Aero Space Museum, Calgary 2006

Photos © Ruud Leeuw

Aero Space Museum, Calgary, 2006

Museums, with their 'dead aircraft', used to be not my thing and on a previous visit to this area I did exclude a visit to this museum. These days I value the amount of information museums have on offer, while I hugely admire the efforts by the volunteers to preserve aviation history in this way.
So, on a beautiful monday morning, 26Jun06, I stepped into this museum...

DC-3 CF-BZI
CF-BZI is Douglas DC-3 (actually a C-47A transport) with construction number 13448.

It served with the US Army Air Force with serial 42-108960.
It was registered as CF-BZI for Maritime Central Airlines in 1945. During Jan.1953 it went to Interprovincial Pipe Line Petrol Co of Edmonton,ALB.
Northwest Territorial Airways of Yellowknife,NWT took ownership on 30Dec65 but one day in May 1971 struck a blow and it was damaged at Somerset Island (NWT); fortunately it was sighted under repair at Edmonton in 1979 with Buffalo Airways. However, C-FBZI disappeared from the Canadian Register.

DC-3 CF-BZI
I am not sure whether it actually got back in service with Buffalo Airways. It seems to have been with this museum since the early 1990s.

Check the museum's website: www.asmac.ab.ca

DHC-6-100 C-FPAT

C-FPAT is a DeHavilland DHC-6 Series 1 Twin Otter and was manufactured in 1966.
It wears the colours of Kenn Borek Air, a famous name in these parts and still around; here is their story on Wikipedia.

CF-PAT was the second (serial #2) Twin Otter aircraft produced at de Havillandís Downsview plant as part of the original pre-production run. It was first registered on May 25, 1966 under the registration CF-SJB, shortly afterwards an -X was added to signify participation in the pre-production flight test certification program.
More on the Museum's website.

116707

C-GXQM

Avro CF-100 "Canuck" Mk III KE126
Avro CF-100 'Canuck' Mk.III KE126

Avro Lancaster X

Avro Lancaster X.
The Lancaster was a direct development of Avro’s unsuccessful Manchester twin engined bomber.
The first Lancaster combat mission came on March 2, 1942 and the first bombing raid on Essen followed 8 days later. The Lancaster Mk.1 fitted successively with Merlin XX, remained the only version on service throughout 1942 and 1943.
In Canada, Victory Aircraft Ltd of Malton, ON manufactured 430 Lancaster Mk.Xs that had Packard built Merlin 28’s.
Lancaster Mk.X FM-136 in the museum collection is one of the last examples remaining in the world of 7,400 built, of which 422 were constructed in Canada.
Manufactured in 1945 by Victory Aircraft Ltd., FM-136 was assigned to No. 20th and 30th Maintenance Units in England, however it was never issued to an active Squadron.
It finally returned to Canada to be stationed at Pearce, Alberta until it was converted to Maritime Reconnaissance configuration and taken on strength by No.404 ‘Buffalo’ (MP) Squadron in Greenwood, Nova Scotia under the auspices of RX-136.
It was transferred to No.407 ‘Demon’ (MP) Squadron in Comox, British Columbia for additional service.
Struck off strength in April 1961, the aircraft was returned to Fort McLeod, AB to be surplussed.
It was acquired by the Lancaster Club of Calgary and mounted on a pedestal in April, 1962 and was moved over to the museum in 1992. The City of Calgary owns this aircraft.
Source: the Museum's website

Avro Lancaster X, FM136

Barkley Grow T8P-1, CF-BQM

Until this visit I had no idea this plane existed, I initially mistook it for a Beech 18...

Barkley Grow T8P-1

I had trouble finding good reference, but found some here www.aahs-online.org/BackIssues/v50n4.htm:
"The Barkley-Grow T8P-l was one of those innovative products of the American aircraft industry in the 1930s that started with much promise. But it never emerged from the shadow of its two competitors, the Lockheed L-12 and especially the Beech Model 18.
On August 15, 1935, the Bureau of Air Commerce issued a request for the supply of a small twin-engine aircraft for use as a feeder liner by small airlines. Today we would call this a commuter aircraft. A secondary use intended by the Bureau was for use by its inspectors on their trips across the country.
Among the Bureau’s requirements were a maximum speed of at least 175 mph, a landing speed no higher than 65 mph, be able to maintain a 3,200 ft. altitude on one engine and a maximum takeoff distance of 1,500 ft. over a 50 ft obstacle. Other requirements included accommodation for a crew of two and six passengers, de-icing on the leading edges of the wings, adjustable propellers and a double radio installation.
But the most demanding requirement was that the first aircraft would have to make its maiden flight no later than June 30, 1936, the end of the government’s Fiscal Year 1936 to be considered for evaluation.
Three manufacturers started work. Beech produced the Model 18, Lockheed the L-12 Electra Junior and Barkley-Grow the T8P-l. The competition was won by the L-12 based on its performance, but also because with a great deal of effort Lockheed had managed to get the first aircraft into the air on June 27, 1936, three days before the Bureau’s deadline. The first Beech 18 did not make its first flight until January 20, 1937, and the T8P-1 took to the air in April of that year. Both were therefore eliminated."

