Road Trip Continued… TAM, CWH & Dunnville

After an overnight in Toronto I was off to the Toronto Aerospace Museum (TAM)…

The TAM is located on the grounds of the former CFB Downsview and the museum building was once operated by deHavilland Canada. This same build was also used for the manufacturing of the Mosquito bombers during WWII. At the TAM there two projects under way of special significance in my opinion. The first project is the construction of an Avro Arrow full-scale replica. This is not an actual airframe, but rather a convincing looking shell. The size of the Arrow is impressive, something I didn’t appreciate when I have viewed an actual Arrow cockpit section at the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa. The second project of special interest is the restoration of Lancaster FM104, the Lanc that was displayed near Ontario Place on the shore of Lake Ontario. The crew of the TAM has done some very good work and are including pieces of FM118 in the restoration. I made of point of photographing everything in their work area and was even able to hold the camera inside the fuselage through some openings and by using the flash I was able to get a number of internal photos. To find pictures TAM collection go to…
http://community.webshots.com/album/551529959ooWnTM
…and for pictures of the Lancaster restoration go to…
http://community.webshots.com/album/475085390VoehjS

Does anyone know where the Tiger Moth at the TAM came from? Here is a link to a picture of the one I am talking about…
http://community.webshots.com/photo/551529959/2363024510079452405ivrIwT

After leaving the TAM, I set off to Mount Hope (Hamilton) for the Canadian Warplane Heritage…

I hadn’t visited the CWH since 2002, so I was overdue for a visit. It was nice to see the Lysander in once piece and with the new paint, although it was tucked away in the restoration area and I couldn’t see much of it. Work was being carried out on the Firefly with the engine disassembled, as was the Stearman with the engine removed. I added the pictures I took to my CWH feature album along with pictures of CWH airframes of the past. You can find that album at…
http://community.webshots.com/album/547439001ZXCNwU

There was a Fouga Magister there in an overall orange paint scheme. Does anyone know the s/n, c/n or c/r? I forgot to note the ID. Here is a picture…
http://community.webshots.com/photo/547439001/2180754820079452405hPKtZC

There was also a 727 on the ramp in FedEx colours. Does anyone know which one it is? Here is a picture…
http://community.webshots.com/photo/547439001/2370850530079452405YUuZMd

After leaving the CWH I was off to Tillsonburg. I stopped by the airport but there was no activity around the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association, and that was the end of my day. After staying in Tillsonburg overnight I was off to Dunnville early in the morning. My first stop was the public library…

For a long time there has been a Harvard displayed on a pole there. In 2000 it spent some time on display in front of the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, but after a new coat of paint it was returned to it’s pylon in front of the Dunnville Public Library. You can find more pictures here…
http://community.webshots.com/album/551526911mnyCqQ

Dunnville was of course the site of an airbase, on of many in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Canada during WWII. The site of that airbase is now the local airport. After leaving the library I drove south to the airport to find another Harvard on a pole…

This Harvard belongs to the 6SFTS Society, a museum which an Anson, Tiger Moth, Yale and Tracker in the collection in addition to the Harvard. Unfortunately I arrived before the museum was open, and I only could take pictures of the Harvard…
http://community.webshots.com/album/551529960VDVnJd

I have been told the 6SFTS Society Harvard is a composite airframe. That might explain why I have not been able to find an ID for the airframe anywhere in book, magazines and the internet. Does anyone know the source of the components that went into this airframe? Does anyone know the serial numbers of the airframes these components came from?

Dunnville, wasn’t the last stop on my road trip, and I left this pleasant small town to find an airport near Niagara Falls to attend the Russell Group’s air show, “Friendly Foes over the Falls”. Look for another installment of my road trip diary. Pictures from the show and a few more stops on the road trip are yet to come.

Regards,

Mike

P.S. As always you can find a list of recent updates to my website and photo albums at…
http://www.AerialVisuals.ca/News.html