We were joined by: Mark Odegard, Chief Pilot at the CATPM: Jeff Bell, Harvard Mark II pilot; Nick Reeder, Stinson HW75 pilot; Peter Moody, Fairchild Cornell pilot; John McNarry, mechanic and CATPM president; Robert Glover, Tiger Moth pilot.
Nearly 500 of you came out to see our visiting aircraft—thank you for making the day such a success!
Here’s a roundup of what’s new and coming up at the Royal Aviation Museum.
NEW ARTEFACTS AND DISPLAYS
Rolls Royce Merlin engine, G-suit, Tundra tire
New artefact: Rolls Royce Merlin 620 engine
The Rolls-Royce Merlin is one of the most famous aero engines in history. It powered many WWII aircraft including the Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire, North American P-51 Mustang, and Avro Lancaster.
G-suits were designed to prevent pilots from blacking out during extreme maneuvers. This was one of the earliest suits, designed by Dr. Wilbur Franks, and used water-filled bladders to compress the lower body and force blood up to the brain. Modern suits are much lighter, using air-inflated bladders.
Bush planes often take off and land on rocky or sandy runways; this type of terrain necessitates a special tire. In 1958, “Weldy” Phipps of Spartan Air Services in Ottawa designed an oversized, low-pressure, “balloon” tire able to roll over boulders and boggy ground. This invention allowed pilots to reach previously inaccessible areas.
Find the tundra tire and G-suit in our Canadian Innovations zone.
New exhibit: Profile in Courage of Lt. General G. Allan MacKenzie
Allan MacKenzie was born December 15, 1931, in Spanish Town, Jamaica. His ambition in life was to become a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). In 1950 his dream became a reality when he moved to Canada and joined the RCAF.
Among his many accomplishments, MacKenzie held numerous command positions, flew Prince Phillip on a tour of Canada’s north, and oversaw Canada’s acquisition of the CF-18 Hornet.
This exhibit was generously donated by his wife, Valerie Ann MacKenzie. Learn more about Lt. General MacKenzie on the second floor near our Science of Flight zone.
New interpretive panels
We now have interpretive panels for the aircraft parked in Aviation Plaza! This includes our CF-101 Voodoo, De Havilland CC-115 Buffalo, and Douglas A-26B Invader. An info panel on the Bristol Freighter, newly moved to the museum, is in the works.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Seniors’ month
October is Seniors’ Month at RAMWC where seniors save an additional 20% on admission from Monday through Friday. If you’re coming by, don’t forget we offer a free public tour every day at 1:45 p.m.
October 5 – Métis beading workshop
Join us as we welcome Métis artist Melanie Gamache of Borealis Beading for a beginner beading workshop the evening of October 5.
You’ll also learn about the significance of beading to the Métis people and how their culture has shaped Manitoba’s identity.
In just a few weeks, our friends at Babcock Canada are sending over a CL 215 and a few of their Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (AMEs).
Babcock Canada has a contract with the Government of Manitoba for aerial wildfire suppression. During the 2022 wildfire season, Babcock conducted 342 missions, logged 2,500 flight hours, and dropped 44 million litres of water.
Climb aboard the CL 215 and meet the crew that keeps these aircraft in (fire) fighting shape! See the event details.
October 29 – Halloween with Hobbs
Start planning your costumes because Halloween with Hobbs is back on October 29. We’ll have trick-or-treating stations, a costume contest, entertainment, and more.
Kids under 12 who arrive in costume get in FREE with a paying adult. Learn more.
If you’ve been to our museum this summer, you’ve probably noticed our pedal and push planes in Aviation Plaza. But did you know that they were built by two of our volunteers?
Dave Mork and Shawn Romas are two of the talented volunteers on our team. Together, they’ve built us a fleet of nearly 20 ride-on planes for our young visitors.
Dave Mork
Dave has volunteered with RAMWC for more than 40 years. For the past 20, he’s been part of our photo archive team. To date, this team has digitized and catalogued 40,000 of the photos in our collection. Dave’s expertise is identifying people and planes from black-and-white photos donated to our collection.
Growing up in the remote community of Red Lake in Northern Ontario, Dave learned to be resourceful and has always kept busy with projects. Inspired by the bush planes of his youth, he decided to get his private pilot’s license at age 48 and flew for 20 years.
