January 7, 2005 - Ottawa

Canada Aviation Museum
I went to Ottawa on business for most of the first week on January.  We had a little snowstorm while I was there, with about 6 inches of snow and temperatures of 5 degrees.  I missed not working on the RV but it turns out that Ottawa is the home of the Canadian Aviation Museum.  
Believe it or not, this is the day after the snowstorm.  The building is the Canadian Aviation Museum.  It is a beautiful facility, clean and modern.  I'd call it medium size -- not as big as the U.S. Air Force Museum or EAA Museum, but bigger than the San Diego Aerospace museum or College Park museum.  They have an excellent collection of aircraft. 
This is a new building going up next to the museum.  The new building will hold the excess airplanes and those undergoing restoration that are sort of crammed into a corner of the main museum now. 
This is an ME-109 F.  I've seen a Gustav in the Smithsonian but this is the first Foxtrot I've ever seen.  I've never seen a 109 fly.  Love to see one at Oshkosh. 
 
Behind the 109  is a massive Lancaster bomber, the primary British bomber in their night bombing campaign against Germany in World War II.  It was powered by four Merlin engines and could carry something like 14,000 pounds of bombs. 
Spitfire Mark IX. 
A ME-163 in the left foreground with the Lancaster, 109 and Spitfire in the background.
Side shot of the Spitfire. 
This is a Fairley Swordfish, nickname "Stringbag".  As you can see, it is a biplane that actually flew combat in World War II.  It was the Royal Navy's carrier torpedo bomber that sank a few Italian battleships at Taranto harbor.  It was a Swordfish that torpedoed the battleship Bismarck, disabling its rudder, allowing Royal Navy warship to catch up and sink her. 
As you might expect, the museum had a nice section devoted to Bush Flying.  This is a De Havilland Canada CHC-2 Beaver, one of the really great bush planes. 
Notice the canoe strapped to the Beaver's right float struts!
This open cockpit, amphibian biplane is a Curtiss Seagull and was the first aircraft to explore the upper Amazon Valley in Brazil around 1925.  The pilots was a brave man, that's all I can say.
This is a Curtiss HS-2L  This type a World War I maritime patrol plane but after the war became Canada's first bush plane.  The museum did a beautiful job restoring this flying boat. 
 
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