The Calgary Mosquito(Updated News)

Very interesting reading. Can i just add a thank you to SeaDog for his honest and open post. As always there’s two sides to every story.

Contract

Mr Vacher was the second person to take an interest. The first had a signed contract with the council before all this blew up…..

Yes Bruce. I was with the the individual at the time he entered into the first “sale” of this aircraft. I believe that the Museum had put the aircraft up for sale by advertising it as such. The UK buyer viewed the aircraft in depth and detail with the full cooperation and assistance of the Museum’s director and Museum personnel. I believe he is the one that provided the pictures you posted earlier, and sought advice from UK based Mosquito experts at the same time. He was told by the Museum’s director that the sale was approved by the Museum’s Board. The intention, at the time, he was told, was to raise badly needed funds, hopefully to construct some cover for the outside displays. He also discussed the Hurricane at the same time and was told that it had much more relevance to Canadian aviation heritage and would hopefully never have to be sold.
A deal was struck, he shook the hand of the Museum’s director, wrote a cheque for a ten percent deposit, which was soon cashed, and went on to figure out how to get it back to the UK. He left with and still today has the signed contract.
He returned to Calgary a week or so later, and with the help of Museum
personnel, approached a local oil service company with experience in moving
large equipment to aid in the transport. They were very helpful and designed a special rig to transport both the fuselage and one piece wing by road to the
east coast for sea shipment to the UK. All was set to go. Luckily they did not start building the rig immediately.
He returned to the UK, only to be told a few days later that the deal had been voided. Clearly disappointed, he decided to let the matter drop. He was advised that he likely had legal recourse but did not want to get into an ugly fight which this seems to have become. It appeared that the Museum acted illegally by entering into a contract for sale of an item it did not own.
Now, looking back at it from afar and with hindsight he now believes it the Museum’s u-turn was a blessing in disguise. Despite belief at the time that the airframe was restorable to flying condition that was always in doubt. Had he started to rebuild within six months of the “purchase” it would most likely still not be flying today. Though it could have been a fabulous journey, potentially one that might not see a reasonable end. As those that are involved with the restoration of vintage aircraft know, it is getting more difficult not easier.
He was never offered reimbursement for out of pocket expenses amounting to several thousand pounds, lost through no fault of his own. He was disappointed in how quickly the Museum seemed to forget who he was to the extent of not returning phone calls. He did maintain a correspondence with one of the Museum’s personnel with whom he struck up a friendship. This man hated to see the Mosquito go but wanted more to protect the Lancaster and others, and thus applauded the sale as a necessary step in the Museum’s role as curator of this history.
He wishes whomever ends up restoring this wonderful aeroplane the best of luck. The only thing that is certain is that it will take more time and money and hard work than anyone imagines or estimates from day one.

I really do not believe that they will be tourism draws unless the end result is far more than two restored aircraft.

Appreciate your point of view…but experience shows differently.

Within our facility we have a Lockheed Vega Ventura unrestored and likely 5-10 years from completion to airworthy by the Ventura Memorial Flight Association.
(they have been archiving and working on the aircraft 15+ years), this largely disassembled unrestored aircraft has attracted Ventura specific visitors to our facility from Britain, Australia and around the world.

We have visitors drawn by other specific aircraft with similar demographics.
(Mossie, Stinson Special, Norseman)

Within our facility we track not only visitors and their demographics, but where they come from, why they come and as much as possible how long they stay in the facility.

Specific aircraft are also a major component in attracting reunions and conventions.

We also track overall economic impacts and saving to the community through our programming.

There is a whole business side of aviation heritage that largely never discussed or even brought up.

Tom

I really do not believe that they will be tourism draws unless the end result is far more than two restored aircraft.

Thanks Tom, last I saw she was on her wheels but just the bare bones fuselage no sign of other parts which were in storage.. Hopefully it all ends up being a win win situation for Calgary, Alberta and tourism as well,.

Last time I saw the Hurricane up close she was pretty rough missing all her wood etc etc

Peter
The wood and fabric is the easy part (comparatively).

The structure and components are all there and undamaged…more importantly, they are the originals.

This is an opportunity to restore a Canadian Aircraft with a very Canadian history using the original undamaged parts.

I am so jealous up here in Edmonton.

Tom

Tom,

Fair enough.

One point though – C$1.6M to restore to static condition.

That is a huge amount of money for static restoration – and I’ve worked from both angles – on the multi million dollar warbird restoration, and on the static restoration for 2 shillings and a bag of sweets. If much of the labour is volunteer based, how on earth will it cost that much!?

Bruce

Well here is a good example of politics at work.

I am used to the 2 shillings and a bag of sweets so I look on this with great great jealousy.

Calgary City Council was not asked to put up any money!
Matter of fact at the end of it all the New Mayor commented that (or words to the effect), he did not understand why the money was granted when not asked for.

The proponents of keeping and restoring the aircraft all along stood by the fact they would raise the money and have been hard at getting commitments.

I can only express my opinion….
I believe that through this fairly long running mess that the council has come to realize the greater value of having the aircraft on display and well done.

The bigger picture is more than simply the historical value…it is a Tourism draw, a cultural draw and a way of positioning Calgary as a City that values its heritage and quality of life.

If my opinion is correct kudos to the Calgary politicians for finally understanding the overall value of Heritage, in creating a better/stronger community, the business that it attracts and the value and perceived maturity it adds to a city.

As an ED I have studied and pushed based on the “business/tourism” side of supporting Heritage and what it adds to a community. The economic and other impacts it creates ranging into education and other facets.