Dave also supports our museum by building amazing wooden ride-on planes, perfect for kiddos aged two through four. These push planes are designed after the Starfighter, Mustang, Canadair Tutor, F-18, and the Space Shuttle.
Shawn Romas
Shawn, a CPR-trained sheet metal fabricator has been putting his skills to good use since retiring. Over the course of a year, he contributed 1,000 hours to building a fleet of ten pedal planes from wood and metal.
The yellow pedal planes, ideal for pilots under three feet tall, are impressive miniatures of the RCAF Tiger Moth suspended at the entrance of our museum. You really have to see these planes up close to appreciate Shawn’s attention to detail. He even went so far as to create a call sign for each plane in honour of RAMWC volunteers who have passed away:
CF-GEB: Gary E. Boggs CF-THB: Thomas H. Baldwin CF-BBJ: Bert B. Jolly CF-REK: Roy E. (Ed) Kubar CF-WWK: Wilfred W. Keith
CF-BMC: Bob McCreedy CF-ALN : Alan L. Nelson CF-RDM: Robert (Bob) D. Moore CF-JZL: Heinz Lampe CF-AFM: Antonio (Tony) F. Morien
These planes have provided countless hours of fun for our young visitors and we greatly appreciate the time and passion Dave and Shawn invested in this project. Our heartfelt thanks also extend to the Carolyn Sifton Foundation for allowing us to create a safe and inviting space in Aviation Plaza where kids can use these planes.
Our pedal planes will be available this weekend (including Monday, September 4) and next (September 9-10). After that, we’ll ground them until next summer!
Special Air Mission (SAM) 970 is the moniker used for the first presidential jet plane, a Boeing 707-153. It could also be used to describe Crisanto (Cris) Aquino’s recent trip down to The Museum of Flight as part of the Detail Mafia team.
Cris owns Dr. Shine PHD, an automotive detailing shop in Winnipeg. He also works part-time at Cadorath Aerospace as a machinist. His journey to becoming part of the Detail Mafia started in 2017 when he went down to Big Bear, California to train under master-level detailer Renny Doyle.
Doyle is the owner of Detailing Success and the founder of the Detail Mafia. In 2002, Doyle received a call from the White House asking him to put together a detailing team. Their mission? Cleaning and restoring the deteriorating paint and aluminum on a number of historical aircraft at the Seattle Museum of Flight. After Cris completed his training in 2017, Doyle hand-selected him to join the team heading to Seattle the following year.
That first year, Cris was assigned “rookie work” as he calls it. This consisted of wiping down aircraft, light sanding, and cleaning equipment for the veteran detailers. During his next trip down in 2019, he was assigned to SAM 970, the aircraft used by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon and known as Air Force One when it was carrying these heads of state.
COVID-19 put a stop to Cris’ trips to Seattle until this year. He was again assigned to SAM 970 and for one week in July he and other detailers spent 12 hours a day polishing it to a “mirror finish.” Cris worked primarily on the Boeing 707’s four, JT3D-3 Pratt and Whitney jet engines, each one taking him an entire day to detail. (If you come by our museum, take a look at our CF-104 Starfighter for an example of Cris’ work. He helped with its cleaning and polishing before it came to our museum.)
This year, there were 35 detailers making up the Detail Mafia team. Seven of them joined Cris on SAM 970 and the others were assigned to the Concorde jet G-BOAG, the first Boeing 727 and Boeing 747 aircraft ever produced, the Boeing Bee B-17, and the museum’s B-29 Superfortress.
Perhaps one of the most memorable parts of his week was when Cris met veteran Captain Dick Nelms, a B-17 pilot on 35 missions during WWII and an active volunteer at the Museum of Flight. He also had the chance to explore this aircraft and the B-29, two of the planes that are off-limits to the public unless you’re a veteran or in the armed forces. For the Star Wars fans out there, the cockpit of this aircraft was the inspiration for the Millennium Falcon, so it’s an understatement when Cris says this was a “pretty cool” experience.
There’s a lot of pride in Cris’ voice as he talks about the experience, and rightly so. He was the only Canadian on the team and the first Canadian to work on Air Force One in the past twenty years.
