Something New in the Hangar: CATPM Welcomes the Norseman Home

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Something New in the Hangar: CATPM Welcomes the Norseman Home

BRANDON, MB – There is something new, very big and very yellow, in the hangar at the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum.

After nearly two years of planning, coordination and hard work, a Noorduyn Norseman has arrived at CATPM in Brandon, adding one of Canada’s most iconic aircraft to the Museum’s growing collection.

The Norseman has long been an important aircraft for CATPM because its story connects the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and wartime aviation.

“This is an exciting day for our Museum,” said Zoe McQuinn, Director General & CEO of CATPM. “The Norseman is unmistakably Canadian, and its story takes us from wartime training and service to bush flying and Canada’s North. After almost two years of work to bring it home, seeing it finally sitting in our historic hangar is pretty extraordinary. We can’t wait for people to come and see it.”

First developed in Canada in 1935 by Robert C. Noorduyn, the Norseman was designed for the demanding conditions of Canada’s North. Its rugged construction and versatility helped make it one of Canada’s most recognizable bush aircraft.

During the Second World War, the Royal Canadian Air Force initially ordered 38 Norsemans for use within the BCATP, where they served in roles including transport, navigator training and wireless operator training. Approximately 100 Norsemans ultimately entered RCAF service during the war.

For Jeff Bell, CATPM Head Pilot and Chair of the Flying and Restoration Committees, the arrival represents the culmination of an almost two-year project.

“This has been almost two years in the making. There has been a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes and a lot of people have contributed along the way. To finally have the Norseman here in Brandon and inside the hangar is a significant moment for everyone who helped make it happen.”

It Took a Team to Bring It Home

CATPM extends its deepest thanks to Dennis Mockford, Curt Enns and the entire Wings Over Kississing team, whose extraordinary support helped make the Norseman’s journey to Brandon possible.

Wings Over Kississing hosted the CATPM team, shared their knowledge and expertise, provided equipment and hands-on assistance, and worked alongside the Museum through the many challenges involved in bringing an aircraft of this size home.

“We simply could not have done this without them,” McQuinn said. “Every time we encountered a challenge, people pulled together to find a solution. The generosity of Wings Over Kississing and the wider aviation community, their time, expertise, equipment and willingness to help, has been remarkable. We are deeply grateful.”

CATPM also sincerely thanks Mr. Menno Bergen, Mr. Bill Jackson, Mr. Ike Enns, The Pas Flying Club, and Mr. Rodney Kozer who contributed to the project and helped make the aircraft’s arrival possible.  We also thank the sincere help of our friends at Canadian Warplane Heritage, and Mr. Peter Stewart for his assistance

Come Meet the Norseman

The Norseman is now inside CATPM’s historic Second World War hangar and ready to meet its first visitors.

The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum is open every day this fall from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Media Contact:
Zoe McQuinn, Director General & CEO
Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum & RCAF WWII Memorial
204-727-2444 or DirectorGeneral@CATPM.onmicrosoft.com

Black-and-white wartime photograph of an RCAF Noorduyn Norseman on a snow-covered airfield, with several airmen standing beside the aircraft and other military aircraft in the background.
The Norseman in wartime service.

I Came, I Saw, I Conquered: A History Grad Student’s Guide to Conferences in Ottawa (and not cry).

Whitney M. Hodgins is a Master of Arts Student from Athabasca University focusing on Heritage and Social History. 

In my previous blog post where I discussed “Trading the Hangar for History Panels: A students’ guide to the CHA”, you will find that I was once again missing from my usual spot in the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum. As a Masters Student I took to the stage for the first time academically to present a small piece of my own research as well as a presentation at two different history conferences running back to back in the same day. 

The first conference was the Interrogating Canadian Identities Conference where I presented an original research piece titled, “Erased Identity: Finding the Lost WWI Indigenous Soldiers of Southwestern Manitoba”. The second conference I attended and presented at was the Summer Institute for Oral History and Feminist Ethics with my presentation titled, “Autism, Gender and Memory: Best Practices from the Lived Experience Lens”. I truly enjoyed my time presenting in both conferences because in academia, the main point of presenting research is to seek feedback from peers as well as disseminate your research to them. It offers students as well as academics the ability to constructively critique work being done and to ask questions. Speakers also get the opportunity to take those pieces of feedback to reflect on them and see if they can use that on their research projects. If you want to think of it in another way, like a professor grading an essay and giving feedback, you get feedback in real time from folks in your field of study from all different academic levels and all different institutions in some cases. It’s the literal act of putting one’s feet in the fire from a student’s perspective. 

