Take in the aviation museum before temporary winter closure

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This article was published 18/10/2023 (705 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rugged and well-designed is the perfect description of the 83-year-old biplane at Brandon’s aviation museum. However, it also applies to the pilots who would have trained in it for the Second World War, says Stephen Hayter, executive director of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum (CATPM).

“Definitely, they all had to be very rugged to tackle the job they had before them,” Hayter said. “And you look at that aircraft, and you think, wow, that’s an antique. But biplanes give that feeling of history, and early flight.”

The 1940 Fleet Finch is a two-seater training biplane, one of 447 that were built by Fleet Aircraft in Fort Erie, Ont., and is the latest aircraft that’s been meticulously restored and sits nose-up-ready and on display in the museum.

It’s the most accurately restored Fleet Finch in the world down to the flare pistol, which was used to fire pyrotechnic signals when in flight. It was standard equipment in many aircraft built during the war.

“Aircraft were certainly advanced during the Second World War,” Hayter said. “But the training was on some rugged aircraft that didn’t have a lot of bells and whistles.

“They were very basic but well built, and they did the job that they needed to do.”

Admiring the Fleet Finch and dozens of other aircraft and military service vehicles on Tuesday afternoon, were Albertans Jeff Mann and Ruth Jellicoe, who said they were amazed at the history that was right in front of them.

“It’s just so interesting that pilots cut their teeth on these aircraft,” Mann said. “And that they were learning to fly as stepping stones to fly other planes. You can’t find flying examples of these anywhere, really.”

And once the young Canadians were trained, Jellicoe said, they were sent off to war, to places most had never even heard of.

“Nineteen, 21, 24 years old,” Jellicoe said. “No landmarks familiar to you whatsoever because no one in the family had ever been off Canadian soil. You’re not in Brandon anymore, right? They’re in the real thing.”

As Mann looked up to the ceiling, he remarked, “Just look at this building. It’s authentic with the real fir timbers from British Columbia.”

The hangar is more than 80 years old and is one of several hundred that were built across Canada in 1940 and 1941 to train pilots from the British Commonwealth to serve in the Second World War.

But in November 2022, when structural issues were discovered with the roof, the aviation museum was closed for eight months to carry out emergency repairs. Engineers found that an exterior metal truss built on the hangar in 1985 was torquing the original wooden beams and causing them to crack. There were concerns that under the wrong conditions, such as heavy snowfall, the roof could collapse.

Until the permanent repairs are complete, Hayter said the museum will need to close during the winter months as a safety precaution.

That’s why, Hayter added, he hoped the public will come out to the museum from now until November 11.

“We’re not going to be closed forever by any means, so we’d like to get the public out and have them come through the museum. Remembrance Day will be our last day open this year.

“We’ve been paying tribute to those who lost their lives in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) from the beginning, and what better place on Remembrance Day than our museum where you can immerse yourself in that history and check out what these young people did for us,” Hayter said.

The aviation museum will reopen April 1. There are big plans for next year, including Canadian Armed Forces Day, which will be tied to the 100th anniversary of the RCAF with celebrations scheduled for June 2, 2024.

As tourists Mann and Jellicoe were about to board their Czechoslovakian-made aerobatic low wing two-seater and fly back to Alberta, Mann said he’d be back.

“I’m going to come back next summer and get a ride in that,” he said while pointing to the de Havilland Tiger Moth.

The aviation museum is open seven days a week from 1 to 4 p.m. Admission for adults is $10. The price for those aged six to 17 is $5, and children six and under are free.

There is a special fee for school groups at $4 each.

Veterans, those who are currently in the military and post-secondary students pay $5, with identification required.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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