Cris hopes to join the team again next year but notes that it will be dependent on sponsorships. All members of the Detail Mafia team are volunteers who pay their own way to Seattle. They’re also responsible for their own accommodations and meals. The museum pays for supplies but team members bring their own tools and equipment with them.
If you’re interested in learning more about Cris’ experience, you can contact him here.
Summer’s winding down and you may be running out of ideas to keep your little ones entertained. Not to worry—we’ve got you covered.
We’ve compiled five aviation-themed activity sheets that you can download here.
If you want more fun ideas, check out our gift shop. We have a new Hobbs-themed colouring and storybook, model airplanes, STEM toys, puzzles, games, and more.
We’ve also got an amazing space-themed play area, lots of interactive exhibits, and of course, our pedal planes (rides included with admission). These will be available until mid-September.
Recreation of Buffalo 461, unveiled at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum on August 9, 2009
In 1974, Canadian peacekeeping troops were posted to the Golan Heights—an area between Syria and Israel—to aid United Nations troops.
Tensions were high in the Middle East. A year prior, during the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Syria and Egypt attempted to regain control of territory that Israel had captured in 1967. Included in this area was the Golan Heights.
Canada’s primary role was to provide logistical support for the UN troops. This included scheduled daily transport flights between Ismailia, Egypt and Damascus, Syria, six times a week.
These flights had to take a convoluted route to avoid flying over Israeli airspace. The routing took pilots out over the Mediterranean, 50 nautical miles (nm) offshore, then back inland just south of Beirut to cross the Syrian border 25 nm east of Damascus.
On August 9, 1974, a Syrian missile attack shot down a Canadian Armed Forces plane during one of these transport flights. The aircraft that fell was de Havilland Canada (DHC) Buffalo, 115461. Nine Canadian peacekeepers dubbed the Buffalo Nine, were killed.
The nine victims of Buffalo 461
The nine victims of the missile attack were Captain George G. Foster, First Officer Captain Keith B. Mirau, Corporal H. T. Kennington, Corporal Michael W. Simpson, Master Warrant Officer (MWO) Gaston Landry, acting MWO Cyril B. Korejwo, Master Corporal Ronald C. Spencer (flight engineer), Corporal Bruce K. Stringer (loadmaster), and Captain Robert B. Wicks (navigator).
In 2008, the Government of Canada chose August 9 to mark National Peacekeepers’ Day.
Let’s go behind the scenes at our restoration facility where volunteers are busy working on our F86 Sabre and other projects. Here’s a look at what’s happening right now…
F86 Sabre
Our F86 Sabre suffered some corrosion and environmental damage while in storage these past five years. It’s the newest project our restoration team is tackling and the plan is to have it display-ready by April 1st, 2024, in time for the RCAF centennial.
The Sabre was towed to our museum plaza earlier this summer where it was partially disassembled and trucked over to our restoration facility. Now the team is doing further assessments of the Sabre’s condition and completing its disassembly.
The work is challenging, but our talented restoration team will get it done.
This Sabre, #1815, was the last one ever built in Canada. It last flew for the Pakistan Air Force (PA) and was donated to our museum in 1996 by the PA’s Air Commodore, Kamran Qureshi.
Mere hours after Qureshi oversaw the departure of Sabre #1815, he died in a tragic drowning accident. When the initial restoration began, to honour the Air Commodore, his name was painted onto the aircraft below the rim of the cockpit. The restored Sabre was welcomed to the Western Canada Aviation Museum (now, RAMWC) on August 8, 1997.
We’re excited to see the Sabre on display at our museum next year.
Cockpit of Sabre #1815 featuring tribue to Air Commodore Qureshi
Corrosion on underside of Sabre win
Eric and Steve work to dismantle one of the Sabre’s wings
Safety first!
Fire truck
Some of you may have seen this vintage airport emergency vehicle sitting in our Aviation Plaza last summer. It’s currently at our restoration facility and step one for volunteers is to get it up and running.
There’s been talk of using it in parades once it’s fixed up and rebranded with the RAMWC logo—how cute would that be?
Mack truck engine
Mack truck engin
Dashboard of Mack truc
Shawn Romas and Gerry Norberg
Pedal Planes
In our last update, we mentioned the pedal planes that volunteer Shawn Romas was working on.
