Tom HThanks Peter
We had already tracked those down and the Cold Lake Museum has already latched on to it and a complete 104 that was up there (darn it). But appreciate the lead.
If need be we may have to settle for a Lockheed built version but would sure like to find a Canadian one.
A number went to Norway, Denmark and Turkey so I am hoping for a shot in the old country.
Tom H
Tom HMoggy
I commend the idea behind your question and appreciate your trying to find a resolution to a long standing problem.
I have only been a member of the forum for a few months but you will notice I never participapte in amateur accident investigation and have not participated in condolences etheir.
Why don’t I enter accident debates?
My father was an accident investigator for the Ministry of Transport in Canada, I understand how complex and difficult these investigations can be so I leave it to those with all the information to come to a complete anylasis of the data and the answers as they can be found.
I have do not have the complete training required or access to enough information to dream I have an ability to come to a conclusion…so I don’t.
Why don’t I participate with condolences?
Having lost many friends and relatives in the worldof aviation to a variety of causes I understand the difficulties of making it through a time of loss. If I did not personally know the person I feel it is more appropriate to grieve privately at the loss to the aviation community rather than forward words that while well intended really have no personal connection.
As to your efforts as moderator…
I have found you to have done a commendable and fair job of working with those on the forum. I admire someone willing to put their time into a difficult task and would like to take the time to thank you for the job done.
Good work
Gentlemen those are my thoughts, take them as you will
Tom H
Tom HI think this thread highlights the Battle within all heritage movements…
Those that have said there is no right answer are correct, but
Museums, particularly aviation museums have a tough job.
The artifacts are large, the history extensive and the costs high.
In a perfect world we would have our National museums taking the task of telling the full aviation history of each country in broad brush strokes and the regional museums providing the detail within their area.
Mind you in a perfect world we would have the funding to do it.
It is interesting to open another can of worms with the restore or conserve discussion…another passionate debate.
But until we live in a perfect world we must make compromises. England is very fortunate to have a federal goverment that at least takes heritage seriously and provides a modicum of funding to make it work.
Others such as ourselves dork in a atmosphere that provides next to no assistance.
It is my personal belief that Aviation museums need to work together more, regionally, nationally and internationally to create excitment in the young folks to fire the interest that leads to the addication and passion for aviation.
If we do not…we will cease to be.
Tom H
Tom HLindyslad
I understand the feeling that a museum needs to take every acquisition, but we must learn to allocate our resources to the story we are telling within history.
In the past year we have turned down 11 acquisitions
– 5 because we have run out of room
– 6 because they did not fit our mandate
In each and evrey case we do our best to find an appropriate home for the aircraft, but we must b realistic
If we use up room and resources on a type that is not within our collections policy and acquisition list we may have to turn away one that is important.
We have to make tough decisions!
Tom H
Tom HAnother interesting point that should be brought to the discussion
History is not made by machines or technology…it is made by the people involved.
Often I feel that we spend far too much time and effort on the hardware and forget the people.
Our focus over the next few years is story of the people of our specific aviation history.
I think in many cases with museums we need to remember these points.
Tom H
Tom HWhat an interesting thread…let me throw tow bits in from my world.
A Museum should (theroricially) start with a collection policy and goal.
In our case it has been
1) Our specific city
2) Region
3) Country as it relates to the above
4) The world as it relates to the above
Then the provedence of each part of the “story” of the history you are presenting.
How important is each “piece” and what is the best way to present it
-real artifact
-scale model
-etc.
An acquistion list is built from there.
Our Museum is now the 3rd largest in Canada if my research is correct, but we have not attempted to tell the WHOLE story of aviation in Canada…we simply do not have the resources or room. Besides that is the National Museums job.
Ours is to tell our chosen piece of history, local/regional, which we can do better than anyone else (and I think we are, but I’m biased).
There are now 38 aircraft in the collection…each with a direct provedence tied to our collections policy.
This allows us to concentrate resources and tell our story better than anyone.
Every museum cannot save everything…we need to choose what part of the story we are going to tell.
It is up to the Nationals to tell the big picture.
