Honourary Colonel Del Lippert Retires

Honourary Colonel Del Lippert, one of the most repected and effective Honourary Colonels, has just completed his tour with 427 Special Operation Squadron based at Petawawa, Ontario. As well as his duties as Honourary Colonel and being a representative of 427 Special Operations Squadron, Del was responsible for single handedly making possible the concept as well as completion of the cenotaph shown below.

It is dedicated to 427 Squadrom members who lost their lives while on operation with the Squadron. The names on the cenotaph encompass the names of all fallen members who served on 427 Squadron since its inception in 1942. Del donated the majority of his time over three years to initiate the concept of a memorial. Then he managed the project through the design, selection and construction to its final dedication. He also assured the maintenance for ten years of the Cenotaph. In addition, he took on the responsibility of raising more than $200,000, including a considerable amount of his own money, to pay for the Cenotaph. 427 Squadron now has a fitting memorial to those 427 Squadron veterans who lost their lives in defence of their country.

The 427 Squadron Association is immensely grateful to Honourary Colonel Lippert for his outstanding efforts and wish him well in all he undertakes in retirement.

A biography on his commencement as Honourary Colonel:

Col Lippert joined the Canadian Army under the Apprentice Training Program serving as a gunner in Camp Shilo and Petawawa with 4 RCHA as a Tech Assist. Leaving the army in 1963, Col Lippert joined Pan American Airways Guided Missile Div as a Radar technician and ever since, has continually moved up and throughout private enterprise high technology sector. He has been a District, Division, corporate manager, consultant, CEO, Vice President, President, Chairman of the Board and consultant in such companies as:

• Pan American World Airways
• Digital Equipment
• Novotel
• Computervision
• Raytheon
• Bubble Technology - Chalk River
• Med-Eng
• International Data Casting

It should also be noted that while at Digital Equipment, Col Lippert received his private pilot's license and joined the Massachusetts Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary of the USAF, as a search and rescue pilot. Also of significance, Col Lippert was instrumental in developing the production of equipment to counter the Improvised Explosive Device threat encountered in Afghanistan and Iraq. Furthermore, he was Chairman of the Board with International Data Casting which operated the CF Radio Television network, providing service to deployed CF personnel. During his address to the parade, Col Lippert himself said he "failed at retirement" and is honored and excited at this new appointment at 427 SOAS. Given his wealth of experience combined with his outstanding work ethic, there is no doubt that Col Lippert will uphold the values and traditions of 427 SOAS as well as the RCAF and CAF respectively in his new position.

Cpl. Kathleen Howell
427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron