Canadian Warplane Heritage Flyfest 2007
16-17 June 2007
The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum once again hosted a flying weekend at their Hamilton International Airport facilities on the third weekend in June. A number of the resident aircraft were flown several times as the public had the rare opportunity to experience a ride in a warbird. Most of the museum's trainers were available and so were kept very busy on local flights much as they would have been during the war years. While the majority of the aircraft were CWH and associate aircraft, several visiting warbirds were a welcome sight at this year's event.
Well known throughout the British Commonwealth, the De Havilland DH82 Tiger Moth
was the backbone of the elementary flying training program during the Second
World War. This example of a Canadian-built DH82C, the CWH's C-GCWT, in its Royal
Canadian Air Force markings features the canopy added for Canadian winter flying and a
tail wheel that set it apart from Tigers built in other parts of the Empire.
Another of the biplane training types used by the RCAF in the British
Commonwealth Air Training Plan was the Boeing Stearman Model 75. Its use
in Canada was rather limited unlike the United States where it provided yeoman
service in great numbers. The CWH A75N1, C-FAIU, is seen here banking
overhead on return to the airport and is painted in the less well known markings
of the Kaydets operated by the RCAF.
Ticking over on the ramp (or apron) is Russell Aviation Group's Supermarine
(Vickers-Armstrong) Spitfire Mk.IX CF-FLC after a short flight from its home
field near Niagara Falls, Ontario. At the controls is Rick Volker, the
most recent to join the ranks of Russell Group pilots and one with considerable
aerobatic time on the air show circuit with his Sukhoi SU-26M.
The unmistakable sound of a Packard Merlin engine grabs the attention of all as
a North American P-51D Mustang banks over the CWH Museum on arrival. The
sharp looking N51EA
Double Trouble Two normally resides with an impressive collection of warbirds
at The Fighter Factory at Virginia Beach, Virginia.
The third of three great fighter types to visit was this Vought F4U-4 Corsair,
still bearing its US registration number NX240CA, from Vintage Wings of Canada at
Gatineau, Quebec. Nicely painted in US Marine Corps markings, the aircraft
arrived at the home of this growing and important collection of warbirds and
vintage civil aircraft only a couple of weeks earlier.