100 years of the Royal Canadian Air Force
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum’s Lancaster bomber will tour the country to commemorate the anniversary.
The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum recently hosted a celebration to commemorate 100 years of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
“It gives us a chance to showcase the air force personnel and their accomplishments; demonstrates some of their crafts they have in their collection and enhances the reputation of proudly serving Canada throughout history and the heritage that’s involved in that,” said Al Mickeloff, the marketing manager for the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum.
The July 6 and 7 event displayed many planes used by the RCAF from its beginning to present day. Although there was no air show, present-day pilots and crew members were on hand to interact with people and talk about their planes. There were around 50 planes on display during the event, including a few privately owned aircrafts that have been restored in RCAF colours.
The Avro Lancaster bomber, which was restored by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum between 1979 and 1988, will be on tour across Canada from July 16 to Aug. 6 as part of the 100th anniversary.
The Lancaster is likely the most famous Allied bomber of the Second World War and can fly longer distances than some of the other planes being displayed.
“From a WWII standpoint, it’s representative of a lot of the WWII veterans and so it’s the aircraft that stands out. It was built in Toronto by tens of thousands of people, mostly women during WWII, so it has a connection to so many families,” said Mickeloff.
The CF-18 Hornet was also in attendance and will make an appearance flying with the Lancaster on tour. The Hornet has been specially painted for the 100th anniversary.
The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum is a non-profit organization that has been a part of Hamilton for 50 years. Many of the museum’s 300 volunteers are veterans of the RCAF.
– Sienna Bilancia
