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  Location within Manitoba | |
Former name | Western Canada Aviation Museum |
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| Established | 1974 |
| Location | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
| Coordinates | 49°54′05″N97°13′29″W / 49.90125°N 97.22464°W |
| Type | Aviation museum |
| Founder |
|
| President | Terry Slobodian |
| CEO | Terry Slobodian |
| Website | royalaviationmuseum |
The Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada (formerly the Western Canada Aviation Museum) is a museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The museum opened to the public in its new location on 21 May 2022. [2]
The Western Canada Aviation Museum was incorporated in 1974. [3] In November of that year, it put forward an application to the federal government for a grant to set up a 19-acre (7.7 ha) site at St. Andrews Airport. [4] However, the museum ended up in downtown Winnipeg near the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature. [5] By the next year, the museum had 25 military and civilian aircraft in its collection. [6] In the mid-1980s, the museum moved to a former Trans Canada Air Lines and Transair hangar, T-2, at Winnipeg International Airport. [5] [7]
The museum developed a master plan for a new facility in 2013 with the design firm Reich&Petch. [8]
The museum received the Royal designation on December 19, 2014, to become the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada. [9]
The museum closed its Ferry Road site in October 2018 after the lease on the hangar expired. However, following a grant from the federal government in July 2019, construction of a new 8,000-square-metre (86,000 sq ft) museum building began in May 2020. [10] [11] [12] By November that year, construction was more than half complete, [13] and construction of the facility was completed on August 4, 2021. [14]
The museum has a large hangar floor, and a mezzanine with a view of the adjacent Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport runways. Aircraft are displayed on the floor and suspended from the ceiling, and include one-of-a-kind aircraft, military jets, bush planes, and commercial aircraft. Exhibits are clustered in zones representing different aspects of aviation history, such as Canadian Innovation, Northern Connections, and Military Skies. Interactive displays such as Experience Flight and the Mechanics Workshop present a hands-on educational experience.
The museum's collection includes over 90 historic aircraft, 70,000 artifacts, texts, and photographs. [15]
The comprehensive aviation reference library housed at the museum is one of the largest in the country, with holdings of books, magazines, technical manuals, and drawings, as well as some 40,000 photographs, films, and audiotapes, many of which cannot be found anywhere else. [58]
One item in the archives is a rare, five-minute film of Amelia Earhart embarking on her solo trans-Atlantic flight from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, on May 21, 1932.
The library is open to the public on an appointment basis and photos, films, and audiotapes are loaned or copied on request.
The museum has an active Restoration Department and has returned many damaged aircraft to full display condition. A team of volunteers completed a full-scale replica of a Canadian Vickers Vedette Mark V (CF-MAG) aircraft in May 2002.
The museum has facilitated the recovery of several aircraft, including the "Ghost of Charron Lake" - a Fokker Standard Universal that has taken more than 30 years to locate. It is displayed as it appeared at the bottom of the lake.
The museum is affiliated with the Canadian Museums Association, Canadian Heritage Information Network, and the Virtual Museum of Canada.
The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful European airliners of its era.
The de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou is a Canadian specialized cargo aircraft with short takeoff and landing (STOL) capability. The Caribou was first flown in 1958 and although mainly retired from military operations, is still in use in small numbers as a rugged bush airplane.
The Canadair CT-114 Tutor was the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), and later Canadian Armed Forces, standard jet trainer between the early 1960s and 2000. It was designed and produced by Canadian aircraft manufacturer Canadair.
The Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck is a Canadian twinjet interceptor/fighter designed and produced by aircraft manufacturer Avro Canada. It has the distinction of being the only Canadian-designed fighter to enter mass production.
The Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar was an American military transport aircraft developed from the World War II-era Fairchild C-82 Packet, designed to carry cargo, personnel, litter patients, and mechanized equipment, and to drop cargo and troops by parachute. The first C-119 made its initial flight in November 1947, and by the time production ceased in 1955, more than 1,100 had been built.
