Aviation museum lands new home, sets sights on 2021

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This article was published 30/04/2020 (1701 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While most people are staying home, a reminder of the glory days of Manitoba’s aviation history is rising up.

Although airspace over Winnipeg has been relatively quiet in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, ground is breaking on a new, long-awaited, $45-million aviation museum at the city airport. Construction was expected to get underway Friday — the next step toward inspiring a new generation of Manitobans to look for jobs in aviation, the industry hopes.

The Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada is moving to 2088 Wellington Ave., in the main transportation loop at the Richardson International Airport. The museum took possession of the site Friday, and plans to build an 86,000-square-foot museum, with a 56-year lease on the property from the Winnipeg Airports Authority.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQNl-a_YZnY

The new facility is expected to open in fall 2021, and hopes to raise an additional $7.5 million by that time. The project is being funded largely by private contributions (about $17.5 million), as well as $10 million each from the federal and provincial governments.

Terry Slobodian, museum president and chief executive officer, said he hopes the new location will mean more arriving and departing passengers will stop in for a visit, even on layovers.

Manitoba’s aviation industry is growing — before COVID-19 hit, there were expected to be 2,000 new jobs over the next five years, joining an industry workforce that is already 8,000-strong, Slobodian said.

“It is a key element of our economic growth in Manitoba, and there is going to be thousands of new jobs coming up over the next few years, and it’s going to be difficult to fill those jobs,” he said.

“The industry doesn’t just need pilots. The industry doesn’t just need engineers; it doesn’t just need mechanical repair people. They also need all of the support elements,” such as accountants and purchasing agents, he added.

Slobodian said the museum hopes to boost the industry by inspiring children and post-secondary students to join the field and linking them with professionals.

The aviation attraction was founded 46 years ago, and a vision for a new space has been floating for more than a decade. It stopped operating out of a hangar on Ferry Road in October 2018, after its lease expired at that location, and waited for federal funds to kick in before construction could start. Those funds were announced in July.

When the museum reopens, its collection of aircraft on display is set to include four models that can’t be viewed anywhere else in the world, Slobodian said:

— Fairchild Super 71: one of the first mail planes, which set a global speed record for delivering airmail;

— Fokker Super Universal: the only surviving example of what was the most common plane in Canada in the 1920s;

— Canada’s first helicopter: the Froebe, built with spare parts by three brothers on a farm in rural Manitoba;

— Junkers JU-52 replica: the largest plane in North America in 1931, designed according to Winnipeg businessman James A. Richardson Sr.’s specifications.

“The whole story of aviation is probably the best-kept secret in Manitoba. I don’t think people have had the opportunity to really understand and be proud of the legacy that is before them, so we’re excited about sharing those stories,” Slobodian said.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay