Air museum reopens with ‘fresh, modern look’

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When the doors open next Tuesday at the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, there will be new displays, signage and stories about those who trained and fought for the British Commonwealth during the Second World War.

The air museum is one of the few remaining examples of the flying schools built across Canada to train Commonwealth pilots serving in the war.

It’s a “fresh, modern look,” said Stephen Hayter executive director of the air museum, located at Brandon Municipal Airport.

“It’s just amazing the volume of materials we have that gives such a wholesome picture of what it was like on a training site,” Hayter said.

“And we’re trying to bring that picture into focus, because these were people just like you and me, going out to social events.

“When people think Second World War, of course they think training, pilots and fixing aircraft. But there’s also the social side, like dances,” he said.

“We also have some fascinating artifacts of sporting events, even a sweatshirt that a lady in the women’s division wore promoting number 12 SFTS, which meant the number 12 Service Flying Training School in Brandon.”

The service flying training school was important because it took the pilot into the next stage of training — flying a “much larger, twin engine aircraft,” Hayter said.

“They had to master those skills of flying something with that much power. And then once they had mastered that, they would then start practising with whatever future bomber they were going to be flying, like a Halifax or a Lancaster.”

Brandon’s CATPM was one of about 200 training sites built across Canada. The grounds included a sentry box, dental and medical building, a chapel and several canteens, because they were feeding about 1,800 air personnel.

There are thousands of artifacts ranging from uniforms and medals to cameras and radios. The museum has collected nine vehicles from the late 1930s and ’40s, and a dozen historic aircraft, six that are airworthy.

Those include the primary training airplanes — the de Havilland Tiger Moth, Fairchild Cornell, and the 1940 Fleet Finch that was restored last summer.

Hundreds of historical pieces are stored in the museum’s hangar, which is the largest artifact in the collection. It was built in the winter of 1940 and up and running by the summer of 1941, said Hayter.

“That’s the wonderful thing about the hangar, because it really sets the stage. You look up into the rafters and see the construction, and it’s such a great setting to tell the story, because it is part of the story,” he said.

Opening day of the aviation museum was specifically planned to coincide with Manitoba’s spring break and the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, providing a “great opportunity for families who are in Brandon to come up and see us,” Hayter said.

“This is an important year; this is now 80 years since the end of the Second World War. And 80 years is an awful long time separating us from that history.

“It’s something amazing that Canada and Brandon did for the war effort, and we don’t want people to forget that. It’s something that we can be very proud of.”

The CATP museum will be open seven days a week beginning April 1, with the hours of operation from 1-4 p.m. In May, the museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and those hours extend until the end of September. Once October kicks in, the museum’s hours revert back to 1-4 p.m. and will be open until and including Remembrance Day.

Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for those six to 17 years old, and no admission for children under the age of six.

Veterans, those who are currently in the military, and post-secondary students pay $5, with identification required. There are special rates offered for schools and tour groups.

For more information, call 204-727-2444.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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