Additionally, there is a difference between a classic academic conference versus a summer institute; while one might have multiple panels running concurrently at the same time that attendees choose which ones that genuinely interest them, a summer institute is actually providing really focused professional development on skills you might need for an upcoming project you might be working on as well as to connect with those team members working on that project with you. So for the ICI Conference, it was a traditional academic conference where panelists were given 15 minutes to present their research one at a time on a panel that’s themed where you might have similar research topics or outputs. At the Summer Institute, I was engaged in training as well as training others in the field of history on my presentation. The format will look the same with both having panels similar in themed focus and time constraints, but the outcomes are completely different. In academic terms, when we say 15 minutes of fame, we mean it quite literally. This is to ensure that someone also does not go on a verbal tangent and go overtime. There are panel moderators whose main job is to cut us off when we go over, as well as let us know when we are almost out of time. It also acts as a great exercise of getting your main points across and making sure that students and academics understand what you’re doing. 

All historical conference jargon aside, one cannot successfully go to Ottawa without finding the most appropriate accommodations; for myself it was the historic Saintlo Jail Hostel on Nicholas Street in Ottawa. This hostel is famous for structurally preserving its unique Victorian-era jail cells. They had dome-cell ceilings that enable you to be able to hear everything! The jail itself ran from 1862-1972 before it became a youth hostel. Additionally this is the prison where some of Canada’s most infamous prisoners were held. For example, Patrick Whelan who allegedly assassinated one of the Fathers of Confederation, Thomas D’Arcy McGee, was imprisoned and later publicly executed at the prison I stayed at. The cell where I stayed was the cell of Zerephina St. Aumond, who was sentenced to six months in prison for vagrancy after refusing to serve her sentence in a convent. This hostel is also known for being prolifically haunted. I was not scared, nor did I see any ghosts; but I had Archie, my travelling teddy companion that I picked up inside the Tiger Moth Gift Shop to keep me grounded. If you want your very own Archie, visit the Tiger Moth Gift Shop at the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum and get yours today! 

A hallway inside the Saintlo Jail Hostel, Ottawa.
The doorway to Zeraphina St. Aumond’s cell.
Archie, the traveling teddy companion in a jail cell. (note: Bears like Archie can be purchased in the CATPM gift shop!)

I was kept incredibly busy that entire week. When I was not speaking on my respective conference panels, I was attending other conference panels and taking copious amounts of notes. But there were some major highlights that I would like to share. One of the coolest historical places I went to see was the Preservation Centre at the Library Archives of Canada in Gatineau, Quebec (across the river from Ottawa, Ontario). This preservation centre is the place where a lot of the digitized records I rely on for my research as a student actually get digitized. Additionally they have a preservation block that is climate controlled with a 500-year lifespan on textual documents, audio, video and other materials in their collection. Inside the preservation block, it is almost entirely machine automated. Experts in the field of sound, video, and textual preservation work with sometimes really outdated technology to preserve the remnants of the past for our enjoyment and research. For example, when in the sound lab, we saw the workers using Reel-2-Reel machines that were hooked up to computer monitors to transfer the reels to digital sound files like .mp4 and .mp3.

Reel-2-Reel Players inside the Sound Lab.
Whitney Hodgins pictured inside the
     preservation centre.

I also got to visit the Canadian Women’s Movement Archive housed inside the University of Ottawa Library where they house the CWMA’s textual documents ranging from 1977-1992 as well as their published newspaper titled “The Other Woman”. Their collections have a vast collection of artifacts that also represent the vast representations of women’s issues as well as gender diverse expressions as well. A highlight for me was seeing the many different photographs and buttons. These buttons represent the many different campaigns that were held over the years with the CWMA and other organizations. The archive also holds exhibitions within their reading room for folks to get to know the collection as well as learn more about the CWMA. 

The button collection at the CWMA. 
The Billiard Ball from the Ottawa-Hull Fire of 1900.

After the conference I got to spend an afternoon in downtown Ottawa. I visited the Bytown Museum, located along the Rideau Canal. It was an interesting museum where it discusses the building of the Rideau Canal and eventually the creation of the City of Ottawa. One of my favourite artifacts in the museum is actually a billiard ball that was burned in the famous Ottawa-Hull fire of 1900. This ball that sits in the museum now has a blue/grey colour. I got immediately excited about it because even though the museum had a small description, I knew based on my training at what temperature the ball needed to be at in the fire consistently burning in order to turn that color. The answer…between 500-550 degrees celsius (or around 932-1022 degrees fahrenheit)! I also got to see the Rideau Canal opening and closing for the boats trying to pass through to demonstrate the architectural feat that this canal is. 

