The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum is an aviation museum located at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in Mount Hope, Ontario, Canada. The museum has 47 military jets and propeller-driven aircraft on display. Displayed is a collection of Canadian military aircraft, many in flying condition. The museum is also restoring several

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and Cold War aircraft, including a TBM Avenger a De Havilland Canada built S-2 Tracker and a Bristol Bolingbroke. The flying collection performs at air shows and is made available for local flights by museum visitors. The Avro Lancaster flown by the museum is one of only two airworthy Lancasters in the world. Known as the Mynarski Memorial Lancaster in honour of Pilot Officer

Andrew Charles Mynarski Andrew Charles Mynarski, VC (14 October 1916 – 13 June 1944) was a Canadian airman and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for bravery in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Mynarski w ...

, it is painted in the markings of his aircraft.

History

After pooling their money to purchase a

Fairey Firefly The Fairey Firefly is a Second World War-era carrier-borne fighter aircraft and anti-submarine aircraft that was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA). It was developed and built by the British aircraft manufacturer Fairey Avia ...

, Dennis Bradley, Peter Matthews, Alan Ness, and John Weir moved the aircraft into Hangar 4 at Hamilton Airport in 1972. A few years later, the museum purchased a second hangar, Hangar 3, as well. The collection was expanded with the acquisition of additional aircraft – including a B-25 in 1975 and a Lancaster in 1977. However, that same year Alan Ness was killed in the crash of a Fairey Firefly at the Canadian International Air Show. On February 15, 1993, a fire destroyed most of Hangar #3. Destroyed in the fire were also the

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness b ...

, General Motors TBM Avenger,

Auster Auster Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1938 to 1961.Willis, issue 122, p.55 History The company began in 1938 at the Britannia Works, Thurmaston near Leicester, England, as Taylorcraft Aeroplanes (England) Limited, ma ...

, Stinson 105 and Supermarine Spitfire. A new, purpose built hangar was completed in 1996 to replace it. In August and September 2014, the Mynarski Memorial Lancaster Bomber flew across the North Atlantic to

RAF Coningsby Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south-west of Horncastle, and north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and ho ...

to participate in six weeks of airshows and events across the United Kingdom. Unique to this tour, the Lancaster VeRA (as it became known due to its wartime VR-A markings) flew in close formation with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

–

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) is a Royal Air Force flight which provides an aerial display group usually comprising an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane. The aircraft are regularly seen at events c ...

's Lancaster bomber

PA474 Avro Lancaster PA474 is a four-engined, Second World War era, Avro Lancaster heavy bomber operated by the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight as a tribute to all members of Bomber Command during the Second World War. PA474 is on ...

for most of the 60 displays and events over the two months of the tour. Lancaster VeRA returned to Hamilton on September 29, 2014.

Collection

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum Exterior 1

* Auster AOP.6 ''16681'' * Avro Anson V ''12417'' * Avro Lancaster X ''FM213'' * Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck Mk.5D ''18785'' * Beechcraft CT-134 Musketeer ''134222'' * Beechcraft D18S ''A-0156'' * Boeing Stearman PT-17 Kaydet ''41-8621'' * Canadair CF-5A Freedom Fighter ''116757'' *

Canadair CF-104D Starfighter The Canadair CF-104 Starfighter (CF-111, CL-90) is a modified version of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter supersonic fighter aircraft built in Canada by Canadair under licence. It was primarily used as a ground attack aircraft, despite being des ...

''12641'' * Canadair CF-104 Starfighter ''12790'' *

Canadair CT-114 Tutor The Canadair CT-114 Tutor (company model CL-41) was the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), and later Canadian Forces, standard jet trainer between the early 1960s and 2000. It was designed and produced by Canadian aircraft manufacturer Canad ...

''26038'' *

Canadair CT-133 Silver Star The Canadair CT-133 Silver Star (company model number CL-30) is the Canadian license-built version of the Lockheed T-33 jet trainer aircraft, in service from the 1950s to 2005. The Canadian version was powered by the Rolls-Royce Nene 10 turboj ...

