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A group of aviation enthusiasts in central Alberta has been working to bring a piece of Second World War history back to life.
Inside a garage, the group has been restoring a historical military training aircraft, one part at a time.
Vern Dueck is a retired power engineer and member of the Harvard Historical Aviation Society, a non-profit preserving the history of the former Royal Canadian Air Force Station Penhold in the 1950s and 1960s – now the Red Deer Regional Airport.
Dueck is part of a team that is working to restore a 1941 Airspeed Oxford, a twin-engine plane used to train pilots during the Second World War.
He and his team have retrieved a number of older airplanes from museums across Alberta and Saskatchewan so they could use their parts for the restoration project.
“[A 1941 Airspeed Oxford was] basically about 80 per cent wood, and all the wood [from the planes we retrieved] over the years has rotted,” Dueck said. “So we’re rebuilding all the wood parts, and the metal parts have all rusted.
“So we’re cleaning those up, refurbishing them —and painting those as well — and then reassembling it.”
A group of aviation enthusiasts is restoring a 1941 Airspeed Oxford – a Second World War training aircraft once stationed at Penhold military base, now the Red Deer Regional Airport. From 1941-44, more than 100 Oxfords trained pilots here. As CBC’s Nadeer Hashmi reports, the volunteers hope to preserve this piece of local aviation history.
He said his garage simply became the most workable space.
“It just seemed like a good fit to start bringing parts here and start assembling them. We started small and just kept working at it.”
Dueck works alongside volunteer David Kolesnik, also a retired power engineer, who grew up around aircraft on military bases.
“My dad was in the armed forces,” Kolesnik said. “So I’ve been on more than a few air bases. I’ve always kind of been around airplanes and had an interest in planes and history.”
The planes Kolesnik and his team retrieved to use for the restoration project were essentially just piles of rusted, unmarked parts. The first step was to identify, catalogue and rebuild the Oxford piece by piece.
Kolesnik said more than 100 Oxfords were stationed at the Penhold base between 1941 and 1944, where over 1,200 pilots trained before heading overseas.
“It’s very fulfilling to recognize them in a way – to refurbish these parts in memory of them,” Kolesnik said.
The group’s next milestone will be when it assembles the cockpit. Work on the wings, engines and landing gear will follow.
The Oxford currently being restored will be for display only. Dueck and Kolesnik said there is still a long way to go, with only about 10 per cent of the project completed.
Not far away at the Innisfail Flying Club, the Harvard Historical Aviation Society is restoring another Second World War-era aircraft.
The aircraft being restored there is a Tiger Moth that once flew in the Bowden area. The organization said that the aircraft will be flyable when it is restored. Work on the Tiger Moth is about 50 per cent complete.
Shane Cockriell is a volunteer working on the project. He said flying the Tiger Moth was the first step for anyone wanting to be a pilot at the time.
“A young kid right out of high school joined the [Royal Canadian] Air Force, wanting to be a pilot. They’d walk him over to one of these. And in six or eight hours, he would have to learn to solo it. If he didn’t – next,” Cockriell said.
“It was wartime. They didn’t have time.”
Museum plans
Once completed, the plan is to house the restored airplanes in a museum that the society is working on trying to open
Jodi Smith, president and co-founder of the Harvard Historical Aviation Society, said along with the restored aircraft, there would be other historical artifacts and memorabilia. She said the organization is currently applying for grants and funding.
“We do have a concept plan for a building, and what we’re looking at is probably somewhere between $3 million and $5 million to secure everything for us, including everything inside,” Smith said.
Once completed, the 1941 Airspeed Oxford will be the only one on public display in North America,” she said.
Smith added that the goal isn’t just to display planes, but to preserve the stories connected to them.
“Not everyone was killed overseas,” she said. “We lost a lot of people, men, at this base while they were training as well. And those stories … it’s right here in your backyard.”
For Kolesnik and his team, restoring aircraft is their way of honouring those stories.
“I’m just doing a very small part, helping in that recognition and giving that justice that they should have as far as remembering what they did for our country,” he said.
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