Canadian Air and Space Museum handed eviction notice

I think you will find the Lanc will have a secure future in Toronto…

Oh dear.

All three levels of government involved one way or another…yikes.

VWoC would certainly not be interested in the Lanc; all else aside they have nothing like enough room for it…CWH might welcome it so as still to be able to display a Lanc while their flyer is on tour, but even there space is an issue. Trenton? Logical, very, but again, not enough room indoors. Rockcliffe, of course, already has a Lanc on show. Probably moot anyway: as has been said, the city of Toronto owns FM104, and I expect it would simply be packed off to storage somewhere…hopefully under cover, at least…until alternative plans can be made for its completion in Toronto.

As to the Arrow, well, there at least they can do something with a historical slant.

Reenact the infamous 1959 scrapping of the originals.:mad:

(Yes, I am being facetious…)

Have signed the online petition for what that may be worth.

S.

There’s an online petition to support the Canadian Air and Space Museum details are linked from here http://casmuseum.org

Best solution in my mind is a way to preserve the museum in the building with the building designated historically and protected.

This seems unlikely, given the fate of the “Arrow hangers” at Pearson.

The landlord is a federally contracted group hired to run what is a National Park. As far as I am aware, no other group is under any threat to leave for what someone has darkly suggested is for a sports stadium..

It is definitely planned to use this spot for a large building with multiple hockey rinks.

Honestly, the Lanc is the least of the issues IMHO. The museum also has the first manned ornithopter, which, historically speaking, is much more important. The Arrow may be a model, but it seems it would be well at home in Ottawa.

There is a lot of conflicting information the media reports right now and as such I would suggest a pause for the cause till all the information filters through.

I am truly hoping for the best for CASM in Toronto and hope that they can find solutions short and long term and I know the Canadian Museum community is ready and able to help as much as we can.

My concern however is growing for the building…it is an un designated historic site on Federal land. Should these early reports bear out it must be protected and preserved (great place for a museum) and will likely take Canada wide pressure to insure that happens.

Best solution in my mind is a way to preserve the museum in the building with the building designated historically and protected.

Tom

D.stark,
your comments are a bit shameful suggesting that the lanc is no different than you pic taken last year.

Misunderstood me – not suggesting they stopped work on her – suggesting it was in no condition to be moved out in a few hours.

Thanks Mike.

FM104 looked a lot better than that in 2009.

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=91149

D.stark,
your comments are a bit shameful suggesting that the lanc is no different than you pic taken last year. If you bother to go to their lanc website you can see all the effort has been going into the floor section and c section repairs..

http://avrolancasterfm104.com/

I can’t help but feel for all the volunteers and the project management team on the lanc. You guys have really done a stirling job on her restoration so far. I do sincerely hope that an amicable solution can be the outcome here and work can continue on the lanc very soon!

Seems that Downsview Parc is feeling the heat as the CEO has just stated that they have up to 6 months to move – which is NOT what the staff were told earlier in the day… much back tracking now. The Star is saying some private group have been given the rights to build a four rink hockey rink for 2013 time frame. Given the number of hockey rinks in Toronto and this area – who allowed a private company to build on public property WITH OUT A TENDER? I think the area MP needs a call…

This isn’t over.

If and I say if…it comes to it there are options for the Lancaster
– Canada’s National Museum of the Air Force is in nearby Trenton and a Lanc would be great beside a Hali.

-The Canadian National Aerospace Museum…would love a Lancaster.

-The Windsor Group is close by.

-Vintage Wings, maybe but not their typical mandate.

-I doubt Canadian Warplane Heritage would turn down a second Lanc.

Plus there are another bunch of us that would love a Lancaster.

Tom

FM 104 owned by city of Toronto……..Interesting question will be where she ends up.Vintage Wings???

Doesn’t the the City of Toronto still own FM104?

I feel for the volunteer’s who have put countless hours of time & energy into the museum and it’s various projects. I know of at least one member from the FM104 team who dug into his own pockets to purchase parts for the restoration. I hope he gets to them in time!

We donated a pair of items last winter, but still have not received a tax receipt. Just figured it was still in the works.

It’s a sad end.

As the Executive Director of another Canadian Aviation Museum I would ask no conclusions be drawn until the facts are out.

History, Heritage and Museums, other than government funded/operated, are at risk internationally for reasons ranging from land values to lack of active volunteers, lack of reasonable funding to mismanagement.

I have NO IDEA what has happened in Toronto but considering all the factors that come into play until the facts come out no one knows what is happening but those directly involved.

That said this should be a warning, most museums run on the ragged edge and the difference between open and close can be very small…yet without them the history is lost and we are the ones short changed.

Tom Hinderks

Something seemed ‘off’ about them early this month when I tried to rent a meeting room and have a group tour for our volunteer organization and despite many calls I could not get a price for our event and given one date by one person only to be told by another that the date given was booked for a children’s birthday party of 10!! I had to give up on them last week – I had a funny feeling about them… Guess my inner voice is strong!

I have no idea how they got so behind on the rent – $100K is no small amount and it strikes me as either fund raising went completely belly up or I would be checking out where the revenue was going…

I would love to know how they can move their items in so short of time and WHERE these items are going? The Arrow alone is mammoth – it’s a full 1:1 aluminum mock up that would require a huge amount of work, time and money just to get the thing loaded onto lowboys for a road move – not to mention the city permits for wide loads.

The Lanc is in pieces – with wings off, turrets off with just the center section in several pieces. Engines are off and on skids. Little has changed since this photo was taken last year:

The landlord is a federally contracted group hired to run what is a National Park. As far as I am aware, no other group is under any threat to leave for what someone has darkly suggested is for a sports stadium. As far as I know the proposed Pan Am development was in another area. This group is located next to other renters including an indoor go kart facility that I visit and none of these groups are under any pressure to leave.

It strikes me as poor management and a simple case of pay your rent or leave. It’s quite possible that the reasons for the partial rent payment cheques being returned is that the landlord could see that there was little likely hood of full back rent (and know way more about their revenue flow then the media) and that the $22K was an attempt to delay the inevitable. The landlord has to minimize their losses. Accepting $22k and watching as the debt piles up higher and higher until they declare bankruptcy for twice the current debt would be poor property management practices.

I’m surprised they were even given a day or to to move the small items. One assumes the landlord will now take over control of the assets until full payment is made as there is no way these items can be moved in hours.

This one is going to court as some of the items were ‘loaned’ and some were gifted with certain conditions. We also don’t know if there are other outstanding debt such as loans.

What a sad end.

Oh dear thats not good. The landlord says the rent hasn’t been payed, yet he has returned cheques sent to pay the rent. And then you read about the development potential of the site and just maybe things become a bit clearer 🙁