Open Cockpit Day Featured A Book Launch

Story and photos by John Chalmers
CAHS Membership Secretary
The Alberta Aviation Museum celebrated their Open Cockpit Day  in conjunction with the release of their new museum book! An exciting day of aviation activities brought in many visitors who were looking to take advantage of the opportunity to sit in a cockpit. 
First produced in 1946, the versatile Bell 47 helicopter famously began the helicopter industry, could seat three people, and provided an excellent view from the cockpit.
Open Cockpit Day at the Alberta Aviation Museum in Edmonton on September 25 was an opportunity for visitors to sit in the cockpits and handle the control of several of the museum’s aircraft.
It was the day on which the museum’s new book, Alberta Aviation Museum: 30 Years of Progress, was launched, arriving from the printer just the day before! The new book features full-page colour photos of all the aircraft in the museum. Stories and photos are included of 17 individuals who are important to aviation history in Edmonton.
Erica d’Haene, Volunteer Coordinator for the museum, with a display of the museum’s new book, which was launched on Open Cockpit Day.
The Sindlinger HH-1 is a 5/8 scale copy of the famous Hawker Hurricane flown in the Battle of Britain in 1940. Homebuilt by Donald Gower of Edmonton and flown by him from 1985 to 1994, it was then donated to the museum. It was a very popular choice for kids to sit in the cockpit.
Children and adults enjoyed a chance to sit in aircraft from lightweight homebuilts to an RCAF supersonic Starfighter. In addition to having their hands on cockpit controls, potential pilots could have a vicarious experience flying one of the museum’s many flight simulators. Visitors could speak with volunteers in the restoration shop where a Jet Ranger helicopter is nearing completion and work is ongoing for two P-39 Airacobra fighter aircraft.
For Open Cockpit Day, many exhibitors set up in the museum’s event hall. Displayers invited visitors to learn more about the organizations they represented. Outside at the entrance, was a live radio broadcast by FM station Play 107.1, and a helicopter of the Edmonton Police Service was stationed with police officer pilots to speak to the public.
"Our museum has always strived to be a community partner and steward of Edmonton’s rich aviation history.  Open Cockpit Day is the museum’s biggest event of the year to showcase that, and make people aware of the vast history created at Blatchford Field in Edmonton,” said the museum’s executive director, Jean Lauzon. “The event was a great success this year, with just over 775 people attending, and comments we received were very positive.”
Museum staff and volunteers were on duty all day to meet visitors, answer questions, help them into the cockpits and talk about how an airplane flies. The museum now has an informative new ambassador in the form of its new book. It makes an excellent gift for the aviation enthusiast in your family! Copies are available in the museum’s gift shop at $29.95 or $19.95 for members of the Alberta Aviation Museum Association. For more info about the book, click here.
Public events at Canadian Aviation Museums, such as Open Cockpit Day help to keep aviation and its history in the minds of visitors. They provide an experience to see aircraft up close and learn about them. Some Canadian museums even have aircraft that fly, for which flights can be purchased.
In the CAHS, we are fortunate that we presently have 23 Museum Members. More are welcome, of course, as are stories from the museums about their special activities, public events, personalities, restoration projects and other topics of interest to our readers. Send your stories to CAHS newsletter editor, Katherine Simunkovic.
Roger Smeland of the Edmonton Homebuilt Aircraft Association gives flying instruction to a potential pilot in a Canaero Toucan P-4, a tandem two-seater twin-engine configuration aircraft using two propellers, a “puller” and a “pusher.”
A future jet jockey enters the cockpit of the two-seater Canadair CT-133 Silver Star, known as the T-Bird, was a type used in Canada as a jet trainer by the RCAF from 1953 to 1971.
Terry Bayrock, vice-president of the Alberta Aviation Museum board, welcomed youngsters to sit in the cockpit of a de Havilland Tiger Moth. This aircraft flew as a pilot trainer with No. 16 Elementary Flying Training School in Edmonton during the Second World War.
While their father, Terry, worked at the Tiger Moth, brothers Harry (left) and Walter Bayrock, both corporals with Edmonton-based 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron, were on duty all day, seating visitors in the T-33. Both brothers have volunteered at the museum since they were in high school.
You are never too young to fly with a flight simulator and those at the museum provided plenty of opportunity for hands-on experience.
A look through the rear gunner’s position in the B-25 Mitchell provided a view of the aircraft interior of the twin-engine bomber that was flown from the hangar post-war by RCAF 418 Squadron.
The museum’s CF-104 Starfighter was one of the jet aircraft in which visitors could get seated and check out the cockpit.
While children in the cockpit pose for a photo in a Noorduyn Norseman, a mother records the experience by shooting a photo with her smartphone.
A helicopter of the Edmonton Police Service staffed by members of the police force was a popular attraction outside the museum.
A Bomarc missile, a reminder of the Cold War, is displayed outside the museum, as are a number of the aircraft in the collection.
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