The Alberta Aviation Museum in Edmonton also has a Barkley Grow on display, it is on loan from this museum.

Barkley-Grow T8P-1, CF-BQM

I had trouble identifying this airframe, finding no identification on the aircraft.
Fortunately I received help:
"The unrestored aircraft is a Beech 18, c/n A-547.
It is registered as CF-GXC and now fully restored."
Anthony Worman, Curator Aero Space Museum

John Hume added its previous id: N5287C

Timo de Vries sent me some photos, taken on 22Sep07:

Beech 18, CF-GXC

Beech 18, CF-GXC

The Aero Space Museum's Beech 18 CF-GXC is often quoted as ex RCAF 1565, but this is not correct.
A discussion on the Yahoo Beech18 forum brought the following to light:
C/n A-547, the Beech D18S above, never flew with the RCAF...
C/n A-765/CA-165, RCAF 1565, was a Beech Expediter 3TM and taken on charge 29Apr1952, while struck
off charge on 31Jul1953. It then became CF-CXH with the Department of Transport. It went on to become N4573 (date ??), YV-T-JTV (Mar69 - but possibly not taken up) and N4573 (again date unknown, possibly ntu) and the registration was cancelled (date ?). Ultimate fate of this aircraft is obscure...
Details / updates welcomed. EMAIL - pls state URL for reference!

Beech 18, CF-GXC
A splendid restoration!

Avro Anson
Avro Ansom Mk.II

"The Avro Anson was a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force, Fleet Air Arm and numerous other air forces during World War II and afterwards. Named for British admiral George Anson, it was originally designed for maritime reconnaissance but was soon rendered obsolete. However it was rescued from obscurity by its suitability as a multi-engine air crew trainer, becoming the mainstay of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan."

Avro Anson
The wing has been 'opened' to view the structure.

"By the end of its production life in 1952, the Anson spanned nine variants and a total of 8,138 had been built in Britain by Avro and, from 1941, a further 2,882 by the Canadian Federal Aircraft Ltd."
Source: Wikipedia.org

DeHavilland DH 100 Vampire F Mk.III
deHavilland DH.100 Vampire F Mk.III

WACO EQC-6, CF-AZM

Waco aircraft first appeared in Canada in the mid 1920’s as passenger and freight carrying aircraft. They soon set and became standards in barnstorming, executive transport, exploration of the north and freight carrying. The original CF-AZM was a Waco QC-6 Custom purchased and operated by Grant McConachie, then President of Yukon Southern Transport to pioneer scheduled routes between Vancouver, Whitehorse, Prince George, Watson Lake, etc. In the last week of November, pilot Ted Field misjudged his landing and put AZM through the ice at Watson Lake. Jack Landage of Calgary purchased EQC-6 in 1983 in Woodlake, California and imported it to Calgary, where he restored it. Waco CF-AZM was donated to the museum in August 1995 by Earle Flemming of Delta, BC
Source: the Museum's website .

WACO EQC-6, CF-AZM

North American 'Harvard', also know as the 'Texan'. RCAF 273

A collection of 58 aeronautical engines from the oldest 'Le Rhone' and 'Clerget 9B' engines of World War I era, vintage Rolls Royce Merlins, and some early jet engines, including a cut-away Orenda that powered the RCAF F86 Sabres.

The Parachute Dress
The Parachute Wedding Dress...

The end of the war was just 2 months away when an American Liberator aircraft (the Jolly Duck) made a crash landing at Zoeterwoude, a village near The Hague in the Netherlands.
Like many others from his village, Wilhelm van Niekerk, rushed to the scene to see what was going on. An airman emerged from the aircraft and handed his parachute to Wilhelm. The crew from the plane hid in nearby haystacks until dark, then made their way to the village where the Dutch underground helped them avoid capture by the occupying Germans.
The next day, 3 Spitfire aircraft flew over and attacked the downed Liberator, destroying it so the Germans could not use its technology. Wilhelm gave the parachute to his girlfriend Wilhelmina van den Berg, who stored it under her bed.
After the war ended, the couple decided to get married but there was no fabric in any of the shops... But Wilhelmina thought of the parachute and realized it contained more than enough silk to make a wedding gown!
The couple was married on July 19th, 1945.

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