History buffs celebrate gift of 1946 military airplane
An early Christmas gift from 1946 lands at the Windsor airport
If only the wooden wings didn’t get in the way, the Canadian Historical Aircraft Association could cruise its newly donated 1946 silver airplane to a drive-thru restaurant.
The windows on the vintage four-seater aircraft roll down like they did in old cars.
“Christmas came early to the Canadian Historical Aircraft Association,” president John Robinson said Thursday.
In mid-November, the museum got a 1946 Fairchild 24R Argus donated from Drake Andrews, a Welland man in his 70s who can’t fly it anymore. He purchased the plane from the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton about 10 years ago and restored it with plans to fly it.
Robinson said the museum is honoured to receive the plane worth about $55,000 and Windsorites might have already seen the silver plane flying around the airport.
The aircraft was not used during the Second World War but it has the RCAF markings to commemorate a Fairchild Argus that was used during the war at RCAF Station Rockcliffe near Ottawa. It was used as a military taxi for high-ranking officials and top secret communications between air force bases, Robinson said.
He said the airplane is like a “time machine” — constructed with wooden wings and a steel fuselage that is covered in fabric and painted.
“It’s a neat old airplane. What’s fun about this airplane is the windows roll down,” he said. “We have a good laugh with that. You can pull up to A&W — remember the old A&W trays that they put on the windows with your root beer and french fries?”
Jim Wilson, a 72-year-old pilot with the association, said sometimes donated planes need repairs but this one’s in good shape. He said it not only has roll-down windows, it has a high wing and a six-cylinder inverted engine that is unusual. The plane can fly at about 115 miles per hour.
“We were lucky enough to get one,” Wilson said.
Another association pilot Ron Holden called it the Cadillac of Second World War communication airplanes. The Fairchild Aviation Corp. developed the planes in the 1930s as a sturdy aircraft that could take off and land on grass airfields.
The plane can seat three passengers, which will help the association that uses its historical aircraft for “honour flights” where pilots tell passengers the story of a Second World War veteran or pilot during the flight.
The association now has five flyable historical aircraft: the two yellow DeHavilland Chipmunks, a North American Harvard IV and the open cockpit Boeing Stearman biplane — which were all used for training during or after the Second World War — and the 1946 Fairchild 24R Argus. The honour flights cost a few hundred dollars depending on the plane.
The association is also restoring the city’s Lancaster Bomber and building a replica Mosquito Bomber KB161, which is made out of wood. The museum is selling 2018 calendars for $25 with pictures of the Lancaster, which could take another five years to restore, Robinson said.
The Canadian Historical Aircraft Association and its planes are housed in the No. 7 Elementary Flying Training School built in 1940 at the Windsor Airport. It is open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
It’s a neat old airplane. What’s fun about this airplane is the windows roll down. We have a good laugh with that.