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WINGS & WHEELS HERITAGE FESTIVAL CONFIRMS CAF CF-18 JET FIGHTER ON PUBLIC DISPLAY AT DOWNSVIEW PARK - Festival celebrates 60th anniversary of Toronto-designed Beaver bushplane - Festival showcases aircraft and classic vehicles - May 26 & 27 - 10 am to 4 pm
TORONTO - May 25 - Visitors to the Wings & Wheels Heritage Festival at Downsview Park this weekend will be able to see a Canadian Armed Forces CF-18 jet fighter on display beside a full scale replica of the famous Avro Arrow, Canada's first supersonic aircraft. The CF-18 is flying into Downsview on Friday afternoon from CFB Bagotville, Quebec. It will join more than 40 vintage and modern aircraft on display at the festival, along with more than 100 classic cars, motorcycles, trucks and military vehicles owned by collectors. The CF-18 will be displayed on the weekend beside the Toronto Aerospace Museum's full scale replica of the Avro Arrow, one of Canada's great icons of flight. (weather permitting). This weekend’s festival is a salute to the de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver bushplane – Canada’s most successful aircraft design.. The pilot of the CF-18 began his career as a bush pilot flying Beaver on floats in northern Canada. About 16 Beavers will be on display at the festival, including “Olivia”, a 51 year old aircraft that returned to the sky last week after 30 years and just completed a cross-Canada flight to Toronto from Victoria, BC Other aircraft on display at the Festival will include Tiger Moth biplanes, Second World War trainers, a Bombardier Q400 airliner, and helicopters. There will also be many activities for families. The public can buy Festival tickets online www.torontoaerospacemuseum.com or at the gate. The festival is a fundraising event for the Toronto Aerospace Museum, a registered charity. It is co-hosted by Parc Downsview Park and sponsored by Bombardier Aerospace (Downsview), Viking Aircraft Ltd. of Sidney BC, the Ontario Trucking Association, and Bison Transport. HISTORIC ANNIVERSARIES This year's Festival celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Toronto-built Beaver bushplane and the 70th anniversary of Trans-Canada Air Lines, now know as Air Canada. The Beaver 60th celebration will include a homecoming fly-in of about 16 famous Beaver aircraft from the USA and Canada, a historic symposium on the aircraft on Friday May 25, and a re-enactment of the first Beaver flight at 12 noon on Saturday at the Toronto Aerospace Museum. The museum heritage building is where the first Beaver was built and flew from on August 16, 1947. To celebrate the creation of Air Canada, the national airline has flown their first aircraft, a historic Lockheed 10A Electra, CF-TCC, to Downsview for the festival. This twin-engine ten-passenger aircraft launched the company's first scheduled passenger service on September 1, 1937. FEMALE PILOTS RALLY SATURDAY The Toronto Chapter of The 99s, the international association of female pilots, have selected Downsview Airport to be the terminus of their annual "Poker Rally" on Saturday, May 26. More than 20 aircraft will depart in the morning and visit five airports in southern Ontario to receive a playing card from ground officials. The team arriving at Downsview with the best set of cards wins the rally. The female pilots will be showing their aircraft to the public after they land around 2 pm. TRANS-CANADA HOMECOMING JOURNEY The Beaver homecoming has attracted aircraft from as far away from British Columbia, where Beavers are widely used on scheduled passenger services between coastal communities and to support the tourism business. On Thursday May 24, a newly-remanufactured Beaver, C-GODH, landed at Downsview after a four-day flight from BC. This is the newest Beaver in Canada, having been completely remanufactured over the last two years in Victoria after being recovered from the Arizona desert in 2005. On Friday, it will make a symbolic landing in Toronto Harbour, the location where the first Beaver floatplane made its first flight in 1947 The aircraft is owned by Viking Aircraft Ltd. of Sidney, BC which bought the manufacturing rights to the Beaver and six other Toronto-designed de Havilland aircraft from Bombardier in 2006. The popularity of the de Havilland designs is so great that Viking recently announced plans to put the famous de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter bush plane back into production, and builds turbine-powered Turbo Beavers to order. Among the Beavers on display on the weekend will be a bright yellow Turbo Beaver operated by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. The Ontario government was the launch customer for the Beaver in 1947 and 60 years later still flies six "yellow birds" - Turbo Beavers - for forestry and park patrols. The aircraft flying into Downsview on Saturday is based at Smoke Lake in Algonquin Park. About Downsview Park Parc Downsview Park is creating a unique urban recreational green space, a safe and peaceful place, developed according to the principles of environmental, economic and social sustainability, for Canadians to enjoy in all seasons. The Park reflects Canada's mosaic brilliance and celebrates its past, present and future accomplishments. Information on Downsview Park can be found at www.pdp.ca. About the Toronto Aerospace Museum The Toronto Aerospace Museum is an exciting educational, heritage and tourist attraction in Downsview Park. Founded in 1997 the Museum displays a variety of aircraft and aerospace technology from the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The Toronto Aerospace Museum is located at Downsview Park, 65 Carl Hall Rd, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3K 2E1. For further information on the event, tickets, directions and museum hours, call 416-638-6078, email: tam@bellnet.ca or visit the museum web site: www.torontoaerospacemuseum.com. edia Contacts: Kenneth Swartz, TAM Director, Cell. 416-836-7094, kswartz@sympatico.ca Paul Cabot, TAM General Manager &Curator: Office Tel. 416-638-6078; Cell. 416-809-4696, tam@bellnet.ca Meline Beach, Director, Public Affairs & Communications, PDP, Tel. 416-954-0040, mbeach@pdp.ca Media Photographs http://www.torontoaerospacemuseum.com/wwhf2/media/images/content.html
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