We’re happy to announce that these miniature Tiger Moth replicas had their first “flights” in Aviation Plaza on July 1, to the delight of our young visitors.
The start-up costs and inaugural season for these ride-on planes were generously funded by the Carolyn Sifton Foundation.
Pedal plane rides are available every day* from 11 am until 4 pm through September 4 and are suitable for most children aged four to seven.
For the younger kids, we also have ride-on push planes, designed and built by volunteer Dave Mork. These don’t require pedaling and are a bit easier to operate.
*Availability may change based on weather and operational capacity.
Tiger Moth pedal plane built by Shawn Romas
Come fly with us! Pedal plane rides available daily in Aviation Plaza
A young visitor taxis through Aviation Plaza in a Tiger Moth pedal plane
Pedal and push planes at the Royal Aviation Museum
“Mr. T”
One of the most challenging parts of restoring this vintage wind indicator was finding new lightbulb covers to replace the broken ones. They’re essentially mason jars, but the size of the jar needed for this project is no longer made.
One of the few lightbulb covers we had for our wind tee.This wind tee is in Neepawa, MB
Thankfully, we have a very resourceful restoration team member named Pat who was able to find something similar. Another volunteer machined new fittings for the domes.
Our vintage wind tee recently got shipped off for sandblasting and painting. Now it’s back in the shop, ready to be rewired and reassembled. Hopefully, it will make an appearance at the museum later this summer.
Internal mechanism of wind tee
Wind tee components
Freshly painted wind tee pieces
Stay tuned for further updates!
Volunteers donate their time and expertise to these projects, but completing them is dependent on fundraising.
If you’d like to support the efforts of our restoration team please consider a donation to our Restoration Fund.
On July 22 in Comox, BC, Winnipeg, MB, Trenton, ON, and Summerside, PEI, these radio operators will use a combination of ham radios and existing antennae on CC115 Buffalos to communicate with each other and with other amateur radio operators.
They will operate on civilian amateur radio band frequencies and make brief radio contact with other radio operators around the globe, mostly in Canada and the USA, depending on ionosphere conditions (read more about the ionosphere below).
What is ham radio and how does it work?
Ham radio
Ham radio isn’t used for commercial broadcasting purposes; rather, it’s a way for people to communicate when other forms of technology fail, such as during natural disasters, or simply to connect with other enthusiasts. On the International Space Station, one of the crew members usually has a ham radio license and can chat with operators on Earth when the ISS is properly aligned.
Amateur (ham) radio operators use radio frequencies that start above the AM spectrum and go up to 250 GHz. At the BOTA event, operators will be using frequencies within this range that won’t cause any interference with nearby aircraft.
Why is it called “ham” radio?
The most likely explanation is that it was originally a slightly derogatory term due to the fact that these radio operators were amateurs and their transmissions were “ham-fisted” (clumsy). Now, it seems the term has lost its negative connotation and is used by operators to refer to themselves. And some people believe it’s an acronym for an unknown technical term.
How do ham radio signals travel so far?
Thanks to the ionosphere, a layer of the Earth’s atmosphere that contains charged particles. When radio waves encounter the ionosphere, which contains free electrons and ions, they interact with these charged particles. This interaction can cause the radio waves to bounce (reflect) off the ionosphere back towards the Earth’s surface. This reflection allows the signals to travel beyond the horizon and reach much farther distances. The radio waves can also refract, or bend, which enhances their range.
There are multiple layers to the ionosphere and each interacts differently with differing frequencies. The various layers are more or less effective depending on the time of day.
What’s happening at the BOTA event?
Gord Crossley, Heritage Officer at 17 Wing in Winnipeg speaks about the history of the CC-115 Buffalo to Royal Aviation Museum visitors.
Operators at each location will take turns and operate for several hours. There will be other amateur radio volunteers standing by who can talk about what the amateur radio service is.
Event volunteers will provide info sheets about the Buffalo and its history at the event. Wherever possible, veterans and former members who have experience with the Buffalo or other RCAF aircraft will be on-site to talk about their experiences.
The four sites will be attempting a Buffalo net coast-to-coast on 14.135 MHz SSB at noon EST (0900 PST) on Saturday, July 22.