My 2 bits
Tom H
Tom HThanks Mark
Our collections policy and collection are based around Edmonton, every aircraft has an Edmonton connection. The volunteers and staff have worked very hard to make the place what it is.
The diversity is unique…
Oldest represented
– 1918 Curtis Special, the only known replica of the aircraft, only one was
built for Catherine Stinson and it flew the first airmail in Western Canada to
Edmonton. Our restoration team put many years of research into finding all
the details of the aircraft and many more years recreating virtually every
part. A real tribute and wonderful legacy to those that created her.
Newest represented
– 1979 Boeing 737-275, came into service at Edmonton City Centre Airport in
1979 with Pacific Western Airlines, retired to our facility back on City Centre
Airport in 2005. Yes she flew in, more importantly she is kept fully
operational by a dedicated team of ex-PWA personel and goes through
systems checks and run ups once a month every month. Sorry condition of
donation is she never fly again. We thank Air Canada for her donation every
chance we get. She gets worked hard though…
– Police tactical training by 2 police forces
– Education programming for Northern Alberta Students
– Technical training with the Northern Alberta Institue of Technology
– Movie and television productions
The 737 was my last major project as a volunteer and took 18 months of negotiation to get…then I got talked into becoming Executive Director.
We are very proud of our collection and are working hard to grow it even more
Evening TJ
No this Barkley was recovered as a wreck from the Peace River area, but was restored in Calgary by the Calgary Aerospace Museum team.
Of the two you refer to I believe one is still in the Calgary Aerospace Museums hands and the other is the prototype and is in storage at the Renoylds Alberta Museum in Wetaskwin Alberta.
Both of these Museum are also exceptional.
Tom H
Tom HJ Boyle
The Bell 47 is a G5A or at least most of it as I am told.
As a not for profit and funded from operations it generally means we start with what no one else wants…in this case the fellow in charge of the Bell 47 restoration tells me it is a combination of about 5 different wrecks and is done as the G5A as most of the recovered parts are from that model.
Thanks Tom H
Tom HContact the guys in our restoration department…we completed ours a few years ago, speak with Lindsay 780-451-1175 Tuesday/Thursday.
Tom H
Tom HIf you check our website http://www.albertaaviationmuseum.com you will find she is complete and restored…we are very proud of her as she is one of the original McConachie planes that flew from our airport.
Tom H
Tom HThanks guys
We think it is real important to create interest in young folks to aspire to fly.
The whole event is run on strictly a break even basis to create awareness of aviation and aviation history.
Imagine…it was only $2.00 CDN to get in!
Tom H
Tom HYou know I am really fed up with everyone trying to be PC…
It appears I am going to have about (10) 20″ by 30″ Airfest posters excess due to our PC world.
That said the first 10 to send me a private message will get one for free…you pay shipping and specifiy how you would like it sent.
Tom H
Tom HTrumpter
I am so sorry to see the way being PC is diluting traditions and to a large extent history.
As you can tell I am not known for being horribly PC.
But I do try to be polite….
I meant to thank BR earlier for sorting out my mess when I tried to attach the poster.
thanks so much BR
Tom H
Tom HThanks Guys
When the event is over I will see what is left over and spread them around as I can…fair enough.
DaimenB
Plane is the slang around here and as a colonial it would have been airplane if we skipped the slang. And yes the N on North American.
I will let you know when the “Final” is on the title page so everyone can get a look at the finished product.
Tom H
Tom HMark
Did the rep from CAPA ever get in touch with you re: the Lincoln in Canada?
I’m sorry I haven’t personally followed up but I have been kind of overwhelmed
Hi David
I am very aware of the Ventura, I am part of the team working on it. It is in the same hangar as our museum. Virtually all of the parts are now in place and much of the wing work has been done.
But like many projects it is currently stalled for money.
The Ventura Memorial Flight Association is the group doing the work and are an amazing resource that have done amazing stuff with archives records photos bomb camera footage….unreal.
Now we just need to find the the money to make the last lap and it will be in the air!!!
Thanks Tom H
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