Aviation museum seeks help from city to preserve historic plane
Directors of a local aviation museum are hoping to see the city step in to help protect a historic aircraft from further deterioration.
Jim Williams, the chair of the board of directors of the Hangar Flight Museum, said the CF-100 Canuck displayed outside the building in northeast Calgary is “in pretty rough shape.”
“You can see what the elements have done over time,” Williams said.
“There are certainly holes in the airframe that would need to be repaired, and some deterioration, especially on the wings of the aircraft.”
That deterioration has come from decades spent on display outside. Earlier this month, Williams told city councillors about the plane’s current state.
In the short-term, he wants to see the aircraft moved indoors to prevent further damage.
“That’s one of the things we’re working on actually right now, is to find a location for it,” Williams said.
“It has to be obviously big enough to house an aircraft, so a hangar or
other facility.”
Ideally, the organization hopes to find somewhere where the cityowned asset can be restored — a project that Williams describes as a big and expensive challenge. He is hoping such an effort could be supported jointly through the city and through fundraising.
“In the meantime, we’re trying to work with the city and on our own to develop a plan that will allow us to deal with this aircraft before it gets worse,” he said. “That’s the goal, and I think that’s the city’s goal too. They don’t want it to deteriorate any more than it already is.”
The CF-100 has an important history in Canada, Williams said. The plane served with No. 440 RCAF “Bat” Squadron at Bagotville, Que., in 1953 before it was converted to a dual control trainer and assigned to an operational training unit at North Bay, Ont.
The aircraft was acquired by the No. 783 Wing (Calgary) RCAF Association in 1963 and was later donated to what was then known as the Aero Space Museum.
The Canuck was the only fighter designed and built in Canada that made it into service, according to the museum.
“(The CF-100) was the predecessor to the Avro Arrow … and was certainly an aircraft that was flown widely by the Royal Canadian Air Force, both here in Canada and overseas in the early days of the Cold War,” Williams said.
“And this particular aircraft happens to be one of the older ones still around. There are a few of them scattered around the country on display, outside primarily some air force bases across the country, but this is certainly an old aircraft with a lot of history behind it.”
(The CF-100) was the predecessor to the Avro Arrow ... this particular aircraft happens to be one of the older ones still around.