If you’re an amateur radio operator and would like to make contact during the event, here are the call signs for each of the four stations:
VC7BUFF457 Comox BC – Phillip Tanner VA7XOZ VC4BUFF462 Winnipeg MB – Calvin Winter VE4AJ VC3BUFF456 Trenton ON – Dave Ackerman VE3UGT / VE3OX VY2BUFF451 Summerside PEI – Doug Silliker VY2DS
Have you actually been somewhere if you don’t have photo proof? Our museum is full of fun spaces to pose for pics with friends and family. Here are our top five!
1. Inside the Voodoo flight and tactics trainer
Live your fighter pilot fantasies! Take a seat inside our Voodoo trainer and imagine yourself climbing high above the clouds at nearly 50,000 feet per minute.
This simulator allowed Voodoo pilots and navigators to practice flying skills and aircraft intercept procedures. An instructor at a separate console could change the instrument readings to simulate different operational conditions.
The Voodoo trainer is in our Military Skies exhibit, next to our CF-104 Starfighter. Head outside and see a complete CF-101 Voodoo in Aviation Plaza.
Family fun in the Voodoo flight and tactics trainer. Photo by Joan Ballester
What does this button do? Photo by Dave Brandt
We got this. Photo by Vanessa Desorcy
We interrupt this pre-flight inspection to bring you a super cute pilot. Photo by Vanessa Desorcy
2. Behind the controls of a Beechcraft Musketeer
The Musketeer was used by the Canadian Armed Forces from 1971 to 1992 to train new pilots. It featured twin seats and controls for a pilot trainee and a flight instructor. After gaining basic flight experience in the Musketeer, trainees would move on to the more advanced single or multi-engine trainers. The bright paint scheme increased the aircraft’s visibility, reducing the risk of collisions.
Find this exhibit in our Science of Flight exhibit on the second floor.
A RAMWC volunteer helps a young visitor complete his pre-flight inspection.
Controls of the Beechcraft Musketeer. Photo by @jes.peniche
Ready for takeoff!
3. With Hobbs the Bear
Our mascot, Hobbs the Bear, is named after a decorated Canadian pilot named Basil Deacon Hobbs who lived from 1894 to 1963 and is a favourite of our CEO, Terry Slobodian.
In 1917, pilot Basil Hobbs became one of the few Canadians to shoot down a German Zeppelin. This earned him the Distinguished Service Order.
Snap a selfie with Hobbs in our lobby and listen to the accompanying story of how young Hobbs (the bear) grew up dreaming about becoming a pilot. You can also read this story in our brand-new, hand-drawn colouring book, available at the Landing Zone Boutique.
Bonus points if you visit during one of our special events and snag a photo with our live-action Hobbs!
Photo with Hobbs before his next flight. Photo by Vanessa Desorcy
Photo by Riddhi Jhala
Photo courtesy @liisbethh
4. Inside the Viscount
Stepping inside our Vickers Viscount is like entering a time machine. Suddenly, you’re in the golden age of aviation where every seat is first class and the aisles are wide enough to dance down.
The British-built Viscount was the world’s first turboprop-powered airliner. It offered greater speed, reliability, and passenger comfort than earlier piston-engined aircraft.
Check it out in our Stevenson Field gallery.
Dreaming of adventure. Photo by @thisistineke
First-class flight. Photo by @jes.peniche
Fly back in time in the Vickers Viscount. Photo by Riddhi Jhala
5. Galaxy Exploration Zone
Our space-themed area is designed for our younger visitors, but we’ve seen adults in there on more than one occasion. Who can resist a slide and a photo inside a giant astronaut helmet?
With plenty of areas to learn and explore and a giant mural painted by muralist Estelle Régnier, this play zone can entertain kids for hours.
Exploring the tunnels of the Galaxy Exploration Zone. Photo by Steve Salnikowski
This past weekend we held our 2nd Wings & Wheels event for Father’s Day and it was a fantastic day! We had beautiful weather for our car show in Aviation Plaza and King Cole Catering served up a delicious lunch.
Thank you to everyone who joined us and brought their dads/granddads/father figures/families. Check out some of the highlights in the gallery below.
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