucken, Germany, in spring, 1960, and spent the next two and a half years with 427 Squadron RCAF flying the Canadianbuilt
Sabre "which was then the supreme fighter in Europe."

"Nobody today realizes how big our air force was then. We had two flying bases in France and two in Germany each with three squadrons of aircraft for a total of 300 fighters, probably more than are in the entire air force today," he says.

Hessel returned to Canada to train on the CF-104, flew it with 422 Squadron in Germany 1963-65, and found himself posted back to Western as resident staff officer assigning trainees with 104 University Squadron.

One of life's loops had closed and others soon followed.

"I left the air force (with the rank of squadron leader) in 1967-68 and went teaching physical education." He also coached football at Central Elgin and four of the six secondary schools (including South) where he taught in London, before retiring as Saunders vice-principal in 1993.

"My grandson, Riley, is playing quarterback for South this year," he says with a big grin.

Meanwhile, Hessel had joined the W Club in 1984 as a director. While this was closing a second loop with Western, his air force connections enabled him to get Canada's latest aerial hot-rod, the CF-18, to make ceremonial passes over campus to mark the University's 75th anniversary and the opening of its new stadium.

Ted served six years as W Club executive director and now serves, actively, as honourary director.

Hessel's intertwining careers as a teacher/coach in school athletics and as a trained combat pilot/instructor has knitted together a firm belief in the importance of bonding.

In sports it's desirable, but in aerial combat situations, it's crucial. "When you depend on each other for your very lives, that's strong bonding," he says.

Maybe almost as strong as the bonds that have tied Ted Hessel to London and the University of Western Ontario.