''21275'' * Canadair Sabre Mk.6 ''23651'' * Canadian Vickers Canso ''11084'' *

Cessna L-19 Bird Dog The Cessna L-19/O-1 Bird Dog is a liaison and observation aircraft. It was the first all-metal fixed-wing aircraft ordered for and by the United States Army following the Army Air Forces' separation from it in 1947. The Bird Dog had a lengthy ...

''21085'' * Cessna Crane I ''7862'' * de Havilland DHC-1B Chipmunk ''18035'' * de Havilland DH.82C Tiger Moth ''8922'' * de Havilland DH.82C Tiger Moth ''4947'' * de Havilland Vampire FB.6 ''J-1145'' * de Havilland Canada CSF-2 Tracker ''1577'' *

de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo The de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo is a short takeoff and landing ( STOL) utility transport turboprop aircraft developed from the earlier piston-powered DHC-4 Caribou. The aircraft has extraordinary STOL performance and is able to take off ...

''811'' * Douglas Dakota III ''FZ692'' * Douglas DC-3 ''2141'' * Fairchild Bolingbroke IVT ''10117'' * Fairchild Cornell II ''10694'' * Fairchild Cornell II ''FV702'' * Fairey Firefly VI ''WH632'' * Fleet 21K ''FAL-11'' *

Fleet 60K Fort The Fleet Model 60K Fort was the only aircraft designed and built by Canadians during the Second World War and was also the first all-metal monoplane built by Fleet Aircraft of Canada (Fort Erie). It was intended to be an intermediate trainer em ...

''3540'' * Fleet 60K Fort ''3643'' * Fleet Finch II ''4738'' * Hawker Hurricane II – Replica * General Motors TBM-3E Avenger ''53858'' * McDonnell CF-101B Voodoo ''101045'' * Nanchang CJ-6A ''47-22'' * Noorduyn Norseman V ''N29-47'' * North American B-25J Mitchell ''45-8883'' * North American Harvard IV ''20213'' * North American Harvard IV ''20412'' *

North American Yale The North American NA-64 (NA-64 P-2 or NAA-64 P-2 in French service, Yale in Canadian service) is a low-wing single piston engine monoplane advanced trainer aircraft that was built for the French Air Force and French Navy, served with the Royal C ...

''3350'' * North American Yale ''3400'' * Stinson 10A * Supermarine Spitfire XVI ''TE214'' * Westland Lysander IIIA ''2363''

Images

Image:Warplane Heritage D.JPG,

Avro Canada CF-100 The Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck (affectionately known as the "Clunk") is a Canadian twinjet interceptor/ fighter designed and produced by aircraft manufacturer Avro Canada. It has the distinction of being the only Canadian-designed fighter to en ...

Image:Warplane Heritage A.JPG,

CF-104 Starfighter The Canadair CF-104 Starfighter (CF-111, CL-90) is a modified version of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter supersonic fighter aircraft built in Canada by Canadair under licence. It was primarily used as a ground attack aircraft, despite being des ...

and

CF-101 Voodoo The McDonnell CF-101 Voodoo was an all-weather interceptor aircraft operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian Forces between 1961 and 1984. They were manufactured by the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation of St. Louis, Missouri for ...

Image:Warplane Heritage C.JPG, Avro Lancaster Image:Warplane Heritage B.JPG, PBY Canso and

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCA ...

Image:CWH Lancaster.jpg, Mynarski Memorial Avro Lancaster Image:B25 CWHM Hamilton Ontario 1.jpg, North American B-25J Mitchell File:Canadair Sabre Mk 6 cut away.JPG, Sabre Mk VI cut-away display File:DunsfoldLancasters3883.JPG, The CWH and BBMF Lancasters during a display in 2014

Affiliations

The museum is affiliated with: CMA, CHIN, OMMC and

Virtual Museum of Canada The Digital Museums Canada (DMC; , ''MNC'') is a funding program in Canada "dedicated to online projects by the museum and heritage community," helping organizations to build digital capacity. Administered by the Canadian Museum of History (CMH) ...

References

External links