Welcome New Museum Members!
By John Chalmers, CAHS Membership Secretary
Membership in the Canadian Aviation Historical Society in 2017 ended on a high note when five more aviation museums from across Canada joined our Society as Museum Members late in the year. We welcome the Billy Bishop Home and Museum, the British Columbia Aviation Museum, the Calgary Mosquito Society, the Montreal Aviation Museum and the Shearwater Aviation Museum, bringing our total museum membership to 16. Click the name of any of our five new members to visit the web site.
At Owen Sound, Ontario, the Billy Bishop Home and Museum is located in the 1884 boyhood home of the highly-decorated pilot, Air Marshal William Avery “Billy” Bishop (1894-1956). He flew for Canada in the First World War, serving with the Royal Flying Corps and became the first Canadian airman to be awarded the Victoria Cross, credited with 72 aerial victories. Bishop was an original member of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame, inducted in 1974. (Chalmers photo)
British Columbia Aviation Museum
Located in Sidney, British Columbia, at the Victoria International Airport, the British Columbia Aviation Museum is home to the BC Aviation Hall of Fame. Aircraft at the museum are restored to static display or airworthy status. The only remaining 1920s Eastman Sea Rover flying boat, above, restored at the museum by volunteers, is among the collection that is dedicated to collecting, preserving and displaying aircraft and artefacts that emphasize aviation history in British Columbia. (Chalmers photo)
Headed by president Richard de Boer, who serves also as president of the Calgary chapter of the CAHS, the Calgary Mosquito Society has two major restoration projects underway. A Hawker Hurricane is being restored at Historic Aviation Services Inc. in Wetaskiwin, Alberta. At the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, Alberta, south of Calgary, volunteers from the Society are rebuilding a Mosquito fighter-bomber, seen above, which was flown post-war by Spartan Air Services. (Chalmers photo)
Founded by the late Godfrey Passmore in 1998 as the Canadian Aviation Heritage Centre, it is now known as the Montreal Aviation Museum. Located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue on Montreal Island, the museum occupies a former century-old stone cow barn on the Macdonald Campus of McGill University. An early Blériot monoplane built at the museum is in the collection. One aircraft restored by volunteers who operate the museum is a Fairchild FC-2 Razorback, shown above. (Robert St. Pierre photo)
Located in Shearwater, Nova Scotia, the Shearwater Aviation Museum was founded in 1978, and since 1995 has occupied its current and larger facility. In addition to aircraft on display, the museum’s extensive library and archives document Canadian maritime military aviation history. Facilities include a gift shop, a meeting room and a theatre available for presentations. Shown above is a one of the museum’s two Grumman Trackers that flew with the Royal Canadian Navy. (Web site photo)
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Museum Members of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society comprise a valued component of our membership. Each issue of our newsletter lists those members, with each name linked to the museum’s website. Also, at www.cahs.ca/museum-membership, Home - Giving - Museum Membership, all Museum Members are named and linked to the museums’ web sites.
We encourage readers to visit those web locations, and to visit the museum itself when opportunity arises. Future newsletters will highlight other CAHS Museum Members.