Overall, this trip was both an amazing opportunity for learning as well as teaching for the week. I also am a bit of a rare and non-traditional student in the sense that I have been a masters student for only one academic term, to already be presenting a small piece of my research, teaching others about methodology and networking with folks that are to me legends in the discipline of writing and disseminating history. But if anything, it reminded me of the reasons why I got into history and why I still love historical topics and places even after all my time. Regardless, at the end of the day it was great to return to my post after going to Ottawa to do this. So what is next for me? My hopes from these conferences is to continue building my research and dissemination presence, collaborate on future conference panels, as well as potentially conduct future research and publications. The ability to do these things would become a full circle moment for me as a masters student. But until then, I am happy to be back in my spot at the CAPTM. 

Thank you to the Brandon Area Community Foundation

Have You Enjoyed Your Visit This Year? Thank BACF!

Brandon Area Community Foundation logo

If you’ve visited the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum this year, attended an event, brought your family, or spent some time exploring our site, some of the improvements happening behind the scenes have been made possible through the support of the Brandon Area Community Foundation (BACF).

CATPM received a $6,600 BACF Community Grant in support of our Community Crew Quarters: Space Renewal project.

The funding allowed us to replace the furnace in the Community Crew Quarters, addressing an important infrastructure need and helping ensure this space can continue to support Museum and community activities.

At the same time, CATPM invested approximately $1,000 of our own resources toward the construction of a new accessible ramp, addressing an immediate accessibility need and making our site easier to access.

Projects like these aren’t necessarily the things you come to the Museum to see—but they are part of what makes everything else possible. Maintaining our buildings, improving accessibility and investing in the spaces that serve our visitors all help us preserve this remarkable site and continue sharing its stories.

We are incredibly grateful to the Brandon Area Community Foundation for investing in the Museum and helping us continue to build a stronger, more accessible and sustainable future.

So, if you’ve enjoyed your visit this year, thank you BACF – you helped make it possible!

In Memory of Harry Denham Hayward

Harry was far more than a volunteer at the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, he was part of its very foundation. As a member of Phoenix Squadron, a Director, an archivist, researcher, and dedicated volunteer, he helped build not only the Museum itself, but also the values that continue to guide it today. His passion, generosity, and unwavering commitment became woven into the fabric of this place.

Those who knew Harry knew that he believed every story mattered. He understood that behind every aircraft was a crew, behind every name was a family, and behind every casualty was a life of service and sacrifice that deserved to be remembered. He worked tirelessly to ensure that no one who served, and no one who gave their life, would ever be forgotten.

Perhaps no contribution reflects that commitment more than They Shall Grow Not Old: A Book of Remembrance. Co-authored with Les Allison and published by the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum in 1992, this extraordinary work contains the biographies of more than 18,000 Canadian airmen, airwomen, and Allied personnel who lost their lives during the Second World War. It remains one of the Museum’s most significant scholarly achievements and continues to serve families, researchers, historians, and future generations. It is a lasting testament to Harry’s belief that remembrance begins with knowing each person’s story.

Harry’s dedication was evident not only in the major projects, but also in the countless moments of service that defined his character. The pages of the early CATPM Contact newsletters tell stories of long days, difficult conditions, and unwavering determination. One memorable account from October 1985 recalls Harry joining fellow volunteers on a winter expedition to recover an aircraft from Flin Flon through a snowstorm, a vivid reminder that preserving history often required extraordinary commitment. Harry never hesitated when the Museum needed him.

He gave his time generously and his knowledge freely. Through decades of service, he helped create an organization where remembrance is not simply an annual ceremony, but a daily responsibility.

Today, visitors who walk through the Museum, families who discover the story of a loved one, and volunteers who continue this work all benefit from Harry’s dedication. His fingerprints remain on this institution, not only in the archives he helped build or the books he helped write, but in the culture of remembrance that continues to define the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum.

Harry reminded us that history is ultimately about people. He taught us that every name deserves to be spoken, every sacrifice deserves to be remembered, and every generation has a responsibility to carry those stories forward.

For all that he gave to this Museum, to Canadian aviation history, and to the memory of those who served, we offer our deepest gratitude.

