Welcome to our newest Museum Member!
By John Chalmers
CAHS National Membership Secretary
The Hangar Flight Museum in Calgary is the 19th Canadian aviation museum to take out Museum Membership with the CAHS. Formerly known as the Aero Space Museum of Calgary, founded in 1975, it is located near the Calgary International Airport on McCall Way, named for Calgarian native, Freddie McCall, a famed pilot who was an ace of the First World War. McCall’s story is told in Maverick in the Sky, one of several aviation books by CAHS member, Shirley Matheson.
The CF-100 at the Hangar Flight Museum in Calgary is one of the oldest surviving aircraft of its type. It was painted black to resemble the paint scheme on the first CF-100 prototype. The museum is now raising funds to restore the aircraft. (Chalmers photo)
A recent call for donations in the CAHS newsletter resulted in members responding to contribute to the cause. Restoration of the Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck, an interceptor/fighter, is expected to cost $325,000. The City of Calgary will contribute 75% of the cost if the Museum is able to raise its share of $82,000. Time and weather have taken their toll on the aircraft even more so, since the photo above was taken a few years ago.
On behalf of the CAHS, national president Gary Williams has written a letter of support in the museum’s application for a grant from the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation. “The members of CAHS look forward to the successful completion of the restoration of this aircraft that will enrich the record of Canada’s aviation heritage and history,” stated Williams.
Aircraft and a large exhibit of aircraft engines are displayed in the Hangar Flight Museum’s main building, which was constructed as a wartime drill hall, built in the style of hangars of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. An adjacent huge tent-like structure houses several aircraft, including a Lancaster, one of two located in Alberta. The other Lanc is at the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, an hour south of Calgary. Both museums were visited by attendees at the 2018 CAHS convention, which was held in Calgary.
The museum’s CF-100 has been in Alberta for the past 64 years. It was moved with No. 3 Operational Training Unit to Cold Lake in 1955 and has been on display outdoors in Calgary since 1973. As of the beginning of 2019, the Hangar Flight Museum has raised over 75% of its share of its restoration cost. (Chalmers photo)