It all started when Corporal Emily Tulloch and a small group of her peers from 405 (Long Range Patrol) Squadron visited the Greenwood Military Aviation Museum to pick up a power lever cover from the Arcturus.
“We got to talking with one of the volunteers there, and they casually mentioned refurbishing the outdoor planes. Months later, I ran into Brian Handley at The Aurora Newspaper office, and I asked if they were still planning on this project and if they needed help. A few emails, introductions and a tour of the museum later – here we are!”
After speaking with Handley, Tulloch, an aviation systems technician, took the initiative and canvassed the squadron for a team of technicians to assist in the restorations. The volunteers were excited to have an opportunity to work with legacy aircraft over the next year, beginning with the cleaning of the CC130 Hercules in early June and the CC144 Challenger later in the month. The team will work over the summer to clean and repair aircraft in the museum’s outdoor air park and, in the winter months, will assist museum volunteers with current projects featuring Second World War aircraft inside the restoration area. All of it will help the museum prepare for the Royal Canadian Air Force Centennial in 2024.
“It’s not only for the 100th year anniversary of the air force, but also to show pride in our history and for our wing,” says Tulloch of the pitching-in work. “It really started with an idea and a want to help and, between the drive of the volunteers from 405 AMO 2 and the volunteers from the museum, we just got the ball rolling.”
The whole team is proud to have the opportunity to preserve their RCAF heritage, and to build on their current experience in aircraft maintenance.
“The team and I have never really worked on a project like this in the past. We’re all aircraft technicians, but this is outside the scope of what we normally do on a daily basis. Our regular maintenance of what we do on the Aurora, however heavy it may be, doesn’t equate to the work we have planned for all of the different aircraft at the museum.
“It should be a really fun and exciting learning experience.”
One of the bigger air park projects is coordinating the installation of rotor blades on the Piasecki H44 helicopter. The “Flying Banana,” which flew with 103 Rescue Unit at RCAF Station Greenwood in the 1950s, was put on display in the air park in December 2018 after a five-year restoration. The technicians will also continue with their restoration of the other aircraft in the park, including the Arcturus, Neptune, Lancaster, Argus, Labrador and Expeditor.
