Museum seeks funding for preservation efforts

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This article was published 05/01/2022 (1540 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

To ensure the continued preservation of a historical landmark in Brandon, repairs worth six figures to a million dollars are needed according to a delegation presenting at Brandon City Council on Tuesday evening.

Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum president John McNarry, vice-president Art Brown and executive director Stephen Hayter joined the proceedings virtually to provide an annual update on the museum’s activities and make requests as the city fast approaches its annual budget deliberations.

After returning to council chambers for in-person meetings during a portion of last year, Tuesday’s council meeting was held entirely online via networking platform Microsoft Teams with COVID-19 case counts on the rise.

The vintage airplane hangar, Brown explained, has not received any kind of major refresh or renovation in the approximately 40 years since it was opened as the only museum dedicated to preserving the history of the Commonwealth’s efforts to train pilots for the Second World War in Canada.

To improve the facility and preserve the national, provincial and municipal heritage site, Brown said the museum is looking to the city to help install fire protection in Hangar No. 1, work to preserve its long-term structural integrity, expand its exhibit footprint, increase available space to restore and protect artifacts, enhance accessibility and improve the museum’s parking lot.

“It is one of the few remaining BCATP [British Commonwealth Air Training Plan] hangars in its original condition,” Brown said. “As you can imagine, because we try to maintain it in that original condition, there is a considerable amount of maintenance that needs to be done every year to maintain it.”

Further work needed on that historic hangar include repairs to the hangar door trusses, retrofitting its overhead supports, installations of new electrical and heating systems, renovating the exterior of the hangar to repair weather damage from over the years and moving what was supposed to be a temporary work space to a new location.”

Installing a new fire protection system would allow the hangar to become a federally recognized Class 1 facility, which would allow for aircraft from the country’s national collection to be displayed.

“We feel that if we lose that hangar, we basically lose the museum and lose everything inside,” Brown said.

To accomplish some of these goals, the museum is requesting that the city take responsibility for work needed to maintain the hangar’s structural integrity, including the installation of the fire suppression system and work with museum staff to lobby the federal and provincial governments for funding for long-term improvements.

After the presentation, Coun. Shaun Cameron (University) asked Brown what time frame the museum wants these improvement done by and if there was a rough estimate on what the cost would be.

“The structural issues with the hangar, I think, are imperative and we would want to see them done in the next year,” Brown replied. “A rough cost estimate is to be prepared, but I understand it could be certainly in the six-figure area up to a million dollars.”

The fire suppression system issue is complicated, according to McNarry, by the fact that the museum is still fed water from the same six-inch water mains it was using during the Second World War.

“When I talk to fire suppression people who are in that business, they say it’s not possible unless you put a large cistern in,” McNarry said.

Coun. Jeff Fawcett (Assiniboine) acknowledged the museum’s importance and said council would get city staff to dig into the issue and see what can be done.

In response to the high price tag for the work, Coun. Bruce Luebke (South Centre) said that number is a bit shocking for a municipality given the current financial challenges posed by the pandemic.

Brown said the museum has had success with securing grants before, which is why assistance applying for new grants is part of the museum’s request.

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