Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum & RCAF WWII Memorial

Armed Forces Day: June 5

The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum at McGill Field, Brandon Airport will be recognizing Armed Forces Day on Sunday, 5 June between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm. The public is invited to participate in this family friendly event. The Royal Canadian Air Force is expected to send up to four aircraft, a C-130 Hercules, CT-142 Dash 8, Hawk Jet Trainer and Harvard 2 trainer. (note that the RCAF has contacted us and can only send a Dash 8 at this time) In addition, we are expecting participation from Canadian Forces Base Shilo with several vehicles, as well as the Royal Canadian Artillery Museum with up to four vintage WWII vehicles. Along with our own flying aircraft consisting of a Cornell, Tiger Moth, Harvard, Stinson and Fleet Finch, we will be hosting visiting civilian aircraft; a Musketeer, Stearman, Harvard, T28 Trojan and Nanchang. There will be no flying aircraft demonstrations, but you will be able to get up close and personal with all the aircraft and in many cases speak directly to the pilots flying them.

The museum will also be open for viewing to take in our many non-flying aircraft and vintage vehicles.

We will have several food vendors on-site, and parking is free.

Admission is Adults $10, age 6-17 $5, under six is free, and family passes (two adults/two kids) is $25. Military members, their immediate family, and veterans are free. Come out, make a day of it, and recognize our Armed Forces.

Museum Open House

Press Release

May 10, 2022

For Immediate Release

Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, Brandon

Brandon Municipal Airport, HWY 10

In honour of Manitoba’s 152^th birthday, the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, Canada’s only air museum solely dedicated to the preservation of those who trained and fought for the British Commonwealth during WWII is hosting a free open house on Thursday, May 12, 2022 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Brandon Municipal Airport. Visitors will be invited to travel back to the 1940s while touring a WWII vintage hangar serving as a display area for aircraft, vehicles and hundreds of artifacts from that era. Manitoban RCAF that lost their lives during WWII are honoured on the museum’s RCAF WWII Memorial wall.

May 1^st begins our new summer hours, 10 am to 4 pm, seven days a week until the end of September.

The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum is Canada’s only air museum solely dedicated to the preservation of those who trained and fought for the British Commonwealth during WWII.

The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum is proud to be one of the seven Manitoba Signature Museums, a Manitoba Star Attraction and a National Historic Site. Visit the CATP Museum located at Brandon Municipal Airport, on HW #10, 1.6 km north of the City of Brandon.

For more information about the CATPM’s Manitoba Day Open House, please contact:

Stephen Hayter, Executive Director

Ph: 727-2444 Fax:725-2334 Email: airmuseum@inetlink.ca

Calling all Teachers!

Are you a teacher – or know one? Did you know that the museum has been host to many school tours for all grade levels over the years? Well it is true. Recently a letter and a page of some curriculum connections was sent out to schools – you can download or view those documents below (you can download a pdf version by clicking on the image of the document below) . We offer great informative tours and we love to host school groups! If you have specific curricular needs, we can try to match the tour to those needs. While our main focus is the important role that the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) played in the successful outcome of WWII and in the development of Canada as a nation, we also have people knowledgeable about flight as well. We recommend allowing approximately 60-90 minutes for a guided tour, but accommodations can be made to fit your schedule. We also have picnic tables available for snack time or lunch (although we do not have food services on site). While enjoying the outdoors, the impressive RCAF WWII Memorial Wall is a perfect place for Remembrance and a teaching opportunity. When the tour is over, we have many great items for souvenirs in our gift shop. We also have a restored and beautiful vintage Canteen building that can be rented for professional development or other events, it is like stepping back to the 1940’s!

Our website also has information about the BCATP and the museum and its’ collection. The ‘Tour and Education‘ page has a few activities (we hope to add to this too!) such as online jigsaw puzzles, a Jeopardy game, and a link to a collection of resources for teaching about flight. You can also find a tour guide booklet that can help you plan or use for a self guided tour. The guide includes possible questions for your students to consider while on the tour. And one more thing! We are working on an exciting learning kit for use in middle years classrooms all about the BCATP that will address many outcomes in the curriculum. We hope it will be ready for schools in fall! We have other projects in the planning stage to help you get the most out of the museum. If you have any questions, or want to book a tour call or email the museum! We would love to have you and your class come visit us!

Flights Available Again this Season!

As in the past, flights in several of our airworthy WWII training aircraft will be available. You can get more information by contacting the museum. Prices for flights: the Harvard is $400, the Cornell, and Tiger Moth are $280, each flight also requires a $30 museum membership. We have had to increase the prices we charge for a ride in one of our aircraft for 2022. This was necessary given the increased costs for our insurance, together with rising fuel and oil costs. We will continue to provide a tax receipt for the full cost of the ride. Further, we require that all pilots and passengers be fully vaccinated for rides in our aircraft in 2022. This includes 2 vaccinations and a booster shot if you are eligible.

Several flying events have been confirmed for this coming season, including:

Queens Jubilee and Veterans Day–June 4,2022. Flypast with Harvard and sponsored rides with The Royal Canadian Legion at Gladstone.
Armed Forces Day -June 5, 2022–sponsored rides.
Brandon City Riverbank Discovery Center flypast-July 1, 2022.
“Forever in the Clouds” memorial Fly Past & Sponsored Rides at Estevan, Sask. -July 8 and 9, 2022.
Red Lake Norseman Days–July 15, 16, 17, 2022–Flypast and Sponsored Rides with the Harvard and Cornell.
Brandon Flying Club annual summer fly in breakfast–Saturday, July 23 from 8 to 1.

Flights at the events in Gladstone, Estevan, and Red Lake are arranged by organizers, however, by contacting the museum you can be put in contact with our Chief Pilot for more information. As more events and ride days are confirmed, they will be posted. Rides are also available at other times, so call the museum, who will then put you in contact with the Chief Pilot to arrange the flight.

Flights in any of these aircraft is an amazing experience – see a few photos below!

Above & below: Flying over Brandon in the Harvard!

New web site pages

This past week, thanks to some great information from our President, John, and pilot/restorer extraordinaire, Jeff, I have put up pages with information and a few photos of our UK version Tiger Moth and our newly restored Fleet Finch (which we hope to get inspected and airborne this spring/summer – so stay tuned for that!). Both these aircraft are beautiful to look at, so come in for a visit to check them out.

You can check out all the aircraft pages from this main page (https://airmuseum.ca/collections/our-aircraft/) The plan, long term, is to add more information and photos of all our aircraft, both flight worthy and static.