A Few of My Favourite Things

This post is by summer student worker Seraphina. This is their third summer with us. Seraphina is a recent Music School graduate (Brandon University) and will soon be heading to Ottawa at the end of summer to do a Masters program at Carleton University.

This is my final summer at the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum after three years of working here and it has been a very eventful period of my life. I have done a variety of different things while here such as working the front desk, archival maintenance and cataloguing, and responding to a large number of research requests. I have also researched and designed an exhibit for the CATP Museum (hopefully to be developed soon) as the final project for one of my senior history courses at Brandon University. I’ve also mowed the lawn — once. They haven’t asked me to do it since, so clearly, lawncare is not my strong suit; I tend to gravitate towards work that keeps me inside and relatively clean. Though, that being said, I have been known to crawl under vehicles and aircraft from time to time. I have done a little bit of everything while here, but there are few things in particular that hold a special place in my heart.

One of my favourite parts of my job is getting to be a tour guide. I enjoy working with and am comfortable touring around any age group; I remember once having to tour a kindergarten class and then turn around and tour a retirement home afterwards. That being said, I’ve always enjoyed touring young kids the most. There’s always a level of excitement and child-like wonder that you can’t find anywhere else. I love answering questions too, and kids, well, they have lots of them. There’s plenty to see in the museum but touring in the hangar is almost always a little bit magical in a way. Kids are absolutely fascinated by the planes and love to learn about the differences between the aircraft. From the Tiger Moth to the Harvard and even to our Hurricane, there is always something exciting to learn about. The best part though, is telling kids that some of our planes still fly. It just completely blows their minds, sometimes they don’t even believe me. It’s always such a joy.

And the fact that the planes still fly, is one of my other favourite parts of the job. Every couple of weeks in the summer the museum offers rides to the public in some of our airworthy aircraft. We have pilots and ground crew who volunteer their precious time to come and work with our planes, simply because they love it. They work together to make an unforgettable experience for those who come to sit in hour planes. During these days, I’ve gotten the opportunity to help with work behind the scenes managing bookings and the schedule, as well as with waivers and other general organization. Typically, I try to do everything in my power to make the crew’s lives easier and to make the day run smoother. It may not come with the same glory as actually flying one of the planes but I’m more than happy to help out where I can. It means a lot to me that I’m able to help get our passengers up in the air. Seeing the joy on their face when they come back through the museum after a flight is more than fulfilling enough for me.

On July 1^st this year, on top of offering rides, a few of our planes also participated in Canada Day fly pasts, both at Winnipeg Beach and here in Brandon. I was doing my usual work until it was mentioned to me that there was an extra seat in our Harvard Mk. II during Brandon’s fly past. I was told that it was taking off in twenty minutes and I had the choice on whether or not I wanted to go. Obviously I said yes. Truthfully, during my time here the Harvard hasn’t interested me all that much. While I do talk about it during my tours, I mainlt use it to discuss the uses of mounted gun cameras during the war, since the Harvard was equipped with the system. While I don’t want to undermine what truly an incredible plane the Harvard is, I’ve just always felt more drawn to some of our other aircraft like the Tiger Moth. Still, I said yes. I’ve never had the opportunity to go in one of our planes before and I absolutely wasn’t going to turn it up.

After a very quick safety briefing I was strapped into the plane for take off. Immediately I was so captivated by the internal pulley systems moving inside of the plane, that I didn’t even bother to look out through the canopy. I’ve always described these planes as giant marionettes and after finally the plane in action, I was happy to finally know that my descriptor was accurate.  I’ve always loved roller-coasters and G-Forces, so I had no issue with the take-off or flight itself. If anything, I actually found the experience somewhat relaxing. Most of the time I was up there, I was completely fixated on the beautiful view around me. I grew up in Rivers and so Brandon was always the “big city” for me growing up. Although I’ve only actually started living here in recent years (and will be moving away soon), Brandon always has and always will hold a special place in my heart. I’ve explored so much of the city by foot on the ground and so it was incredible to get to see a birds eye view of it.