You will always be remembered, your contributions will continue to inspire, and your legacy will live on within these walls. Harry, thank you.

The Ghost Fleet of Fu-Go: When Japan attacked Canada in WWII

Whitney Hodgins is a Master of Arts student at Athabasca University focusing on Heritage and Social History. 

Picture this: You are tending to your field as a farmer when all of a sudden you see a shadow on the ground approach you in the distance. When you look up into the sky, you see this round dark orb blocking out the sun with a weird looking shaped item floating beneath it on strings. It is approaching the ground… then you realize it is approaching you! You back up and then turn to run as fast as you can away from it. When it lands, it glides quietly to the ground and nothing happens. You approach it apprehensively to get a better look at the unknown object that landed in your field and you come to find a missile tied to this balloon. You immediately run back to your truck, drive back to the farmhouse and call the authorities. 

display of Fu-Go Balloon Material
The Fu-Go Balloon material on exhibit on the 2nd story of the museum.

What that farmer saw was something that is known as a Fu-go Balloon Bomb. The term Fu-go is translated roughly in Japanese to mean “Code Balloon” because Fu was short for Fusen*. These balloons were in response to the Doolittle Raiders against Tokyo in 1942 by the Allies to confuse and impede the production of weapons from the Japanese (Mikesh, 1973). The Japanese had been in the process of creating these balloons well before WWII in 1933 under their “Proposed Airborne Carrier Research and Development Program”, where the main mandate was to research and carry out the development of new war weapons (Mikesh, 1973). This program was effectively dropped in 1935, however, the Fu-Go never fully shut down because it showed promise at the time (Mikesh, 1973). Then again, anything sounds better than the Ray-do, their death ray the Japanese attempted to create (Mikesh, 1973). These balloons were completely unmanned. When considering the human cost of war, this would have been considered a win for the Axis Forces as a way to save man-power in WWII efforts as by now their man-power is starting to dwindle and morale is beginning to drop.  

In November 1944, 9,000 of these balloons were released into the jet-stream to bring the battlefront to the homefront (US Department of Agriculture, 2026). The Japanese’  primary objective was to start mass forest fires across the continent as a way to pull resources back to the homefront (US Department of Agriculture, 2026). Only 1,000 of these balloons would make it to North America and only 342 would be spotted (US Department of Agriculture, 2026). The Allies responded with two things, mass censorship on the balloons themselves and Operation Firefly. Firefly involved the US Military, the Canadian Military, and US Forest Services. This operation had been tasked with spotting the Fu-go Balloon Bombs, shoot them down before they have a chance to land, and if they land, dispose of them immediately to save the natural resources and civilians in the area (US Department of Agriculture). Which brings me to the aircraft used for this operation. Although the US Military used their own aircraft, Canada primarily used Hawker Hurricanes and KittyHawks to intercept these balloons (Hangar Flight Museum, 2026). 

Here at the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, our collection includes a partially restored Hawker Hurricane. Hawker Hurricanes are renowned for who assisted in the building of over 14,000 of them. Elsie MacGill, also known as the Queen of the Hurricanes, was a Canadian woman who was the Chief Aeronautical Engineer that headed the production of these air-craft in WWII in Canada (Canadian Encyclopedia, 2007).

The Hawker Hurricane in the Hangar in the CAPTM.

Of course, sometimes these bombs snuck past air force operatives and bombs would touch the ground. Once they did, those involved with Operation Firefly would need to go deal with the bomb by interviewing those who spotted these incendiary balloons land (Halliday, 2009). But even then, not every bomb was dealt with in time. On May 5, 1945, 6 Oregon citizens died when a Fu-go bomb landed nearby and exploded where they were having a family picnic (Halliday, 2009; Uenuma, 2019). This ultimately would be when the censorship ban would be lifted as the US Government had to warn civilians of the dangers of these bombs (Halliday, 2009). 

The Fu-Go program stands as a fascinating, albeit deadly, piece of World War II history—a testament to desperate innovation when the war reached a stalemate. While the tragic loss of life in Oregon forced the declassification of these weapons, the joint defense efforts of the U.S. and Canada successfully mitigated much of the intended destruction. Today, aircraft like the Hawker Hurricane and the incendiary balloon featured in our collection at the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum in Brandon serve as a physical reminder of this unique, trans-Pacific airborne threat.

* This may not be an accurate translation. I do not speak or know Japanese. If the translation is incorrect, feel free to contact us at the CAPTM and we will happily correct it to reflect the translation accurately.