The Fairchild Model 24, also called the Fairchild Model 24 Argus and UC-61 Forwarder, is a four-seat, single-engine monoplane light transport aircraft designed by the Fairchild Aviation Corporation in the 1930s. It was adopted by the United States Army Air Corps as UC-61 and also by the Royal Air Force. The Model 24 was itself a development of previous Fairchild models and became a successful civil and military utility aircraft.
The Beechcraft Model 18 is a 6- to 11-seat, twin-engined, low-wing, tailwheel light aircraft manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. Continuously produced from 1937 to November 1969, over 9,000 were built, making it one of the world's most widely used light aircraft. Sold worldwide as a civilian executive, utility, cargo aircraft, and passenger airliner on tailwheels, nosewheels, skis, or floats, it was also used as a military aircraft.
The Canadair CT-133 Silver Star is the Canadian license-built version of the Lockheed T-33 jet trainer aircraft, in service from the 1950s to 2005. The Canadian version was powered by the Rolls-Royce Nene 10 turbojet, whereas the Lockheed production used the Allison J33.
The Bristol Fairchild Bolingbroke is a maritime patrol aircraft and trainer used by the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. Produced by Fairchild-Canada, it was a license-built version of the Bristol Blenheim Mk IV bomber.
The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum is an aviation museum located at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in Mount Hope, Ontario, Canada. The museum has 47 military jets and propeller-driven aircraft on display.
The Canadair CF-5 is a Canadian licensed-built Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter, a light, supersonic, twin engine, daylight air superiority fighter primarily for the Canadian Forces and the Royal Netherlands Air Force. The CF-5 was upgraded periodically throughout its service career in Canada. The Canadian Forces retired the aircraft in 1995, although the CF-5 continues to be used by other countries.
The Canadian Vickers Vedette was the first aircraft designed and built in Canada to meet a specification for Canadian conditions. It was a single-engine biplane flying boat purchased to meet a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) demand for a smaller aircraft than the Vickers Viking with a much greater rate of climb, to be suitable for forestry survey and fire protection work. The type went on to have a long and distinguished career in civil operations in Canada. Most of the topographical maps in use in Canada today are based on photos taken from these aircraft.
Canadian Forces Base Winnipeg is a Royal Canadian Air Force base located within the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Co-located at the Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport, CFB Winnipeg is home to many flight operations support divisions, as well as several training schools. Its primary RCAF lodger unit is 17 Wing, commonly referred to as 17 Wing Winnipeg.
The Canadair North Star is a 1940s Canadian development, for Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA), of the Douglas DC-4. Instead of radial piston engines used by the Douglas design, Canadair used Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 engines to achieve a higher cruising speed of 325 mph (523 km/h) compared with the 227 mph (365 km/h) of the standard DC-4. Requested by TCA in 1944, the prototype flew on 15 July 1946. The type was used by various airlines and by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). It proved to be reliable but noisy when in service through the 1950s and into the 1960s. Some examples continued to fly into the 1970s, converted to cargo aircraft.
The Fairchild Super 71 was a Canadian parasol-mounted high-wing monoplane cargo aircraft built by Fairchild Aircraft Ltd. (Canada). The Super 71 was an entirely new design that was one of the first purpose-built civilian bush planes for use in remote and northern locales in Canada.
The National Air Force Museum of Canada is an aviation museum dedicated to preserving the history of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and is located on the west side of CFB Trenton in Trenton, Ontario.
The Shearwater Aviation Museum is an aviation museum located at CFB Shearwater in Shearwater, Nova Scotia. The museum acquires, conserves, organizes, researches and interprets to Canadian Forces personnel and the public at large for their study, education and enjoyment, artifacts and documents which exemplify the history of Canadian maritime military aviation.
The Hagerstown Aviation Museum is an aviation museum at the Hagerstown Regional Airport in Hagerstown, Maryland. It is focused on the history of the Fairchild Aircraft Corporation.
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