What started as a grocery store conversation about flight and Grade 6 school curriculum back in 2002, between a retired 14 Wing Greenwood navigator and a middle school teacher, has now blossomed into something way beyond their imagination.
The results of Lloyd Graham and Connie Weinberg’s early collaboration lives on in the 23-year-old Greenwood Military Aviation Museum’s flagship Flight Education Program. Flight Ed now welcomes nearly 500 Grade 6 students each year to teach them about flight, with a hands-on approach.
The museum’s Flight Ed volunteers are the backbone of the program, and most have been instructing for more than five years. Take Flight Ed volunteer instructor Bob McElman, a retired CP107 Argus pilot who has been teaching students about ejection seats, torpedoes and flight control surfaces since 2003. January 16, McElman – and most of this year’s cadre of 15 regular and five backup instructors – met to study the changes inside the museum since the previous Flight Ed season ended in May 2024. Most notable are the changes volunteers Bob Johnson and Ian Patrick (director of displays) made in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan area.
The instructors also took the time to look back on past accomplishments, and to celebrate a big milestone reached after the last regularly scheduled school visit of 2024. June 25, the Flight Education Program total attendance numbers reached over 10,000 students, teachers and escorts. The milestone was achieved with the new addition of the Grade 6 class of Mme Maya Landesman from École Rose-des-Vents in Greenwood. The school, part of the Conseil Scolaire Acadien Provincial, is the first in recent memory to have attended a completely French Flight Education tour. Bilingual instructors Sophie Saulnier and 404 Squadron Master Corporal Jonathan Frederick carried out the tour, which ended, to the delight of the students, with a surprise visit to the airpark’s display Hercules aircraft cockpit and cargo area.
The program instructors and current coordinator, Gordon Morse, have recently adapted the program for new Flight Ed visitors, such as an Options & Opportunities (O2) high school class, a home school group and a school for students with learning differences. For 2025, 10 schools are expected to visit the museum spread over 15 individual visits.
To continue offering this very popular program, the GMAM is looking for new instructors to replace the seasoned veteran instructors who are starting to “retire.” For those who are passionate about aviation, the Royal Canadian Air Force and teaching youth, now is the perfect time to join the GMAM as volunteer instructors-in-training. For more info, email dndwingmuseum@bellaliant.com or call 902-765-1494 local 568-5955, Wednesday to Friday. You may also visit www.gmam.ca/flt-ed-1.html