I am hoping that my opinion that Calgary “got it” is the reasoning behind making the dollars available.

If so…maybe its the start of seeing other levels of government “see the light” and not just in Canada but around the world.

Now there’s an opinion

Tom

There is nothing wrong with storing airframes for future restoration providing that they are stored securely in a building where deterioration will be minimal. There are many examples of cases where this hasn’t been possible – the problems with some of the aircraft for the Brussels museum which are in “storage” is a recent example and had TangoMike not rescued the first of his Swedish Proctors it may well have got finished off by vandals who had already broken in and caused substantial damage
From what I can gather the Canadian Mosquito and Huricane have suffered for years from storage in less than ideal conditions. If they are to be stored for a further period while funds are raised then let’s hope steps are taken to ensure that they don’t deteriorate to the point where there is little or nothing left to restore. If that were to happen then everyone would lose out.

Last time I saw the Hurricane up close she was pretty rough missing all her wood etc etc

Still a lot of money for static aircraft, given that they are mostly there. Too much money if you ask me!

Bruce

Thats for both airframes right Bruce?

Bruce

I agree with your comment that there are no Vultures in the this story.

But I think it is just as presumptuous to assume that anyone other than the folks in the Aviation Heritage Community in Calgary have a handle on all the other issues in play here that led to this debacle.

The Calgary Mossie was never unwanted by the majority of the Aviation Heritage folks in Canada, Alberta and Calgary…that is why the Calgary City Council made the decision it has.

But we will disagree on one point…I do believe this has played out.

One thing about Canadians and Albertan in particular is that once the direction is set we will make it happen.

Tom,

Fair enough.

One point though – C$1.6M to restore to static condition.

That is a huge amount of money for static restoration – and I’ve worked from both angles – on the multi million dollar warbird restoration, and on the static restoration for 2 shillings and a bag of sweets. If much of the labour is volunteer based, how on earth will it cost that much!?

Bruce

Thanks Tom, saved me from commenting with your last two posts as they cover the issues.
Just to edit though there were no vultures and the fellow has apologised for that comment. It is going to be interesting to see where she ends up but I have a an idea where and it will be wonderful. At no time was the mossie forgotten about just that finances dictated that she be placed in storage until better times.Right now the two ladies are spending the winter in more modern accomodation I am told much improved than the last building.

If funding in place now, the way I read the post above the museum needs to come up with 90% of the amount before the City will release the matching $800,000. Therefore if the restorers dont come up with $720,000 then the aircraft will remain where they are? Or maybe I am not reading it correctly?

Acquiring the funding will not be a problem.

A note of correction though…the team chosen to restore the aircraft must come up with the funding, not the museum.

Tom

Indeed, there are no vultures here – until a collector in the UK started showing an interest, it had been put up for sale as unwanted! How are we supposed to read that???!

I suspect this hasnt completely played out yet.

Bruce

Bruce

I agree with your comment that there are no Vultures in the this story.

But I think it is just as presumptuous to assume that anyone other than the folks in the Aviation Heritage Community in Calgary have a handle on all the other issues in play here that led to this debacle.

The Calgary Mossie was never unwanted by the majority of the Aviation Heritage folks in Canada, Alberta and Calgary…that is why the Calgary City Council made the decision it has.

But we will disagree on one point…I do believe this has played out.

One thing about Canadians and Albertan in particular is that once the direction is set we will make it happen.

If funding in place now, the way I read the post above the museum needs to come up with 90% of the amount before the City will release the matching $800,000. Therefore if the restorers dont come up with $720,000 then the aircraft will remain where they are? Or maybe I am not reading it correctly?

Yes I think you are reading it right.
Poor choice of words on my part. I should have said now that there are funding opportunities.
However, even if they cannot come up with the money, there is no reason they cannot be stored to give future generations an chance to restore them.
The situation for these aircraft is no different than that of many others world wide that are stored because of funding constraints. Just because an interested outside party comes alongs with $$ does not mean that we should drop everything and release an important historical artifact to see it leave our country.
I love vintage aircraft as much as the next person but it’s not all about just the airframe iself .
It is also about affording others the opportunity to study the whole period of history that the airframe was involved. Restoration of artifacts is a part of this.Of course it would be great to see them restored now but people in the fuutre will be just as glad to have a chance to restore a vintage airframe as some of us have been.
Affording people a chance to some day study history is always a good investment.

It is interesting to compare this thread with that of the Beaufighter going to Australia.

Storing them has proved to be a good decision as now there is funding to start the restoration process.

If funding in place now, the way I read the post above the museum needs to come up with 90% of the amount before the City will release the matching $800,000. Therefore if the restorers dont come up with $720,000 then the aircraft will remain where they are? Or maybe I am not reading it correctly?

“Vultures”? Hardly. Someone who had good intentions and was genuinely prepared to pump large amounts of money into the acquisition, restoration, preservation and long term well being of a previously ‘forgotten’ aeroplane can hardly be likened to a ‘scavenger feeding on dead carcasses’.

Relax ! the comment was made tongue in cheek as there have been many many groups trying to take the airframes out of Canada.
The comment was not made towards any one group or individual.
Besides the airframe were never forgotten , there was just no funding available at the time. Storing them has proved to be a good decision as now there is funding to start the restoration process.
Keep in mind there are tons of airframes all over the world that are in the same situation these were in.

Mr Vacher was the second person to take an interest. The first had a signed contract with the council before all this blew up…..